1 John 4:7-8

The love which this Faith embraces and knows: in its origin; its supreme manifestation; its perfect reflection in us; the whole section being begun, continued, and ended in this.

1 John 4:7-8. Two sentences which exhibit the ‘commandment' of brotherly love in a stronger light than hitherto shed upon it. The former is positive. Love is of God: love absolutely and in itself, in its own nature and apart from any object, is from the very being of God. This ‘out of' is said of nothing but love and regeneration: here the loving in the present is evidence of a birth in the past that still continues; and the present knoweth God is the same love discerning and delighting in its source. The latter is negative, and, as usual, still strengthens the thought. All love in man, all love everywhere, is from God; but, more than that, God is love: a word that had never before been spoken since revelation began. It closes and consummates the Biblical testimony concerning God as knowable to man: it must be remembered that it is connected with he that loveth not knoweth not literally, ‘never has come to the knowledge of' God. Observe that it is not said ‘love is God,' any more than it was said ‘light is God.' God is light in His revealing and diffusive holiness; God is love in His diffusive self-impartation: both, however, in His relation to His creatures. His eternal essence is unfathomable and behind both. Love is the bond of His perfections as revealed to the created universe. It is also the bond of the intercommunion of the Three Persons in the adorable Trinity; and in this sense His absolute nature; but this goes beyond our exposition here.