1 JOHN 4:13-19 BY THIS WE KNOW THAT WE BELONG TO HIM

1 John 4:13 By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. 15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Love and Sound Doctrine (vv. 13–16)

In the last verse of the preceding section, John has concluded that if we love one another, two things may be said to follow: first, that God abides in us, and second, that God’s love is perfected in us. These two conclusions give the outline for the next two sections of this chapter. In the first section (vv. 13–16) God’s indwelling of the Christian is discussed in greater detail; in the second (vv. 17–21) the perfection of love is analyzed. That the indwelling of the Christian by God is the theme of the first section is evident from the threefold repetition of the idea: once in verse 13 (“we live in him and he in us”), once in verse 15 (“God lives in him and he in God”), and once in verse 16 (“whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him”).

It is not easy to give a simple outline to this section of the chapter, however, as it was, for instance, for verses 7–12 on the basis of the threefold repetition of the phrase “love one another.” Still, the major ideas are obvious. First, we know that we dwell in God and God in us because of the Spirit, whom he has given to us (v. 13). Then, second, we know that he has given us the Spirit because we have come to believe in Christ and love the brethren (vv. 14–16).^[1]

1. v13-16 But fourthly, we are to love one another because love is the assurance of our salvation

Here's how we know we're saved.  Here's how we know we abide in Him and He in us, again emphasizing He is in us.  How do we know we're in Him and He's in us?  One, because He's given us His Spirit. You say, "I can't see the Holy Spirit.  I can't feel the Holy Spirit.  I don't know that I can say for sure I've received the Holy Spirit.  How can I say that I'm sure I'm saved because He's given us the Spirit? 

John’s first point is that believers know that they dwell in God and God in them because of the Holy Spirit whom God has given to them. By this John emphasizes that God is always first in spiritual things and that apart from his gracious activity by the Holy Spirit to open blind eyes to perceive the truth and move rebellious wills to turn from sin to the Savior, no one would believe in Christ or love the brethren. In the next few verses John is going to talk of belief in Christ and love of the brethren, but we must not think, as some commentators have, that these are conditions by which we are enabled to dwell in God or remain in him. To believe in Christ and to love the brethren are not conditions by which we may dwell in God but rather are evidences of the fact that God has already taken possession of our lives to make this possible.^[1]

V14 Here is how you know that you've been given the Spirit.  "Because you believe the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world and you confess Jesus is the Son of God."  In other words, it is your belief in the gospel that is evidence of the ministry and presence of the Holy Spirit, right?  Because you couldn't know that apart from the Spirit, is that not so?  Sinners are dead in trespasses and sin, they are blind, you have no capacity, it's not of him who wills or him who runs, it's not according to the will of man or the will of the flesh, you can't know God, God is not known by human wisdom.  He's not known by human intelligence.  "Natural man understands not the things of God, they are foolishness to him.

4:14. The apostle now reached a climactic point in his argument. He had just written that “if we love each other,” then the God whom no one has seen abides “in us and His love is made complete in us.” The result of this experience is that we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Since the first person plural in verses 7–13 is clearly meant to include the readers, the “we” of this verse includes them as well. The indwelling God, whose presence is manifested in the midst of a loving Christian community, thus becomes in a sense truly visible to the eye of faith. Though no one “has seen” (tetheatai, “beheld”) God (v. 12), believers who abide in Him (v. 13) “have seen” (tetheametha, “behold”) the Son as He is manifested among loving Christians. Christians who behold this manifestation have in fact “seen” and can “testify” to the fundamental truth that “the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.” This great truth can be put on display through the instrumentality of Christian love. With these words, John reached the goal he had announced in the prologue (1:1–4), namely, that his readers might share the apostles’ experience. The apostles had “seen” (heōrakamen) the “life which was with the Father and … appeared to us” (1:2). In a loving Christian community, the believers can see that too. The term “Life” in 1:2, though it refers to Christ incarnate, nevertheless was carefully chosen by the writer. What his readers could witness is the renewed manifestation of that Life in their fellow Christians. But, as he had argued ever since 2:29, the “life” which Christians possess by new birth is inherently sinless and can only be manifested through righteousness and Christlike love. But when that occurs, Christ whom the apostles saw in the flesh is, in a real but spiritual sense, “seen” again (4:14).^[1]

The Holy Spirit’s Gifts

This leads directly to John’s next point, for, having said that it is always God who is first in spiritual things, the question with which he next wants to deal is this: Is God thus at work spiritually in me? In answer to this question he therefore now argues that if God is at work, the evidences for it will be seen in a combination of love and sound doctrine. In other words, we may know that we have the Spirit because we have come to confess Christ and dwell in love.^[1]

The confession of Christ is mentioned first because it is at the point of confession that the Christian life may properly be said to begin. “And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God” (vv. 14–15). Once again, as in numerous spots throughout the letter, John phrases his confession of Christ in words that would be especially challenging to those faced with the Gnostic heresies. He emphasizes that God the Father sent the eternal Son to be the Savior and that the historical Jesus is that eternal Son.

This should not obscure the fact that there are additional theological riches in the verses, however. For one thing, there is the doctrine of a lost world that needs a Savior. This “world,” as was pointed out in the earlier discussion of 2:15–17, means the world of men as it is in rebellion against God. A second doctrine is the full deity of Jesus Christ. A third is the focal point of his mission, which was to be the “Savior of the world.” It was for this that God “sent” him, says John. A fourth is the matter of God’s own motivation in the work of salvation, which is “the love God has for us” (v. 16).^[1]

He comes to the point in verse 16.  "And we have come to know and believed the love which God has for us."  This is just really the conclusion of this flow here.  How do I know I'm a Christian?  Because God gave me His Spirit.  And He only gives His Spirit to those that are His.  He only takes up residency in those that are His.  How do I know He gave me His Spirit?  Because I believe the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.  And I confess that Jesus is the Son of God.  In other words, I believe the gospel which I can't believe apart from the work of the Spirit.

Eph 2:4 But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us 5 even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,

You look at your life, is that what you see?  If it is, if you love Christ even though you're not always faithful as you should be, if you love God the Father, and you love to worship Him, and you love to honor Him, and you cherish His glory, and if you find yourself drawn to the brethren and the fellowship, sacrificially serving one another, and even compassionately, lovingly caring for those outside the gospel so that you give them the saving truth of Jesus Christ, this is evidence that God is in you, the God of love because of the work of the Holy Spirit.

The second evidence of the Spirit’s activity is love for God and one another, for John concludes by saying, “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him.” In other words, the love to which Christians were exhorted in verses 7–12 is now said not only to be a most solemn duty but also to be a striking evidence of the Spirit’s activity.

Here certainly, in a combination of the ideas of the internal work of the Holy Spirit, belief in Christ as the Son of God and Savior, and the supreme point of Christian ethics which is a two-pronged love both for God and man, is a high point of the epistle. John is dealing with the subject of assurance (as he has been throughout) and has expressed it under several aspects. There is a subjective side, but it is without those unreliable, so-called spiritual experiences on which so many depend: tongues, miracles, feelings, and so forth. There is also an objective side, but this is not without those tender expressions of love that temper mere orthodoxy and validate it. Dodd writes of these verses:

This closely knit statement therefore places the reality of the Christian experience of God beyond question, guarding against the dangers of subjectivism on the one hand, and of mere traditionalism on the other; placing equal and co-ordinate stress on love to God, which is the heart of religion, and love to man, which is the foundation of morality, without allowing religion to sink to the level of mere moralism, or morality to be dissolved in mysticism. The passage is the high-water mark of the thought of the epistle.^[1]

Love’s Perfection (vv. 17–21)

¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world.

If people are afraid, it is because of something in the past that haunts them, or something in the present that upsets them, or something in the future that they feel threatens them. Or it may be a combination of all three. A believer in Jesus Christ does not have to fear the past, present, or future, for he has experienced the love of God and this love is being perfected in him day by day.

“It is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment” (Heb. 9:27). But a Christian does not fear future judgment, because Christ has suffered his judgment for him on the cross. “Truly, truly I say to you, he who hears My word, and believes Him who sent Me, has eternal life, and does not come into judgment, but has passed out of death into life” (John 5:24, nasb). “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 8:1, nasb). For a Christian, judgment is not future; it is past. His sins have been judged already at the cross, and they will never be brought against him again.

V17 because as He is, so are we in this world. This means that the Father deals with us as He deals with His own beloved Son. How, then, can we ever be afraid? We do not have to be afraid of the future, because our sins were judged in Christ when He died on the cross. The Father cannot judge our sins again without judging His Son, for “as He is, so are we in this world.”^[1]

In verses 13–16 John has developed the first of two ideas introduced for the first time in verse 12, the indwelling of the Christian by God. Now he returns to the second of those two ideas, the perfection of love, and explains what he means practically. Earlier, when he had said, “If we love each other, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us,” the reader might well have been left with the question of how such a thing could be possible. God’s attributes are perfection; he is perfection. Consequently, we might wonder how God’s love could be perfected in us, or anywhere else for that matter. Now John explains his meaning, showing that his emphasis was not so much upon that love that God has in himself (which obviously is already perfect) but rather upon our love both for God and one another. This has its source in God and is brought to completion by him. “Made complete” here does not mean totally without flaw in a moral or any other sense. It means “whole” or “mature,” and it refers to that state of mind and activity in which the Christian is to find himself when the love of God within him, expressing itself in the believer’s own love, has accomplished that which God fully intends it to accomplish.

No doubt there are many aspects of love’s perfection, but from this greater number John singles out two. First, there is confidence in view of God’s coming judgment (vv. 17–18). Second, there is love of the brethren (vv. 19–21).^[1]

Confidence

This is the third time in the letter that the word “confidence” (parrēsia) occurs, and it will occur once more. In two of the four instances it refers to confidence before God in reference to prayer (3:21; 5:14). In the other two instances, one of which is this text, it refers to confidence before God in view of Christ’s return and the execution of his righteous judgment against sin (2:28; 4:17).

The idea of God’s judgment is an unpopular one today, but it is not necessarily less popular than it was in John’s time. The problem is simply that men and women do not like the idea of having to account to God for their actions. So they tend to discount the idea, hoping that the day of judgment might just go away. But judgment is the only logical idea of the three ideas usually associated with the end times. In most systems of theology the end events focus around three things: the return of Christ, the resurrection, and the judgment.^[1]

V17-18 Number five, we are commanded to love because love is our confidence in judgment. 

I look ahead at judgment and I would...I might say to myself, "Well I don't have any fear of judgment, after all, I believe in Jesus."  Some people would say that.  You hear people say that all the time.  "Oh, I'm not worried about death, I'm a good guy and I believe in Jesus, God certainly will let me into His heaven."

¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

 It's not just the theology that is the issue.  Confidence in the anticipation of the day of judgment comes from perfect love being your experience.  The day of judgment simply looks at the final reckoning, the final in the broadest sense.  In chapter 2 verse 28 it says, "Now, little children, abide in Him so that when He appears we may have confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming."  It just looks at the end and says you can live your life with no fear, never fearing the coming of Jesus Christ, never fearing standing before the throne of God, before the judgment.  In fact, it says here in verse 17, "You may have confidence," it actually means, boldness.

Go back to chapter 3 verse 21, "If our heart does not condemn us, we have...same word...boldness before God," the kind of boldness that whatever we ask we receive from Him.  If you know you're God's, if your heart assures you by this love and obedience that characterizes your life, you can go into the presence of God with boldness and confidence and ask what you will and receive it.  That's chapter 3.  Here in chapter 4 you can look ahead at judgment without fear.  How wonderful is that?  You can live without fear. 

1 John chapter 3, you remember this, verse 2?  "Beloved, now are we children of God."  He's the Son of God, and we're children of God.  "It has not appeared yet what we shall be," you can't tell right now what we are, "we know that when He appears we shall be like Him."  We can be confident in looking ahead at the judgment because when we get to that place, we're going to be made like Jesus Christ.   And so, we can live this life with that absolute confidence

verse 18 explains it further.  "So there is no fear in love."  If you love like this, if you love in this perfect love, this mature, this whole love, there's no fear.  You don't fear judgment.  You don't fear the return of Christ, you long for it.  You say with John, "Even so, come Lord Jesus, come quickly."  We have no fear of judgment. 

Fear connects with punishment.  And if you're afraid of that day, and you're afraid of the coming of Christ, and you're afraid of the Rapture, then you are not perfected in love because where this love is shed abroad in your heart, this love exists, there's no fear...there's no fear.

Heb 2:15 and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.

 Luke 1:74 To grant us that we, Being delivered from the hand of our enemies, Might serve Him without fear,

Ro 8:15 For you did not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, "Abba, Father."

2Ti 1:7 For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.

a disobedient Christian, a Christian who is sinful and fallen into some kind of pattern of sin, even though it goes against the grain of his nature, even though it's contrary to what he longs for and desires in his truest and purest self, it's a sort of Romans 7 battle and he's losing it, that Christian can lose that confidence

Moreover, the day of judgment is as fixed in God’s eternal timetable as any other day in world history. This is the significance of the word “day.” Technically speaking, the day of judgment is not necessarily a twenty-four-hour period. At all events, it certainly includes a series of judgments upon the earth (Revelation 6–16), the beast and the false prophet (Rev. 19:20), the gentile nations (Joel 3:14; Matt. 25:31–46), Israel (Ezek. 20:33–44), and all individuals at the judgment of the great white throne (Rev. 20:11–15). The reason it is called a “day” is that it is fixed in God’s timetable and will surely come.

In view of this logical and unalterable day in which the thoughts and deeds of men and women are to be judged, an individual might well fear. But John says that in the case of Christians perfect love casts out terror. This does not mean that love for God is the ground of our acceptance before him. The only possible ground is the death of Christ for us and faith in him. It means rather that by love for God any unreasonable fears are quieted and we come to rest in the fact that the one who was for us in Christ will allow nothing to destroy the eternal relationship that the death of Christ established (Rom. 8:31–39).^[1]

The sinner must begin by fearing the God against whom he has sinned; but, having believed in Christ who has atoned for sin, he may put away fear and grow in confidence before him

19 We love Him because He first loved us.

Mark 8:36 "For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?

John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Have you trusted Him as your Savior? He can Save you if You ask Him based on His death, burial, and resurrection for your sins. Believe in Him for forgiveness of your sins today.

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.”  -John 8:32

Our mission is to spread the gospel and to go to the least of these with the life-changing message of Jesus Christ; We reach out to those the World has forgotten. 

hisloveministries.podbean.com #HLMSocial hisloveministries.net https://www.instagram.com/hisloveministries1/?hl=en Don’t go for all the gusto you can get, go for all the God (Jesus Christ) you can get. The gusto will get you, Jesus can save you. https://www.facebook.com/His-Love-Ministries-246606668725869/?tn-str=k*F

The world is trying to solve earthly problems that can only be solved with heavenly solutions