Whoever Lives in God's Love

See "God is love - 1 John 4:7-9" below. When John says "whoever lives in love," he did not mean by this that anyone who loves anything or anyone lives in God. Rather, John had in mind the kind of love he affirmed in 1 John - love within the Christian community. See "Can we Regenerate Ourselves By Loving Others? John 13:34-35" below. See WCF 2.1; WLC 80. As Stott explains:

Theological knowledge and doctrinal convictions are proved by living experience, and deepened by it too. When a man and a woman pledge themselves in a marriage service to live together as husband and wife, the vows which they exchange include solemn promises that they can be relied upon, whatever may happen. 'For better, for worse; for richer, for poorer; in sickness and in health.' This is an expression of the love which they already have for each other, which will deepen as they experience its reality in practice 'through all the changing scenes of life'. Real love can be relied on, but only a commitment of faith will prove it.

Our experience of God's love is very much like this. Because it is grounded in his unchanging character (God is love), as we live in a daily relationship of trust and obedience with him, we are constantly in touch with that divine love and learn to rely on it more and more (1 John 3:16). The verb translated rely in the NIV more literally means 'believed', the perfect tense implying an action which is still effective (which is presumably why the NIV chooses to translate in the present tense). A couple who have been happily married for some years often have such extensive areas of agreement and mutual understanding that each can tell what the other is thinking without any words being spoken. That sort of intimacy with God is possible only if we rely on his love and live in him. If we would think his thoughts, we must give ourselves to the study of his Word. If we would experience more of his love, we must rely on him more thoroughly. Sometimes we go through trials and testings for that very reason, because the God who loves us wants us to rely on him more completely or to trust him more fully.

remains in this love. See WCF 2.1; WLC 80. To dwell in God's love is also to practice love for one's fellow believers. On God is love, see note above on 4:8

Kistemaker comments:

Perhaps it is better to link the words "by this" [in this way] to the preceding verses. Because we love, we live in God and he lives in us; "by this, love is made complete among us."

While believers are not saved by their own works (Eph. 2:8-9) but only by the work(s) of the Son (John 15:13; Rom. 5:8; 1 Cor. 1:18-25; 15:3; Col. 1:13-14, 19-20, 22; Heb. 9:26; cf. Mark 10:45; 1 Pet 2:24), they are saved unto good works (Eph. 2:10; Tit. 2:14) and in maintaining these works it affirms their confidence. Even though believers are not like Christ in terms of the completeness of their obedience (1 John 4:15), they are like him in their basic orientation, and they stand out as Christ did in contrast with the world at large (John 5:44; 17:16). See BC 37.

John emphasizes the importance of love by speaking of it within the context of the last day, specifically the day of judgment (1 John 2:28). See "The Plan of the Ages: Are We in the Last Days?" John Gill remarks:

. . . not of men's judgment, when brought before judges, governors, and kings, for the sake of Christ and the Gospel, and stand at their bar, where saints, who have true love to God and Christ and the brethren, have stood with great courage and intrepidity, and shown much boldness, and used great freedom of speech; nor of judgment in this life, which sometimes begins at the house of God, though the saints often have great boldness and presence of mind, and freedom of expression both to God and man in a day of affliction, as Job had; but of the future judgment, which, though it will be very awful and solemn, Christ the Judge will appear with great majesty and glory, and all men will stand before him, and the books will be opened, and the judgment will proceed with great strictness and justice, and will issue in the everlasting perdition of devils and wicked men, yet the saints will have boldness in it: while evil men and devils tremble at the thoughts of it now, they rejoice and are glad; they love it, look for it, long for it, and hasten to it; and will stand fearless, and without the least dread, while others will flee to the rocks, and into the holes of the earth; and they will use freedom of speech with Christ, as the word here signifies; they will sing his new song, and ascribe the glory of their salvation to him, and express their praises of him, and love to him, then and to all eternity: and this boldness the saints may be said to arrive at through a perfect, or sincere, and genuine love of the brethren; for by this they know they are born again, and are born to an inheritance incorruptible, which they have both a meetness for, and a right unto; and knowing hereby that they are passed from death to life, they justly conclude they shall not enter into condemnation, and therefore are not afraid of the awful judgment: hereby they know that their faith is right, and that therefore they are manifestly the children of God; and if children, then heirs, and so shall be saved, and have everlasting life.

made perfect… day of judgment. See BC 37. In this verse and the next, John makes his third and fourth references to perfection or mature love for God. The first was in 2:5, where obedience made this love perfect, complete or mature. The second was in 4:12, where God's love matures as believers practice their love for one another. This leads to the final perfection of God's love—Christians can face God's final judgment without fear. In his Gospel, John describes Jesus as God's final agent of judgment (see notes on Jn. 5:22, 27, 30; 8:16; 12:31-33). Those who live or abide in him need not fear punishment from him.

"Behind all true loving lies a divine initiative," says Smalley. So, loving the visible person is a sign of loving the invisible God. We love because he first loved us (1 John 4:19). God has loved us in Christ; Christ is the appearance of the invisible God (Col. 1:15; cf. John 1:1-2; 14:9) in his teaching and in his living. We love because he first loved us.

John anticipated an objection to his emphasis on love among believers. Some might say that they love God despite the fact that they do not love one another. John utterly denied this possibility. As Stott says, "To claim to know God and have fellowship with God while we walk in the darkness of disobedience is to lie" (1 John 1:6; 2:4).

John's opponents failed to see that loving the invisible God is much more difficult than loving visible people. A believer's love for God inevitably overflows into love for other people. John claimed here that love for people is an essential proof of love for God.

first loved us. In the OT, God's people learned to show mercy to others from the mercy God demonstrated towards them (see notes on Exod. 13:8; 22:21; Lev. 19:34; Deut. 10:19). As John summarized in 3:16 and again in 4:10, the supreme example and standard of God's love is Jesus' incarnation and atoning death

liars… seen. Arguing from the lesser or lighter matter to the greater or heavier matter, John points out that any claim of love for the invisible God is inadmissible if the claimant shows no evidence of love for those he sees every day in his community. John states the matter as forcefully as possible: this claimant a liar

John alludes to Jesus' teaching that the greatest commandment must be coupled with the second greatest commandment (Matt. 22:38-39). The two commands are inseparable. Proper love for others flows from love for God; love for God is evidenced by love for others. Kistemaker sums up this portion of the chapter on love saying:

John admonishes us to cultivate mutual love, for love originates with God. Love is divine, for God is love. God sets the example by sending his Son into the world. And if we show love for one another God has fellowship with us. Our acknowledgment that Jesus is the Son of God confirms that God lives in us. Thus we have confidence on the judgment day. Love expels fear. The person who fears does not have perfect love.

John concludes with the statement that if we love God and hate our brother, we are liars. We have received the command to love God and our neighbor.

commandment. This is a major theme of Jesus' upper room discourse in John's Gospel (see notes on Jn. 13:34-35; 14:15; 15:12-14, 17), and an identifying mark of true disciples. Because of their love for one another, John's readers can be assured of their shared experience of God's love