The book of First John

A Verse by Verse Study
Text 1st John 4:16 - 21

A. Introduction

     1. V. 16 “And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.”

     1. We have complete assurances that God dwells in us because know He sent His Son as our Saviour.

     2.  The words “we have known” means to know absolutely that is with true faith.

     3. In that true faith we truly understand the love of God. That was rendered apparent by the sending of His Son Christ Jesus.

     4. And again for the second time “God is love” therefore there is no way to have Him in us without having His love there also.

 

B. V. 17 “Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

     1. Here is the word “Herein” which means because of, So V. 17a should read “because God is love and God is in our hearts then our love (which is really the love of God) in our hearts is made perfect.

           a. The original text reads “by this love has been perfected with us.”

          b. Vine's Expository Dictionary of Old and New Testament Words says - the love of God in the case of those who love one another; 1 John 4:17, of the love of God as "made perfect with" those who abide in God, giving them to be possessed of the very character of God, by reason of which "as He is, even so are they in this world."

          c. Vines goes on to define the word perfect as - "to bring to an end by completing or perfecting," The end results is we love because we have God’s love in our hearts and therefore love is complete because God is complete.

     2. “that we may have boldness in the day of judgment:”

          a. Our day of judgment will be about things just as this, our love for one another, our love for truth, our love for church, and Etc.

          b. Lost people will be judged for their sins.

          c. If we exercise the Love of God in our hearts and our love for one another as God has insisted then when our day of judgment comes we shall have full confidence that we will be fine.

     3. “Because as he is, so are we in this world.”

          a. That is, we have the same traits of character which the Saviour had, and, resembling him, we need not be alarmed at the prospect of meeting him.

          b. This is our greatest desire in this world, and that is to be pure and holy, being a “Christian” meaning Christ-like.

          c. If we are then the day of our judgment should be a joy and not a horrible day, we will gain crowns and not loose them.

 

C. V. 18 “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

     1. We have no fear in our judgment because the love of God has cast that out because we understand that wrath and torment are not things we need to be concerned with since we are saved.

          a. It is truly simple, be a true Christian by its definition in this life and boldness will be our best friend in judgment.

          b. “but perfect love casteth out fear:” our love (which dwells in our hearts) over comes fear therefore allowing us to rest in boldness.

          c. Works for salvation is fear; the not knowing what is enough. Being a Christian and living as a Christian should be an enjoyment therefore we understand that we are not to fear.

     2. “He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”

          a. If we are in fear of judgment then we are not living as Christ would and therefore we are tormented of our judgment day.

          b. This could also deal with the fact that we do not truly know the Lord and therefore we cannot love other Christians and therefore we have fear.

 

D. V. 19 “We love him, because he first loved us.”

     1. Since we love God and our love comes from God then He had to love us first.

          a. this truly shows the impact of our love for one another.

          b. God’s love is eternal, ours is not however it will be after we are saved.

     2. It could read “because He loves us, we love.”

     3. One thing that this does prove love comes from Him and outside of Him it does not exist.

 

E. V. 20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”

     1. Again, we cannot have one without the other; if we love God we will love the other Christians.

     2. We can by nature love the things we see, but we do not love the things unseen.

     3. God said “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar:” there is no way around this.

     4. The purpose (I believe) in this pounding on our love for other Christians is because a lot of these young believers were Jews and John wanted them to understand they had to love the Gentile believers. Christians are made up of every nationality and therefore we cannot be bigots. John 3:16.

     5. In verse 21 we see this is an order from the Lord. “And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”

          a. John 13:34 “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

          b. John 15:12 “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.”