Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.??Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.? No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. 1 John 4:7-12 (NIV)
Everything that love is, God is. Therefore, loving the way God loves proves we have been born of God and know God.
Discussion Questions
1. Isn’t it simplistic to say that whoever loves is born of God?
2. What is the ultimate proof of God’s love for us?
3. Who are to be the primary recipients of our love?
4. What is the ultimate way we experience God?
5. In what ways do you express love for fellow believers in your church?
Translation
7 ???????? ???????? ???????? ??? ? ????? ?? ??? ???? ????? ??? ??? ? ?????? ?? ??? ???? ?????????? ??? ???????? ??? ????
8 ? ?? ?????? ??? ???? ??? ???? ??? ? ???? ????? ?????
9 ?? ????? ????????? ? ????? ??? ???? ?? ???? ??? ??? ???? ????? ??? ???????? ?????????? ? ???? ??? ??? ?????? ??? ??????? ?? ?????
10 ?? ????? ????? ? ????? ??? ??? ????? ?????????? ??? ???? ??? ??? ????? ???????? ???? ??? ?????????? ??? ???? ????? ??????? ???? ??? ???????? ????
11 ???????? ?? ????? ? ???? ???????? ???? ??? ????? ????????? ???????? ??????
12 ???? ?????? ?????? ???????? ??? ???????? ???????? ? ???? ?? ???? ????? ??? ? ????? ????? ???????????? ????? ?? ????
7 Beloved, we ought to love each other because love is from God. And everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 The one who isn’t loving does not know God, because God is love. 9 In this way the love of God was manifested to us, because God sent his one and only son into the world in order that we might live through him. 10 This is love, not that we loved God, but he loved us and sent his son to be an atonement?for our sin. 11 My beloved, if God loved us in this manner, we should love also love each other. 12 God has never been seen by anyone. However, if we love each other, God abides in us and his love has come to completion in us.
Observation – What does the text say?
7 ???????? – “agapetoi” “beloved,” “dear ones.”
????????? – “agapomen” “if we love”
???????? – “allelous” “one another” reflexive pronoun
???????????- “gegenetai” “has been born, begotten,” indicates origin or source
8 ???? – “egno” “to know”
9 ????????? – “ephanerothe” “it is manivest,” “made obvious”
??? ???? ????? ??? ???????? – “ton huion autou ton monogene” “his only begotten son”
?????????? – “apestalken” – “he has sent”
??? ?????? – “ton kosmon” “the world” i.e., the physical world and also the world of mankind
10 ?????????? – “apesteilen” “he sent”
????????”hilasmon” – “expiation, propitiation, making amends, appeasement”
???????? “hamartion” – “sins”
11 ????????? – “opheilomen” “we owe, ought”
12 ???????? “tetheatai” – “to observe, look on”
????? “menei” – “abides, remains”
???????????? – “teteleiomene” “completed, perfected”
Interpretation – What did the text mean to the original audience in its context?
The early church understood that the ultimate experience and expression of their faith was love. Why? Because the God they worshipped was in His essence, love. Love is not simply an attribute of God, love is God and God is love. Everything that love is, God is. Therefore, John wants his readers to understand that when they love, they are demonstrating that they are in their natures mirroring the nature of God.
The historical proof of God’s love for us is the incarnation of his son and his death on the cross as an atonement for our sin. This physical expression of the love of Christ set the standard for all believers?in their relationships with each other. Even though we will never physically see God in his entirety, we can experience the essence of God when we love.
Application – What does the text mean for us in our context?
Since John is writing about ultimate reality and the universal principle that God is love, the text means precisely the same for us in our day as it did for John’s original audience. Obviously, our context has changed, but the reality that God is love and that we live in a world that has been saturated with the love of God has not.
Contextually, we live in a culture that is highly impersonal, chaotic and materialistic. Relationships are much more ephemeral than they were in NT times. We also live in a culture that is post Christian, where in the past Christianity has often been associated with godless governments, brutal wars, inhumane slavery, church schisms, and hypocritical TV evangelists. It is doubtful that, unlike?the pagans of old,?the first thought that comes to mind when unbelievers see Christians is, “Look how they love each other.”
Consequently, modern believers?must regain a clear understanding of the practice of the love of Christ and then to consistently do it. The world desperately needs to see Christians loving each other.
Communication – How do we teach these truths in such a way that our audience understands them, remembers them and responds to them appropriately?
?Most believers relate the command to love “each other” to their family relationships: spouse, children, in-laws and other extended family. But it is important to not let your listeners “get away” with limiting the command to love just to family members. The primary application is greater: “one another.” That is, the church itself as a community of believers is to exhibit the love of Christ as its members love “one another.”? The church is to “build itself up in love.” Given our mobile and dispersed church culture, concrete ways to demonstrate this command in your church community must be given, or your message will devolve into pious aphorisms.
?