1 John, Day 6
1 John 4:7 – 5:5
Love Is a Verb
“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place” (Zora Neale Hurston).
The epistle of 1 John is a spiritual PSAT exam: Prove Salvation Abides True. It is a series of tests, as it were, to “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves” (2 Corinthians 13:5). Our passage focuses on the test of love.
The Greek word translated “love” in this passage is agape, the love of actions, not emotions. It is used specifically about a million times in these verses. Most times, it could be read “serve” — the concept is there.
The first part of the test is, Do we love one another (1 John 4:7)? God is love (Verse 8), and if we don’t love, we don’t know God. God has proven that He is love by sending His Son to die in our place (1 John 4:10). There is no greater exhibit of love than that (John 15:13).
Love is proof of God’s existence (1 John 4:12, 16). In fact, many missionaries can attest to the fact that it is the love shown by them to the heathen that draws them to Christ.
This special love is also evidence of salvation (1 John 4:13 – 18). When a person accepts Christ as Lord and Savior, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside the new child of God (Verse 13). The work of the Spirit witnesses to the love and presence of God in the new believer. This love casts out the fear of judgment (1 John 4:17 – 18). Therefore, another test of salvation is our attitude toward judgment from God. If we are afraid of coming judgment, then we do not understand the love of God that provided a way of escape at the cross. When the love of God abides in us through Christ, we do not fear His punishment — we know Christ bore our punishment and we don’t have to face it.
One thing evolutionists cannot explain by naturalistic processes is love. Were evolution true, we would be killing each other for survival, not building hospitals, schools, churches, and legal institutions. Love itself comes from God and God alone (1 John 4:19).
Few people, when asked if they love God, would say, “No.” In fact, love has superseded holiness and God’s other attributes in modern churchianity. It’s harder to love something or someone intangible, so we cannot say we love God and not love another person, which is much easier because we see them (1 John 4:20). It is important to make sure our expressions of love to God are sincere; if they are, they will result in actions.
Obedience is another proof of love (1 John 5:2 – 3). Jesus Himself made sure His disciples understood that love is a motivation for action: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” (John 14:15). “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him” (John 14:21).
Overcoming worldliness, including the world’s idea of love based on fleeting emotions and passions, is a victory of faith. Loving God’s children is a part of that victory.
We don’t always like to take tests. But there is one test that everyone needs to take: the test of love. Is our love for God and our fellow humans, especially Christians, genuine? Can your love be translated, “action”?
Love,
Alan Allegra