John, known as “the disciple whom Jesus loved” or the apostle of love, doesn’t even refer to himself by name in his writings, but seems to define himself in terms of the Lord’s love — as someone whose life was absolutely changed by and because of God’s love. John uses what we sometimes call “agape” love 90 times: in his gospel 44 times and in his first epistle 46 times. Those 46 times in 1 John, in terms of ratio to total words in the letter, far surpass any other text in the Bible.
From 1 John 4:7-11 we see the attitude of love we must have and the actions of love we must take are rooted in and flow from God’s love. But make no mistake: the love John writes about is no mushy sentimentality or mere friendly affection. We see this not just from the particular vocabulary, but even more strongly from the context.
Consider John’s statement “God is love” in 1 John 4:8, 16. God is not defined by our concepts of love, however good or however bad they may be. The world has its own warped pictures of love, but our idea of love should be shaped by what we see about God. He cannot be separated from love, or rather it cannot be separated from Him.
1 John 4:9 tells us how “God’s love was revealed among us in this way” — God sent His only Son into this world so you and I could live through Him. God gives us many great and wonderful things, but His love is most powerfully shown in His Son and the crucifixion. All the rest is pale in comparison.
We are struck even harder by 1 John 4:10. When we read “In this is love” it is followed with the knowledge that what was done for us wasn’t because we were so loving. In the not/but construction we see that love is not defined by our love for God — it is defined by God’s love for us. The sort of love that moved God to send His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. It is the love Paul writes about in Romans 5:8, the love that was demonstrated by God sending Christ to die for sinners.
Back in 1 John 4:7, the aged apostle of love addresses his readers as “beloved” and weaves together our love and God’s love. He says “let us love one another”. Why, we ask? It is “because love is from God”. It is not because we are so lovable, not because it is easy to love one another, but because it is of God. When we learn to truly love one another, it will be because we decided to. If we expect to accidentally love in the way God loves, we will be sorely disappointed in our failures.
In 1 John 4:9-10 John writes of God’s love, then the disciple whom Jesus loved puts our obligation quite simply in 1 John 4:11 — “if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.” Do we dare ever aim for anything anything less than the love of God?
— Stefan Richardson