Deeper Reflection
SINCE GOD IS LOVE (VV.8, 16), IF WE ARE BORN OF GOD and know (i.e. have a relationship with) Him, we will experience and express God’s love for one another (vv.7, 11). God’s love is not a sentimental, feelings-only kind of love. It is an intentional act of the will. It is a choice to put the interests of others first. God Himself is the supreme example of that love. Because God chose to put the interests of fallen, spiritually dead human beings – sinners who rebel against His rule and disobey His commands – before His own interests, He sent His only Son Jesus Christ into the world to die on our behalf to give us life (v.9) by being the “propitiation”⁵⁵ for our sins (v.10). Through believing in Jesus the Son of God and the Saviour of the world (vv.14-15), we enter into a relationship with God and His Spirit dwells in us (v.13). When we abide in God and He in us,⁵⁶ His indwelling Spirit enables us to love people with God’s love; in this way, God’s love runs its course in our lives and we will increasingly be like God in His central attribute of love (vv.16-17). As the day of God’s judgment upon the world approaches, true believers will not fear but have great confidence that they belong to God and bear His likeness in the way they love people (vv.17-18).⁵⁷ Indeed, God is the source and motivation of our love – we love God because He first loved us (v.19) and we love other people with God’s love because He has commanded us to do so (v.20).

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⁵⁵ Or atoning sacrifice (Greek hilasmos). This has “the idea of turning away the divine wrath…God’s love for us is expressed in his sending his Son to be the propitiation (the propitiatory sacrifice) for our sins on the cross…The contemporary English ‘atoning sacrifice’ communicates this idea more effectively”: NET Bible study note. ⁵⁶ I.e. we remain closely connected to God through His Word and prayer. ⁵⁷ When God’s love is perfected (i.e. reaches the end of its course) in God’s people, they will find themselves having fully matured in their experience and expression of God’s love.