4:17 – By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. -
Jesus' love for us, having been amply demonstrated, gives us confidence to face God on the final judgement. Also, this is an exhortation, for us to follow Jesus' example. He came to demonstrate God's love for the world. We are to do the same.
Love... Confidence |
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4:18 – There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. -
Fear versus love. How does that fit into this discussion? If we are confident before God on the day of judgement (see v. 17) it means we no longer fear facing Him. Judgement usually involves punishment - there are really only two outcomes when facing judgement, punishment or exoneration.
| Love... No fear |
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4:19 – We love, because He first loved us. -
Our salvation is not a response to our devotion to God. In other words, salvation is initiated by God. God is not responding to our love, we are responding to His love for us. This is not to say God does not respond to our love; He does through fellowship, relationship, the Holy Spirit living in us, teaching and guiding us. His love for us is first. If, or when, we respond in faith and belief He showered us with blessings, peace. See John 3:16.
4:20 – If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. -
Love and hate are incompatible. The popular myth, put forward by Hollywood and TV, is that love and hate are close. I think this is a misunderstanding, confusing passion and lust. Anger is a driving passion; lust is a driving passion. But do not confuse lust with love. Love is an emotion, and can be a driving force - see God's love for us. Both lust and hate are driven by selfish desires, hormones, instincts. What we say and do comes from within. (See: Matt. 13:34, 15:11, 18).
You cannot love someone and desire to see them hurt. Likewise you cannot hate another person, and want the best thing for them (by 'best' - you cannot want to see them hurt or destroyed, or go to hell; there is no wishing they would have an accident, or die, or catch some horrible disease). I suspect that even Satan knows the 'best' for people is to not reject Jesus and go to Hell. Why does he persist? He is driven by His hatred for God, by his desire to be God - even though that is not possible. He knows he has been defeated by Christ, yet Satan persists. There is no love in Satan - he wants to inflict as much pain and damage as he can on God.
Love... No hate |
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4:21 – And this commandment we have from Him, that the one who loves God should love his brother also.
- See 1 John 2:7-11. This is a repeat of the command to love one another. We must love, because God's love is in us.
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