1 John 4:7–11 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.
There is a profound truth in this passage that we all need to get a hold of: He loved us first! And wrapped up in that is the understanding that love in its purest form is His love for us, not our love for Him!
John 15:9 “I have loved you even as the Father has loved me.”
You may never have picked up on this before, but think about the sequence here. First the Father loved Jesus; then Jesus loved us; then we are commanded to love one another.
1 John 4:7 …for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
If everyone who loves has been born of God, then we were transformed by His Love – which came first – in order to even know who He is! His love for us is what allows us to know Him and be born again!
1 John 4:11 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. “
Since God so loved us…He loved us first! That is empowers us to love each other. Why is this important? Why is it significant? What difference does it make who loved whom first? Understanding this gives us a clear understanding of who we are as Christians. It would be impossible for us to keep the command “love one another” unless we first understood that we are God’s adopted children, dearly loved by Him from before the day we were born, and constantly being molded into His image. If we did not believe that, we would never find the encouragement, the strength, or the will to attempt to love our own friends and families, much less our enemies!
1 John 4:10: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
God’s love is so profound that He would pay the tab for our sins. Jesus came to be the sacrifice for our sins. He came so that we could have life now and life forever with Him. His love is immeasurable, beyond our comprehension, so vast that it covers everything, and it is everlasting! He is our loving Father.
1 John 4:11 “Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. “
