And we have known and believed the love that God has for us.
God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:16
“Jesus loves me, this I know, for the Bible tells me so” (Anna B. Wanney, 1860). Most everyone associates Jesus as one who loves, but not everyone sees Him in the verse above. Many people, when they come across the G word in the Bible, just assume it’s talking about God the Father and not the Son. God is love, but is it a name of Christ?
God is Love no matter how He shows Himself, but this verse shows clearly that God the Son is the personification of Love. John said that he had known and believed this love that God had for mankind. He specifically chooses two words that he also uses repeatedly in referring to Christ. This is called “linkage.”
The Apostle talks about abiding in love and abiding in Christ. This expression calls to mind the Lord’s discourse of the true vine in John’s gospel chapter 15 where He says, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me” (verse 4). Christ goes on to say “abide in my love” (verse 9). Referring to other writings like this is called “allusion.”
When 1 John chapter 4 is seen in overview, the pieces fit together. “Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God” (verse 7). “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him” (verse 9). “Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God” (verse 15). “And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also” (verse 21). When surrounding verses work together to establish a point, it’s known as “context.” In this case, “God is love” = “Jesus is love.”
Christ is the embodiment of love. When you look at Him with the eyes of faith, you can see Love. Since love is emotion and feeling, it’s complex and difficult to define. However, if you know the Savior, you truly know what love is, because Jesus is Love.
May 25
