Day 564: Love's outcome – 1 John 4 vs 12 - 21

12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. 13-14 By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world.  15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. 16 God is love, and  whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. 

17-18 By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgement, because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but  perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. 

19-21 We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God”, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. 1 John 4:12-21 (English Standard Version)

This chapter began with the vital truth that Jesus Christ came 'in the flesh' from God. Some in John's time were denying this truth just as Muslim and Jewish people still do today. Why is it so important? (vs 12)

Because God is invisible to us. By sending His beloved Son in the flesh into the world God gave mankind a visual aid. In vs 13-14 John says that he and the other apostles were witnesses to this great event. In the gospel John wrote he said: “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have  seen  His  glory - glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14)

What’s the first outcome for those who believe the testimony of the apostles that God’s Son came in the flesh into the world, and is the Christ - i.e. the Messiah? (vs 15)

The invisible God lives in such people, and they grasp, and come to understand more and more, God's amazing love. They know that Jesus gave His life as a sacrificial substitute for their sins so that they could be freed from it's guilt and shame. Which leads to the next outcome of believing that Jesus came in the flesh from God.

What is the result when those who have believed on Jesus begin to put His love for them into action by loving other Christians with the same love God has shown them? (vs 17-18)

Their fears of having to face a holy God in the nakedness of their guilt and shame is removed. Christians are people who came to realize that they were sinners, and that sin can only earn and deserve punishment. Even people who care nothing about God usually agree that crimes in society deserve some sort of punishment. Our wrongdoings are crimes against God. And while some of us may ‘not look too bad’ on the outside, God sees and knows our heart. We all stand in need of the forgiveness which God extends through faith in His Son.

What is the third outcome of believing in the One whom God sent into the world to save sinners? (vs 19-21)

They show genuine love for other Christians. John says it is totally inconsistent to say we love God if we don't show that love to one another. In fact, Jesus calls us to show love even to people who aren't Christians and who may hate us and do wrong things to us. These verses imply that our certainty that we are saved, and that we truly belong to God, will only grow stronger if we love as He calls us to love. In the last Chapter John had said: “Little children, let us not love in word or talk - but in deed and in truth. By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him.” (1 John 3:18-19) God is love, and His love leads to wonderful results in the lives of those who believe Jesus came in the flesh, and that He is the Messiah, the Saviour of sinners.