JOHN’S LETTERS were probably written very near the end of the first century A.D., and very near the end of his life. It was a time of rising persecution against Christians by various forces, but specifically Rome, under the ruler Domitian. John’s driven purpose in writing his first letter is singular, but three-fold. He is teaching Christians how to discern true teachers by their ethics, their proclamation of Jesus in the flesh, and their love. All three are important, even inseparable, but his stress is placed on love. For John, “God is love.” (1 John 4:16b) John uses the word love—“agapao,” also, “agape”—fifty-seven times in his lengthy gospel, and forty-six times in this short letter. He uses it in both verb and noun forms sixteen times in the 1 John 14:7-17 passage. The translation from the Greek word renders love as “unconditional love.” This, in fact and deed, is a love letter by the Apostle of Love, and it comes to us across two thousand years of Christian history.
Since John wrote under inspiration of the Holy Spirit, it is more specifically, in fact and deed, a love letter from God. The fact that Jesus died on the cross is incontrovertible for John—he was there as a young man at Jesus’ crucifixion, and watched in inconsolable grief as “one of the soldiers pierced Jesus’ side with a spear, bringing a sudden flow of blood and water.” (John 19:34) He later recounts, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
In John’s experiential relationship with Jesus, he has lived with him throughout three plus years of ministry, watched him die on the cross, and seen him resurrected from the grave (cf. John 20:8, 19), and viewed his ascent into the heavens (cf. Act 1:9). His love for Jesus has been stretched beyond boundaries of space and time and matter. As an old man, all of this is woven together in his mind, and he writes, “This is the one who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ. He did not come by water only, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who testifies, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three that testify: the Spirit, the water and the blood; and the three are in agreement.” (1 John 5:6-8) These are all facts for John, and so is the deed—used in the sense of both what was accomplished, and also in the legal sense—to the new covenant. He adds “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)
The fact is, God loves us all—all the seven before and the eight now, comprising fifteen billion people and counting—and he desires that none of those created in his image (c.f. Gen.1:27) should “perish, but have everlasting life.” (John 3:16b) More specifically, he yearns that neither you nor I lose our way, for “small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matt. 7:14) His love for us in Jesus is made clear, for Jesus’ intimate knowledge of the Father leads him to whisper to us, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” (John 14:6)
However, God’s love for us comes at a cost; it cost him his Son, and it costs us the life of our ‘old man.’ “You are not your own; you were bought at a price.” (1 Cor. 6:19-20) “Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life.” (Rom. 6:3-4)
This is at the heart of the new covenant, where God’s will becomes our will, where God’s heart becomes our heart, and where the mind of Christ begins to be formed within us. Jesus made this simple for us to understand. “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matt. 22:37-40) But it’s not easy to do. John, old in years and experience and in knowledge of the grace of God in Jesus, leaves a little practical advice behind for us. It is tucked away in his letter. “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.” (1 John 4:16b-17)
Father, may our faith be made strong daily, sufficient for the trials at hand. May we “grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.” (2 Pet. 3:18)
Q. Am I seen as a loving person?
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