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Now, to make use of this last proof, caution was required, for many false
prophets would assume, and even in the time of the apostle had already
assumed, the semblance of having received communications from the Spirit of
God, and insinuated themselves among the Christians. It was necessary
therefore to put them on their guard, by giving them the sure mark of the
real Spirit of God. The first of these was the confession of Jesus come in
the flesh. It is not merely to confess that He is come, but to confess Him
thus come. The second was that He who really knew God hearkened to the
apostles. In this way the writings of the apostles become a touchstone for
those who pretend to teach the assembly. All the word is so, doubtless; but
I confine myself here to that which is said in this place. The teaching of
the apostles is formally a touchstone for all other teaching-I mean that
which they themselves taught immediately. If any one tells me that others
must explain or develop it to have the truth and certainty of faith, I
reply, "You are not of God, for he who is of God hearkens to them; and you
would have me not to hearken to them; and whatever may be your pretext, you
prevent my doing so." The denial of Jesus come in the flesh is the spirit
of Antichrist. Not to hear the apostles is the provisional and preparatory
form of the evil. True Christians had overcome the spirit of error by the
Spirit of God who dwelt in them.
The three tests of true Christianity are now distinctly laid down, and the
apostle pursues his exhortations, developing the fullness and intimacy of
our relationships with a God of love, maintaining that participation of
nature in which love is of God, and he who loves is born of God-partakes
therefore of His nature, and knows Him (for it is by faith that he received
it) as partaking of His nature. He who loves not does not know God. We must
possess the nature that loves in order to know what love is. He then who
does not love does not know God, for God is love. Such a person has not one
sentiment in connection with the nature of God; how then can he know Him?
No more than an animal can know what a man's mind or understanding is when
he has not got it.
Give especial heed, reader, to this immense prerogative, which flows from
the whole doctrine of the epistle. The eternal life which was with the
Father has been manifested and has been imparted to us: thus we are
partakers of the divine nature. The affections of that nature acting in us
rest, by the power of the Holy Ghost, in the enjoyment of communion with
God who is its source; we dwell in Him and He in us. The first thing is the
statement of the truth in us. The actings of this nature prove that He
dwells -that, if we thus love, God Himself dwells in us. He who works this
love is there. But He is infinite and the heart rests in Him; we know at
the same time that we dwell in Him and He in us, because He has given us of
His Spirit. But this passage, so rich in blessing, demands that we should
follow it with order.
He begins with the fact that love is of God. It is His nature: He is its
source. Therefore he who loves is born of God, is a partaker of His nature.
Also he knows God, for he knows what love is, and God is its fullness. This
is the doctrine which makes everything depend on our participation in the
divine nature.
Now this might be transformed on the one hand into mysticism,- by leading
us to fix our attention on our love for God, and love in us, that being
God's nature, as if it was said, love is God, not God is love, and be
seeking to fathom the divine nature in ourselves; or to doubt on the other,
because we do not find the effects of the divine nature in us as we would.
In effect, he who does not love (for the thing, as ever in John, is
expressed in an abstract way) does not know God, for God is love. The
possession of the nature is necessary to the understanding of what that
nature is, and for the knowledge of Him who is its perfection.
But, if I seek to know it and have or give the proof of it, it is not to
the existence of the nature in us that the Spirit of God directs the
thoughts of the believers as their object. God, he has said, is love; and
this love has been manifested towards us in that He has given His only Son,
that we might live through Him. The proof is not the life in us, but that
God has given His Son in order that we might live, and further to make
propitiation for our sins. God be praised! we know this love, not by the
poor results of its action in ourselves, but in its perfection in God, and
that even in a manifestation of it towards us, which is wholly outside
ourselves. It is a fact outside ourselves which is the manifestation of
this perfect love. We enjoy it by participating in the divine nature; we
know it by the infinite gift of God's Son. The exercise and proof of it are
there.
The full scope of this principle and all the force of its truth are stated
and demonstrated in that which follows. It is striking to see how the Holy
Spirit, in an epistle which is essentially occupied with the life of Christ
and its fruits in us, gives the proof and full character of love in that
which is wholly without ourselves. Nor can anything be more perfect than
the way in which the love of God is here set forth, from the time it is
occupied with our sinful state till we stand before the judgment-seat. God
has thought of all: love towards us as sinners, verses 9,10; in us as
saints, verse 12; with us as perfect in our condition in view of the day of
judgment, verse 17. In the first verses, the love of God is manifested in
the gift of Christ; first, to give us life-we were dead; secondly, to make
propitiation-we were guilty. Our whole case is taken up. In the second of
these verses the great principle of grace, what love is, where and how
known, is clearly stated in words of infinite importance as to the very
nature of Christianity. Herein is love, not that we have loved God (that
was the principle of the law), but in that He has loved us, and has given
His Son to make propitiation for our sins. Here, then, it is that we have
learnt that which love is. It was perfect in Him when we had no love for
Him; perfect in Him in that He exercised it towards us when we were in our
sins, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for them. The apostle then
affirms, no doubt, that he who loves not knows not God. The pretension to
possess this love is judged by this means; but in order to know love we
must not seek for it in ourselves, but seek it manifested in God when we
had none. He gives the life which loves, and He has made propitiation for
our sins
And now with regard to the enjoyment and the privileges of this love:-if
God has so loved us (this is the ground that He takes) we ought to love one
another.
No one has ever seen God: if we love one another, God dwells in us. His
presence, Himself dwelling in us, rises in the excellency of His nature
above all the barriers of circumstances, and attaches us to those who are
His. It is God in the power of His nature which is the source of thought
and feeling and diffuses itself among them in whom it is. One can
understand this. How is it that I love strangers from another land, persons
of different habits, whom I have never known, more intimately than members
of my own family after the flesh? How is it that I have thoughts in common,
objects infinitely loved in common, affections powerfully engaged, a
stronger bond with persons whom I have never seen, than with the otherwise
dear companions of my childhood? It is because there is in them and in me a
source of thoughts and affections which is not human. God is in it. God
dwells in us. What happiness! What a bond ! Does He not communicate Himself
to the soul? Does He not render it conscious of His presence in love ?
Assured]y, yes. And if He is thus in us, the blessed source of our
thoughts, can there be fear, or distance, or uncertainty, with regard to
what He is? None at all. His love is perfect in us. We know Him as love in
our souls: the second great point in this remarkable passage, the enjoyment
of divine love in our souls.
The apostle has not yet said,"We know that we dwell in him." He will say it
now. But, if the love of the brethren is in us, God dwells in us. When it
is in exercise, we are conscious of the presence of God, as perfect love in
us. It fills the heart, and thus is exercised in us. Now this consciousness
is the effect of the presence of His Spirit, as the source and power of
life and nature, in us. He has given us, not here "his Spirit"-the proof
that He dwells in us, but "of his Spirit;" we participate by His presence
in us in divine affection through the Spirit, and thus we not only know
that He dwells in us, but the presence of the Spirit, acting in a nature
which is that of God in us, makes us conscious that we dwell in Him. For He
is the infiniteness and perfection of that which is now in us.
The heart rests in this, and enjoys Him, and is hidden from all that is
outside Him, in the consciousness of the perfect love in which (thus
dwelling in Him) one finds oneself. The Spirit makes us dwell in God, and
gives us thus the consciousness that He dwells in us. Thus we, in the
savour and consciousness of the love that was in it, can testify of that in
which it was manifested beyond all Jewish limits, that the Father sent the
Son to be the Saviour of the world. We shall see further another character
of it.
If we compare verse 12 of our chapter 4 with chapter 1:18 of the Gospel by
John, we shall better apprehend the scope of the apostle's teaching here.
The same difficulty, or if you will, the same truth is presented in both
cases. No one has ever seen God. How is this met?
In John 1:18 the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, He
has declared Him. He who is [see note #17] in the most perfect intimacy, in the
most absolute proximity and enjoyment of
the Father's love, the one eternal, sufficient object that knew the love of
the Father as His only Son, has revealed Him unto men as He has Himself
known Him. What is the answer in our epistle to this same difficulty? "If
we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us."
By the communication of the divine nature, and by the dwelling of God in
us, we inwardly enjoy Him as He has been manifested and declared by :His
only Son. His love is perfect in us, known to the heart, as it has been
declared in Jesus. The God who has been declared by Him dwells in us. What
a thought! that this answer to the fact that no one has ever seen God is
equally, that the only Son has declared Him, and that He dwells in us. What
light this throws upon the words, "which thing is true in him and in you!"
[see note #18] For it is in that
Christ has become our life that we can thus enjoy God and His presence in
us by the power of the Holy Ghost. And from this we have seen that the
testimony of verse 14 flows.
We see, also, the distinction between God dwelling in us and we in God,
even in that which Christ says of Himself. He abode always in the Father,
and the Father in Him; but He says, "The Father who dwelleth in me, he
doeth the works." Through His word the disciples ought to have believed in
them both; but in that which they had seen-in His works -they had rather
seen the proof that the Father dwelt in Him. They who had seen Him had seen
the Father. But when the Comforter was come, at that day they should know
that Jesus was in His Father-divinely one with the Father.
He does not say that we are in God, nor in the Father, [see note #19] but that we
dwell in Him, and we
know it, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have already noticed
that He says (chap. 3:24) "hereby we know that he God abideth in us,
because he has given us his Spirit." Here he adds, We know that we dwell in
God, because it is-not the manifestation, as a proof, but-communion with
God Himself. We know that we dwell in Him, always as a precious truth-an
unchangeable fact; sensibly, when His love is active in the heart.
Consequently it is to this activity that the apostle immediately turns by
adding "and we have seen and do testify, that the Father sent the Son to be
the Saviour of the world." This was the proof for every one, of that love
which the apostle enjoyed-as all believers do-in his own heart. It is
important to notice how the passage thus first presents the fact of God's
dwelling in us, then the effect (as He is infinite), our dwelling in Him,
and then the realisation of the first truth in conscious reality of life.
We may remark here that, while God's dwelling in us is a doctrinal fact and
true of every real Christian, our dwelling in Him, though involved in it,
is connected with our state. Thus chapter 3:24, "He that keepeth his
commandments dwelleth in him, and he in him." Chapter 4:16, "He that
dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.''
Love one to another is indeed taken as the proof that God is there, and His
love is perfected in us-this to contrast the manner of His presence with
that of Christ. (John 1:18) But, what we thus know is dwelling in Him and
He in us. In each case this knowledge is by the Spirit. Verse 15 is the
universal fact: verse 16 brings it fully up to its source. We have known
and believed the love that God hath to us. His nature is there declared in
itself (for we joy in God); God is love, and he who dwells in love dwells
in God and God in him. There is none anywhere else: if we partake of His
nature, we partake of it, and he who abides in it abides in God who is the
fullness of it. But then remark that while what He is is insisted on, His
personal being is carefully insisted on. He dwells in us.
And here comes in a principle of deep importance. It might perhaps be said
that this dwelling of God in us and our dwelling in Him depended on a large
measure of spirituality, the apostle having in fact spoken of the highest
possible joy. But although the degree in which we intelligently realise it
is in effect a matter of spirituality, yet the thing in itself is the
portion of every Christian. It is our position, because Christ is our life,
and because the Holy Ghost is given us. "Whosoever shall confess that Jesus
is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him and he in God." How great the grace
of the gospel! How admirable our position because it is in Jesus that we
possess it! It is important to hold fast this, that it is the portion of
every Christian, the joy of the humble, the strongest reproach to the
conscience of the careless.
The apostle explains this high position by the possession of the divine
nature-the essential condition of Christianity. A Christian is one who is a
partaker of the divine nature, and in whom the Spirit dwells. But the
knowledge of our position does not flow from the consideration of this
truth, though it depends on its being true, but of that of God's own love,
as we have already seen. And the apostle goes on to say "We have known and
believed the love that God has to us." This is the source of our knowledge
and enjoyment of these privileges, so sweet and so marvelously exalted, but
so simple and so real to the heart when they are known.
We have known love, the love that God has for us, and we have believed it.
Precious knowledge! by possessing it we know God; for it is thus that He
has manifested Himself. Therefore can we say, "God is love." There is none
beside. Himself is love. He is love in all its fullness. He is not
holiness, He is holy; but He is love. He is not righteousness; He is
righteous.[see note #20]
By dwelling then in love I dwell in Him, which I could not do unless He
dwelt in me, and this He does. Here he puts it first, that we dwell in Him,
because it is God Himself who is before our eyes, as the love in which we
dwell. Therefore, when thinking of this love, I say that I dwell in Him,
because I have in my heart the consciousness of it by the Spirit. At the
same time this love is an active energetic principle in us; it is God
Himself who is there. This is the joy of our position-the position of every
Christian.
Verses 14 and 16 present the twofold effect of the manifestation of this love.
First, the testimony that the Father has sent the Son to be the Saviour of
the world. Quite outside the promises made to the Jews (as everywhere in
John), this work is the fruit of that which God Himself is. Accordingly
whosoever confesses Jesus to be that Son enjoys all the fullness of its
blessed consequences.
Secondly, the Christian has believed for himself in this love, and he
enjoys it according to its fullness. There is only this modification of the
expression of the glorious fact of our portion-that the confession of Jesus
as the Son of God is primarily here the proof that God dwells in us,
although the other part of the truth equally says that he who confesses Him
dwells also in God.
When speaking of our portion in communion, as believing in this love, it is
said, that he who dwells in love dwells in God; for in effect that is where
the heart is. Here also the other part of the truth is equally true; God
dwells in him likewise
I have spoken of the consciousness of this dwelling in God, for it is thus
only that it is known. But it is important to remember that the apostle
teaches it as a truth that applies to every believer. These might have
excused themselves for not appropriating these statements as too high for
them; but this fact judges the excuse. This communion is neglected. But God
dwells in every one who confesses that Jesus is Son of God, and he in God.
What an encouragement for a timid believer! What a rebuke for a careless
one!
The apostle returns to our relative position, viewing God as outside
ourselves, as Him before whom we are to appear and with whom we have always
to do. This is the third great proof and character of love in which it is
complete, testifying, as I have already said, that God has thought on all
as to us from our sinful state to the day of judgment.
Herein is love perfect with us (in order that we may have boldness for the
day of judgment), namely, that as He is, such are we in this world. In
truth, what could give us a more complete assurance for that day than to be
as Jesus Himself-like the judge? He who will judge in righteousness is our
righteousness. We are in Him the righteousness according to which He will
judge. We are in respect of judgment as He is. Truly this can give us
perfect peace. But observe, that it is not only in the day of judgment that
this is so (it gives us boldness for it), but we are it in this world. Not
as He was, but in this world we are as He is, and have our known place
already, as needed, and according to the nature and counsels of God, for
that day. It is ours as being livingly identified with Him.
Now in love there is no fear; there is confidence. If I am sure that a
person loves me, I do not fear him. If I am only desiring to be the object
of his affection, I may fear that I am not so, and may even fear himself.
Nevertheless this fear would always tend to destroy my love for him and my
desire to be loved by him. There is incompatibility between the two
affections-there is no fear in love. Perfect love then banishes fear; for
fear torments us, and torment is not the enjoyment of love. He therefore
who fears does not know perfect love. And now what does he mean by "perfect
love"? It is that which God is, and which He has fully displayed in Christ,
and given us to know and to enjoy by His presence in us, so that we dwell
in Him. The positive proof of its complete perfectness is that we are such
as Christ is. It is manifested towards us, perfected in us, and made
perfect with us. But that which we enjoy is God, who is love, and we enjoy
Him by His being in us, so that love and confidence are in our hearts, and
we have rest. That which I know of God is that He is love, and love to me,
and nothing else but love to me, because it is Himself who is so. Therefore
there is no fear. [see note #21]
If we inquire practically into the history, so to speak, of these
affections; if we seek to separate that which in the enjoyment is united,
because the divine nature in us, which is love, enjoys love in its
perfection in God (His love shed abroad in the heart by His presence
therefore); if we wish to specify the relationship in which our hearts find
themselves with God in regard to this, here it is: " we love him because
he, first loved us." It is grace and it must be grace because it is God who
is to be glorified.
Here, it will be worth our while to notice the order of this remarkable
passage. Verses 7-10: We possess the nature of God; consequently we love,
we are born of Him, and we know Him. But the manifestation of love towards
us in Christ Jesus is the proof of that love; it is thus that we know it.
Verses 11-16: We enjoy it by dwelling in it. It is present life in the love
of God by the presence of His Spirit in us; the enjoyment of that love by
communion, in that God dwells in us, and we thus dwell in Him. Verse 17 His
love is perfected with us; the perfection of that love, viewed in the place
that it has given us in view of judgment-we are, in this world, such as
Christ is. Verses 18-19: it is thus fully perfected with us. Love to
sinners, communion, perfection before God, give us the moral and
characteristic elements of that love-what it is in our relationship with
God.
In the first passage, where the apostle speaks of the manifestation of this
love, he does not go beyond the fact that one who loves is born of God. The
nature of God (which is love) being in us, he who loves know~ Him, for he
is born of Him-has His nature and realises what it is.
It is that which God has been with regard to the sinner which demonstrates
His nature of love. afterwards, that which we learnt as sinners we enjoy as
saints. The perfect love of God is shed abroad in the heart, and we dwell
in Him. As already with Jesus in this world, and as He is, fear has no
place in one to whom the love of God is a dwelling-place and rest.
Verse 20: the reality of our love to God, fruit of His love to us, is now
tested. If we say that we love God and do not love the brethren, we are
liars; for if the divine nature, so near us (in the brethren near us), and
Christ's value for them, does not awaken our spiritual affections, how then
can He who is afar off do so? This also is His commandment, that he who
loves God love his brother also. Obedience is found here also. (Compare
John 14:31)
Love for the brethren proves the reality of our love for God. And this love
must be universal, must be in exercise towards all Christians, for whoever
believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God; and he who loves a person
will love one who is born of Him. And if the being born of Him is the
motive, we shall love all that are born of Him.
