Between Sisters Blog | Agape, Agape, Agape… Part 2

In the last post we ended with this question: “if God has bestowed such love on us, will we overcome all our petty reasons for not loving one another?” In this next section, John begins laying out what our love looks like in light of God’s love!

Abiding in Love (1 John 4:12–21)

‭‭John says in verse 12 that our love completes two important functions. First, it proves God is real. When others see you loving others, it is evidence, even though they cannot see Him, that God is real. You can lecture to the person on the attributes of God, but that knowledge is cemented by that person witnessing God’s love lived out in your life toward that person and others. “The invisible God becomes visible to him through you.” Second, it dwells in us. This lifestyle of love is perfected slowly, but surely, as we become more and more like Him, specifically in the way we love others. Your spiritual maturity is not defined by your age, how long you’ve been saved, how long you’ve been a member of Christ’s Church, how well you know your Bible, or if you serve in the church. Your spiritual maturity is “measured by love.” Jesus said in John 13:35, “By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” This word for perfection is not a moral perfection, meaning “without flaw,” but “mature, complete, full-orbed.” Abiding in Christ means that our behavior matches His behavior—namely it loves as He loves!

In verses 13 through 15, John states that we have assurance that we really have salvation because God has given us the Holy Spirit to abide in us, whose presence proves that we are united to Christ. Verse 13 states that the Holy Spirit takes up residence in us as soon as we are converted and is also known as the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Many charismatics believe that the baptism of the Holy Spirit happens later in someone’s spiritual walk, but 1 Corinthians 12:13 declares that this baptism is for every believer! John Stott says that “the essence of the gospel” is seen in verse 14. “What John saw of the life, ministry, and death of Jesus was not a passing glimpse of curiosity but a steady gaze of contemplation. Regardless of race, regardless of face, regardless of place, Jesus came to save sinners.” Verse 15 lays out the fact that confession of Jesus as the Son of God actually means confessing that Jesus is completely God and completely man, and this belief is essential to our salvation. This belief draws a firm line in the sand between true believers and false believers. God abiding in us and us in Him is “John’s way of speaking about someone’s genuine salvation.”