Saturday

Related Verses
1 John 4:7-18 (7, 10-12, 16, 18)
7 Beloved, let us love one another, because love is of God, and everyone who loves has been begotten of God and knows God.
8 He who does not love has not known God, because God is love.
9 In this the love of God was manifested among us, that God sent His only begotten Son into the world that we might have life and live through Him.
10 Herein is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son as a propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God has loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
12 No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.
13 In this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, that He has given to us of His Spirit.
14 And we have beheld and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world.
15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him and he in God.
16 And we know and have believed the love which God has in us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him.
17 In this has love been perfected with us, that we may have boldness in the day of the judgment because even as He is, so also are we in this world.
18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear because fear has punishment, and he who fears has not been perfected in love.

Related Reading
In 1 John 4:16 John says that he who abides in love abides in God and God abides in him. To abide in love is to live a life in which we love others habitually with the love that is God Himself, that He may be expressed in us. To abide in God is to live a life that is God Himself as our inward content and outward expression, that we may be absolutely one with Him. God abides in us to be our life inwardly and our living outwardly. Thus, He can be one with us in a practical way.  

In 4:16 we see that there is an organic union between us and God. This organic union is indicated by the word in. It is interesting that John does not say that God is love and that he who abides in God abides in love. Instead, he says that he who abides in love abides in God…To say that we abide in God when we abide in love means that the very love in which we abide is God Himself. This indicates that the love that we have toward others should be God Himself. If we abide in the love that is God Himself, we then abide in God, and God abides in us. (Life-study of 1 John, p. 308) 

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In our abiding in the love that is God Himself (1 John 4:16) the love of God is perfected in us, that is, perfectly manifested in us, that we may have boldness without fear (v. 18) in the day of judgment.  

In verse 17 John speaks of the love of God being perfected with us. The word perfected is a translation of the Greek word teleioo, which means “to complete, to accomplish, to finish.” The love of God itself is perfect and complete in Himself, but it still needs to be perfected in us. In order for God’s love to be perfected in us, we need to experience this love.  

John says that if the love of God is perfected in us, we may have boldness in the day of the judgment. The Greek word for boldness is parresia, meaning “boldness of speech, confidence.” In 3:21 boldness is for us to contact God in fellowship with Him. In 4:17 the boldness is for us to face the judgment at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10) at His coming back (1 Cor. 3:13; 4:5; 2 Tim. 4:8). The judgment at the judgment seat of Christ will not be for eternal perdition or eternal salvation but rather will be for reward or punishment. If we love the brothers with God as love, we will have boldness in the day when Christ judges His believers at His judgment seat.  

As in 1 John 3:3 and 7, He [in 4:17] refers to Christ. He lived in this world a life of God as love, and now He is our life so that we may live the same life of love in this world and be the same as He is.  

A literal translation of the first part of [verse 18] would be, “Fear is not in the love.” Fear does not refer to the fear that we will offend God and be judged by Him (1 Pet. 1:17; Heb. 12:28) but to the fear that we have offended God and will be judged by Him. Love refers to the perfected love mentioned in 1 John 4:17, the love of God with which we love others. Perfect love is the love that has been perfected in us by our loving others with the love of God. Such love casts out fear and causes us to have no fear of being punished by the Lord at His coming back (Luke 12:46-47).  

In 1 John 4:18 John tells us that he who fears has not been perfected in love. This means that the one who fears has not lived in the love of God so that it could be perfectly manifested in him.  

First, John says in 4:12 and 17 that God’s love needs to be perfected in us. Then in 4:18 he speaks of being perfected in love. This indicates that we and the divine love are mingled. When love is perfected in us, we are perfected in love, for we become the love, and the love becomes us. (Life-study of 1 John, pp. 308-310)  

Further Reading: Life-study of 1 John, msg. 35

Further Reading:
Further Reading: Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 8

Hymn: #30
1 What love Thou hast bestowed on us,
We thank Thee from our heart;
Our Father, we would worship Thee
And praise for all Thou art.

2 Thy heart Thou hast revealed to us,
Made known th’ eternal will;
Within the Son Thou hast come forth,
Thy purpose to fulfill.

3 Thou gavest Thy beloved Son
In love to come and die,
That we may be Thy many sons,
As heirs with Him, made nigh.

4 Through Him we have Thy very life
And Thou our Father art;
Thy very nature, all Thyself,
Thou dost to us impart.

5 Thy Spirit into ours has come
That we may “Abba” cry;
Of Spirit born, with Spirit sealed,
To be transformed thereby.

6 The many sons to glory brought
Is Thine eternal goal,
And to Thy Son’s own image wrought,
Thou wilt conform the whole.

7 Throughout Thy transformation work
Thou dost direct each one,
From glory unto glory bring
Until the work is done.

8 What love Thou, Father, hast bestowed;
We’ll ever grateful be;
We’ll worship Thee forevermore
And praise unceasingly.