November 19
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the Propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another,” 1 John 4:7-11.
Near the end of the Gospel according to St. John, these words are written: “Then Peter, turning around, saw the disciple whom Jesus loved following, who also had leaned on His breast at the supper, and said, ‘Lord, who is the one who betrays You?’” John 21:20. In this verse, there is a reference to “the disciple whom Jesus loved.” A number of times previously, the author of the fourth Gospel uses that same expression.
From the early days of the Christian Church, the church fathers designated the disciple John as the author of the Gospel according to St. John, and also the author of the three Epistles of John. However, nowhere in the Gospel or in the three Epistles does the author identify himself by name as being the disciple John. We simply accept the historical tradition of the early church fathers.
One of the key words in the Gospel according to St. John and in the three Epistles is the word “love,” which supports the tradition that all four Books have the same author. Familiar to those who read and study the Bible is John 3:16, which is called the Gospel in a nutshell: “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.”
In the five verses quoted above on which this meditation is based (1 John 4:7-11), the word “love” appears eleven times in one form or another. In its broadest and deepest meaning, the word “love” directs us to God. John writes, “Love is of God.” “God is love.” In order for us to comprehend the depth of meaning, we are directed to Calvary: “In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.” In order for us to have life through Jesus, we are directed to the death of God’s only begotten Son, through which He washed away our sins. In the Book of Revelation, John also writes, “To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood . . . be glory and dominion forever and ever,” Revelation 1:5-6.
The apostle Paul wrote, “But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God,” 1 Corinthians 6:11. We are washed clean, we are called into God’s family by the Holy Spirit, and we are declared just and forgiven by our loving and gracious God. John says, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the Propitiation for our sins.” We did not love God first; He first loved us, as John writes: “We love Him because He first loved us,” 1 John 4:19. Therefore, it is a logical conclusion: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”
“Blest be the tie that binds
Our hearts in Christian love;
The fellowship of kindred minds,
Is like to that above.
We share our mutual woes,
Our mutual burdens bear,
And often for each other flows,
The sympathizing tear.
From sorrow, toil, and pain,
And sin we shall be free,
And perfect love and friendship reign,
Through all eternity.” Amen.