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1 John 4:9–10
“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
In today’s passage, John continues to show us how we are to imitate God in loving one another. Having declared that “God is love” (1 John 4:8), the Apostle now sets before us the supreme manifestation of that love, so that we might grasp what it means for God to love us and for us to love one another.
Let us note first that the love of God is self-originating: It does not arise from anything outside Him but belongs to His own divine nature. With us it is different. Something outside us usually moves us to love another person, and in our fallen condition we do not love the unlovely. God is not like this, as the statement “God is love” makes plain, for His love does not depend on the loveliness of the creatures He has chosen to love.
Lest anyone doubt this, John supplies the supreme example in verses 9–10: “In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.” God’s love is seen preeminently in His sending of Jesus for our redemption, and that love is not based on anything lovely in us. We were sinners by nature, deserving only His wrath, yet God loved us and sent Jesus to be a propitiation—to satisfy His justice and to turn His wrath away from us. As John Calvin comments on this passage, “Christ, then, is so illustrious and singular a proof of divine love towards us, that whenever we look upon him, he fully confirms to us the truth that God is love.” God’s love is a love that acts at great cost to Himself. Divine love took the initiative: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8).
Greek philosophy in John’s day taught that the highest form of love is love for what is worthy of love. Scripture teaches something very different: If God is love, and if the sending of Jesus is the supreme display of His love, then the highest form of love is love for the unlovely. And since Jesus is God and sacrificed Himself for us, we love as God loves only when we are willing to sacrifice ourselves for the good of others. That may mean giving up our lives (1 John 3:16), but even when it does not, it means freely giving of ourselves in deeds of self-denial to those who seem unworthy of such love. In this way, we reflect the love of God in Christ Jesus.
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
This teaching is radical indeed, for we are called to love even the unlovely and to do so at real cost to ourselves. Let us consider those whom God has placed in our lives, reflect on how we ought to deny ourselves to love unlovely people, and begin taking steps to love such people today.
For further study
- Isaiah 53:4–6
- Romans 3:23–26
- 2 Corinthians 5:18–21
- 1 Peter 2:24–25
The bible in a year
- Jeremiah 39–41
- Hebrews 3:1–4:13