God is the source of love
Every day we’re asking four questions about part of the Bible. Today Owen Lynch answers:
What did I like about today’s passage?
1 John is actually anonymous, but 2nd and 3rd John are written by someone who is called the “elder”. The language and style of all three letters is identical and identical to John’s Gospel, so most scholars think that these letters are written by one of Jesus’ close disciples. John is now overseeing a network of house church communities that are probably in and around Ephesus.
It seems that these house-churches are full of mostly Jewish people who accepted Jesus as their Messiah. John is writing to help them through a crisis caused by a number of Jews changing their mind about Jesus being the Messiah. It seems that a number of other Jewish Pharisees and Teachers have convinced many of them that Jesus in not the Messiah and not the Son of God, which explains why John spends so much time in this letter reassuring them that Jesus is the Son of God (1:3, 2:20-23, 3:23, 4:2-3, 4:14-15, 5:1, 5:5-6, 5:20).
Look at how many references John makes to Jesus being the Son of God - eight times in this short letter! John repeats himself to make his point clear!
See here’s the thing - everything that the first apostles (Paul, Peter and John amongst others) preached turned on this one reality - that Jesus was the Son of God, the Jewish Messiah. It all turned on that one reality, and if that wasn’t true, then they had nothing to preach about. Why was it so important that Jesus was the Messiah? Simply, because by sending the Messiah to restore and reconcile humanity to God, God was showing his unconditional love for humanity.
What did it show me about Father God, Jesus or the Holy Spirit?
It shows us that God is love (4:8-10) and that God’s unconditional love for humanity is the source of all love. In fact, John goes further and says - 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
So when we love one another, the life of God is in us and his love is made complete. That is an astonishing statement! But as we think about it, it makes sense - if God is love (4:8), then when we love unconditionally it is God living in us.
What am I going to do differently as a result?
Every time I actively love other people unconditionally, I will pause and thank God for living in me. And I will thank him for loving me unconditionally.
Who am I going to share this with?
Myself - every time I love unconditionally, I am going to remind myself that God is living in me.