I John 4:11

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Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

THE STUDY:

          The author’s purpose in explaining the nature of God’s love expressed in the sending of his one and only Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins (4:9–10) is very practical, and is related to the central purpose of the letter, that is, to reassure his readers that they are in the truth, and to furnish them with criteria by which to evaluate the false claims of the secessionists. The author is not giving a lesson about the love of God for its own sake, but to show that God’s love for us must cause us to love one another. Accordingly, he writes: Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. Since God so loved ‘us’, there is an obligation resting upon ‘us’ to love one another.^[1]

This love that sent the Son, John insists, “ought” to compel us “to love one another”. The word ought (opheilomen) suggests a moral debt owed (see Matt 18:28; Rom 13:8). The emphatic pronoun hēmeis, we, intensifies the statement, since it is already implicit in the verb ending. Right spiritual relationship in the vertical plane—God to humankind—will rightly manifest itself in a relationship of love on the horizontal—person-to-person.^[2]

WHAT WE CAN WALK AWAY WITH ….

• We walk away this morning with the understanding that since God loved US, we owe it to God to love one another. This need not be looked at as an option but as something owed.

CONCLUSION:

          I believe every married couple has had a “DISCUSSION” now and then (Translating the word discussion: an argument or fight). In the heat of the moment you may not like one another. I remember once my wife looking at me and saying, “I don’t like you right now!” May actions may not have deserved her affection at that moment but I knew she loved me anyway. WHY? Because God loved us!

          There are going to be people in our lives that don’t live up to our morals or standards. They don’t live a life that is pleasing to God. Whatever the case may be, we are to love them.  Hate the sin but love the sinner. Today, let us look at the individuals in our life that are hard to love and love them anyway. Why? Because God loved us!

Blessings my friends

Pastor Rod

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^[1] Kruse, C. G. (2000). The letters of John. The Pillar New Testament commentary (161). Grand Rapids, Mich.; Leicester, England: W.B. Eerdmans Pub.; Apollos.

^[2] Williamson, R. (2010). 1, 2, & 3 John: A Commentary in the Wesleyan Tradition. New Beacon Bible Commentary (145). Kansas City, MO: Beacon Hill Press.