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1 John 4 v7-11
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1 John 4:7-11
Copyright © June 22, 2016 Douglas W. Jerving.
All Rights Reserved.
1 John 4:7-11
The Priority of Love
"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."
Here is the first and most basic principle of Christian life. It is the foundation of all Bible based ethics.
As the people of God's own choosing, the first lesson we learn is to forgive and move beyond any real or
perceived slights against us, realizing that that is what God our Savior has already done concerning us.
Perfect love casts aside all fear of rejection and chooses instead to abide in harmony with others, as much
as possible from our own side. It covers over (with the blood of Jesus) our sins against God and any sin we
may see as standing between us and others.
That is the meaning of the theological term propitiation: to cover over. Our sins have been covered over by
the precious blood of Jesus poured upon the altar of His sacrifice, and sprinkled over the ark of the covenant
where was the law that was against us.
One of the first songs I remember learning in the early charismatic movement was a musical version of 1 John 4:7
and 8. It was the first point of Biblical and Christian ethics that we learned as essential to a life guided by
the Holy Spirit (God). It was a regular part of our liturgy (worship services) to sing/pray this scripture,
because the singing of it was a continual reminder of what God had done for us and what we should, in gratitude
toward Him, do for others.
In the Christian's growth to a mature believer it is easy to forget these basic principles. After all, there is
so much else to learn, and a mere lifetime to learn them, and a world around us that is so opposed to us. We need
the on-going reminder to return to these simple first instructions about our lives as believers. None of those
first principles of Christian life is more important than this: that we love one another.
"Beloved, let us love one another."
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Doug Jerving is the publisher of the NewEdisonGazette.com. You may contact him at
dje@newedisongazette.com.
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