1 Johnchapter 4
21 verses · John, by tradition · AD 85 to 95 · The general letters
By this you will know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God,
Introduction
John, by tradition, The general letters, 1 John Overview.
John wrote this chapter for churches that welcomed travelling teachers into their homes and heard many claims to speak by the Spirit. The readers needed a way to tell the true voice from the false. The chapter gives them a test for teachers and then turns to the heart of the letter. Two short sentences about God stand at its centre, and a whole teaching on love is built around them. Listen for how often the word love returns. Listen also for fear, and for what drives it out.
Context
- Who
- Households expected to give a bed and a hearing to anyone arriving with a prophetic claim
- What
- A test for every spirit by its confession of Jesus Christ in the flesh, the teaching that God is love, and the command that those who love God love one another.
- Where
- Ephesus, where the early church places John in his last years, writing to house churches in the Roman province of Asia.
- When
- About AD 85 to 95 on the traditional dating, late in the apostle John's life.
- Why
- To guard the churches from false prophets, and to ground their love for one another in the love God showed in sending His Son.
Historical context
Inspired speech was everywhere in that world. Oracles were consulted for a fee, ecstatic prophets attached themselves to temples, and traveling seers worked the towns. A claim to speak by a spirit was common enough that it proved nothing by itself.
Show the rest of the historical context, 3 more paragraphs
The early church had the same traffic. A church-order document from around this period, the Didache, gives congregations practical rules for handling visiting prophets, how long a genuine one stays, and what asking for money reveals. John's rule is doctrinal rather than practical: what does he say about Jesus coming in the flesh.
That test is aimed at a specific denial. The teaching circulating in Asia held that the divine Christ could not really have taken a body or really have died, so John makes the body the dividing line.
The chapter's statement that God is love sits next to the definition of what love is: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice for our sins. The definition is an event, not a feeling.
Significance
The first hearers needed a rule they could apply at their own front door, without training. John gives them one sentence to listen for.
Show the rest of the significance, 1 more paragraph
The line about fear having to do with punishment answered people who had been made afraid of judgment by teachers claiming superior standing. Perfect love drives that fear out, and the proof offered is not an experience but the sending of the Son.
The heads below are this chapter's scenes. The numbered points under each are its verses.
Test the Spirits: Christ Come in the Flesh
1 John 4:1-3
test the spirits: The church tests what it hears: test the spirits, the Greek dokimazo, an assayer testing metal. The test is the confession that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, against Cerinthus, who taught that the Christ left Jesus before the cross. That denial was already abroad.
1 John 4:1
“Beloved, believe not every spirit - Do not confide implicitly in everyone who professes to be under the influences of the Holy Spirit. Compare Mat 24:4-5. The true and the false teachers of religion alike claimed to be under the influence of the Spirit of God, and it was of importance that all such pretensions should be examined. It was not to be admitted because anyone claimed to have been sent from God that therefore he was sent. Every such claim should be subjected to the proper proof before it was conceded.”
3 more voices on this verseWhat preachers and commentators have said about this verse, in their own words.
1 John 4:1
“Believe not every spirit - Whereby any teacher is actuated. But try the spirits - By the rule which follows. We are to try all spirits by the written word: "To the law and to the testimony!" If any man speak not according to these, the spirit which actuates him is not of God.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 4:1
“All, therefore, are outside of the [Christian] dispensation, who, under pretext of knowledge, understand that Jesus was one, and Christ another, and the Only-begotten another, from whom again is the Word, and that the Saviour is another, whom these disciples of error allege to be a production of those who were made Aeons in a state of degeneracy. Such men are to outward appearance sheep; for they appear to be like us, by what they say in public, repeating the same words as we do; but inwardly they are wolves.”
Irenaeus · written before 202 · Against Heresies Book IIIpatristic
1 John 4:1
“The Spirit of truth, and the spirit of error, speak by men's spirits as their organs. There is but one Spirit of truth, and one spirit of Antichrist. try--by the tests (1Jo 4:2, 3). All believers are to do so: not merely ecclesiastics.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
By this you will know the Spirit of God: The test for any spirit is its confession about Jesus. A true spirit confesses that Jesus Christ came in a real human body. Polycarp of Smyrna repeats this test in chapter 7 of his letter to the Philippians.
1 John 4:2
“Hereby know ye the Spirit of God - We know that the man who teaches that Jesus Christ is the promised Messiah, and that he is come in the flesh, is of God - is inspired by the Divine Spirit; for no man can call Jesus Lord but by the Holy Ghost.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:2
“Every spirit - Or teacher. Which confesseth - Both with heart and voice. Jesus Christ, who is come in the flesh, is of God - This his coming presupposes, contains, and draws after it, the whole doctrine of Christ.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 4:2
“John, moreover, brands that man as "a liar" who "denieth that Jesus is the Christ; "whilst on the other hand he declares that "every one is born of God who believeth that Jesus is the Christ." Wherefore he also exhorts us to believe in the name of His (the Father's, ) Son Jesus Christ, that "our fellowship may be with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Praxeaspatristic
every spirit that does not confess Jesus: The spirit that does not confess Jesus is the spirit of the antichrist named at 2:18. It was already in the world when John wrote, in the teachers who had left the church. Each age meets the same denial in new forms.
1 John 4:3
“The oldest extant manuscripts, which are, however, centuries after POLYCARP, read, "Every spirit that confesseth not (that is, refuses to confess) Jesus" (in His person, and all His offices and divinity), omitting "is come in the flesh." ye have heard--from your Christian teachers. already is it in the world--in the person of the false prophets (1Jo 4:1).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:3
"For whosoever does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh, is antichrist;" and whosoever does not confess the testimony of the cross, is of the devil; and whosoever perverts the oracles of the Lord to his own lusts, and says that there is neither a resurrection nor a judgment, he is the first-born of Satan.
Polycarp of Smyrna · written before 155 · Epistle to the Philippians 7patristic
1 John 4:3
“And every spirit that confesseth not ... - That is, this doctrine is essential to the Christian system; and he who does not hold it cannot be regarded either as a Christian, or recognised as a Christian teacher. If he was not a man, then all that occurred in his life, in Gethsemane, and on the cross, was in “appearance” only, and was assumed only to delude the senses. There were no real sufferings; there was no shedding of blood; there was no death on the cross; and, of course, there was no atonement.”
1 John 4:4-6
have overcome them: The victory is already won, because greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world. The false teachers speak from the world’s perspective, and the world listens to them. A voice's answer to the apostles shows the Spirit of truth and the spirit of deception.
1 John 4:4
“That injuries and penalties of persecutions are not to be feared by us, because greater is the Lord to protect than the devil to assault. John, in his epistle, proves this, saying: "Greater is He who is in you than he that is in the world." Also in the cxviith Psalm: "I will not fear what man can do unto me; the Lord is my helper." And again: "These in chariots, and those in horses; bat we will glory in the name of the Lord our God.”
Cyprian · written before 258 · Treatise XI Exhortation to Martyrdom Addressed to Fortunatuspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:4
“Ye are of God - Ye are under the influence of the Divine Spirit, and have overcome them - your testimony, proceeding from the Spirit of Christ, has invalidated theirs which has proceeded from the influence of Satan; for greater is the Holy Spirit which is in you, than the spirit which is in the world.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 John 4:4
Joh 10:8, 5, "the sheep did not hear them": "a stranger will they not follow, but will flee from him: for they know not the voice of strangers." he that is in you--God, of whom ye are. he that is in the word--the spirit of Antichrist, the devil, "the prince of this world."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
They are of the world: The false teachers speak the world's language and draw the world's applause. Their success proves nothing about their truth. Jesus warned of the same pattern at John 15:19, where the world loves its own.
1 John 4:5
“They - Those false prophets. Are of the world - Of the number of those that know not God. Therefore speak they of the world - From the same principle, wisdom, spirit; and, of consequence, the world heareth them - With approbation.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
We are from God: John sets the apostles' witness as the measure of every teacher. Those who know God receive that witness, and those who refuse it show where they stand. Truth and deception are told apart by the answer each gives to it.
1 John 4:6
“We are of God - We, apostles, have the Spirit of God, and speak and teach by that Spirit. He that knoweth God - who has a truly spiritual discernment, heareth us - acknowledges that our doctrine is from God; that it is spiritual, and leads from earth to heaven.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
Love Is of God, and God Sent His Son First
1 John 4:7-8
let us love one another: The love test rests on its source, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God, as 5:1 ties faith to the new birth. The sentence God is love pairs with God is light at 1:5, each naming what God is.
1 John 4:7
“Let us love one another - From the doctrine he has just been defending he draws this exhortation. It is by the Spirit that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Everyone that truly loveth God and his neighbour is born of God.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 John 4:7
“At the same time, 1Jo 4:7-21 is connected with the immediately preceding context, 1Jo 4:2 setting forth Christ's incarnation, the great proof of God's love (1Jo 4:10). Beloved--an address appropriate to his subject, "love." love--All love is from God as its fountain: especially that embodiment of love, God manifest in the flesh. The Father also is love (1Jo 4:8).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Whoever does not love does not know God: The one who does not love has not known God, since God is love and His children love as He loves. Knowing God produces love for one another. The sentence God is love returns at verse 16, where it becomes the ground of abiding in God.
1 John 4:8
“He that loveth not - As already described, knoweth not God - has no experimental knowledge of him. God is love - An infinite fountain of benevolence and beneficence to every human being. He hates no thing that he has made. He cannot hate, because he is love. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and the unjust. He has made no human being for perdition, nor ever rendered it impossible, by any necessitating decree, for any fallen soul to find mercy.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:8
"God," then, being good, "is love," it is said. Whose "love worketh no ill to his neighbour," neither injuring nor revenging ever, but, in a word, doing good to all according to the image of God. "Love is," then, "the fulfilling of the law;" like as Christ, that is the presence of the Lord who loves us; and our loving teaching of, and discipline according to Christ. By love, then, the commands not to commit adultery, and not to covet one's neighbour's wife, are fulfilled.
Clement of Alexandria · written before 215 · The Stromata Book 4patristic
1 John 4:8
“God is often styled holy, righteous, wise; but not holiness, righteousness, or wisdom in the abstract, as he is said to be love; intimating that this is his darling, his reigning attribute, the attribute that sheds an amiable glory on all his other perfections.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 4:8
“Not that this is the only conception we ought to have of him; we have found that he is light as well as love ( ch. i. 5 ), and God is principally love to himself, and he has such perfections as arise from the necessary love he must bear to his necessary existence, excellence, and glory; but love is natural and essential to the divine Majesty: God is love.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 4:9-10
God’s love was revealed among us: God's love is shown in an act: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. Love begins with God, not that we loved God, but that He loved us. The Son came as the atoning sacrifice, the Greek hilasmos of 2:2.
1 John 4:9
“Should we suppose him begotten as a creature or created being, he is not the only-begotten. Should we suppose him a natural necessary eradication from the Father's glory or glorious essence, or substance, he must be the only-begotten: and then it will be a mystery and miracle of divine love that such a Son should be sent into our world for us!”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
And love consists in this: Love is defined by what God did. He loved first and sent His Son to bear the penalty that sin deserved. Human love for God is always the answer to that first act.
1 John 4:10
“Not that we loved God - And that he was thereby induced to give his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. No: we were enemies to God, and yet Christ died for our ungodly souls. (See Rom 5:6-11, and the notes there.) So it was God’s love, not our merit, that induced him to devise means that his banished might not be expelled from him.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 John 4:10
“Herein is love--love in the abstract: love, in its highest ideal, is herein. The love was all on God's side, none on ours. not that we loved God--though so altogether worthy of love. he loved us--though so altogether unworthy of love. The Greek aorist expresses, Not that we did any act of love at any time to God, but that He did the act of love to us in sending Christ.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 John 4:11-12
we also ought to love one another: Obligation follows gift: if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, yet if we love one another, God remains in us. The verb teleioo, perfected, means brought to its intended end.
1 John 4:11
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another - (1) Because he is so much exalted above us, and if he has loved those who were so inferior and so unworthy, we ought to love those who are on a level with us; (2) Because it is only in this way that we can show that we have his Spirit; and, (3) Because it is the nature of love to seek the happiness of all.”
No one has ever seen God: The same words open John 1:18, where the Son makes the unseen God known. Here the unseen God is made known through believers who love one another. His love reaches its goal in them.
1 John 4:12
“No man hath seen God at any time - The very words, with the change of ἑωρακε for τεθεαται, of this apostle in his gospel, Joh 1:18. We may feel him, though we cannot see him; and if we love one another he dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us - it has then its full accomplishment, having moulded us according to its own nature.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:12
“It has obtained its completion in and upon us. God's love is not perfected in him, but in and with us. His love could not be designed to be ineffectual and fruitless upon us; when its proper genuine end and issue are attained and produced thereby, it may be said to be perfected; so faith is perfected by its works, and love perfected by its operations.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 4:12
"And we have seen His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father; " that is, of course, (the glory) of the Son, even Him who was visible, and was glorified by the invisible Father.
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Praxeaspatristic
Perfect Love Casts Out Fear
1 John 4:13-15
By this we know that we remain in Him: Assurance rests on the Spirit's presence: He has given us of His Spirit. The apostles have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world, the witness of 1:1. Verse 15 returns to the confession of verses 2 and 3.
1 John 4:13
“It is a sign of our abiding in Him and of His abiding in us, and also because He has given us of His Spirit. For the Pure One begets what is pure and unblemished.”
Theophylact of Ohrid · written before 1107 · Commentary on 1 Johnpatristic
And we have seen and testify: John speaks again as an eyewitness, as he did at 1:1 to 3. The Father sent the Son as Savior of the world, the title the Samaritans gave Jesus at John 4:42. The witness rests on what the apostles saw.
1 John 4:14
“And we have seen - Jesus Christ manifested in the flesh; see 1Jn 1:1, etc.; and do testify - bear witness, in consequence of having the fullest conviction, that the Father sent the son to be the Savior of the world. We have had the fullest proof of this from his doctrine and miracles, which we heard and saw during the whole time that he sojourned among men.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:14
“And in consequence of this we have seen and testify that the Father sent the Son - These are the foundation and the criteria of our abiding in God and God in us, the communion of the Spirit, and the confession of the Son. Whosoever shall, from a principle of loving faith, openly confess in the face of all opposition and danger, that Jesus is the Son of God, God abideth in him.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 4:14
“The internal evidence of the indwelling Spirit (1Jo 4:13) is corroborated by the external evidence of the eye-witnesses to the fact of the Father having "sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world." seen--Greek, "contemplated," "attentively beheld" (see on 1Jo 1:1). sent--Greek, "hath sent": not an entirely past fact (aorist), but one of which the effects continue (perfect tense).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 John 4:14
“THERE are two things joined together in the text which must never be parted—"We have seen and testify." In the first place, never let any man testify what he has not seen. If you are not personally aware of it, do not tell it—it is the personality of the testimony that is the power of the testimony. That Truth of God which you have never experienced, you had better leave to somebody else to preach.”
Charles Spurgeon · written before 1892 · The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 2383: “Seeing and Testifying” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition)Particular Baptist
If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God: Confession here means open agreement with the truth about Jesus. Whoever makes it has God abiding in him and abides in God. The same mutual abiding was tied to love at verse 12 and to the Spirit at verse 13.
1 John 4:15
“But "whosoever shall confess that (Jesus) Christ is the Son of God" (not the Father), "God dwelleth in him, and he in God. " We believe not the testimony of God in which He testifies to us of His Son.”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Against Praxeaspatristic
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:15
“Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God - In the true sense, and from the heart. This will always prove that a man is a Christian. But the passage cannot mean that if he merely says so in words, or if he does it insincerely, or without any proper sense of the truth, it will prove that he is a Christian. On the meaning of the sentiment here expressed, see the notes at 1Jn 4:2. Compare the notes at Rom 10:10.”
1 John 4:15
“This confession seems to include faith in the heart as the foundation of it, acknowledgment with the mouth to the glory of God and Christ, and profession in the life and conduct, in opposition to the flatteries or frowns of the world. Thus no man says that Jesus is the Lord but by the Holy Ghost, by the external attestation and internal operation of the Holy Ghost, 1 Cor. xii.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
God is love: Knowledge and faith ground assurance: we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. The sentence God is love repeats verse 8 and names what God is. Love becomes the dwelling place, for whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
1 John 4:16
“If God is love, as John says, then it must be that the devil is hatred. As he who has love has God, so he who has hatred has the devil dwelling in him.”
Basil of Caesarea · written before 379 · Ascetical Discourses 2patristic
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:16
“And we have known and believed,.... Or have a full assurance and knowledge of, and faith in, the love that God hath to us; shown as in many instances, so more especially in sending his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to be the Saviour of us, and that we might live through him.”
1 John 4:16
“The history of the Lord Christ is the history of God's love to us; all his transactions in and with his Son were but testifications of his love to us, and means to advance us to the love of God: God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, 2 Cor. v. 19 .”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
confidence on the day of judgment: Love brought to its goal gives confidence on the day of judgment. The word is parresia, used of prayer at 3:21 and 5:14. The ground is union with Christ, for in this world we are just like Him.
1 John 4:17
“Hereby - That is, by this communion with God. Is our love made perfect; that we may - That is, so that we shall have boldness in the day of judgment - When all the stout-hearted shall tremble. So are we - Who are fathers in Christ, even in this world.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 more voice on this verse
1 John 4:17
“Jesus said: "The ruler of this world is coming, and he shall find nothing in me." We ought to be the same, so that nothing of this world may be found in us either.”
Andreas of Caesarea · written before 614 · CATENApatristic
perfect love drives out fear: The fear driven out is dread of the judgment named in verse 17: There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear. Fear involves punishment, the Greek kolasis of Matthew 25:46. The one who fears shows that love's work in him is still unfinished.
1 John 4:18
“John, in fact, exhorts us to lay down our lives even for our brethren, affirming that there is no fear in love: "For perfect love casteth out fear, since fear has punishment; and he who fears is not perfect in love." What fear would it be better to understand (as here meant), than that which gives rise to denial? What love does he assert to be perfect, but that which puts fear to flight, and gives courage to confess?”
Tertullian · written before 220 · Scorpiacepatristic
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:18
“There is no fear in love - No slavish fear can be where love reigns. But perfect, adult love casteth out slavish fear: because such fear hath torment - And so is inconsistent with the happiness of love. A natural man has neither fear nor love; one that is awakened, fear without love; a babe in Christ, love and fear; a father in Christ, love without fear.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 4:18
“The design of Christ's propitiatory death was to deliver from this bondage of fear. but--"nay" [ALFORD]. fear hath torment--Greek, "punishment." Fear is always revolving in the mind the punishment deserved [ESTIUS]. Fear, by anticipating punishment (through consciousness of deserving it), has it even now, that is, the foretaste of it.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
1 John 4:18
“Those who perfectly love God are, from his nature, and counsel, and covenant, perfectly assured of his love, and consequently are perfectly free from any dismal dreadful suspicions of his punitive power and justice, as armed against them; they well know that God loves them, and they thereupon triumph in his love.”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 4:19-21
We love because He first loved us: The chain begun at verse 10 closes: We love because He first loved us. The claim I love God from one who hates his brother is a lie, since the brother is seen and God is not. The command binds both loves together in verse 21.
1 John 4:19
Marcus Brown
We are made in His image. Those who are born again are spiritually begotten of God and are reflections of our heavenly Father. At one time we walked in darkness but now we are beloved children of light. And the fruit of light is all that is good and right and true. As we now have the eyes of our hearts enlightened by the knowledge of Him, we are able to walk in love, as beloved children. We first have to have recieved the love in order to emanate it.
1 John 4:19
“We love him, because he first loved us - This passage is susceptible of two explanations; either. (1) That the fact that he first loved us is the “ground” or “reason” why we love him, or. (2) That as a matter of fact we have been brought to love him in consequence of the love which he has manifested toward us, though the real ground of our love may be the excellency of his own character.”
3 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:19
“We love him, because he first loved us - This is the sum of all religion, the genuine model of Christianity. None can say more: why should any one say less, or less intelligibly?”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
1 John 4:19
THIS is a great doctrinal truth, and I might with much propriety preach a doctrinal sermon from it, of which the sum and substance would be the sovereign grace of God. God’s love is evidently prior to ours: “He first loved us.” It is also clear enough from the text that God’s love is the cause of ours, for “We love him because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19
“Translate, We (emphatical: WE on our part) love (in general: love alike Him, and the brethren, and our fellow men), because He (emphatical: answering to "we"; because it was He who) first loved us in sending His Son (Greek aorist of a definite act at a point of time). He was the first to love us: this thought ought to create in us love casting out fear (1Jo 4:18).”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
John tests the claim to love God by the brother who can be seen. Love that fails the visible test cannot be trusted with the invisible one. The letter calls such a claim a lie, as at 2:4.
1 John 4:20
“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother - This, as well as many other parts of this epistle, seems levelled against the Jews, who pretended much love to God while they hated the Gentiles; and even some of them who were brought into the Christian Church brought this leaven with them. It required a miracle to redeem St. Peter’s mind from the influence of this principle. See Acts 10. Whom he hath seen - We may have our love excited towards our brother, 1. By a consideration of his excellences or amiable qualities.”
Adam Clarke · Commentary on the Bible (1810-1826)evangelical
2 more voices on this verse
1 John 4:20
“The eye is wont to affect the heart; things unseen less catch the mind, and thereby the heart. The incomprehensibleness of God very much arises from his invisibility; the member of Christ has much of God visible in him. How then shall the hater of a visible image of God pretend to love the unseen original, the invisible God himself?”
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible (1707-1721)puritan
1 John 4:20
“The true ideal of man, lost in Adam, is realized in Christ, in whom God is revealed as He is, and man as he ought to be. Thus, by faith in Christ, we learn to love both the true God, and the true man, and so to love the brethren as bearing His image. hath seen--and continually sees.”
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown · Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)reformed
Whoever loves God must love his brother as well: The chapter ends on a command from Christ Himself. Love for God and love for a brother cannot be held apart. Jesus joined the two great commandments at Mark 12:29 to 31, and John holds them together here.
1 John 4:21
“And this commandment have we from him - Both God and his opinions or mode of worship be, purely because he is the child, and bears the image, of God. Bigotry is properly the want of this pure and universal love. A bigot only loves those who embrace his opinions, and receives his way of worship; and he loves them for that, and not for Christ's sake.”
John Wesley · Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)evangelical
How this psalm is built
The form: The close of the second cycle of tests at verse 6, and the opening of the third at verse 7, where love and belief are woven together, as Law classes it.
The patterns in this chapter
| Device | What it does | Where to see it |
|---|---|---|
| Love, said again and again | Love, loves and loved stand 27 times in the Berean text of this chapter, and all of them fall in verses 7 to 21. Verses 1 to 6 carry none, and there the test of spirits holds the ground.The chapter's Berean text, counted from the store, translation id 3, 1 John 4. | 1 John 4:7, 1 John 4:11, 1 John 4:16, 1 John 4:19 |
| God is love, twice | The sentence God is love stands at verse 8 and again at verse 16. The first time it grounds the command to love, and the second time it grounds abiding in God.The chapter's Berean text, counted from the store, translation id 3, 1 John 4:8 and 4:16. | 1 John 4:8, 1 John 4:16 |
| From God, of the world | From God stands seven times in verses 1 to 7 in the Berean text, set against the false prophets who are of the world. The spirit of truth and the spirit of deception close the contrast at verse 6.The chapter's Berean text, counted from the store, translation id 3, 1 John 4:1 to 7. | 1 John 4:1, 1 John 4:4, 1 John 4:5, 1 John 4:6 |
Where the chapter stands
5 more paragraphs on the patterns
Verses 1 to 6 close the second cycle of the letter's tests with the test of belief, and verses 7 to 21 open the third, which Robert Law traced from 4:7 to the end of the letter (The Tests of Life, 1909). The Spirit named at 3:24 is the subject of the testing of spirits, and the love of 3:11 to 18 returns here with its ground in God's own nature.
Words the chapter shares with the Gospel of John
His one and only Son at verse 9 is the phrase of John 3:16 in the Berean text. The sending of the Son into the world at verses 9, 10 and 14 follows John 3:17, where God sent His Son to save the world.
The two tests joined
The chapter sets the test of belief and the test of love side by side. Verse 15 ties God's abiding to confession of the Son, and verse 16 ties it to abiding in love, so the two tests of the letter meet in one sentence each.
Keep studying
Studies13
Words12
Subjects1
Sources for this chapter
The summary
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory; John Calvin, Commentaries; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Complete Commentary.
The context
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.
The form and classifications
Robert Law, The Tests of Life, 1909.
The exposition
Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Brooke Foss Westcott, The Epistles of St. John; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Calvin, Commentary on 1 John; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Polycarp of Smyrna, Letter to the Philippians 7.1.
The writing
Marcus Brown wrote what stands in his name on this page.