1 John 4:13–21

4:13 “By this” points forward, as John lists three evidences of true conversion.¹ The first evidence is that God has given us his Spirit. Exactly how this functions as proof is not stated here. It could be a point similar to Paul’s in Romans 8:16: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” John’s wording is very similar to that of 1 John 3:24, where we argued that the Spirit assures us of God’s presence in us as we obey. Here the mutual indwelling of God and believers is evidenced by the Spirit’s work, which seems to be to inspire and elicit the love that has been discussed: “To abide in one another reciprocally is to know and love one another, and this love is fostered by the Holy Spirit.”² John is not claiming that we know we are Christians because of some feeling that we have his Spirit; rather, he is pointing out that the fact that we love fellow believers is evidence of the Spirit’s work in us, which is then confirmation of our conversion.

4:14 Before moving on to the second evidence of conversion, John pauses to accentuate apostolic authority for this evidence. With language harking back to the letter’s opening, where the authority of John and the other apostles was established (1:1–3), John reinforces the certainty of the person and work of Christ, which was clearly under attack (2:23–24; 4:3; 5:10). John stresses that, while no one has seen the Father (4:12), John and the other apostolic witnesses have seen that Jesus was in fact sent, that he is the Son, and that he is the Savior.³ The sending of Jesus by the Father refers to his incarnation as well as to his divine source and mission, which was denied by some (4:2; 5:6; 2 John 7). Jesus’ sonship establishes his deity and oneness with the Father, which was also being denied (1 John 2:23–24). “Savior of the world” refers to Jesus’ mission, which was possible only if he indeed was the sent Son (a mission just described in 4:9–10; cf. similar language in John 4:42).⁴ The veracity of these truths leads to the next evidence of conversion.

4:15 Whoever “confesses” the truth of 4:14 enjoys mutual indwelling with God. To confess is not merely to state something but is to own the idea as truth. It is a statement of belief. To confess Jesus as “Son of God” means to affirm all that John has just said about him in the previous verse.

This confession of Jesus as the Son of God is the second evidence of conversion, using the same phrase as 4:13 for the mutual indwelling between believers and God. In short, affirming the historicity of the incarnation of Christ is a prerequisite for true knowledge of—and relationship with—God.

4:16 As 4:14 set the basis for the evidence of faith in 4:15, so the first half of this verse sets the basis for the evidence stated in the last half. The apostolic witness has testified to the truth of Jesus, and here the whole church bears witness to the veracity of God’s love for his people.⁵ Concerning what he had expounded in 4:9–10, John now says, in effect, “We all know this is true, do we not?” The language mirrors John 6:69, where Peter makes the confession called for in 1 John 4:15.

Further buttressing the astonishing reality of God’s love for his people, John reiterates his point from 4:8: “God is love.” Therefore, in light of God’s astounding love for us, we ought to “[abide] in love.” In one sense this means to “remain in love,” that is, to continue believing the truth that God loves us and not to be dissuaded by the Devil’s lies. On the other hand, this also means to “live in love,” exhibiting this love to others. This is a continuation of the point made in 4:11. The one who thus “abides in love” shows that he is truly a believer, that he “abides in God, and God abides in him.”

4:17 Having listed his three evidences of conversion, John now elaborates on the third evidence (loving fellow believers), reiterating the idea of 4:7–12. “By this” refers to loving one another (cf. v. 16). Thus, just as in 4:12, God’s love comes to its fruition among us as we love one another. John now adds that this completion of God’s love will give us “confidence for the day of judgment.” As in 2:28, abiding in God is the basis of such confidence, though there the abiding was linked to doctrinal fidelity and here it is linked to loving fellow believers. John thus continues to show that these issues are inextricably linked.

The “day of judgment” is referred to without elaboration, showing that John expected his readers to be well acquainted with the central NT truth that we will give account of ourselves before God. This is rightly a sobering reality. John’s point is that knowing that the Judge loves us deeply provides confidence (despite our fallenness) for that day. The love of God is our only hope.

This confidence is rooted in the love described in the previous verse (“by this”) and in the fact that “as he is so also are we in this world.” In 3:2, following a statement concerning confidence at his coming, John stated that we will be like Jesus when we see him at that coming. In this verse, however, we are like him now. In 3:2 John was addressing how we will share in the glory and holiness of Jesus, while here in 4:17 John is addressing our participation with Jesus in the same relationship of love with the Father. This draws from the truth regarding Jesus’ sonship that has just been asserted (4:15–16): just as he is the beloved Son, so now we also, while still in this world, are beloved children due to our adoption (3:1). Therefore, we have confidence because the Judge before whom we will one day stand is our beloved Father, who has chosen to make us his children. Though it will still be sobering, we can stand before such a judge with assurance. As Luther said, “If consciousness of a great sin weighs you down, comfort yourself with this blood of love. . . . No human religion can hold its own in the face of the judgment, but it is solely in the blood of Christ that we can have confidence in the Day of Judgment.”⁶

4:18 This verse is often thought to be confusing because it is taken out of context, suggesting that fear and love can never go together. But we know that the Bible commends both fear and love of God. Notice both of these points, for instance, in Deuteronomy 6:1–5, a central OT text:

This is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the LORD your God commanded me to teach you . . . that you may fear the LORD your God, you and your son and your son’s son. . . . Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.⁷

Following his previous statement, John is affirming that love casts out fear of rejection or condemnation in judgment. We cannot know that someone completely loves us while also fearing that he will reject us. When we fear that another will reject us, we fear that his love is not complete. Having just affirmed God’s perfected love for us, John tells us that such love drives out this fear of condemnation—this is why it is such an assurance. Therefore, whoever fears such punishment or condemnation has not yet been brought to the fullness of knowing and believing the love of God (1 John 4:16).

4:19 John pauses to make clear where such love begins: it begins with God, not with us. John has been arguing all along that because God has loved us, we should love as well. His mode of argumentation has thus assumed the priority of God’s love for us. Now he makes this explicit, even more so than he did in 4:10. God, in love, first thought of us before the dawn of time, then at the cross he bought us, and then he sought us until he caught us and brought us into his kingdom. Our love for God, then, is in no way meritorious but rather is our grateful response to the demonstration of his love. The more we are aware of God’s love, the more we love in return. “It is, therefore, good for us constantly to renew our knowledge of God’s love as we read of it in the Bible, as we hear it proclaimed in the worship of the church, and as we consider the ways in which our whole life has been molded by experiences of God’s love and care for us.”⁸

4:20 This love for God must result in love for other believers, as John has been urging. If one does not love God’s people, he does not love God; thus to claim to love God while refusing to love his people makes one a “liar.”

Now John expounds on why a claim to love God while hating God’s people makes no sense. He has just affirmed in 4:12 the basic biblical truth that no one can see God (since he is spirit). How, then, can one love someone he cannot see if he does not love the one he can see? Throughout this letter, “love” for John has meant not nice feelings but direct action. How could anyone act lovingly toward someone he cannot see? One way to act lovingly toward the unseen God is to love his people.

This is a strong point against mysticism. We cannot demonstrate love toward God while being hidden away by ourselves, concerned only with ourselves and God. To love God we must care for his people. Thus it is ludicrous to claim we love God while failing to assemble with his people. The Bible knows nothing of a “just me and God” religion.

4:21 John develops a specific command from the Scriptures that we must love fellow believers. As Jesus summarized the OT law as requiring love for God and for neighbors, so now John declares that the command is to love God by loving one’s brothers. Such love is the way to demonstrate love for a God we cannot see. Thus there is simply no way around the requirement to love one another. If we do not love other believers in concrete terms, there is simply no way we could truly know God.