Monday, February 10, 2014

If We Love One Another (1 John 4:12-16)

“No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:12-16 NKJV)

No one has seen God at any time, not even Moses and Elijah, but Jesus Christ. If we love one another, God abides in us, because only God can love unconditionally. If we manifest such a love among brothers and sisters in Christ, God indwells in us by means of the Holy Spirit. More amazingly, if so, His love has been perfected in us. God’s love is always perfect, without an iota of stain or spot. It means that if we love one another, His love is fully manifested and glorified in our midst.

“By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.” (1 John 4:13 NKJV) By loving one another, we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, just as Jesus Christ was in the Father, and the Father in Him during His earthly life. God has given us of His Spirit when we were born again by the Spirit. We died with Christ and buried and baptized with Him and were raised up from the dead with Him. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17 NKJV) “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life.” (John 5:24 NKJV)

“And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.” (1 John 4:14-15 NKJV) Those who are born of God have known that God sent His Son as Savior of the world, the Messiah. Jesus Christ was born of Mary who was conceived by the Spirit. He became the Son of Man, a perfect human with flesh and bone, in order to be the High Priest of ailing and groaning humans. He must be a man just like us to be the Savior of the world. Not only so, but also He is the Son of God, the Godhead. Jesus Christ is God Himself. Whoever confesses that Jesus is God, God abides in him, and he in God. That’s what John testifies in his gospel.

“And truly Jesus did many other signs in the presence of His disciples, which are not written in this book; but these are written that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that believing you may have life in His name.” (John 20:30-31 NKJV)

“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16 NKJV) We have known and believed the love God has poured out for us, even continually pouring out now and forever. We have known and confessed that God is love. We are continually and eternally loved by Him and abide in love, because God in us, and we are in Him. We died and were purchased back with a price, not without blood, and belong to Him, in order to have what He is.


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