1 John 4:7-21
By now, the Easter lilies have withered along with the enthusiasm of some for preaching more of “John,” either Gospel or epistles. In addition to the recurrent Johannine themes, however, this pericope offers an eloquent and theologically rich treatment of divine love.
Biblical scholar Raymond Brown attributed these writings to the “community of the Beloved Disciple.” The Johannine community experienced conflict and some left, but the perspective of the writer(s) is less that of an outsider telling them how they got it wrong than an insider imploring them to get it right. Here the prophetic word is spoken as reasoned exhortation (first person plural and third person references).
Words worth noting --
Love -- agape love; some form of which (noun, verb, or vocative of address) appears 27 times in 15 verses.
God is love (verses 8 and 16). We teach our children these words almost as soon as they can talk. Not only by implication and example, but by divine essence, God is love. John Wesley commented: “[God] 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.”
Love perfected -- It has realized its full potential; its purpose is fulfilled and so it is mature, full-grown.
Boldness -- Not bodacious audacity but confidence which stands in awe of what God has done for us in Christ. We can live without fear of judgment because Christ is our “atoning sacrifice” (NRSV).
Abiding -- When we love, we are living at home (abiding) in God, because God (Father, Son, and Spirit) is the source and substance of divine love and our love for one another.
Food for Thought
A song we love to sing from the 60’s is “If I Had a Hammer” by Hays and Seeger. The first stanza contains the line: “I’d hammer out love between my brothers and my sisters all over this land.” Relationships sometimes have to be hammered out before we can sing and celebrate them.
How far do we have to go to hate someone? Does personal preference or intolerance count? Is indifference toward others equivalent to hatred?
About the Johannine community conflict -- Did the very strength of the arguments made within the community contribute to its undoing? Did these people seem a little too sure of themselves for others? Were there significant socioeconomic differences (see 3:23)? Was the conflict really theological? (We humanoids are good at putting a theological face on interpersonal conflicts or outright prejudice.) Are our “brothers and sisters” only believers who believe as we do?
What can we learn from this passage about mentoring or counseling in times of conflict?
Sink Your Teeth into This
God has given us a tremendous gift in one another. As we love those we can see, we learn to love God whom we can’t see.
The first faces that many of us can remember seeing are those of our mothers and fathers. The flawed humanity that we are and that they were is somehow used by God to teach us to love. Now that’s miraculous!
One of my earliest memories is playing too close to an embankment, dancing and swinging my doll in the air. Somehow she flew out of my hands and fell 20 feet to the creek bank below. My mom rescued me and my doll. Now that I think on it, today would be a good day to say thanks to her and to God for love.
References
Raymond Brown. The Community of the Beloved Disciple (Paulist Press, 1979).
Judith Lieu. I, II, and III John: A Commentary (Westminster John Knox, 2008).
John Wesley’s Notes on the Bible, Christian Classics Ethereal Library (http://www.ccel.org/)
Biographical Information
Carol Clarke (MDiv. 1999, ThM. 2001) who has worked in the Louisville Presbyterian Center and pastored in Virginia and Pennsylvania, has just moved to Marble Falls, Texas.
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