Immerse: Messiah - Flipbook - Page 457
4:9–5:10
1 John
445
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son
into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real
love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a
sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each
other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in
us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in
us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the
Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus
is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know
how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them.
And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be
afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid,
it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is
a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom
we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God
must also love their fellow believers.
Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has become a child of
God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too. We
know we love God’s children if we love God and obey his commandments. Loving God means keeping his commandments, and his commandments are not burdensome. For every child of God defeats this
evil world, and we achieve this victory through our faith. And who can
win this battle against the world? Only those who believe that Jesus is
the Son of God.
And Jesus Christ was revealed as God’s Son by his baptism in water
and by shedding his blood on the cross—not by water only, but by
water and blood. And the Spirit, who is truth, confirms it with his testimony. So we have these three witnesses—the Spirit, the water, and the
blood—and all three agree. Since we believe human testimony, surely
we can believe the greater testimony that comes from God. And God
has testified about his Son. All who believe in the Son of God know in
their hearts that this testimony is true. Those who don’t believe this
are actually calling God a liar because they don’t believe what God has
testified about his Son.