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Understanding Love Apart from God's Love in 1 John

The First Epistle of John presents a profound connection between love and the knowledge of God, asserting that "God is love" (1 John 4:8 NASB) [1]. This statement is central to understanding Christian love, particularly how it is distinct from other forms of affection. The epistle emphasizes that love originates from God, and those who genuinely love are born of God and know Him [2, 3].

The concept of love in 1 John is primarily focused on agape, a Greek term that denotes a love characterized by judgment and deliberate choice, often contrasted with philein, which signifies a more affectionate or friendly love [4]. This agape love is not merely an emotion but an active principle [5]. The epistle explicitly states, "He that loveth not, knoweth not God" (1 John 4:8) [1, 9]. This implies that a lack of love for others, particularly for fellow believers, indicates an absence of true knowledge of God [9]. John Gill, in his commentary on 1 John, explains that pretending to love God, whom one does not see, while failing to love those begotten by Him and visible, is a contradiction [9].

The love described in 1 John is not something that originates from human effort alone. Augustine, in his Anti-Pelagian writings, contrasts the Pelagian view that "Love comes to us of our own selves" with the biblical teaching that love is bestowed by the Father [7]. This aligns with 1 John 4:19, which states, "We love him, because he first loved us" [11]. This verse underscores the divine initiative in love; God's love for humanity precedes and enables human love for God and for one another [11, 13]. John Gill further elaborates that God's love is everlasting and was present even when humanity was without love for Him, or even in enmity against Him [11, 13]. Therefore, human love for God is a consequence of His prior love, not a cause [13].

The love that is "of God" (1 John 4:7) is intrinsically linked to keeping His commandments [8]. Jamieson, Fausset & Brown note that while love for brethren is a sign of love for God, love for God, demonstrated by keeping His commandments, is the true basis for loving one's brother [8]. This suggests that love is not an abstract sentiment but is expressed through obedience and action. The love commanded by God and Christ is to be modeled after Christ's own example [5].

Furthermore, 1 John distinguishes between love for God and love for "the world." The epistle warns, "Love not the world" (1 John 2:15) [10]. "The world" in this context refers to humanity and its systems as fallen from God, lying "in the wicked one" (1 John 5:19) [10]. While God loved the world with a love of compassion, believers are not to love the world with a "congeniality and sympathy in its alienation from God" [10]. This distinction is crucial for understanding the nature of Christian love; it is a love that seeks the good of others but does not endorse or participate in their rebellion against God.

The love for God's children is presented as a direct consequence and evidence of love for God Himself. Augustine, in his Homilies on John, explains that loving the "sons of God" is equivalent to loving the "Son of God," because the sons are the Body of the Only Son, with Christ as the Head and believers as the members [12]. Thus, loving the members of Christ's body is loving Christ, and loving Christ is loving the Father [12]. This interconnectedness highlights that genuine love for God cannot exist in isolation from love for His people [14].

Conversely, ignorance of God is evidenced by a want of love [6]. Torrey's Topical Textbook lists "want of love" as a sign of ignorance of God, alongside not keeping His commands and living in sin [6]. This reinforces the idea that love is not merely an optional virtue but a fundamental characteristic of those who truly know God.

The love that is from God is also a fruit of the Spirit [5]. This indicates its supernatural origin and its role in spiritual growth. It is an abiding principle, enduring even when other spiritual gifts may cease [5]. This divine love is not merely a human emotion but a transformative power that enables believers to live in accordance with God's will and to reflect His character to the world. The emphasis in 1 John is consistently on the divine source and nature of true love, making it clear that love, in its fullest and most redemptive sense, is inseparable from God Himself.

Sources

  1. 1 John “1 John 4:8 (NASB) — The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.”
  2. 1 John “1 John 4:7 (NASB) — Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.”
  3. I John “I John 4:7 (Rotherham) — Beloved! let us be loving one another; because, love, is, of God, and, whosoever loveth, of God, hath been born, and is getting to understand God:”
  4. Easton's Bible Dictionary “Easton's Bible Dictionary: Love — This word seems to require explanation only in the case of its use by our Lord in his interview with "Simon, the son of Jonas," after his resurrection (John 21:16, 17). When our Lord says, "Lovest thou me?" he uses the Greek word agapas; and when Simon answers, he uses the Greek word philo, i.e., "I love." This is the usage in the first and second questions put by our Lord; but in the third our Lord uses Simon's word. The distinction between these two Greek words is thus fitly described by Trench:, "Agapan has more of judgment and deliberate choice; philein ha”
  5. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Love to Man — Is of God -- 1Jo 4:7. Commanded by God -- 1Jo 4:21. Commanded by Christ -- Joh 13:34; 15:12; 1Jo 3:23. After the example of Christ -- Joh 13:34; 15:12; Eph 5:2. Taught by God -- 1Th 4:9. Faith works by -- Ga 5:6. A fruit of the Spirit -- Ga 5:22; Col 1:8. Purity of heart leads to -- 1Pe 1:22. Explained -- 1Co 13:4-7. Is an active principle -- 1Th 1:3; Heb 6:10. Is an abiding principle -- 1Co 13:8,13. Is the second great commandment -- Mt 22:37-39. Is the end of the commandment -- 1Ti 1:5. Supernatural gifts are nothing without -- 1Co 13:1,2. The greates”
  6. Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Ignorance of God — Ignorance of Christ is -- Joh 8:19. Evidenced by Want of love. -- 1Jo 4:8. Not keeping his commands. -- 1Jo 2:4. Living in sin. -- Tit 1:16; 1Jo 3:6. Leads to Error. -- Mt 22:29. Idolatry. -- Isa 44:19; Ac 17:29,30. Alienation from God. -- Eph 4:18. Sinful lusts. -- 1Th 4:5; 1Pe 1:14. Persecuting saints. -- Joh 15:21; 16:3. Is no excuse for sin -- Le 4:2; Lu 12:48. The wicked, in a state of -- Jer 9:3; Joh 15:21; 17:25; Ac 17:30. The wicked choose -- Job 21:14; Ro 1:28. Punishment of -- Ps 79:6; 2Th 1:8. Ministers should Compassionate those in. -- ”
  7. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 5: Augustine — Anti-Pelagian — CHAP. 40 [XIX.]--THE IGNORANCE OF THE PELAGIANS IN MAINTAINING THAT THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LAW COMES FROM GOD, BUT THAT LOVE COMES FROM OURSELVES.: It is no wonder that light shineth in darkness, and the darkness comprehendeth it not.[9] In John's Epistle the Light declares," Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."[10] And in the Pelagian writings the darkness says, "Love comes to us of our own selves." Now, if they only possessed the true, that is, Christian love, they would also know whence”
  8. 1 John (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 John 5:2: By--Greek, "In." As our love to the brethren is the sign and test of our love to God, so (John here says) our love to God (tested by our "keeping his commandments") is, conversely, the ground and only true basis of love to our brother. we know--John means here, not the outward criteria of genuine brotherly love, but the inward spiritual criteria of it, consciousness of love to God manifested in a hearty keeping of His commandments. When we have this inwardly and outwardly confirmed love to God, we can know assuredly that we truly love the children of ”
  9. 1 John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 John 4:8: He that loveth not, knoweth not God,.... If a man loves not the children of God, those that are born of him, he does not know, so as to love God, the Father of them; for to pretend love to God, the begetter of them, whom he sees not, and not love those who are begotten by him, and are visible objects of respect, is a contradiction, and cannot be reconciled: see Jo1 4:20. This clause is left out in the Ethiopic version, and is transposed in the Syriac version, which reads the text thus, "for God, is love, and whoever loveth not, knoweth not God". By which reading, the f”
  10. 1 John (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 John 2:15: Love not the world--that lieth in the wicked one (Jo1 5:19), whom ye young men have overcome. Having once for all, through faith, overcome the world (Jo1 4:4; Jo1 5:4), carry forward the conquest by not loving it. "The world" here means "man, and man's world" [ALFORD], in his and its state as fallen from God. "God loved [with the love of compassion] the world," and we should feel the same kind of love for the fallen world; but we are not to love the world with congeniality and sympathy in its alienation from God; we cannot have this latter kind of love”
  11. 1 John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 John 4:19: We love him, because he first loved us. Lest love to God, and so to one another, should be thought to be of ourselves, and too much be ascribed unto it, the apostle observes, that God's love to us is prior to our love to him; his love is from everlasting, as well as to everlasting; for he loves his people as he does his Son, and he loved him before the foundation of the world; his choosing them in Christ as early, and blessing them then with all spiritual blessings, the covenant of grace made with Christ from all eternity, the gift of grace to them in him before the w”
  12. Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 7: Augustine — Homilies on John — 1 JOHN V. 1-3. (part 4): our Lord Jesus Christ. And he goes on: "In this we know that we love the sons of God;" as if he bad been about to say, "In this we know that we love the Son of God." He has said, "the sons of God," whereas he was speaking just before of the Son of God--because the sons of God are the Body of the Only Son of God, and when He is the Head, we the members, it is one Son of God. Therefore, he that loves the sons of God, loves the Son of God, and he that loves the Son of God, loves the Father; nor can any love the Father except he ”
  13. 1 John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 John 4:10: Herein is love,.... The love of God, free love, love that cannot be matched: herein it is manifested, as before; this is a clear evidence of it, an undoubted proof, and puts it out of all question: not that we loved God: the love of God is antecedent to the love of his people; it was when theirs was not; when they were without love to him, yea, enemies in their minds, by wicked works, and even enmity itself, and therefore was not procured by theirs; but on the contrary, their love to him is caused by his love to them; hence his love, and a continuance in it, do not ”
  14. 1 John (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 John 4:11: God's love to us is the grand motive for our love to one another (Jo1 3:16). if--as we all admit as a fact. we . . . also--as being born of God, and therefore resembling our Father who is love. In proportion as we appreciate God's love to us, we love Him and also the brethren, the children (by regeneration) of the same God, the representatives of the unseen God.”
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