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"Love has been perfected among us in this..."

Text: 1 John 4:17

A PERFECTED LOVE

This is a truly wonderful concept to ponder over. We are so familiar with “imperfect human love” that we can scarcely believe in such a teaching!

“Love has been perfected among us in this:
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment;
because as He is, so are we in this world.”
1 John 4:17

1. “Love has been perfected”

a) The word “perfected” simply means “maturity”.

b) The idea is one of growth.

i) It begins with knowledge of God’s love (John 3:16).

ii) It continues to grow with experiences of God’s love as evidenced in the love of Jesus.

iii) This love keeps growing till it is fully matured and “perfected”.

iv) This love is then expressed in love for each other as children of God.

2. “Among us”

a) This expression may also be translated “with us”.

b) This is a general reference to the church of the Lord Jesus Christ.

i) All believers would have learned about the love of God.

ii) We would have experienced the love of God in many concrete ways.

iii) The love of Christ was meant to be a special hallmark of believers.

iv) It is proof that we are indeed the disciples and followers of the Lord Jesus.

3. “In this”

a) There is a special focal point in view.

b) John was looking at how we would fare in the day of judgment.

4. “That we may have boldness in the day of judgment”

a) We may have boldness before the Lord God as our Judge.

b) Our boldness is not in the deeds that we have done for the Lord.

c) Our boldness is in our knowledge and our faith in the Lord and His love.

d) We are confident that our faith in the Lord and in His love will not be in vain.

e) The Lord God would receive us into His glory because of our faith in the Lord and in His love.