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"In this is love..."

Text: 1 John 4:10

EXTOLLING GOD’S LOVE

In the heart and mind of the Apostle John, his thought on the subject of love may be summarised in the following text.

“In this is love, not that we loved God,
but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”
1 John 4:10

1. “In this is love”

a) This is a good translation (as far as English goes).

b) Translating the Greet text literally would yield the following: –

“In this is the love”

i) John sought to highlight the love of God.

ii) He used the demonstrative pronoun to effect this.

2. “Not that we loved God”

a) Some try and highlight their (human) love for God.

b) There is an emphasis here on the subject (the human believers).

c) Literally translated: –

“That we, we have loved God”

i) The personal pronoun was added (though it was not necessary).

ii) The Perfect Tense was used to highlight the believer’s love for God.

iii) This love did indeed have some significance.

d) But John rejects this focus as the defining element of the love of God.

3. “But that He loved us”

a) The fact that God has loved us at all is John’s focus.

b) Why should He love us at all, given our sinfulness?

4. “And sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins”

a) This is Love in its supreme state.

b) God sent His only-begotten Son as an expression of supreme and unmatched love.

c) And Jesus became the propitiation for our sins.

i) The word “propitiation” suggests that Jesus was the sin-offering.

ii) Through Him He has appeased God and we are fully forgiven! This is truly love!