Download discussion questions: 1 John 4:7-5:3
Table Talk: What motivates you in your Christian life? What keeps you going through difficult times? Duty? Guilt? Joy? Fear? Gratitude? Obligation? Reputation? We all know the ‘right’ answers, but what really goes on inside you when facing a hard decision or inconvenient task?
[“Table Talk” is an opening question or topic for discussion at the beginning of our time together. The intent is to help group members (around tables, with four to six at each table) build connections with each other, as well as to guide thinking in a direction related to the passage.]
In excellent inductive-study–observation form, one of the members of our group pointed out near the beginning of our discussion that John uses the word “love” thirty-four times in this passage, a likely clue to the theme we should be looking for! Considering the fact that the entire letter of 1 John contains the word a total of fifty-two times, there is even a disproportionate concentration in these verses. Another person asked if different Greek words for love were used, but all the occurrences in this passage (in fact, all the occurrences in the entire letter) are the word for the highest form of love (agapē, ἀγάπῃ).
Likewise, in good inductive-study-interpretation form, several questions came up about seeming incongruities in the passage.
- John says that no one has seen God (v. 12), yet he also recorded Jesus saying, “He who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Which is it?
- After all his descriptions and discussion about love, the end of the passage turns to obedience (1 John 5:1-5). Is the love we are called to actually a matter of duty or obligation?
- John says we live through Him (God’s only begotten Son) in v. 9. Elsewhere John quotes Jesus praying about Him being “in us” (John 17:23; c.f., Romans 8:10; Galatians 2:20; Ephesians 3:17; Colossians 1:27). Do we live through Him, or does He live through us?
These are the kinds of questions that help us as a group (or as individuals) explore a passage more thoroughly, not being satisfied with superficial “hearsay impressions” of the text. To dig deeper (or, as Martin Luther described it, to “beat importunately”[1] on the text to understand it more completely), we spent more time in the passage before trying to answer the questions.
Using the word “love” thirty-four times in a passage of about 400 words can seem repetitious. The first few times reading through such a passage can appear that John is rambling a bit (at least it did to me). Often it is helpful to break down a passage into what might be the writer’s thought process, to try to outline the passage to get a better overview. (See the article “The Word in a Word Processor” for the suggested process.) The handout for our discussion of this passage was the result of that process. (Click here if you want to see an outlined version of this passage. Try the process yourself and see if you find more helpful suggestions describing the flow of John’s thinking.)
The handout divides the passage into five sections. All the sections deal with the theme of love, but as one person in our group pointed out, each section introduces a new idea or a different perspective on that theme. The divisions and some suggested summaries are shown below:
- 1 John 4:7-10 – God’s initiative, God as the source of love
- 1 John 4:11-15 – Our response, confessing (“agreeing with” God) about Jesus
- 1 John 4:16-18 – Our confidence, an end to fear
- 1 John 4:19-21 – Evidence, effect of fearless love
- 1 John 5:1-3 – Love, belief and obedience
Clearly, love is God’s idea and His initiative. “Love” (at least in this passage) seems to be the best single word to describe God (“God is love” in v. 8 and repeated in v. 16). That love enables us to live “through Him” (v. 9b). Someone in the group suggested that John’s meaning there was not in conflict with the other verses mentioned about Him living “in us.” God’s love is what brings us to life “through Him.” Our continuing life is the experience of His life “in us.”
The idea of “in us” is also suggested by the repeated references to abiding in the passage (v. 12, 13, 15, etc.). The mutual abiding or indwelling reminded some in the group of our discussions in the past about John 17. Our relationships are to be reflections of the perfect relationality of the Trinity. Verses 13 and 14 provide one of the most explicit New Testament passages about the role of each of the three Persons of the Godhead. Even more than reflections, our relationships with each other and with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are our participation in that Trinitarian love. That is the quality of love that eliminates fear. Without fear (of punishment from God or of danger from others) we have the freedom to love others even when it involves risk. Our previous discussion about laying down our lives (in our self-protection or defensiveness) makes sense when seen in the perspective of God’s love for us (v. 7, 19). We have not seen God the Father. However, through the witness of the Apostles, we get a good look at Jesus. When Jesus spoke of seeing the Father in Him, perhaps what He meant was that He was the perfect expression of the Father’s character. Seeing the Son was as good as seeing the Father. The love demonstrated by the Son was the perfect expression of the God who is love.
The broader context of John’s letter also helps us to understand what might seem to be a sudden shift from the warmth of love to the responsibility of obedience in the last verses of the passage: “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments” (1 John 5:2). What command has John repeatedly mentioned, even in his roundabout references to new and old commands (1 John 2:7,ff.)? As we discussed a few weeks ago, the command Jesus gave was a “new” command (John 13:34; 15:12, 17), a restatement of and deepening of an old command from Leviticus 19:18 about loving a neighbor. Now with the new command, loving means laying down life. John is not suddenly using a “bait and switch” tactic with love as the bait and subtly substituting law and obedience to a list of rules. He is reminding his readers (including us) about the objective reality of a love that lays down life itself, a love that is more than lofty words and sentimental intentions.
Keeping that command is not an additional legal burden placed on us (v. 3b). All through this passage John points to God’s initiating love as our motivation. Verse 11 might be considered the “thesis sentence” if this was an essay in an English class: “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” One concern raised in the discussion was the repeated idea of love perfected in us (v. 17, 18). That perfection is not a part of our experience in our actions and attitudes toward others. Once again (for the umpteenth time!), the sermon we had heard before our group time was amazingly appropriate: “Under Construction – Philippians 3:12-21.” Paul’s words to the Philippians expressed the idea of perfection, or maturity, or completeness (teteleiōtai, τετελείωται). Paul says he has not “become perfect” (v. 15), but immediately includes himself in the category of mature (or “perfect,” using the same word). As the sermon emphasized, maturity for Christians is not about reaching a status or destination but about the process of (in Paul’s words), pressing ahead (Philippians 3:12, 14). In his letter, John gives practical criteria for our pressing ahead. How are we doing in relational righteousness, loving others in practical, tangible ways? Are we making progress? Are we seeing growth in our expressions of love and laying down our lives for others? That is the measure John gives us for our love being perfected and maturing.
The “Table Talk” discussion before our study in 1 John was about motivation. How do we move ahead in difficult times? How do we choose to lay down our lives for a person we would rather avoid? The responses revolved around our trust in God, in what we believe about His character, about our faith in the truth of what we know about Him. As we are able to focus on God’s character, we will grow in our experience of that trust and belief and faith. Seeing God’s character more clearly (“Gazing on the delightfulness of the Lord” in Psalm 27:4) will draw our attention to Him instead of to ourselves. One of the suggestions during the Table Talk time was motivation resulting from our anticipation of what God will do, how He will work in us and through us. That anticipation will enable us to lay down our lives. We will see the actual developing perfection of His love expressed through us toward others.
[1] John Piper, The Legacy of Sovereign Joy (Wheaton, Illinois: Crossway Books, 2000), 91.