1 John 4:9-14
9 By this the love of God was revealed in us, that God has sent His only Son into the world so that we may live through Him. 10 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. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us. 13 By this we know that we remain in Him and He in us, because He has given to us of His Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
We live in a time when the word love is used constantly—and yet experienced so rarely in its truest form. It appears in advertisements, political slogans, social media posts, and songs, but for many people love feels fragile, conditional, and shallow. We live with growing loneliness, deep division, and a quiet fear that if we are truly known, we may not be truly loved.
We expect to find love in the church, amongst Christians. But just because a person is a member of a religious affiliation or denomination, it doesn’t mean they know God or have a relationship with Him. Leaders fail, relationships fracture, and religion disappoints. Some Christians think, “anything I feel and interpret as love, God approves.” “Love is god.” But as we can see there is a synthetic, “manmade” or “manufactured” love, and then there is true love that comes from God.
John was writing to the churches in Asia Minor who were in the midst of a hedonistic morally declining society, filled with a plethora of gods and philosophies. The Greeks and Romans had their gods, the Jews had their God, each with their own exclusive practices and theology.
When Christianity came on the scene it was seen as too exclusive, too narrow, and a threat to the social order. With so many competing worldviews, John writes so that believers may distinguish the One true God from false gods and erroneous claims. In a weary, divided, and skeptical world, this passage invites us to reconsider what marks authentic love from synthetic love, where it comes from, and how it changes everything. John wanted to reveal the:
1. The Goal of God’s Love
1 John 4:9 says:
By this the love of God was revealed in us, (among us)
What does this mean? The phrase “was revealed” means put on display, made public, unmistakably clear. God’s love was not hidden or abstract—He entered history.
God didn’t send an angel to talk about His love, or just send a messenger with a letter.
He sent His only Son.
God’s goal in sending His Son was clear:
“…so that we may live through Him.” (v.9)
The word live refers not merely to existence. The word “live” means to have eternal life now and forever. This refers to true life, life as God intended it to be lived. (John 17:3). God’s wants us to live and his love is an unselfish interest in us for our sake, it unselfishly seeks our ultimate welfare.
Verse 10 says:
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.
Every other religious system places the burden on humanity: prove yourself worthy, obey enough, perform well enough. But that type of system produces fear, anxiety, and uncertainty—we are never sure if God loves us, if we have done enough, if our eternal future is secure. The Bible reverses the order.
God loved us first (1 John 4:19).
Jesus—the eternal Son, co-Creator of all things (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16)—entered a world that did not recognize Him and were not even looking for Him (Luke 19:10). He did not come because He was lonely or was looking for someone to love; He came because He is love.
This love is so supernatural, so counter-cultural, like nothing humankind had ever witnessed on this earth before Jesus first Advent. Christianity isn’t about our love for God but His love for us.
How did He make it possible for us to live through Him?
He became the propitiation for our sins.
Propitiation means to turn away the wrath of God by means of an offering, a payment. God’s holiness required that perfect justice be satisfied for our sin and God’s love provided that satisfaction/justice. He sent His son to live a perfect life without sin, the life we should have lived in order to have fellowship with God. And then Jesus died the death we should have experienced, but he did it in our place. He allowed Himself to be mocked and crucified by a people who did not understand why He came or what it was for.
No other world religion claims to worship a God who came to earth as a man who would die for the world so people could be saved from sin and death for all of eternity. You will not find this type of hope, this type of assurance and this type of love, this type of life in any other world religion or philosophy. This is love revealed—once, fully, and decisively.
He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God (2 Cor 5:21).
John then talks about:
2. The Nature of God’s Love
God never meant for our faith to be kept to ourselves…it is an initiating love. God’s love is everlasting and active,
John said:
If God so loved us, we also ought to love one another (1 John 4:11).
If God so loved you and me in this way (and He does), if God is our source (7, 13) (and He is), it will reshape the way we see ourselves and others. John is saying to us that as we receive God’s love, we ought to be expressing it to others. Of course we all agree we should love each other in theory.
Acknowledging God’s love is one thing, but like 1 Cor 13 says, if we do not express it, if we are not changed by it, if it does not affect the way we live and the way we treat others, it’s only eloquent, empty words, useless noise and meaningless. Human love and God’s love are qualitatively different - we love but God loves infinitely, powerful and perfectly. Often we love others in reciprocation for their love for us but God’s love was not motivated by our prior love for him.
God’s love was a costly love - it was revealed to us, put on display, made public, unmistakably clear. We can have confidence as Christians because God has so thoroughly dealt with our sins. He now calls us to love others because that is how:
3. God’s Love Is Perfected in Us
No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
No one has ever had a full revelation of God as He is in Himself. No one has seen God in His fullness (Exodus 33:20). Yet throughout history, God has given us glimpses of Himself: We see..
? His power in creation (Psalm 19:1)
? His goodness to Moses (Exodus 34:6)
? His compassion through Jesus’ miracles
? His love at the cross when He laid down His life (Rom 5:8)
? His hope in the resurrection (1 Peter 1:3)
This is why we take communion to remember Jesus love for us.
God manifested Himself when the Word became flesh, His love became visible. John is essentially saying, “We didn’t just hear about Him—we saw Him.” We walked with Him, ate with Him, listened to Him teach and do miracles. We watched Him die and we mourned over Him. After His resurrection, we encountered Him again and our lives were transformed. We witnessed Him being taken up into heaven. None of these events were done in a corner but before multitudes (Acts 26:26). We can testify there is no one else like Him who could demonstrate such radical, sacrificial love.
Now/ God desires the world to catch glimpses of His nature and His love through His people. When we love, God’s love is perfected—that is, it accomplishes its purpose.
When we become recipients of God’s revealed love, we begin to embody His love. If we love one other God abides in us and love is perfected in us. In other words, there is another way of seeing God in this world – when we love one another. When we are showing God’s love to the world then His love has reached its desired outcome.
When we let our light shine, so that people see our good works the love of God becomes evident and they will give glory to our Father in heaven (Matt 5:16). When we see ourselves the way God sees us - as a new creation, people will see God’s love and redemption (2 Cor 5:17). When we love our enemies and pray for those who mistreat us (Matt 5:44) people will see the love of God. When we are able to forgive others as Christ has forgiven us, people will see the love of God through us. When we are generous with our time and resources, when the love of God overflows to others, His love is revealed.
This is our Christmas hope. The weary world rejoices—not because circumstances have changed, but because true Love has been revealed.
When my wife and I lived in Finland, the winters were so cold that we could literally walk on water—the frozen sea about 300 meters from our apartment. But we were warned: beneath the ice was a warm undercurrent slowly melting it away.
That image has stayed with me but in a positive light.
Because I have witnessed the undercurrent of God’s love melt hearts hardened by pain, betrayal, and loss. Over time, healing took place—not necessarily because circumstances got better, but because God’s love was working in a quiet, persistent and powerful way in their hearts.
God is a Gentleman, He doesn’t force His will and way on people, doesn’t even force His love on others. God’s love patiently flows, like water on the rock. There is no end to God’s love for those who are willing to receive it. John who was the disciple that Jesus loved said:
We have come to know [by personal observation and experience], and have believed [with deep, consistent faith] the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides continually in him (1 John 4:16).
