1 John 4:7Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Then he again begins to speak about love. Having shown that we must love certain people, namely those of the same disposition, he returns to what he said at the beginning. He says that love and the one who loves are from God. The one who loves, and only he, has been born of God and knows God.

Beloved, let us love one another. Why? Because a man teaches us? Because love is of God.

He gave great praise to love when he said, “Love is of God.” Yet he will say still more. Let us listen attentively.

He has just said: Love is of God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love has not known God. Why? Because God is love. See verse 8.

For love is from Him Himself, as those said whom He made not only great lovers of God, but also His own preachers.

He does judgment and righteousness who lives righteously. He lives righteously who submits to the exhortations of God.

The end of the exhortation, that is, the goal toward which exhortation is directed, is love from a pure heart, a good conscience, and unfeigned faith (1 Tim 1:5).

This love, as the Apostle John bears witness, is from God.

Saint John the Theologian had said earlier (v. 4) that those who believe in Christ are of God, that is, regenerated by God. Now he calls them to a Godlike life, witnessed by sincere love for neighbors.

He says: Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

It is as though he teaches thus: Beloved, I have told you that you are of God and have overcome the snares of the false teachers.

Let us, then, abide in union with God. Let us be obedient to the Spirit of God. Let us love one another, for love is of God.

Love is of God, and not of the world. Those devoted to the world are enslaved to their sensual desires and vicious passions.

The holy Apostle, having spoken of the high calling of the children of God and of the virtuous qualities that distinguish them from the impious, directs their attention to the first and chief commandment.

This commandment was given to us by the incarnate Word, our Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle urges them to love one another, so that all their deeds and feelings may be made alive by love in Christ Jesus.

In order to root such love in the hearts of the children of the Church, the Apostle points to the high meaning of love.

He lets us see in it the essential and distinctive sign of spiritual regeneration and illumination, through which man knows God.

Meanwhile, the one who does not love Him remains in the darkness of ignorance and walks destructive paths.

In God Himself he sees not the God of love, not the Father of mercies and compassions, but the judge and punisher of his iniquities.

Heretics ascribe to themselves knowledge of God on the grounds that they love their neighbors. But are they justified in relying on this?

There are different kinds of love, and only true love is required of us (3:18).

Without doubt, whoever truly loves truly knows God, who is Love. Yet it is much harder to be assured of the truth of love than of the truth of knowledge.

It is enough to compare our knowledge with the symbol of faith, and we will know whether it is true or not.

But love is so often intertwined in our soul with self-love, vainglory, self-conceit, and even hatred, that distinguishing it from these alien admixtures requires great spiritual experience.

Because of these admixtures, love ceases to be true.

Beloved (1 Jn 4:1; 3:2, 21), to guard ourselves from deceivers and their error, and to draw upon ourselves all the gifts of God's mercy, let us love one another (1 Jn 3:23).

We must love, of course, not in word or tongue, but in deed and truth (1 Jn 3:18).

For love is of God. It is not from the world, but is of divine origin.

Those devoted to the world cannot have true love for one another. They do not understand true love, for true love is the highest and divine property.

The natural man generally does not understand what comes from the Spirit of God (1 Cor 2:14).

Since love comes from God, and the world essentially does not understand true love, one who has true love in his heart for his brother is born of God.

Those who know God always join love to this knowledge (1 Jn 4:7-12).

For “he who does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 Jn 4:7-8). This was revealed in the fact that He sent His Only-begotten Son and gave Him “as the propitiation for our sins.”

And this was so not because we first loved Him, “but because He loved us” (1 Jn 4:9-10).

“If God so loved us,” then, according to the reasoning of the holy Apostle John, love must also be manifested on our part.

Since God is invisible in Himself, our love must be directed toward beings who bear His image. Thus our union with Him may be living, and love may be not an empty sound, but perfect love.

“No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His perfect love is in us” (1 Jn 4:11-13).

After interrupting his discourse on love for a time by speaking about heretics, the Apostle now returns again to the teaching on Christian love. He gives the most exalted and profound doctrine concerning it.

In this he follows the example of the Lord's discourse in His farewell conversation with the disciples.

He often interrupts his speech with living addresses and repetitions, so natural and necessary in the fatherly instruction of a father and pastor speaking with his spiritual children.

He indicates the first motive for mutual Christian love in the origin of Christian love from God.

By this, on the one hand, the high dignity of love is shown. On the other hand, it is shown to be a gift of God that we must put into action.

Just as the one who does not choose what ought to be chosen, and does not love what ought to be loved, calls forth reproach and censure, so those who love worthy persons, and those whom one ought to love, seek praise.