We are told in 1John 4:8 that God is love. In a few more verses we are told that perfect love casts out fear (1John 4:18). Fear has to do with punishment. Where does it come from? How do we apply love in a way that casts out fear?
Earlier in 1John 4 it says that whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God does so because God abides in him or her, and they in God. By this love we have confidence in judgment. I believe Romans 1:18 provides some detail on the subject. It says that’s God’s wrath is revealed from heaven against unrighteousness. This is judgment. God separates light from dark. Rom 1:20 says that God has shown us His attributes. So then this is what invites fear and that fear is a conviction of due punishment.
The way in which we stay clear of this feeling is not complicated. You and I can hold on to God’s Word and not apply it. We can try to stand on His Word without acting upon it. God reveals to us when we’re doing this. When we are in the middle of this, things don’t go the way that they should go. Our life gets a bit shaky. The reason is we are denying the power of God. We access that power by doing according to His Word. We don’t hold onto His Word through knowing it, we hold on to Him by doing His Word.
Now this isn’t a petition for earning God’s favor by works. I’m writing about congruency. When we love God, it becomes reciprocal. That love in which He first loved us is received and stirs up a love in us toward Him. Now what do we do? Take it and run? Or is love given that we may reciprocate that love? We didn’t earn it. It was given. Yet, we know in our own life that if we continue to give love and it is not returned, it leads us to conclude that the person we are showering that love upon doesn’t feel the same way or perhaps is too selfish to love back. We then make a decision if we are going to keep moving despite this or if it is too abusive to us to continue.
The difference in this analogy is that God’s love is much more longsuffering than our own. His “breaking point” is long past ours. He doesn’t give up on us as long as there is life in our body. His patience is meant to lead us toward repentance (Romans 2:4). Essentially, what is that? It is the turning from one way toward a different way. The Greek word is metanoia and carries the idea of a 180 degree turn. What are we turning from? Doing things our way. We give up our way in order to love another. This is what relationships are all about. We turn our attention toward another in love.
This is what God has done unto us. He has turned His attention on us. When we are willing to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, the fulfillment of the promise made toward mankind, we embrace that love. The right thing to do is to return it. To love back. If we say we love Him, we are saying we trust Him. We trust His love for us. If so, we then enter into a trusting love that causes us to not only believe His Word but we also apply it. We do it. And as we apply it, we discover that this love continues to grow and deepen. The relationship get intimate.
There is no expectation of punishment in this kind of relationship. This is what the apostles John and Paul are getting at. Fear comes from punishment. The idea of punishment comes from disobedience. Both of these do not have to be experienced. When we love God perfectly, how can the fear of punishment ever gain any teeth in us? Now the Greek word here for ‘perfect’ is teleios. It means ‘complete.’ It has more deep and far reaching significance, but we’ll save that for another time. It will suffice for now to say that the word doesn’t mean the type of perfect that never ever screws up. It is the type of perfect that is complete, single, focused, and whole. Imagine that. If we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, no fear will have any grip. Our life will be hid in God and our sins forgiven through the love He has poured out on us, and the love we have chosen to embrace in order that we may become intimate with it!
There is no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus! Walk in it. Hear His Word to apply His Word and keep yourself in the love of God. Love covers a multitude of sin.
