68 - One Another, Integrity

One Another, Integrity; 1 John 4:7,8

1 John 4:12 ^NASB "No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." Abiding can't be salvation because then salvation would be based not on just trust in Christ as saviour but on loving. Remember that back in 3:24 John has said, "The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us." So there is a connection between abiding in Christ, the Spirit abiding in us—a mutuality here—and then he is going to add to it in 12 that it is related to love. So he is connecting these things together. Actually, verses 12-16 is a sort of summary where he pulls all the threads together for us again, and there he is going to say, "if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected [teleiow, to bring to completion] in us. [13] By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit." See how that ties abiding in 2:28 to the Spirit in 3:24 and then to 4:12. Then in verse 14, "We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son {to be} the Savior of the world.  [15] Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God." Notice how that brings in the thread of testing or evaluating doctrine related to the person of Christ in the first part of chapter four. [16] "We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him." This pulls it all together. John is going to take these different threads and weave them together to give us an understanding that we have to be ready for the judgment seat of Christ, because in verse 17 he is going to say, "By this, love is perfected [teleiow, brought to completion] with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment…" He is coming right back to the subject of 2:28, that if we want to avoid being judged negatively at the judgment seat of Christ and losing rewards then we had better hit that level of spiritual maturity where the function of personal love for God and impersonal love for all mankind characterises our life. That is where he is going. 

1 John 4:7 ^NASB "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from [the ultimate source of] God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." He addresses them as "Beloved," agapetoi [a)gaphtoi], and that means he views them all as believers. So what he is saying is doctrine related to the spiritual life, not salvation. "Let us love one another" is a basic command that is repeated again and again. It is a first person plural present active subjunctive. The subjunctive is the mood of potentiality but when there is a first person subjunctive it is like a first person imperative. The first person plural "us" here is going to emphasise the function of the body of Christ. Loving one another is a function of the body of Christ. The reason for emphasising that is because when we look at a number of the passages related to the command to love it is a function of the body of Christ. We are to love one another. In order to emphasise this we need to trace it through the New Testament.

The context of Romans 12 is on the application in the believer's spiritual life. Romans 12:3 ^NASB "For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith. [4] For just as we have many members in one body and all the members do not have the same function, [5] so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another." There is our first use of the words "one another." There is an interdependence in the body of Christ. That means that we are going to have involvements with other believers. If we think that we can just an island unto ourselves in a local body then what we are doing is operating on the cosmic ideal of individualism that is cosmic thinking. There is a mutuality and an interdependence among the body of Christ. [6] "Since we have gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, {each of us is to exercise them accordingly:} if prophecy, according to the proportion of his faith; [7] if service, in his serving; or he who teaches, in his teaching; [8] or he who exhorts, in his exhortation; he who gives, with liberality; he who leads, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness… [10] {Be} devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor"—the idea of being a priority, putting our attention on the fact that there are others in the body of Christ and they have particular problems and needs, and that as we grow as a mature believer we can minister in those areas. [12] "rejoicing in hope, persevering in tribulation, devoted to prayer, [13] contributing to the needs of the saints, practicing hospitality." We see these ideas repeated again and again in contexts related to love. [14] "Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse. [15] Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep. [16] Be of the same mind toward one another; do not be haughty in mind, but associate with the lowly. Do not be wise in your own estimation."

Romans 14:13 ^NASB "Therefore let us not judge one another anymore, but rather determine this—not to put an obstacle or a stumbling block in a brother's way." As believers we are not to run down, gossip or malign others. This doesn't mean not to evaluate on the basis of doctrine. Quote: "In order to put a stumbling block in someone's way they have to be moving." [19] "So then we pursue the things which make for peace and the building up of one another." This is a priority issue: Let's put into priority the things that are going to contribute towards edification, spiritual growth and spiritual maturity.

Romans 15:14 ^NASB "And concerning you, my brethren, I myself also am convinced that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with all knowledge and able also to admonish one another." Notice the order here. "Filled with all knowledge" – this is a spiritually mature believer who has a full comprehension of the Word of God and they have a tremendous amount of doctrine in their souls, and because of that doctrine they have wisdom that goes along with it, and that wisdom enables them to be able to help a person think through the issues in their life and make biblically sound decisions. The term "admonish" is the Greek word noutheteo [nouqetew]. The root is nou which comes from nouj, meaning mentality. It has to do with thinking, helping someone think through life's issues. A word of caution about "one another." This doesn't mean equally to every other believer. It is based upon a mutual understanding and a mutual relationship. You don't just admonish every Christian you see; you don't have the framework for it. You have to exercise a little discernment and wisdom and that is why it is preceded by the statement "filled with knowledge." It is based upon an understanding of God's Word.

Galatians 5:13 ^NASB "For you were called to freedom, brethren; only {do} not {turn} your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another." It is a function of everyone's spiritual life to serve one another.

Galatians 6:2 ^NASB "Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ." You can't do that equally with every believer you could possibly meet. That is impossible. But those who come into your sphere of life, to a certain level of intimacy, you can do that. You can encourage them and help strengthen them spiritually as they go through various testings.

Ephesians 4:2 ^NASB "with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing tolerance for one another in love …. [25] Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE {of you} WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another…. [32] Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you."

Philippians 2:3 ^NASB "Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves."

1 Thessalonians 5:11 ^NASB "Therefore encourage one another and build up one another, just as you also are doing…. [15] See that no one repays another with evil for evil, but always seek after that which is good for one another and for all people."

1 Peter 4:9 ^NASB "Be hospitable to one another without complaint."

All of these are based upon the command to love one another which we have here in 1 John 4:7. This is not an option but this is indicative of reaching that level of spiritual maturity necessary to avoid being ashamed at the judgment seat of Christ. "… for love is from God." The Greek word translated "for" is hoti [o(ti], indicating that he is going to give the reason for the command. 1 John 4:8 ^NASB "The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love." What he means by that is the one who loves is reflecting his position as a member of the royal family of God and is manifesting the character of his Father. The one who is not loving is not acting like a member of the family and is not manifesting the character of his Father.

1 John 4:7 ^NASB "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God …" Love has its source in God, ek [e)k] plus the genitive indicates that God and God alone is the ultimate source of this category of love. Then he adds to this statement: "and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God." "Everyone who loves" is a present active participle with a definite article ho [o(] agapon [a)gapwn], and because it has the article it is the person who loves. This is going to be further modified by a perfect passive indicative of the verb genao [genaw] which means to be born. The perfect tense indicates the present reality of a past action. The past action would be faith alone in Christ alone and the present reality is now you are a bona fide member born into the royal family of God. John says here that the one who loves is born of God because if love is uniquely from God only someone who is a member of His family can demonstrate that kind of love. John uses this kind of grammatical structure several times and when he does the present participle indicates the results of a past action. The past action is the one who is born again. So we have a born-again one and John says they love. But he doesn't say that every born-again person loves. He is making a positive assertion that only the person who loves can be born again because this is uniquely produced by God. But if you don't see the love it doesn't mean they weren't born again. There are two conditions to loving. The first is that they are regenerate, have been born of God. Second, they know God. What we need to recognise is that love is a product of spiritual growth, and what we are going to see is that it is related to knowing God, therefore it is related to having a personal love for God the Father. But that only starts to come along if we reach a certain level of spiritual maturity beyond spiritual adolescence.