Love and Fear

May 4, 2012

1John 4:17-18 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may characteristically have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love characteristically casts out fear, because fear characteristically involves torment. But he who characteristically fears for himself has not been made perfect in love.

What he's referring to here is that when we come to realize God's love for us and apply that love to our own lives, it frees us from fears of condemnation concerning the day of judgment. Consider Jesus. During his time on earth did he fear condemnation? No, not for himself. So also those who walk as Jesus did need not fear the coming judgment, having had our sins atoned for on the cross of which we have accepted as the demonstration of God's love for us. For in his world we are like Christ, and thus our attitude reflects His.

Those born of God are not characteristically afraid of the judgment. In fact quite the contrary. However there is the legitimate concern advocated in the Bible as to whether one is genuinely in the faith (i.e. 2Cor 13:5; Heb 10:25,27 etc.) And so one should not be too presumptuous of one's salvation status if in fact one's behavior does not correlate with one's faith - which is the main point of 1John. And furthermore while there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus (Rom 8:1), there is yet a judgement for rewards (1Cor 3:11-15) And since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. 1Peter 1:17 Yet even in the context of this verse in 1Peter 1:17 we find confidence as Peter also says just prior to that, "Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, and into an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade— kept in heaven for you, who through faith are shielded by God's power until the coming of the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you greatly rejoice" 1Pet 1:3-6a and "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1Pet 1:8-9 So much expression of certainty, confidence, assurance can't be neglected in interpreting what he says afterwards.

However a lack of fear of judgement is not of itself indicative that one has been born of God. For example it says, "concerning the sinfulness of the wicked: There is no fear of God before his eyes." Ps 36:1 And furthermore, as an example of the misconceptions inherent in many other religions, there's Fundamentalist Islam which guarantees eternal life if you commit a murder/suicide in the name of their god "Allah". So there are many people in the world who are confident about their salvation status who shouldn't be. But if you're walking as Jesus did, you can be confident on the judgement day. To reiterate 1John 2:28 "And now, dear children, continue in him, so that when he appears we may be confident and unashamed before him at his coming."

PERFECTED IN LOVE

Who has been perfected in love? John already stated, "whoever characteristically keeps His word, truly the love of God has been perfected in him." 1John 2:5a which goes hand in hand with 1John 4:12b "If we characteristically love one another, God characteristically dwells in us, and His love has been perfected in us." This is the case for ALL genuine Christians, that is those born of God. The present tense does not exclude the possibility that at times one uncharacteristically fails to keep His word. This is not referring to perfect behavior. One does not have to have perfect behavior to be characterized as one perfected in love. While such a phrase may be misconstrued, it seems to simply mean that God's love had an objective in mind. That objective was the salvation of souls from sin, which is found to have hit its target in those who have come to genuine faith in Christ. Perfect! Mission Accomplished! The Link.