1 John 4:19

Contextual Overview

¹⁷In this, love is made complete with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. ¹⁷ Herein is our loue made perfect, that wee may haue boldnesse in the day of Iudgement, because as hee is, so are we in this world. ¹⁷ Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. ¹⁷ By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. ¹⁷ By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, we also are in this world. ¹⁷ This is how love is made perfect in us: that we can be without fear on the day God judges us, because in this world we are like him. ¹⁷God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love. ¹⁷ By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. ¹⁷In this way, love has been perfected among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment; for in this world we are just like Him. ¹⁷ If we truly love others and live as Christ did in this world, we won't be worried about the day of judgment.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

1 John 4:10, Luke 7:47, John 3:16, John 15:16, 2 Corinthians 5:14, 2 Corinthians 5:15, Galatians 5:22, Ephesians 2:3-5, Titus 3:3-5

Reciprocal: Exodus 20:6 - love me Deuteronomy 7:8 - because Deuteronomy 10:12 - love Deuteronomy 33:3 - he loved Judges 5:31 - them that 1 Kings 3:3 - loved Psalms 18:1 - I will Psalms 26:3 - For Psalms 97:10 - Ye that Psalms 116:1 - love Proverbs 8:17 - I love Jeremiah 31:3 - I have Matthew 22:40 - General John 1:43 - and findeth John 13:1 - having John 14:15 - General John 16:27 - because John 17:23 - and hast John 21:15 - lovest Romans 5:5 - because Romans 8:28 - them Romans 8:37 - him Romans 8:39 - love Romans 10:20 - I was made 1 Corinthians 2:9 - them 1 Corinthians 8:3 - love 1 Corinthians 16:22 - love Colossians 3:12 - beloved 2 Thessalonians 2:13 - beloved 2 Thessalonians 3:5 - into James 1:12 - them James 2:13 - and 1 Peter 1:8 - ye love

Cross-References

Genesis 2:18
The LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

Genesis 2:18
And the Lord God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.

Genesis 2:18
Then Yahweh God said, "it is not good that the man is alone. I will make for him a helper as his counterpart."

Genesis 2:18
Then the Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper who is right for him."

Genesis 2:18
The Lord God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a companion for him who corresponds to him."

Genesis 2:18
Now the LORD God said, "It is not good (beneficial) for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper [one who balances him—a counterpart who is] suitable and complementary for him."

Genesis 2:18
Then the LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

Genesis 2:18
Also the Lorde God saide, It is not good that the man should be himself alone: I wil make him an helpe meete for him.

Genesis 2:18
Then Yahweh God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper suitable for him."

Genesis 2:18
The Lord God said, "It isn't good for the man to live alone. I need to make a suitable partner for him."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

We love him, because he first loved us. Lest love to God, and so to one another, should be thought to be of ourselves, and too much be ascribed unto it, the apostle observes, that God's love to us is prior to our love to him; his love is from everlasting, as well as to everlasting; for he loves his people as he does his Son, and he loved him before the foundation of the world; his choosing them in Christ as early, and blessing them then with all spiritual blessings, the covenant of grace made with Christ from all eternity, the gift of grace to them in him before the world began, and the promise of eternal life to them so soon, show the antiquity and priority of his love: his love shown in the mission and gift of his Son was before theirs, and when they had none to him; and his love in regeneration and conversion is previous to theirs, and is the cause of it; his grace in regeneration brings faith and love with it, and produces them in the heart; and his love shed abroad there is the moving cause of it, or what draws it first into act and exercise; and the larger the discoveries and applications of the love of God be, the more does love to him increase and abound; and nothing more animates and inflames our love to God, than the consideration of the earliness of his love to us, of its being before ours; which shows that it is free, sovereign, distinguishing, and unmerited. Some read the words as an exhortation, "let us love him"; and others as in the subjunctive mood, "we should love him", because, &c. some copies read, "we love God", and so the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Ethiopic versions, and the Alexandrian copy, read, "because God first loved us": and so some others.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

We love him, because he first loved us - This passage is susceptible of two explanations; either.

(1)That the fact that he first loved us is the “ground” or “reason” why we love him, or.

(2)That as a matter of fact we have been brought to love him in consequence of the love which he has manifested toward us, though the real ground of our love may be the excellency of his own character.

If the former be the meaning, and if that were the only ground of love, then it would be mere selfishness, (compare Matthew 5:46-47); and it cannot be believed that John meant to teach that that is the “only” reason of our love to God. It is true, indeed, that that is a proper ground of love, or that we are bound to love God in proportion to the benefits which we have received from his Hand; but still genuine love to God is something which cannot be explained by the mere fact that we have received favors from Him. The true, the original ground of love to God, is the “excellence of His own character,” apart from the question whether we are to be benefited or not. There is that in the divine nature which a holy being will love, apart from the benefits which he is to receive, and from any thought even of his own destiny. It seems to me, therefore, that John must have meant here, in accordance with the second interpretation suggested above, that the fact that we love God is to be traced to the means which he has used to bring us to himself, but without saying that this is the sole or even the main reason why we love him. It was His love manifested to us by sending His Son to redeem us which will explain the fact that we now love Him; but still the real ground or reason why we love Him is the infinite excellence of His own character. It should be added here, that many suppose that the Greek words rendered “we love” (ἡμεῖς ἀγαπῶμεν hēmeis agapōmen are not in the indicative, but in the subjunctive; and that this is an exhortation - “let us love him, because he first loved us.” So the Syriac, the Arabic, and the Vulgate read it; and so it is understood by Benson, Grotius, and Bloomfield. The main idea would not be essentially different; and it is a proper ground of exhortation to love God because He has loved us, though the highest ground is, because His character is infinitely worthy of love.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 19. We love him because he first loved us. — This is the foundation of our love to God. 1. We love him because we find he has loved us. 2. We love him from a sense of obligation and gratitude. 3. We love him from the influence of his own love; from his love shed abroad in our hearts, our love to him proceeds. It is the seed whence our love springs. The verse might be rendered, Let us therefore love him, because he first loved us: thus the Syriac and Vulgate.