| In our daily devotional on 1 John 4, we encounter one of the most powerful passages on love in Scripture, often called the “second love chapter” after 1 Corinthians 13. Here, John first emphasizes the importance of discerning truth by “testing the spirits” before shifting to the transformative nature of divine love. This chapter reveals that because “God is love,” we are called to love others as He abides in us, driving out fear and giving us a secure foundation to love freely. As we explore these verses, may we gain a deeper, biblical understanding of love—its source in God, its purpose, and its impact on our relationships. To see how to live in deed and truth, read the daily devotional on 1 John 3. |
1 John 4 Commentary by Allen J. Huth
We are continuing our study of 1 John with chapter 4, which is twenty-one verses. I love this chapter, the second love chapter in Scripture. Second only to the more famous love chapter, 1 Corinthians 13. As we read 1 John 4, you will see why this is the second love chapter. Do you understand love from a biblical perspective? Please read or listen to 1 John 4.
What Is the Greatest Love According to John?
What a great chapter. You can see why I think it is the other love chapter in Scripture. Before we get to verse 7 and the rest of the chapter which deals with God’s love, there is an interesting point in the first six verses about testing the spirits.
How to Test the Spirits 1 John 4
We go to my journals, beginning in 1999, where I wrote about verses 1-6, “Test the spirits”. Let’s look at verses 2-3 (NASB), “By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God; this is the spirit of the antichrist, which you heard was coming and now is in the world already.”
What Is the Meaning of 1 John 4 Verse 4?
Back to my journal about verse 4, “For ‘he who is in you is greater than he who is in the world’”. That is one of those great verses we love to quote. Now you know where it is: 1 John 4:4. We go on to 4:7-21, about God’s love. I wrote in my journal, “Love. God is love. He loved us first. He will abide in us if we confess Jesus is the Son of God. We love Him because He first loved us. With His love, we have no fear because perfect love casts out fear. Thank you, God, for love. The world would not know love without You.”
Where Does John Say God Is Love?
A few years later in 2003 (NASB), I wrote about the same things, but a little differently. “About testing the spirits, ‘Greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world’, referring to verse 4.” Then, “It’s all about love. 1 John 4 is the other love chapter. What’s the bottom line? God is love according to verse 8. He offers love to us in verse 10, so we can receive the ability to love from God, which is in verse 11, so we can love Him and others according to verse 19. He is the origin of love and we are the object of His love. Receiving His love transfers love from Him to us, then from us to others. Can one love without God’s love?”
What Is the Overcoming Power of the Holy Spirit?
In 2012, I had a different perspective on those first six verses about testing the spirits, “‘test the spirits’ (v. 1). First, spirits is plural. So, there are many spirits. They can and should be tested to discover their origin, either from God or not from God. What is the test? How do we test these spirits? ‘Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God’ (vs. 2-3). Pretty simple. ‘(T)he spirit of the antichrist (has been) in the world already’ (v. 3). But, the Holy Spirit is in us, overcoming he who is in the world: Satan and his demons.”
Now on to love, “‘love is from God’ (v. 7), love is God,” referring to verse 8.“We have known God to love. The greatest demonstration of love is God sending His only Son into the world so that they might have life through him. Before we love, God loves. And because God loves us, we ought to love one another. Our capacity to love comes when God abides in us.”
What Is the Depth Meaning of Love?
I want to share a very practical application from these verses in my own life. In high school, I dated a girl, but I would never use the word love because I was not sure what the word love meant. Back in those days, I would say, “I love baseball, I love ice cream, I love you.” The word seemed to be shallow, so I said to her I would not use the word love. I told her I liked her, thought she was pretty, used nice words, but the word love was something I would not use.
I went off to college, and in my daily Bible reading came across 1 John 4. I read this passage and began to understand God is love. He pours His love into me so I then had love and therefore I could love someone else. After I understood where love came from and how I had it within me, then I could give it away to someone else. So, I called her on the phone and told her for the first time I loved her.
How Does God Answer Your Questions?
That is what Scripture means to me and I hope to you. When we cannot understand things, or we are not sure what things mean, go to the Word of God because the answers to everything are in Scripture. It might take us a little while to find them, but they are there. The end of that story with that girl is this. I told her I loved her. She became my wife and we have been married for over forty-five years. The practical application to this passage is find love, biblical love, before marriage.
I hope you see the reasons I think this is the second love chapter. In fact, it probably trumps 1 Corinthians 13 in my view, because it is so powerful about understanding God’s love. If you have struggled with love in your life, if you struggled with either being loved, accepting love, or giving away love, I encourage you to go back in your spare time and look at 1 John chapter 4, starting with verse 7, and get a good biblical understanding of love. That is worth thinking about today.
Prayer
Father, we thank You for Your love. Thank you for first loving us, for abiding in us, so at least for me, I could have the capacity to love and could learn to love others. Because I can love, help me do so better than I have before. In Jesus’ name, we pray it. Amen.
