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And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

New Defender's Study Bible Notes

4:8 God is love. Some cults and even some evangelicals misuse this verse, making God essentially synonymous with “love,” denying in effect His other attributes. God is, indeed, a loving God, as attested in a multitude of Scriptures, but also “our God is a consuming fire” (Hebrews 12:29). Furthermore, “God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5).


4:9 only begotten Son. See notes on John 1:14 and 1:18.


4:10 propitiation. See I John 2:2. These are the only occurrences (in addition to Romans 3:25) of this particular word. It is used in the sense of a substitutionary sacrifice to satisfy both God’s justice and love.


4:12 No man hath seen God. But “the only begotten Son…hath declared Him” (John 1:18). “He that hath seen me hath seen the Father,” Jesus said (John 14:9). Jesus Christ is “the image of the invisible God” (Colossians 1:15). In a lesser way, though quite real, just as we see God in Christ, so men can see God’s attribute of love in us if we have allowed the Holy Spirit to bring His fruit (Galatians 5:22) to perfection in our lives.


4:13 Hereby know. This is the last of eight “tests” in I John beginning with the phrase, “Hereby know,” each one providing a means of testing the reality of our saving faith. See I John 2:3,5; 3:16,19,24; 4:2,6,13.


4:14 the Saviour. The Son is not just a savior. He is the Savior! “He that hath not the Son of God hath not life” (I John 5:12).


4:18 no fear in love. “God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind” (II Timothy 1:7). The denial of God and rejection of Christ because of the fear of men will indeed lead to torment, because “the fearful…shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone” (Revelation 21:8).


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