Moving from 1 John 3 (where 1 John 3:23-24 shares God’s command to believe in the name of Jesus Christ and to love one another) in the previous article, over to 1 John 4, we find that loving others and knowing God are closely tied together, here.
Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
1 John 4:7-8 NIV
In light of this passage, let’s ask a question: Does this mean that those who don’t accept God, don’t – or can’t – actually love others?
I’m sure that many who don’t follow Jesus would insist that they love other people. Some would say that they are “in love”, while others would point to what they do for their fellow human beings as being loving.
However, maybe what is called love in our society isn’t always the same kind of love that God is talking about here. Now, I’m not a Greek expert, but a modern Greek New Testament translation that I have on my Bible app sure looks like it’s talking about agape love in these verses. (And, a commentator – Womack, p 105 – confirmed that this is true for at least first instance of “love” in verse 7.)
On the other hand, when I hear things like, “love is love” or “love whoever you want”, I think that maybe this is talking about something else entirely: perhaps something other than agape love. I don’t want to be disrespectful to the challenges faced by those whose feelings and physiology don’t match up (that’s a tough situation, to be sure), but in general, I think that we might be mixing entirely different concepts when we use the word “love” without understanding what we meant by that word.
Looking at this from another perspective, for many people, their idea of love is just a feeling, rather than the choices and actions that result from true agape love. In the furthest-removed examples from agape love, some people’s idea of love is about themselves or getting what they want, which is quite different from the selfless, sacrificial love that God showed us. In other cases, if we’re honest, it seems like the actual definition of love that gets thrown around is more like eros (a Greek word for physical attraction and behaviors), rather than agape. God has a place for eros love (i.e., within a marriage), but that’s not the same thing as agape love.
So, when I see a sign that says, “Love is Love”, my usual thought is something like, “No, it’s not! There are different kinds of love, and the other person might not be talking about the same kind of love that I’m commanded to live out.” Only when we have defined what we and others mean by “love” can we realistically discuss with them what is best for individuals and society. And, only when we understand what God means by love (especially in passages like this one) can we really understand how to both receive and give that kind of divinely-modeled and divinely-commanded love.
In the end, I don’t think that we have fully answered the question (bolded above) about whether we can love others – with agape love – without being close to God. However, let’s take a look at one of God’s examples of love in the next article (have a look at 1 John 4:8-9). I’m pretty sure that without His example, we’re probably not going to get it right.
From Sunday School lesson prepared for March 9, 2025
References:
- 1717 Bible Studies, 1, 2, and 3 John, © 2025 Christian Standard Media.
- Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
- The College Press NIV Commentary – 1, 2 & 3 John, by Morris M. Womack. © 1998 College Press Publishing Co.
Those Who Sin Differently 