1 John 4:18 Commentary

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1 John 4:18

Comments

These words should not daunt us but rather teach us what we are to aim at. Who can say that they have already arrived at perfect love, but every Christian can say that he has begun to love with genuine love. Love should steadily increase over the course of the Christian’s life, but we are to be realistic in our assessment of ourselves, and here John shows us how our love may fall short of perfection. He identifies fear as the obstacle to love, even the opposite of love; they cannot coexist because love leaves no room for fear. John explains this in terms of their expected outcomes: fear expects punishment or retribution, but love expects nothing but goodness from God. We cannot love one we expect to be punished by. From where does love cast out fear? Obviously, he means, from within us; it drives out fear because it is stronger than fear. When fear wants to assert itself and say, ‘The outcome here will be bad and evil will come to me,’ love answers, ‘Away with you; I have no such concerns, for the one I love will do me no harm. What you expect and what I expect are opposites, and I know better.’ Love resists fear and argues that fear is inappropriate and that it does not understand the true situation. Love is a tremendous achievement for sinners before a perfectly holy God, but it is what God has called us to.

Application

He who fears still has a faltering love, a love that is not yet purified to perfection. John does not deny that this may occur – that a man may have love and fear at the same time – but it is an unnatural mixture and indicates the weakness of his faith as well as the imperfection of love. Such a man needs to understand the true basis of his standing with God and see that every cause for fear has been removed and strive towards the goal of perfect love.

Questions

Certainly there is a form of fear which we call reverence, which is quite consistent with love, but that is not the kind of fear that John means here. Reverence does not expect punishment from God, and is not tormented by the anticipation of his wrath; it approaches him aware of his greatness but confident of his favour.

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1 John 4:18 Commentary and Bible Study