Dear Friend of the Persecuted Church—

For the past two weeks, we have begun to work through 1 John 4, as we seek to answer the question, “What does it mean to love the Body of Christ?” We started in verses 1-6 by defining the Body of Christ, and last week we identified love as the essence of knowing God.   Today we turn our attention to verses 12-16:

No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

Perfected In Us

The author of 1 John makes it abundantly clear throughout this chapter that love begins with God. Verse 10 tells us, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us...” Verse 19 confirms, “We love him, because he first loved us.” On the basis of His love to us, we are commanded to love “one another”—the Body of Christ.

This agape love for the brethren does not start with us. It merely starts in us with the indwelling of the Spirit, and confirms that indwelling. We are not even capable of loving on our own, because God is love, and all love is of God!

But in the indwelling of God’s Spirit, His love takes on a different form in us. In fact, verse 12 tells us that His love is perfected in us.

Stop and think about that for a moment. This love, love that we are incapable of even generating on our own, this love that is so far from who we are and what we are capable of as humans, is brought to its ultimate perfection in us. Through the indwelling of the Spirit, the love that is the essence of God is spread abroad, taking on perfect form as we exercise its power for the good of the brethren.

Matthew Henry put it powerfully when he said, “How ambitious should we be of this fraternal Christian love, when God reckons his own love to us perfected thereby!”

Here we begin to answer our question—what does it mean to love the Body of Christ? To love the Body means to take God’s agape love and give it physical form. It is to take the image of God’s love and make it real and powerful as it flows through us.

Have you ever thought of your prayers for our brothers and sisters in Christ as the perfection of God’s love? That is what they are.

Yours for the Body of Christ,

Gabriel J. Waddell
Executive Director