Resting in the Finished Love of God in Christ

 

First John 4 gives us one of the most comforting declarations in all of Scripture: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear.” Yet those words can also raise a difficult question. What exactly is “perfect love”? If we are honest with ourselves, none of us can claim that our love for God is perfect. We do not love Him with flawless consistency. We do not always love our families, our brethren, or even our Lord as completely as we should. How, then, can Scripture speak of perfect love?

The answer is found not in the perfection of our love toward God, but in the perfection of His love toward us in Jesus Christ. John directs our attention away from ourselves and toward the Father who sent His Son to be the Saviour. Perfect love is rooted in what God has accomplished for us through Christ, and when we understand that love, it gives us confidence before God, drives away tormenting fear, humbles us, and produces love for the brethren.

God Calls Us to Perfection

The word perfection often makes Christians uncomfortable because we know ourselves too well. We know our failures, weaknesses, sinful thoughts, careless words, and inconsistent obedience. Yet Scripture repeatedly speaks about perfection.

Jesus said, “Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.” Paul told the Corinthians, “Be perfect.” He described the purpose of his ministry as warning and teaching every man so that he might “present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” Epaphras prayed that believers would “stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” James told believers to let patience have its perfect work so that they might be “perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

Clearly, we cannot simply ignore these passages.

At the same time, Scripture equally teaches that no Christian reaches sinless perfection in this present life. The apostle Paul himself admitted, “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect.” James reminds us that “in many things we offend all.” First John 1 declares that if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and if we say that we have not sinned, we make God a liar.

The Bible therefore cannot be teaching that believers become entirely free from sin before glory.

When Scripture uses the word perfect in many of these passages, it carries the idea of maturity, completeness, soundness, or being full-grown. Noah, for example, is called “perfect in his generations,” yet Noah was certainly not sinless. His life demonstrated maturity and general faithfulness toward God.

Likewise, Christians are commanded to grow toward spiritual maturity. Perfection is our aim, but sinless perfection is not our present condition.

We Must Never Make Peace With Sin

There is another danger, however. Because we know we cannot become sinlessly perfect in this life, we may begin to think that sin is unavoidable in every circumstance and therefore excuse ourselves too easily.

John corrects that error as well.

In First John 2 he writes, “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.” John does not tell Christians to surrender to sin. He tells them not to sin. Then, recognizing the reality of our remaining corruption, he adds, “And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

That balance is essential.

We must never claim that we have reached sinless perfection, but neither should we treat sin casually. We are to pursue holiness, live according to the Word of God, keep our minds upon Christ, and seek to obey Him. When we fall, we do not excuse ourselves; we turn again to our Advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous.

Christian maturity is not pretending we have no sin. It is increasingly hating sin, confessing it honestly, and seeking to live in obedience to God.

What Does It Mean to Confess Christ?

The foundation for understanding perfect love appears earlier in First John 4.

John writes that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world and then says, “Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.”

The word confess carries the idea of saying the same thing or agreeing together. When we confess our sins, we agree with God concerning them. We do not merely acknowledge that an action occurred; we agree with God that it was sinful, wrong, and worthy of His judgment.

Likewise, when we confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God, we agree with the Father concerning His Son.

Whatever the Father says about Jesus Christ, we say about Him. Whatever honour the Father gives the Son, we give Him. We acknowledge that He is the eternal Son of God, the Saviour, the sacrifice for sin, and the One through whom we have life.

This confession does not arise from human cleverness. When Peter confessed, “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God,” Jesus told him that flesh and blood had not revealed this truth to him but the Father in heaven.

Saving knowledge of Christ is therefore a gift of grace.

The Love God Has Toward Us

John continues, “We have known and believed the love that God hath to us.”

What love is he speaking about?

The context answers the question. Earlier John had written, “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.” He continues, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.”

There is the heart of perfect love.

God gave His Son.

Christ became the propitiation for our sins. His sacrifice was perfect. His obedience was perfect. His atonement was perfect. His reconciliation was perfect. His salvation is perfect.

Our confidence therefore cannot rest upon the strength of our love for Him. It rests upon the perfection of His love for us revealed in Jesus Christ.

We know this love, and we continue to know it. We believe this love, and we continue to believe it. The Christian life is an abiding confidence that the Father has loved His people in His Son.

Our Love Has Been Perfected in Christ

John then declares, “Herein is our love made perfect.”

This does not mean that every emotional response or act of obedience we offer God has become flawless. It means that love has reached its perfection in God’s saving work through Jesus Christ.

The source of our love is God Himself.

First John 4:19 says, “We love him, because he first loved us.” Romans 5 likewise teaches that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost.

Our love is therefore responsive. God did not love us because we first loved Him. He did not look down through history, discover a people who loved Him properly, and then decide to return their affection.

He loved first.

We love because He loved. We seek Him because He drew us. We believe because He revealed His Son. We have life because He gave Christ for us.

That is why perfected love should make us humble rather than proud.

Perfect Love Gives Boldness in Judgment

John tells us one immediate result of understanding this perfected love: “that we may have boldness in the day of judgment.”

If we look only at ourselves, the thought of judgment is terrifying.

We know we have sinned. We know we have violated the law of God. We know that God is perfectly righteous and that none of our sins can be hidden from Him.

But the believer does not come to the day of judgment trusting in personal righteousness.

We come in Christ.

The righteous Judge is also our heavenly Father, and our sins have been dealt with through the sacrifice of His Son. Christ has suffered for sins, the just for the unjust. There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

This does not mean that we are never ashamed of our sins. If we could go back and undo many things we have done, surely we would. But shame over past sin and fear of condemnation are not the same thing.

Our sins have been answered by Christ.

Therefore, perfect love gives boldness.

Perfect Love Casts Out Fear

John explains this further: “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment.”

The fear being described is tormenting fear—the fear of condemnation and punishment before God.

If our assurance rests upon ourselves, we will always have reason to fear because we know we are imperfect. But when we understand the perfection of Christ’s work, the basis for that tormenting fear is removed.

The believer can say, “My love toward God is imperfect, but His love toward me is perfect. My obedience is imperfect, but Christ’s righteousness is perfect. My service is imperfect, but His sacrifice is perfect.”

Our peace is not founded upon pretending that we are better than we are.

It is founded upon believing that Christ is exactly who God says He is and that His work is sufficient.

The more we abide in that truth, the less room there is for tormenting fear.

Perfect Love Makes Us More Like Christ

Perfected love also produces transformation.

John writes, “As he is, so are we in this world.” The more we abide in Christ, the more our lives should increasingly resemble Him.

People who spend many years together often begin to think alike, speak alike, and respond to circumstances in similar ways. In a far greater sense, continual communion with Christ changes us.

If Christ always sought to please the Father, then the person abiding in Christ increasingly desires to please the Father as well.

Grace does not merely remove fear. It produces obedience.

The assurance of God’s love should never make us careless about holiness. It should make us desire holiness more. When we comprehend what the Father has done for us in His Son, gratitude should lead us toward greater devotion, affection, and obedience.

Perfect Love Produces Love for the Brethren

Finally, the love of God toward us must produce love toward other believers.

John is unmistakably clear: “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.” He later adds, “This commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.”

We cannot claim to understand Christ’s love while cherishing hatred toward His people.

Christ laid down His life for His brethren. Therefore, John says, “we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.”

The person who has truly grasped the mercy shown to him becomes increasingly willing to show mercy to others. The person who has been loved sacrificially should learn to love sacrificially.

Love for the brethren does not mean approving everything another believer does. It does mean that bitterness, malice, hatred, and a desire for another’s destruction are incompatible with a genuine claim to understand the love of God.

Rest in the Perfect Love of Christ

We need not live in constant terror before our Father.

Our love is weak, but His is strong. Our faith sometimes trembles, but Christ’s work does not change. Our obedience remains imperfect, but our acceptance with God rests upon a perfect Saviour.

God loved His people with an everlasting love. He gave His Son for us. Christ accomplished a perfect salvation, and the Holy Spirit sheds the love of God abroad in our hearts.

Therefore, we love Him because He first loved us.

Let that truth humble us. Let it give us boldness. Let it drive away tormenting fear. Let it make us more like Christ. And let it move us to love one another as those who have themselves been loved with a love that cannot fail.

Our love may not yet be perfect.

But in Jesus Christ, we rest in a love that is.