1 John 4:10
1 John 4:10
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
This verse states that "God is love," and that this truth is expressed through His actions in sending His Son, Jesus Christ, to save humanity from sin. Through faith in Jesus, we experience God's love in a tangible way and are called to embody it in our own relationships with others. The love of God is not just a feeling, but a deliberate choice to love and serve others, just as Jesus loves and serves us. The Apostle John reminds us that God is Spirit, Light, and Love (John 4:24, 1 John 1:5, 1 John 4:8), and these qualities are indivisibly linked and eternal. The essence of God requires all His attributes to be intertwined, never separated. To disconnect the love of God from His righteousness, His holiness, His goodness, and His perfect nature is to reduce God to a fantasy. However, God's love is demonstrated not by our affection towards Him, but by His unwavering love towards us, even when we were sinful and estranged from Him. He sent His only begotten Son as the atoning sacrifice for our transgressions, granting eternal life to all who place their faith in Him, instead of facing condemnation.
1 John 4:11
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
Jeremiah 31:3
The Lord hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.
1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
Luke 6:35
But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind unto the unthankful and to the evil.