“No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12).
John spent much of his first epistle writing on the topic of love. One of the ideas he discussed was about love being perfected. To be perfected means to be completed, accomplished, or fulfilled (Strong’s).
What does perfect love look like? Let us notice four points made by John in his epistle.
Perfect Love Confesses Christ
“Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this, love is perfected with us…” (1 John 4:15-17).
John said that if we confess Christ, then we abide in God and “love is perfected with us.” Confession is a verbal affirmation of our belief. The New Testament is clear in showing that confessing our faith in Christ is a prerequisite for salvation. Paul reminded the Romans about what they had done in this regard: “That if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation” (Romans 10:9-10). As Jesus explained, we must be willing to confess Him before others if we want Him to confess us before the Father (Matthew 10:32-33).
What belief are we confessing? The eunuch, prior to being baptized, confessed, “I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God” (Acts 8:37). In confessing “that Jesus is the Son of God,” we are acknowledging “the love which God has for us” (1 John 4:15-16) because He sent His Son to die on the cross for us (cf. John 3:16; Romans 5:8).
Perfect Love Keeps God’s Word
“By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments. The one who says, ‘I have come to know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him; but whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God has truly been perfected. By this we know that we are in Him: the one who says he abides in Him ought himself to walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:3-6).
Many will claim to know God, but John charged some of these individuals as being liars. Love “has truly been perfected” in those who keep His word. John wrote later, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). This echoed the words of Jesus: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). We cannot rightly claim to love Him and refuse to do His will.
John explained that obedience proves that we know Him: “By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3). To know Him means that we recognize His authority (cf. Matthew 28:18), so we will strive to “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). We are to “walk in the same manner as He walked” (1 John 2:6), following His perfect example (1 Peter 2:21-22).
Perfect Love Is Shown Toward One Another
“Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:11-12).
“If we love one another… [then] love is perfected in us.” Many claim to love God; yet as we noticed in the previous point, this will be seen in our actions. It is not enough just to talk about loving God, we must show it. As John said, “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18).
However, many recognize this principle when it comes to showing love for God but act differently when it comes to those who are in the flesh with us. Yet John used very blunt language to expose the problem with this: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen” (1 John 4:20). Just as Jesus “laid down His life for us…we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). Again, this is about more than loving “with word or with tongue”; we must show love “in deed and truth” (1 John 3:18). It may involve making sacrifices for others when they are in need (1 John 3:17; cf. Galatians 6:10). As we appreciate the love God has shown for us, we will show the same type of love for our brethren.
Perfect Love Looks with Confidence toward the Day of Judgment
“By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in the world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love” (1 John 4:17-18).
When “love is perfected with us,” we can “have confidence in the day of judgment.” When the Lord returns, we will all stand before Him in order to be judged according to our deeds (2 Corinthians 5:10). At that time, He will reward the faithful and punish the wicked (Matthew 25:31-32, 46).
Knowing this, how does perfect love cast out fear? It is not that our love for Him will nullify any disobedience; rather, as we have already seen, our love will lead to obedience (1 John 5:3). John said that “fear involves punishment,” and many are afraid at the prospect of judgment when the Lord returns. Yet as John explained earlier, we can have “confidence and not shrink away from Him in shame at His coming” if we “[practice] righteousness” (1 John 2:28-29). If we are in fear of His judgment, that is an indication that we either do not know Him as we should or we are not obeying Him as we ought (cf. 2 Thessalonians 1:8).
Conclusion
As Paul told the Ephesians, we are to “walk in love” (Ephesians 5:2). John wrote about how we can do that and how love can be perfected in us. We perfect love by confessing our faith in Christ, obeying His word, showing love for one another, and looking forward to the judgment with confidence.
Let us strive to have the same type of love that God has for us, working to perfect it each day we live here on the earth.
