ABIDING IN HEAVENLY LOVE (4:12-16)

John has already given two motives for loving one another: firstly, that God's very nature is love (v8-9) and secondly, because God loved us (v10-11). Now he gives a third: if we do love one another, God indwells us and His love is made complete in us.

GOD'S INVISIBLE NATURE IS SEEN IN OUR LOVE ...

No-one has seen God at any time (v12). No matter what the secessionists claim, what revelations or visits to heaven they claim to have had, no-one has seen God face-to-face. Moses may have heard His character declared, and John may go on to see the throne of God, but no-one has seen God face to face. The only-begotten Son, who is in the Father's bosom, has made Him known (Jn 1:18). He is the image of the invisible God (Col 1:15).

If we love one another, we are filled with the divine nature of the God who is 'merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love' (Ex 34:6). It is not possible to manifest this kind of love, unless we are abiding in Christ; unless we know God in the biblical sense of an intimate, loving communion.

This is what St Paul is speaking of, when he tells us to 'submit yourselves one to another out of reverence for Christ' as one aspect of being filled with the Spirit (Eph 5:18-21). One aspect of agape's sacrificial nature is that we 'consider one another better than ourselves' (Phil 2:3). In all our everyday relationships, in marriage, home and work, the Holy Spirit teaches us to crucify the flesh, humble ourselves, and honour one another - just as Father Son and Holy Spirit do amongst themselves.

Christ who 'loved us and gave Himself for us' demands that we do the same for our fellow believers. 'In as much as you did it unto one of the least of these My brethren, you did it unto Me' (Matt 25:40). So whenever you find grace within yourself not to bite back, not to repay evil with evil but to overcome evil with good, you can be assured that He is in you.

In AD 90s Ephesus, with Emperor Domitian's persecution a very present reality, love was manifest in loyalty under torture, and high-risk identification with the victims. But for us, whilst we definitely should identify with and support the persecuted church, most opportunities to practice agape love involve difficult relationships! 'As the elect of God, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, forgiving one another as Christ forgave us, and over it all, putting on love' (Col 1:12-14).

When we love one another with sacrificial love and forgiveness, we can be assured that God who is love, has taken up residence in our hearts.

...BECAUSE HE INDWELLS US

God abides in us.   

John drops in this four-word phrase as if it needed no explanation. Yes, the invisible God whom no man can see, becomes manifest when we love one another. But what does it mean, for God Himself to abide in us?

The Greek word for abiding (menei) is also translated as dwell or remain. It signifies continuing to stay somewhere; an abiding presence, a co-habiting if you will.

Its Hebrew equivalent is 'shaken', the root from which we get the word 'shekinah' - God's glory which covered Israel throughout their Exodus journey. It is also the root of the word 'mishkan', meaning tent or tabernacle. On the very day Moses finished erecting the Tabernacle, 'the (shekinah) cloud covered the tabernacle (mishkan) of meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle .... the cloud abode (shaken) above it' (Ex 40:34,35).

Through the Son of God's incarnation and sinless life, He created afresh what Adam had originally been: a man made in the image of God. He joined two natures - Creator and creature - in one Person, and returned to the Father as the Son of Man. He was able to abide in God's Presence, even while on earth He was talking with Nicodemus. His desire is that we should become like Him: able to spiritually abide in God's Presence even as humanly-speaking we are preoccupied with daily life (Jn 3:13).

As God, He was united with human flesh. As men, we are to become united with God: not just in the sense of a change in our behaviour, but in our inmost being to be indwelt by Christ, in whom dwells 'all the fullness of the Godhead, bodily'. When John talks about coming to faith, he usually speaks not of believing in Jesus, but believing into Him.

This is the revelation of the Upper Room discourse; when after celebrating Passover, Jesus revealed to His disciples a totally new dimension of life they were about to experience. As a result of His resurrection, they would experience the same zoe life that He already had. 'Because I live, you will live also'.

He was already calling them friends rather than just disciples: but after He was raised, He would call them brothers. He promised them that "At that day, you will know by experience that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you..... I and My Father will come to him and make Our home with Him" (Jn 14:19-23). Jesus also said, 'He who believes in Me, the works that I do shall He do also, and greater works than these' (Jn 14:12). Does this union with the Godhead, this abiding indwelling, mean that we become Christ's peers?

There is a pentecostal teaching known as 'Manifest sons of God' theology, that some believers become like little gods, exercising creative or ruling authority in the last days. This they see as the fulfilment of 'the revealing of the sons of God, which creation is eagerly waiting for'. In this view, Jesus was the prototype of what believers will become, sharing His authority and identity: they share God's very being. This is not what John is saying!

Such misunderstanding has led to many wrong views; dominionism, the word of faith movement, the practice of making declarations, and Christian triumphalism to name a few.

Indwelling means Christ indwells us by His Spirit: we become one Spirit with Him (1 Cor 6:17). We do not become His brothers in the sense of being His equals by nature; it is always by grace. He remains uniquely and unrepeatably the only-begotten Son of God. The distinction between Creator and creature remains: His essence remains incommunicable, though we participate in His energies. We participate by grace in the life of God, through union with Christ, by the Holy Spirit - while remaining fully human creatures.

The closer we come to God, the more we are aware of our total dependence; whereas 'manifold sons' theology tends towards spiritual pride. An orthodox understanding of indwelling understands that spiritual growth comes through crucifying the flesh, and that suffering purifies love; whereas 'manifold sons' thinking minimises suffering, and tends towards triumphalism, seeing weakness as failure of faith.

In the Eastern Orthodox tradition, indwelling is called 'theosis'. It is seen as taking place within the Church, facilitated by its liturgy, sacraments and traditions; and is discerned communally. Whereas 'manifold sons' theology tends towards individualism and weak accountability; which then creates temptation to spiritually abuse others.

GOD'S INDWELLING ENGENDERS TOTAL LOVE FOR HIM

His love has been perfected in us. Although God's love originates in Himself (v7-8) and was made manifest in Christ (v9-10), it is somehow completed in us. This is true both corporately (v17), but also for each individual (v18). The verb is in the perfect tense; it's something that happened in the past but continues to be true.

This cannot mean that somehow God's love was less than perfect before we were converted! Rather, it is that His indwelling causes our love of Him to become complete. He 'works in us, both to will and to do His good pleasure'. 'The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit, who is given to us' (Rom 5:5).

But a battery is of little value, if there is no circuit for its current to flow through. Christians loving one another, and being willing to be thus loved, are what creates the circuit for God's powerful love to be seen in action.

As we've seen before, this perfection is a state of the heart, not conditional on sinlessness or even perfect obedience. It means being like King David, 'a man after God's own heart' (1 Sam 13:14, Acts 13:22). Abiding can perhaps best be paraphrased as maintaining intimacy with God.

THE SPIRIT KEEPS REINFORCING OUR UNION WITH CHRIST

Our abiding in Him. In the Upper Room, Jesus had taught His disciples the need for them to consciously abide in Him. Whilst He promised that the Spirit would abide with them for ever (Jn 14:16), after the resurrection the Spirit would be in them not just with them (Jn 14:17); and they would know that 'I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you' (Jn 14:20). Their responsibility in this relationship, was to keep His commandments (Jn 14:21) and particularly to abide in His commandment to love one another (Jn 15:12). He is the vine, they are the branches; unless they abide in Him, they will wither and die without any fruit (Jn 15:5,6).

This verse (v13) reveals a new aspect of the Spirit's role. John had previously told them they had an anointing from Christ (2:27) which enables them to discern deception and will lead them into all truth, just as Jesus had promised. But now (3:24, 4:13) he starts to talk about how the Spirit witnesses not only to truth, and to our sonship, but also to our abiding.

By this we know (this is the proof) that we are in Him, and He in us, whatever the secessionists say. How? Because He has given us of His Spirit. The spirit of bondage which used to cause us to fear God, has been replaced by 'the Spirit of Sonship, by which we cry, Abba, Father'. Amd the Spirit of God continuously witnesses to us that we are children of God.

The proofs He offers us are not confined to the gifts, ministries or graces which He operates through us, When we find ourselves

• speaking to each other in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, or

• singing and making melody in our hearts to the Lord, or

• pouring out our thankfulness to God, or

• submitting ourselves one to another,

we are experiencing the fullness of the Spirit! (Eph 5:18-21).

So now, whenever I catch myself singing an old hymn or chorus, or even just whistling the tune, I realise that the Holy Spirit is affirming that I am abiding in Christ! This inner witness of the Spirit is so precious, and is yet another facet of God's love.

MUTUAL ABIDING PROMPTS US TO WITNESS ABOUT CHRIST'S IDENTITY

We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Saviour of the world (v14).

Although the Samaritans recognised Jesus as the Saviour of the world (Jn 4:42), the Jewish establishment failed to grasp it, and the disciples only fully realised this at the Last Supper (Jn 16:30). It is a truth which cannot be reached by human reason: there has to be a revelation of the Holy Spirit. In fact the whole of John's Gospel seeks to unveil Jesus's hidden identity as the Son of God, who was sent by His Father to become the Son of Man (the second Adam). And He is the Saviour of the world, not just of some secret Gnostic sect of illuminati.

John may perhaps be reminding them of the apostles' eye-witness status. But the word for 'seen' means more than physical sight, and could better be conveyed as 'we have grasped': in which case it is true of his readers as well as himself.

Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him. To John, eternal life always implies mutual indwelling - a man in Christ, and Christ in a man.

This verse summarises the third, and most crucial, of John's tests of eternal life:-

• 'He that keeps His commandments dwells in Him, and He in them' (3:24)

• 'He that dwells in love, dwells in God, and God in him' (4:10)

• 'Whoever confesses Jesus as the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God' (4:15)

'Confess' is in the aorist tense, indicating a specific action at a point in time, present or past. It means to publicly agree with someone: confessing sin means agreeing with God's view of it, and confessing Christ means agreeing with God's revelation of Him as 'My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased'. This is something that false prophets driven by antiChrist spirits will never do (1 Jn 4:2). Whilst the historical witness of the apostles is important, it is a truth that only God can reveal to us (Mt 16:17). Our faith is based both on historical facts and personal revelation. But it is sealed by our own baptismal testimony. 'No-one can say that Jesus is Lord, except by the Holy Spirit' (1 Cor 12:3).

In John's time, this confession brought the death sentence: 'They overcame by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; and they did not love their lives to the death' (Rev 12:11). Roman coins of that era proclaimed that Caesar was the son of God. Christians were forced to declare 'Caesar is Lord', and if they didn't were martyred. Only someone who was abiding in God, could withstand such a test of their faith.

In the run-up to World War II, from 1933 onwards Hitler was supported by an anti-semitic Christian nationalist movement in Germany, called the Reich Church. It was created in order to unite German Protestant denominations under Nazi-ism. An opposing movement was formed, called the Confessing Church. Its most prominent spokesperson was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a young pastor who eventually was hanged for his opposition to Hitler. We live in a time when 'Christian' nationalism is rife, and confessing Christ - the true Christ - has become dangerous once again, in some parts of the West.

Confessing Christ's true identity as not just a great prophet, nor some sort of transient emanation from God, but as the truly human, truly divine Son of God, is very costly in some cultures. But it is another marker that God abides in us, and we in Him. Stephen's testimony to the Righteous One (Acts 7:52) cost him his life; but in that moment, the Holy Spirit revealed to him the glory of God, and Christ standing at God's right hand.

EXPERIENCING GOD'S LOVE LEADS TO TRUSTFUL ASSURANCE

'We have come to know, and to rely on, the love that God has for us'. This had been John's constant experience throughout his long Christian life. He referred to himself as 'the disciple whom Jesus loved'. At the Last Supper, he was the one closest to Christ's heart, only having to lean back to rest his head against Jesus's chest. His (and our) experience is that God is love. And he had come to know and rely on that fact.

John's letter addresses the undermining of their faith by secessionists, which the church had experienced. But it aims not only to re-establish their grip on the true gospel, but to take them into the place of his own, deep Christian assurance. He had the advantage of having seen, heard, and physically touched the risen Christ of course. But he is introducing them too into that intimate communion with God that banishes all fear, as we'll see next.

Eye-witness historical evidence, personal revelation of Jesus's identity, and one's own baptismal testimony are the three great underpinnings of our confidence. Wrapping them together is the assurance that God is love: and 'if God be for us, who can be against us?' (Rom 8:31). The whole plan of salvation, the sacrificial love of the Father than sent His only Son to be the Saviour of the world, evidences His 'goodwill towards men'.

Christians can and should have confidence before God (2:28, 3:21, 4:17, 5:14). We should be able to pray with childlike trust, and even to be bold when facing God's judgement. Previous sacrificial generosity can reassure our consciences before God (3:18-20)

Abiding in love means both a consistently loving attitude, and consistently relying on the grace of God rather than our own righteousness. This is Christian perfection!

We abide in Him: we are continuously conscious of His surrounding us with care and protection. In the spiritual realm, nothing can separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38,39).

He abides in us. In this world, He continuously and consistently indwells us, as Christ promised us (Jn 14:23).

In heavenly love abiding, no change my heart shall fear.

and safe in such confiding, for nothing changes here.

the storm may roar without me, my heart may low be laid,

but God is round about me, and can I be dismayed?