Similarly, when Moses requests to see God s glory, the Holy One responds with the categorical truism,

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1 The First Epistle of John: Chapter Four [4:12 14] No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. In these verses, John is emphasizing that genuine love for fellow believers is a mark of true saving faith and therefore a characteristic of those whom God has drawn to Himself and, by faith in Yeshua, have been granted eternal life. It may well be that John also has in mind those who have left the believing community having followed a Gnostic teaching that a special, mystical experience was the only way to see God and thus to know Him in truth. John, however, not only points to loving one another as a mark of knowing God, but also that the Ruach Who abides in every child of God manifests His divine presence by enabling the believer to live in such a way that their life is characterized by God s righteousness. No one has seen God at any time Here John seems clearly to have verse 18 from the prologue of his Gospel in mind, for he writes the same opening phrase with just one variation. While in his Gospel John uses the verb ὁράω (horaō, in 3rd perfect, ἑώρακεν, heōraken), to see, in our text he uses a synonym verb, θεάομαι (theaomai, in 3rd perfect, τεθέαται, tetheatai), to see. Θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε No one has seen God at any time; (John 1:18) Θεὸν οὐδεὶς πώποτε τεθέαται. (1Jn 4:12) No one has seen God at any time; Both the Tanach as well as the Apostolic Scripture affirm the invisibility of God. Indeed, the otherness of Israel s God is demonstrated by the fact that, unlike the false gods which are depicted by graven images and idols, Israel is forbidden to construct or venerate any supposed likeness of God. You shall not make for yourself an idol, or any likeness of what is in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the water under the earth. (Ex 20:4) Then the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form only a voice. So watch yourselves carefully, since you did not see any form on the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb from the midst of the fire, so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves in the form of any figure. (Deut 4:12, 15 16) Similarly, when Moses requests to see God s glory, the Holy One responds with the categorical truism, ל א תוּכ ל ל ר א ת א ת פּ נ י כּ י ל א י ר אַנ י ה אָד ם ו ח י You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live! (Ex 33:20) To see My face means to know or comprehend the very infinite being of God, something that is beyond the ability of any created being. Hebrew uses the concept of face as expressing essence or personhood, for there is no Hebrew

2 178 [4:12 14] The First Epistle of John: Chapter Four word that answers directly to our English word person. Thou canst not see my face. This separate sentence is emphatic and essential. My face is my direct, immediate, intrinsic self. The essential power of God is irresistible; the essential wisdom inscrutable to the creature. The essential holiness of the Almighty and All-wise is insupportable to that which is tainted with guilt. Hence man shall not see Him and live. 1 And Cassuto notes: The conclusion of v. 19 [Ex 33:19], and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and show compassion to whom I will show compassion, means, you cannot see My face as you see that of your fellow man, nor know the workings of My attributes in the same was as you are able to know the reactions of human qualities of character, for man shall not see Me and live, because to perceive the face of My glory is beyond the power of man s comprehension throughout the days of his life upon earth. 2 The invisibility of God is likewise affirmed by the Apostolic Scriptures. And the Father who sent Me, He has testified of Me. You have neither heard His voice at any time nor seen His form. (John 5:37) Not that anyone has seen the Father, except the One who is from God; He has seen the Father. (John 6:46) Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen. (1Tim 1:17) He [Yeshua] is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. (Col 1:15) Given the fact that in our verse, John essentially quotes a line from his Gospel (i.e, John 1:18), it seems quite probable that he intended his readers to make the connection and thus to have in mind that Yeshua Himself is the One Who had revealed the Father, for He alone has seen Him. Thus, John 1:18 ends with He [Yeshua] has explained Him which nicely parallels the conclusion of our present pericope in 1John, with v. 12 stating the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. Contrary to the Gnostic heresy that one can only truly know God through a mystical experience made possible through secret knowledge, John, in harmony with all of the Apostles, emphasizes that true knowledge of God is gained through God s self-revelation given to His prophets, and ultimately and finally in His Son, Yeshua. 1 James G. Murphy, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Book of Exodus (W. H. Halliday & Co, 1868 [reprinted by James Publications, 1976]), p U. Cassuto, A Commentary on the book of Exodus, (Magnes Press, 1967), p. 436.

3 The First Epistle of John: Chapter Four [4:12 14] 179 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. (Heb 1:1 2) Thus Yeshua referred to Himself as the very revelation of the Father: Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us. Yeshua said to him, Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, Show us the Father? (John 14:8 9) if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. The Greek of the first clause in this phrase offers a real contingency. 1 If the abiding presence of God through His Spirit (v. 13) is a reality in a person who professes to believe in Yeshua, then that person will be known as someone who demonstrates a genuine love for other believers. Obviously what John is describing is the overall characteristic of a believer s relationship with others within the body of Messiah. He is not describing sinless perfectionism in which one s love for others is perfect and flawless, but he is talking about the overall, general characteristics of someone whose life has been changed by having repented of their sin and laid hold of the salvation available only by faith in the person and work of Yeshua, God s Son. How then do we know that God abides in us? We know because the ability to love others as God intends is possible only through the power and ability He provides. If we desire to love others and have the ability to do so, even in very difficult situations, then this is evidence of God s abiding presence enabling us to do His will. Here, once again, John emphasizes the abiding of God in the believer, as well as the abiding of the believer in Him. Throughout the previous chapters John has utilized the verb abiding (μένω, menō), whether of God abiding in the believer, the believer abiding in Him, or the believer abiding in the light or in the truth. 2 The basic idea in the word abiding (μένω, menō) is to remain. John has no place for the so-called Arminian perspective in which a person is saved one day and lost the next. For John, either a person is saved by God s grace and therefore eternally kept by His power, or that person is characterized as (to use Paul s words) having no hope and without God in the world (Eph 2:12). Thus, though we cannot see God, we can see our brother or sister within the believing community. Therefore, if we will not love the one we can see, we most surely do not love God whom we cannot see. Although we say we love God, our words are meaningless unless we give visible expression to them by showing our love to one another. We must see and love God through our fellow man. 3 1 ἐάν + pres. or aor. subjunctive presents a real condition which must be met in order for the protasis to be realized. Cf. Blass, DeBrunner, Greek Grammar of the New Testament (Univ. of Chicago, 1961), 373, p Note verse: 2:6, 10, 14, 24, 27 28; 3:6, 9, 14 15, 17, Kistemaker, 1John, p. 334.

4 180 [4:12 14] The First Epistle of John: Chapter Four When John describes God s love as being perfected in us, he uses a perfect tense participle (τετελειωμένη, teteleiōmenē) which denotes action that occurred in the past but has ongoing effect in the present. This helps us understand John s meaning in the phrase His love is perfected in us. For having been born again through the love of God which He freely bestowed upon us, His love offers an ongoing motivation for us to love others as we are becoming more an more like Him. His sovereign and all-powerful love has transformed us and continues to do so. Therefore, as we love others in the same manner in which we have been loved, His elective and saving love is shown to be the perfect expression of His divine character. when we love others, God s love for us has reached its full effect in creating the same kind of love as His in us. 1 By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. The opening words, By this (Ἐν τούτῳ) refer to the previous sentence. We know and have assurance that we remain in Him and He in us because we are known as those who love one another. John is not teaching some kind of salvation by works, that if we set ourselves to loving others we gain acceptance with God which we otherwise would forfeit. We know that John reckons the believer s ability to love others as coming from the abiding Ruach, for he ends this sentence by stating the very means by which we are enabled to love as God intends, that is, the abiding presence of God s Spirit. This accords with Paul s teaching regarding the fruit of the Spirit, that is, the fruit which comes from the Spirit s abiding presence and work within the believer in Yeshua. And we may note that Paul lists love as the first of the fruit which the Spirit produces in cooperation with the born again person. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. Now those who belong to Messiah Yeshua have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. (Gal 5:22 25) Here Paul makes the same conclusion as does John in our pericope: if we have been brought to new life by the work of the Ruach, then surely this new life will be characterized by living in accordance with the Ruach, which means the fruit of the Spirit will be evident in the believer s life. Some have misinterpreted our pericope by claiming that John has summed up the totality of a believer s life as loving others, so that all of God s commandments may be summed up in this one duty. But John makes it clear that both the desire and the ability to love others comes from the believer s commitment to love God first. And we know that we love God when we keep His commandments, for the Shema itself begins with the command to love God with all of one s heart, soul, and might, and then continues on to enjoin the child of God to obey His commandments. Indeed, loving God is manifested by living in accordance with the His commandments. Thus, loving one another brings the assurance that we are abiding in God and He in us, because 1 I. Howard Marshall, 1John, p. 217.

5 The First Epistle of John: Chapter Four [4:12 14] 181 loving one another is to obey what God has commanded. Yeshua Himself combines the Shema with Lev 19:18, You shall love your neighbor as yourself as summing up all of the commandments (cf. Matt 22:37 39; Mark 12:28 31). Note Marshall s summary of our text in 1John: it is only when a person loves his fellow-christians on a very practical level (3:17f.) that he fully experiences the love of God in his own heart and knows the presence of God with him. This does not mean that Christian duty is summed up in merely loving one another, as some would have us believe. John s point is that loving one another is indispensable in a religion which longs to have a true knowledge of God. We cannot find God by withdrawing from the world and its obligation to love one another; but equally we cannot find God merely by trying to love one another. For true religion comes only through believing in Jesus Christ and accepting his command to love one another. 1 John likewise combines loving God and loving one s neighbor. For if we compare 3:24, we see that John speaks of the abiding Spirit there as well. The one who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. We know by this that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (1Jn 3:24) In 3:24 the emphasis is on keeping His commandments. In our current text (4:13), we know that we abide in Him and He in us because we love one another. Thus, our assurance that we are, in fact, children of God, is that by the power and strength provided by the abiding Ruach, we are enabled to keep God s commandments, thus expressing our love to Him, as well as loving our neighbors, thus seeing the very love of God by which we became His children lived out ( perfected ) in our love for others. Note Calvin s summary of our text: The sum, then, of what is said is, that since love is from the Spirit of God, we cannot truly and with a sincere heart love the brethren, except the Spirit puts forth his power. In this way he testifies that he dwells in us. But God by his Spirit dwells in us; then, by love we prove that we have God abiding in us. On the other hand, whosoever boasts that he has God and loves not the brethren, his falsehood is proved by this one thing, because he separates God from himself. 2 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. John began this paragraph with the universally recognized axiom that No one has seen God at any time. Yet now John emphasizes that he and the other Apostles, did see Yeshua, did witness both His death and His resurrection on the third day, and were witnesses of His ascension. Thus, through their testimony, being far more than the necessary two or three witnesses (cf. Deut 19:15), the matter is confirmed that Yeshua is the promised Messiah, and that in His incarnation, He was and is Immanuel, God with us. It may be, once again, that John is battling against the errant message of those who had left the community, who had denied that Yeshua is the prom- 1 I. Howard Marshall, 1John, pp John Calvin, 1John, p. 243.

6 182 [4:12 14] The First Epistle of John: Chapter Four ised Messiah and therefore God s only means of making a way of salvation for sinners. Moreover, these who left were apparently being persuaded by a Gnostic belief that true knowledge of God and one s right standing before Him could only be gained through some mystical, visionary experience based upon secret knowledge which the Gnostic teachers alone possessed. John therefore reasserts the authority of the Apostles, chosen by Yeshua, and eyewitnesses of not only His words and deeds, but also of His glory displayed on the mountain. What they saw was no mirage, nor some mystical vision of the night. They walked with Him, talked with Him, ate meals with Him, beheld His miracles, and witnessed His resurrection to life after being crucified. Therefore, John exhorts his readers and us to receive their testimony as inspired by the Ruach and confirming that Yeshua is, indeed, the Son of God sent to be the Savior of the world. Interestingly, the word Savior (σωτήρ, sōtēr) is only used here and in John 4:42 in all of the Apostolic Scriptures. Surely the expressions such as save those who were lost (Lk 19:10), He Himself is the propitiation (1Jn 2:2), to give His life a ransom for many (Matt 20:28) and many others, give the same emphasis and message. But perhaps by John s singular usage of the term Savior he intended to emphasize particularly the worldwide aspect of Yeshua s salvific work. In short, Savior of the world connects to God s promise to Abraham, which Paul labels as the Gospel (Gal 3:8), that in your Seed all the nations of the earth will be blessed. As such, John s unique verbiage emphasizes that the Gospel, in all of its fulness, is vouched safe in Yeshua and in Him alone. We may also note how clearly and in a straight-forward manner that John speaks of the plurality within the One God. For in v. 13 he speaks of the Ruach Who remains in the believer as God abiding in us. Then in our current verse, we have the Father sending the Son Who alone is the Savior of the world. Here, as often, the writers of the Apostolic Scriptures give witness to the plurality of the Godhead but never seek to unravel the mystery of God, for they know (as we should) that we must accept as true that God, in His very being, is beyond our ability to explain or give rational explanations of His eternal and infinite being. To seek to unravel the greatness of God would only lead to error, as we have seen throughout the history of the Church. So once again we are brought back to the bedrock of our faith, which is the inspired testimony, in writing, of Israel s Prophets and Apostles. Much like the issues of the community to which John is writing in his day, who were beset by teachers offering a way to know through mystical experiences, so in our times, people are attracted to those who promise to unfold the mystery and to give rational explanations for the deep and impenetrable works of God. In the face of such things, what does John commend us to do? To believe the witness and testimony he and the other Apostles have given us in the Scriptures and to strengthen our faith on the bedrock of truth preserved by God s sovereign grace and providence in the Scriptures. And even though our faith in God and in His Son Yeshua is a reasonable faith, we recognize that in seeking to understand the greatness of our God, Whose thoughts are higher than ours even as the heavens are higher than the earth (Is 55:9), we will inevitably come to the end of our finite ability and must therefore confess to be true what God has said, even if we cannot muster an explanation that satisfies human reasoning. Yes, we know that He abides in us, and we in Him, and we know it by faith which produces a life of obedience to Him.