John 15:1-8

John 15:1-8 (NRSV)

 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ² He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³ You have already been cleansed by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. ⁵ I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. ⁸ My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples.

John 15:1-17 has the theme of love and believers. Verses 1-6 is a mashal, with the allegorical elements emphasized.[1]  We shall see that John provides an explanation of the parable in terms of the Last Discourse in verses 7-17 in which the reality keeps breaking through the image.  Thus, although knowledge of actual cultivation of the grapes for wine is helpful, we will distract ourselves from the point of the parable if we focus upon it too much. This text comes from the middle of Jesus' so called "Farewell Discourse," a lengthy section running from chapters 14 to chapter 17. These chapters contain considerable repetition and parallelism.[2] The final context of this “I am the true vine” saying of Jesus is the upper room, before Christ’s betrayal and subsequent trial and crucifixion. Some consensus exists that this unit does make two distinct points.[3] In verses 1-6, Jesus articulates the parable of the vine, using typical parable imagery. In verses 7-17, Jesus elaborates on what the precise application of that parable means for disciples.

The source of the vine imagery is the Old Testament and Judaism, in which God is the vinedresser and Israel is the vine.  We find many metaphorical speeches concerned with vines and vineyards in many places in the Hebrew Scriptures (Psalm 80; Isaiah 5, 27; Jeremiah 2; Ezekiel 15, 17, 19). In Isaiah 5:1-7, for example, God plants and tends a vineyard but it yields “wild grapes” or inferior fruit — a metaphor for the apostasy of Israel and Judah. Jeremiah 2:21 uses the same vineyard imagery, as does Ezekiel 19:10-14, and Hosea 10:1. In each of these cases, however, Israel is the “vine” and the ultimate source of poor “fruit.” In the Old Testament, “fruitfulness” was another way of saying “faithfulness,” thus a lack of good fruit meant that God’s people had failed to be the true, nourishing vine that would bolster God’s reputation in the world as the ultimate fine winemaker. That being the case, it was the winemaker’s job to do some pruning and replacing, which is what the prophets saw the exile as being all about. Later, God would replant the vineyard with a new stock and that new vine, the “true vine,” would be Jesus himself who embodied the new Israel, God’s Chosen One, and the One through whom the God would save and bless the world. Jesus adapted and adopted the metaphor in several contexts as recorded in the synoptic gospels (e.g., Mark 12:1-9). In all these synoptic parables, the vineyard and those connected with the vineyard represent Israel, the chosen people. In the synoptic parables, Jesus accuses those who tend the vineyard of not fulfilling their responsibility. In short, the original vine is not producing the fruit that God intended. To Jesus, those keepers are the leaders of the Jews who have abused their privilege and not tended the vineyard properly. Therefore, God is looking for new stewards of the vineyard so that it will bear good fruit and the Jews will find renewal in their relationship to God.

John has blended these images together with his own Christology.  Is the image Eucharistic?  The basic meaning is quite clear.  Just as Jesus is the source of living water and is the bread from heaven that gives life, so is Jesus the life giving vine.  However, the previous images have to do with believing.  This image is more intimate.  Indeed, the explanation in v. 7-17 makes it clear that focus of remaining connected to the vine is on love.  There may well be a secondary reference to the Eucharist here, especially in the context of the Last Supper.

Verses 1-6 are the parable. “I am the true in the sense of real, not just opposed to the false, vine, and my Father is the vine grower. The emphasis is on Jesus as the real vine and not on the Father as the gardener.  The latter image qualifies the kind of vine that Jesus is--a vine belonging to the heavenly order. If we connect to another vine, we will not produce genuine fruit. Note that here the role of the Father is to tend the vine.  Normal parallelism in John might lead us to think that he would make his point that just as the disciple gets life from Jesus, so Jesus gets his life from the Father.  ² He removes (airei) every branch in me that bears no fruit. Fruit may refer to general growth as a follower of Jesus, maturing in virtues and good works, but especially a life devoted to love. We can see this by the context that focuses on love after verse 9. An important reminder is in order here. Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. One does not need a college degree to serve. One does not need to make subject and verb agree to serve. One only needs a heart full of grace and a soul generated by love. Greatness comes through graceful and loving service.[4] Every branch that bears fruit he prunes (kaqairei) to make it bear more fruit. Such “removing” and “pruning” represent related actions by the gardener. This community faces adversity. Adversity is often the window of opportunity for change. Individuals and organizations do not usually change when their view of the world is that they are prosperous and at peace. The feeling of necessity often precipitates major changes.[5] In this case, removing and pruning are the changes needed. ³ The Father has already cleansed you by the word (logos), referring to the whole of the teaching of Jesus, that I have spoken to you. John often associates this “word” with creating the environment for belief and discipleship (see 5:24, 38; 8:31). We should not limit this “word” to what Jesus says, however. Instead, John 1:1 serves as the interpretive key for any understanding of “word” (logos) in the Fourth Gospel. Therefore, as the Word is made flesh (1:14), the word that has pruned the disciples in 15:3 is not only what Jesus has said but also his very presence. This suggests the reality of crisis and tribulation for those who believe. However, the “pruning” is not for punishment, but so that the community of Jesus can be even more fruitful. Such language again directs the attention of the careful reader to a particular group of Christians who may be wondering about their collective status in the community. It seems as if authorities have already pruned a group within the community as they deal with a first wave of fruitless branches. This may mean authorities have removed a certain group from the community. The author now urges that they stay together or abide. This advice has the tone of waiting rather than doing, indicates a collective fear of the outside. ⁴ Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. There is only one personal relationship between Jesus and the disciples.  It refers to the total dependence of the Christian upon Jesus. The translation is difficult; the point is that the branches are to remain on the vine, just as the disciples are to remain in Jesus.  The imagery does break down here.  After all, the branches have no choice about remaining on the vine. Christians summoned to abiding have a possibility in what the Father has given them in Jesus Christ and through life with Christ and the church. Of all that Jesus demands of them is to make use of this possibility. As this possibility becomes actuality, it excludes the anxiety and fear forbidden to them.^{[6]  5} I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing, a thought that has had an influence on the theology of grace. No individual can bear fruit alone. Disconnection from the community means death. In some ways, these words about fruit bearing are reminiscent of Paul’s teaching about spiritual gifts shared in the community (1 Corinthians 12). However, in John’s gospel, Jesus’ words sound a warning rather than a celebration of gift. ⁶ Whoever does not abide in me the Father throws away like a branch and withers; such branches the Father gathers, throws into the fire, and burns. This notion could be an anti-synagogue image, their vine being unproductive.  The branches that do not bear fruit and even fruit-bearing branches need pruning.  The fruit could be good works and an ethical way of life.  In the context of the Last Discourse, Judas is one who did not abide in Jesus. 

Bearing fruit would seem to be love.  The parable ends on a theme of judgment, which could be eschatological or could be excommunication. The image is somewhat awkward because reality subsumes the picture.  It refers directly to the person rather than to the branches.  One might expect the "cast off" would be better suited for the vineyard than the vine, where we would have expected "fallen off."  Note "the fire" may refer to eschatological fires. Thus, the parable has an ominous tone to the metaphor: There are branches that do not produce fruit and therefore the Father removes these, throws into the fire and burns them (vv. 2, 6). The hint of punishment by burning and being thrown into the fire is found in passages of the synoptic gospels concerned with last judgment (see Mark 9:43). However here, the fruitless branches that the Father burns are not those who do not come to faith, but apparently those individuals who were at one time fruitful (hence, believers) and yet have fallen away and are no longer “true” to the faith — apostate. It is impossible to identify anyone or ones as these fruitless branches. 15:2 and 15:5b-6 discusses the importance of bearing fruit, which derives from the association of the branch with the vine. The gardener removes branches that do not bear fruit, and branches that do receive pruning in order to bear more fruit (15:2). Verse 5b elaborates, where we find that branches are able to bear fruit because they remain in the vine and the vine remains in them. Without the vine, no fruit is possible; in fact, nothing is possible (15:5b). The corollary of the Father as gardener removing branches (15:2) finds explanation in verse 6: if a branch does not remain in the vine, it will not bear fruit. So 15:6 clarifies that if branches do not remain in the vine, then the Father throws them out, dried out and withering, for burning. While this may seem harsh to modern ears, the gospel of John sees the world from a dualistic perspective; those who are not for Jesus are against him. According to the Fourth Gospel, a disciple who does not abide in or with Jesus will find that his or her faith has withered. In this gospel, relationship is everything. From the beginning (1:1), we learn about Jesus’ relationship with the Father. John emphasizes this relationship throughout the gospel, as well as the relationship of Jesus with the disciples and the relationship of the disciples with each other. The fruit that John expects these relationships to bear could be many different things, but one probable interpretation is the works of love expected by every believer (see 14:12, 15, 21, 23 and 15:12-17). Therefore, these verses want to ensure that the reader understands the metaphor precisely; a branch is useless unless it remains connected to the vine, just as a disciple is fruitless if he or she is not abiding in Jesus. By the time John writes his gospel, things had changed dramatically. In John’s gospel, Jesus has assumed identity as the true vine. Israel’s identity has disappeared. Surely behind this transition stands an historical context in which Judaism and Christianity have made their inevitable split. The focus of judgment is no longer the leaders of Israel. Rather, now judgment comes toward other Christian believers and their relationship to Jesus.

It occurs to me that if you do not connect yourself to the right vine, you will not bear good fruit. Further, the branch quite naturally remains connected to the vine. However, we cannot do so naturally. We need to cultivate the abiding and mutual indwelling of which John writes. The question arises as to how we do that. Jesus says that we can do nothing apart from him. How do we keep connected to him? Here we could discuss spiritual disciplines that deepen a relationship with Christ. Such practices will “prune” us. Staying close to our text, we could say that studying, reading, meditating, and praying through scripture is one way we abide in Christ and Christ abides in us. The words of Jesus about the kingdom and the story of his life, death and resurrection focus us on what is truly important for bearing the fruit of the grace and love of God to the world. When we focus on the “word,” we are able to cut out all those other offshoots and tangents of temptation and sin that can choke out great growth. When the writer of Hebrews says that Scripture is “sharper than any two-edged sword” (Hebrews 4:12), he might have as easily said that Scripture was the ultimate set of pruning shears, trimming us for the life of discipleship we were meant to live. Such pruning can be painful as God uses it to lop off old habits and cut away the growth of sin that we somehow think is attractive, but it is necessary if we are going to embrace our purpose as conduits of God’s grace.

In 15: 7-8, a segment that continues to verse 17, we find an explanation of the parable. There is an unfolding of the implications of indwelling.  In verses 4-5, Jesus himself remained in the disciple.  Now, they remain in the word.  However, these are virtually interchangeable because Jesus is the word incarnate.  Verse 7 sets a positive tone. Jesus' words after that deal with what disciples may expect if they do remain/abide in Jesus. ⁷ If you abide in me, and my words (rhmata) abide you, ask for whatever you wish, and the Father will do it for you. Note the divine passive; God is the one who will get the asking accomplished. Jesus returns to the theme of abiding and promises that if the believer abides in his words and teachings, then two things will happen. In this verse, the believer will get whatever he or she asks for. The issue of being faithful and getting what one wants is something easily misunderstood in every culture. Human beings long for immediate gratification of their desires and more material wealth.  Our modern capitalist culture did not create such desires. Yet, presumably, the original meaning has other intentions than offering satisfaction for a wish list! Thus, if a text ever begged for an interpretation in light of the rest of Scripture, this one would be it. If the Father truly grafts a believer onto the vine of Christ, then that believer asks for that which Jesus himself would ask for. Later, in chapter 17, Jesus offers the true prayer for protection and unity (17:21-24) so that the world will know the truth. In the unity of Father, Son and believer, the believer will bear godly fruit that will bear righteous testimony to all. In this intimate abiding, the cleansed remain pure in doctrine and belief and in so being, God receives glory and the community will bear good fruit. The verse reminds Jesus’ audience of the method of this cleansing and extends the purpose of this beyond just bearing more fruit. The branches, the disciples, have more of a role to play in this. John tells them that if they remain in the vine and Jesus’ words remain in them, then the Father will grant them the desires for which they ask. As the members of the community, Jesus’ disciples remain in the vine and their requests will enact God’s will on earth. These requests are related to the fruit that the branches will bear (see 15:8).⁸ My Father receives glory by this, that you bear much fruit and become my disciples. We have come to the second thing that will happen if the believer abides in Christ and therefore in the words and teachings of Christ. The ultimate fulfillment of what one asks in verse 7 finds its description in verse 8, that is, the glorification of the Father. The Father, the vineyard keeper, will receive glory. The aorist may have the once and for all effect here.  That is, the disciples continue the work of the Son and remain united to him, there is only one mission shared by the Son and his disciples.  In this one mission, the Father has received glory.  The Father receives glory in that the disciples become like Jesus and carry on his work.  The point is that in bearing fruit they show they are disciples.  Becoming or being a disciple is the same as being or remaining in Jesus. We should also remember that we are disciples together rather than separate units. We read scripture like this in groups, not only as individuals. We are disciples as we hear this word. We are apprentices of Jesus. We may be doing the best we can; we may know very well that we can do better. We never stop being an apprentice of Jesus, learning how to be the person he wants us to be.

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[1] Many scholars suggest that verses 1-6 did not originally belong to the Last Discourse because it uses present tenses rather than future tenses, which predominate in the discourse.

[2] This fact suggests that the author has preserved and presented multiple traditions. It suggests the conservative nature of the Gospel. The most telling evidence for this lies in the conclusion to Jesus' remarks in 14:30 31, an "ending" that appears scrambled in the middle of these chapters, hence Moffatt's "re orderings" of this Discourse into 13:1 30a; 15:1 27; 16:1 33; 13:30b 38; 14:1 31; 17:1 26.  Most recent scholarship, however, inclines toward the view that John had access to two different accounts of Jesus' final discourse to his disciples. Unwilling to omit one or judge one version superior to the other, the gospel writer simply included both as one long discourse and left in the now awkward sounding first ending in 14:30 31, which makes the two traditions more obvious.            The careful reader is bound to notice that chapter 15 is a redactional mystery. Jesus, at the end of chapter 14, has just “concluded” his farewell discourse, which is unlike anything recorded in the synoptic gospels, with the words: “Rise, let us be on our way” (v. 31). However, instead of rising and proceeding on their way, chapter 15 begins by recording another of Jesus’ “I Am” monologues that are peculiar to the Fourth Gospel. It is formally not until 18:1 that Jesus and his disciples go across the Kidron Valley to the garden. One might imagine that Jesus speaks chapters 15-17 on the road, but that seems fanciful. It is no wonder that many exegetes have concluded that chapter 15 was originally placed prior to chapter 14 in earlier manuscripts, or that chapters 15-17 were added later by the same author/editor or by another editor of the same community. Since no earlier manuscript showing that this is the case exists, the modern reader simply ponders the possibilities.

[3] Students of this passage differ as to how to divide it up, with some seeing a natural break after verse 10, others after verse 8, and still others after verse 6.

[4] Martin Luther King Jr.

[5] William Easum, Dancing with Dinosaurs, 1993.

[6] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.2 [37.3] 600.

I John 4:7-21

I John 4:7-21 (NRSV)

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. ¹² No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. ¹³ By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵ God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, and they abide in God. ¹⁶ So we have known and believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. ¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness on the day of judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. ¹⁹ We love because he first loved us. ²⁰ Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. ²¹ The commandment we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.

The theme of I John 4:7-21, part of a segment that extends to 5:4a, is that those who part of a Christian community are to love one another. These verses are an intensive treatment of love, 18 of the 28 occurrences in I John. In 3:23, John reminds them of the commandment to love each other. This segment is an elaboration of that commandment, while 4:1-6 is an elaboration of what it means to believe in the name of Jesus Christ, the other commandment referred to in that verse. John addresses a community shaken by mutiny. Some of the members have already left (2:18-19). The anxiety generated by such communal tension shapes this segment. Thus, it ought not to surprise us that love of stranger or outcast is not the focus of this segment. The segment underlines the quality of relationship with the community. He wants them to return to the fundamentals of their faith to prepare them for the Day of Judgment. The segment, in an exquisite and lovely way, reminds the reader of the love of God for us and the love we as believing readers are to share with each other.[1]

Throughout this segment, the author may well be interpreting John 3:16-17.  The Gospel of John famously affirms that God loved the world so much that God have the only and unique Son. In this segment, John expands on love, providing a Christological content to love. This segment might have been part of the baptism/conversion/initiation language.  The reason is that it also expands on the notion that those who believe in the Son will have eternal life, that God sent the Son into the world to save the world rather than condemn the world. These notions reoccur in this segment. 

I begin with a brief devotion that might help us apply this passage to today.

The church continually struggles with practicing the love toward each other to which the New Testament calls it. The letters of John in the New Testament are a good example. The congregations that formed around John in the first century had a mutiny near the end of the century. Those who remain faithful to John and his message are anxious about the future of their community. Will it survive the impending split? The struggle here is not to figure how to love the world. The struggle here is how Christians will demonstrate love toward each other.

Reflect for a moment upon the phrase, “God is love.” The motivation of all the actions of God toward humanity is love. The primary contrast to this is that the world hates. In fact, the closer the church gets to hate, the closer our lives move toward hate, the further away from God we move. The statement is the closest to a definition of God that we have the Bible. Love is central to the church because it defines God. However, God is not love in the abstract. God demonstrated this love in a way that remains shocking for many people today. The Messiah, the Son of God, gave his life for each of us. In this supreme sacrifice, the love of God becomes tangible. Love is the primary mark of the children of God. We know God through love. Obedience to God and loving are interchangeable. To show love to one another is to make the invisible God visible. The failure of those who rebel against the leadership of John is the failure to love. The root of genuine love is the love of God, demonstrated by the sending of Jesus to die. The person who lives in this way can have confidence before God. 

Reflect for a moment upon the title John gives to the recipients of this letter, "Beloved." They do not only receive the love of God, but they become the beloved. Likewise, if beloved, then they become loving persons. One cannot “be” without also “being.” Being the beloved and loving others is the identifying characteristic of the one who is born of God. 

Well, John was writing to a community that was extremely anxious about its present ability to cope with a split, and fearful about the future. John seeks to comfort and strengthen by stressing the fundamental truth: God is love.  Our fear and anxiety can lead us to do many things, most of them not helpful. By recovering the center, that of love, we learn what it feels like to abide in God, and we learn what it feels like for God to abide in us. We can then remain strong during unrest, uncertainty, and even division.   

I now transition to a detailed reflection upon the same matters we confront in this passage. 

Verses 7-10 have the theme that love is from the God who is love. ⁷ Beloved, a title that is a reminder the readers do not only receive the love of God, but also become beloved. The love of which John writes is not simply theoretical. Such love is transformative. If one is beloved, then one loves. Therefore, beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God. Augustine taught that if what this verse says is true, that love is of God, then Pelagius was wrong to maintain that we have a good will and can do what is keeping with it in our own strength. Instead, a good will is identical with the love that God has poured into us. Because it comes from God, love is grace, mediated by faith and fulfills the law, for it is the goal of the law. Therefore the gospel is the fulfillment of the law. [2] From the larger theological perspective, the obedience of love follows the obedience of faith. Sanctification is the second aspect of the reconciliation of humanity with God, willed, accomplished, and revealed by God. God is love and revealed the divine self as such by sending the Son in order that we might live through Him. In Jesus Christ, God has created an indestructible fellowship between God and humanity. That is the actualization and revelation of divine love it consists simply in the affirmation of the existence for this fellowship.[3] Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. If love is of God, then God can make of those who cannot and will not love people who love.[4] ⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. Along with John 4:24, where God is spirit, we have here a second statement in the New Testament that reads like a definition of the divine nature, where God is love.[5]  Thus, God not only loves, but also is love. The mere thought that God is a subject that loves does not do justice to this saying. Even if we presuppose a plurality of persons in a relationship of love, the persons are related to each other by love, which is not itself thought of as a third person.[6] The statement summarizes the whole event of the self-revelation of God in Jesus Christ, going beyond the statement that God is Spirit in John 4:24.[7] John is not describing a quality of God, but the divine essence or nature as love. John will intricately connect knowledge and love.  Love has become the active life of faith.  Gnostics believed in wisdom and power that separated people from the divine.  For John, love testifies to the relatedness of the divine and the human.  Love is not just a quality of God but is the essence of God. We know the divine essence, not because we became so perceptive, but because we have believed in the revelatory nature of an event, namely, that of Jesus Christ. The dominating idea of the segment is that love is from God, who is love.  God is love leads naturally to the idea that the mark of the children of God is love. In fact, knowledge of God is through love. Love is a criterion for knowledge of God, even as is faith in the revelation of God in Jesus Christ.  Keeping commandments and love are interchangeable. When he says, "God is love,” this is not a precise definition but a description of how God acts in relation to human beings.  It is not a contrast between Old Testament God of justice and New Testament God of love.  The real contrast is with a world that hates. To say that God is love is to make love a predicate of God. If so, the content remains the same if we transpose the terms: love is God. One who loves knows God, while one who does not love does not know God. Love presupposes knowledge of God, and knowledge of God results in love. To know God is to know the love that is God. ⁹ God revealed divine love among us in this way: God sent the only Son into the world so that we might live through him. Thus, to say that the hate, violence, and death we find in this world is not the destiny of humanity is not simply an intuition. For John, the fact that our destiny is the love of God is a matter of revelation. This knowledge arises out of a specific event. The sending of the Son into the world refers to the passion and death of Jesus, as here, but not to his human birth.[8] Being the beloved and loving others is the identifying characteristic of the one who is born of God.  The one born of God knows God to be more than an ephemeral notion. Rather, to John, the believer who has experienced the transformative love of God lives to love. The love here described is dynamic and relational, an expression of the Creator's very essence to the one who believes. John then adds a most important statement: Jesus reveals the love of God. The love of God is incarnational. It is not only a feeling; it is an historic reality. The human body of Jesus fully reveals the love of God. "Love" in this letter serves the same purpose as the "Word" served in the Fourth Gospel (John 1:1-18). They are synonyms, for both are preexistent and creative, now in the flesh. Jesus, to John, is the intersection of the divine and human.   Jesus is the expression of God's love and the expression of the loving human response to God, as well as to the brothers and sisters of the community. Those who love God "live through [Jesus Christ]." ¹⁰ In this is love, not that we loved God but that God loved us and sent the Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.  Such “sending” presupposes preexistence as the starting point of the mission, as is incontestably the case here, suggesting the unity of Jesus with God.[9] God's love through Jesus Christ is not only transformational, but also is for salvation. We would go too far to say that the only good thing that one can say of humanity is that God offered the perfect sacrifice for us in our place. It might even go too far to say that without this perfect sacrifice we would be lost.[10]  However, such statements remind us that the issue John has with his opponents would have been over the Christological focus of the "God is... (love, light, spirit)" not over the statements themselves.  Reminiscent, of course, is John 15:13, "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friend." Hence, the primary incarnation of God's love in Jesus becomes secondarily incarnational in the love that the believers have for each other. Another issue would have been the salvific importance of living out the implications in our lives.  We can see that for John, the revelation of this love is the sending of the Son, which explains how humanity knows this love and therefore knows God. Thus, we are not engaging in arbitrary speculation if we discuss the basis of love if we were to begin the description of the being and nature of the divine being as love. God exists within the divine being as love. In the tri-unity of the divine being, the essence of God is eternal love.[11] Thus, God has declared the divine nature as love (verses 8 and 16) in the sending of Jesus Christ in his message and history. Such love gives human beings life (verse 9). John now discloses that the origin of love is in the love God had in the sending of the Son. Love is a force that radiates out from God. Love is not primarily a human act. Love lays hold of us in such a way as to make us active as well. Agape is “giving love.” The katabatic or downward thrust of love from God and toward humanity finds its meaning in the form of agape most obviously in verse 10 and in verse 19. John is presupposing the command to love God. Allowing such love to transform us necessitates the same kind of sacrificial loving outreach to one another. 

At the very heart of our Christian faith is the bold assertion that God is love. Not simply that God loves, but that God is love. That is a claim about the nature of God that does not appear in the scriptures of Islam, the Quran. Theologian Miroslav Volf has studied and written on the topic of whether Christians and Muslims worship the same God. He says they do. Others would argue that when you examine the orthodox expressions of both religions, the answer would have to be no. 

However, listen to what Miroslav Volf has to say. In a lecture at Yale Divinity School in October 2011, he made the case that our Gods are the same, but we understand God in separate ways. In our distinctive views of God, there are four significant similarities and two crucial differences. Both believe that God is One, created the world out of nothing, is radically different from the world, and is just, merciful, and a giving of commandments. These are significant similarities. However, let us not fall into the trap of thinking that Christianity and Islam are the very same road to God. There are at least two major differences. First, Christians believe that God is a Trinity. We are monotheists, but also Trinitarians. Muslims believe that God is fully one, not triune.  Second, Christians believe that God is love (1 John 4:8). Muslims agree to a certain extent, and the mercy of God is huge in Islam. However, one will not find "God is love" among the 99 Muslim names for God.

Christians and Muslims should have an honest dialogue on love to see if there can be agreement on the belief that "God is love." To begin such a conversation, we need to be clear about our own convictions about the nature of God. We worship one God in Trinity in a way that does not confound the persons or modes of being of the Trinity and does not divide the essence of divinity. In our understanding of the event of revelation in Jesus Christ, we believe God is Father, Son, and Spirit. Their glory, beauty, and majesty exist as equal. Being God, they are not created by someone or something else. As God, they have no limits. They are infinite. They are eternal. Yet, the three exist as one. We acknowledge the contradiction, but the event of revelation in Jesus Christ and the gift of the Spirit through the risen Lord lead us to affirm unity in Trinity and Trinity in unity.[12] Such an affirmation of the nature of God seems incompatible with the central Muslim claim that there is "no god but God." Moreover, the Qur'an seems to directly condemn the kinds of beliefs the creed advocates. Consider the following texts from the Qur'an:

1) "They say: 'God hath begotten a son.' Glory be to Him—to Him belongs all that is in the heavens and on earth: everything renders worship to Him. To Him is due the primal origin. Of the heavens and the earth: When He decreeth a matter, He saith to it: 'Be,' and it is" (Al Baqarah, 2:116–117).

2) "Say: 'O People of the Book! Come to common terms as between us and you: that we worship none but God; that we associate no partners with him; that we erect not, from among ourselves, Lords and patrons other than God.' If then they turn back, say ye: 'Bear witness that we (at least) are Muslims (bowing to God's Will)''' (al 'lmran, 3:64).

3) "They do blaspheme who say: God is one of three in a Trinity: for there is no god except One God. If they desist not from their word [of blasphemy], verily a grievous penalty will befall the blasphemers among them" (al Ma'idah, 5:73).

4) "They do blaspheme who say: 'God is Christ the son of Mary.' But said Christ: 'O Children of Israel! Worship God, my Lord and your Lord: Whoever joins other gods with God, God will forbid him the garden, and the Fire will be his abode. There will for the wrongdoers be no one to help" (al Ma'idah, 5:72).

5) "They take their priests and their anchorites to be their lords in derogation of God, and [they take as their Lord] Christ the son of Mary; yet they were commanded to worship but One God: there is no god but He. Praise and glory to Him. [Far is He] from having the partners they associate with Him" (al Taw­bah, 9:31).

 

            For Christians, the Trinity is the way that the issue of the transcendence and immanence of God find their resolution. God is one, infinite, and eternal. Yet, God is love, and therefore God has loved in such a way that God has revealed who God is at a particular moment in history, in Jesus Christ, the Son. God became one with humanity to the point of suffering and death. God also brought suffering and death into the being or life of God in such a way as to conquer them through resurrection and life. Further, God is Spirit, and therefore is present with us and among us as the life-giving, healing, guiding, and liberating presence of God as the Holy Spirit. God is transcendent, while also immanent at a particular moment of revelation and immanent with us as our companion through life. Yet, we do not think of three gods, but three ways in which God is who God is. 

            Now, this focus on divine love that leads Christians to discuss the unity and diversity of the divine nature, what we call the Trinity, also needs to be the distinguishing feature of the Christian. If love is the soul of Christian existence, it must be at the heart of every other Christian virtue. Thus, for example, justice without love is legalism; faith without love is ideology; hope without love is self-centeredness; forgiveness without love is self-abasement; fortitude without love is recklessness; generosity without love is extravagance; care without love is mere duty; fidelity without love is servitude. Every virtue is an expression of love. No virtue is really a virtue unless love permeates and informs it.[13]

Verses 11-16b have the theme of the God of love abiding in us.¹¹ Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another. Therefore, after stressing the origin of love in God, the author can go on to say at once that if God has loved us so much then we are also under obligation to love each other. Yet, this is more than just a moral conclusion. It is a matter of abiding in the ecstatic elevation to God that faith mediates. On the side of God, such elevation is the being of God in believers by the Spirit. The opening verse of John's letter reads, "We declare to you what was from the beginning, what we have heard, what we have seen ... what we have looked at and touched (1:1). In the fourth chapter John exhorts his community to become what they have heard about and seen and touched. ¹² No one has ever seen God. The author focuses on the nature of his opposition to those who have left the community beginning here. He dares to make divine indwelling dependent on and expressed by our love for each other. This is where God's love reaches perfection. Thus, if we love one another, God lives in us, and divine love reaches perfection in us. Therefore, if we can think of mystical union, it does not have the purpose of a vision or ecstasy, but the discovery of the love of God reproduced in our lives. If we love each other, God abides in us and the love of God has reached its goal in us.[14] ¹³ By this, we know that we abide in God and God in us. John presses his followers to abide in God and to confess that Jesus is the Son of God. Abiding and confessing become particularly important to John's community. For John, those who left the community did not abide. They have not experienced truly the love of God. They have not genuinely loved their brother or sister. The foundation of this theme is that love is from God, revealed in Jesus and that we must find incarnation in us. This unit is not a contrast between God’s gift of love and commandment. Divine indwelling depends upon and expresses our love for each other. God’s love is not already perfect but needs fulfillment in the life of the believer. The reason he can write like this is that God has given us of the divine Spirit. Δέδωκεν carries the thought of the sending of the Son to the cosmos, as here, though with the special nuance that the Father gifted the Son to the world.[15] One should relate “Spirit” to the giving of the Spirit of a second step. Note the author related Spirit to love in the previous section. The Spirit allows people to see the divine origin of the ministry of Jesus. Considering that God the Creator, Christ the Savior, and the Spirit are mentioned in that order in the space of just a few verses indicates an early orthodoxy concerning the Trinity. The Spirit is the entity that allows the true believer to abide, confess, testify, and love. The concept of the Spirit as gift, based on this passage, constantly leads Augustine to the thesis of a common procession from the Father and the Son who are the givers of the gift.[16] ¹⁴ In addition, we have seen and do testify that the Father has sent his Son as the Savior of the world. ¹⁵God abides in those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God, thereby identifying who Jesus is, and they abide in God. Those who confess that Jesus is the Son of God also find that God dwells in them and they dwell in God.[17] The formulation shows us that the confession of the church has placed the obedient man Jesus, in virtue of his dignity as the Kyrios, in the very being of God as the eternal Son. This is primarily a presupposition rather than a consequence of the understanding of God as love. The question arises how we are to describe more precisely the relation between the unity of the divine love and the trinity of Father, Son, and Spirit. R. Prenter calls love the unity of the divine being of Father, Son, and Spirit. They are love in the unity of free persons that nothing can separate.[18] ¹⁶ Therefore, we have known and believed the love that God has for us. The knowledge of the love God that we get from Christ is the basis of faith in him.[19]God is love.  John closes this chapter with a return of his central theme. Again, he is not referring to a quality of God, but the divine essence or nature as love. 

Verses 16c-19 has the theme of law reaching perfection in us. Those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. What John says about abiding in love here expresses the fact that what is at issue is not just human action, but a sphere in which we move, a force field that comes from God and binds us to God.[20] Abiding in love is a condition that makes possible the divine indwelling or, it is through love that we experience the divine indwelling. ¹⁷ Love has reached its perfection among us in this: that we may have boldness on the Day of Judgment, because as he is, so are we in this world. John adds one more significant piece: A word about the judgment. This Johannine community lived with a sense of the nearness of Judgment Day. A mark of abiding in God's love until the end is "boldness," standing firm in their conviction. Those who stand firm in the faith need not be fearful of the divine wrath of the punishment. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not reached perfection in love. The fear of which John writes here is the fear believers of persons and things other than God, whom we are to love above all things.[21] Obviously, fear was a very real issue in the early church. John keeps his community mindful that if they fear then they have not experienced the perfected love of God. Again, the emphasis is on abiding, maintaining, confessing, and loving. As the believer continues to do these things, she or he continues the journey towards faithful perfection. John was writing to a community that was extremely anxious about its present ability to cope with a split, and fearful about the coming judgment and punishment. ¹⁹ We love because God first loved us. John seeks to comfort and strengthen by stressing the fundamental truth: God is love.  Certainly, to center oneself like this, then and now, is the key to abiding and remaining strong during unrest, uncertainty and division.

Verses 20-21, part of a segment that extends to 5:4a, have the theme of defending loving fellow Christians. ²⁰Those who say, "I love God," and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars; for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen, cannot love God whom they have not seen. Love of God and love of brothers are two facets of the same love. Sloth puts in danger the bond that joins us to other human beings in that this bond with others unites us to God. The statement here is clear-cut. The relationship of one with another is not in itself a relationship with God. Yet, since these two people have the same God, love toward God includes love toward humanity. If I choose myself in isolation from others, I enter the sphere of the even more terrible isolation in which God can no longer be my God. If one is indifferent to another, then I show indifference to God. If I can despise people, the praise that I may bring to God will stick in my throat. If I exploit my neighbor, I will do the same with God. I have hated, despised, and wounded, and attacked God. If I am inhuman, I am also stupid, foolish, and godless.[22] ²¹ The commandment we have from God is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also. Such a love to God is self-evident. The encouragement is also to love the Christian fellowship. Our love for God is not a separate theme alongside that of the love of God for the world shown in the sending of the Son, and our sharing in this by love of neighbor.[23] The statement is in the indicative. Love on the vertical plane is the human answer to the love of God for us, while love on the horizontal plane is an indirect repetition of this answer. The love of God evokes the love of the Christian for God, and the two together lead to mutual love of Christians.[24] The opponents of John may have refused to help in a specific situation, as 3:17 suggests. One might like to pursue the question of how much love John has for his opponents. We can all grant that trying to keep a community together when serious matters of belief and practice are at stake is a difficult one. 

Soren Kierkegaard once said that the world’s talk about love is confusing. For example, the world will tell young people, “Love and you will be loved.” This is true, if properly understood. Yet, the world is deceitful. We in the church are deceitful if we do not remind our youth to hold fast to God to learn what love is. The world has a quite different conception of love than does God or the church.[25]

The church has a high calling. As Kierkegaard also said, God is the one who brings love up from within each of us, not so much that we might rejoice at the sight of it, but rather, to send love out into the world, constantly occupied with the task of loving.

When it comes to deciding what to do in any situation, we need to step back, pause, and remember that the primary calling of all Christians is to love. What would love call us to do in this situation? What would love do? Love is our deepest calling. John tells us of Jesus: Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end. (John 13:1) Any decision that fails to ask the love question misses the point of Christian practice.[26]

Yet, love does not solve everything. I find John Wesley intriguing on this point. He points out that even love in all its purity will not protect us from many mistakes. Love itself can accidently lead to mistakes, for it thinks no evil as well as believes and hopes all things. Such temperament by the Christian may lead one to think others are better than they are. [27] In this sense, “love” is not the only answer to life. We need the balance of other qualities, in particular wisdom, honesty, and discernment, in order to determine properly what God wants in a situation. 

Clearly, we need one another. It is so obvious.  On the other hand, is it?  Do we really make relationships a priority? How many times have you said thank you for what others gave to you? Yes, you may have done so. Yet, does it haunt you that you have showed little gratitude in your life? You may have had the experience of saying over a grave what you know you ought to have said while the person was alive.[28]

There is a little picture of a turtle on top of fence post.  The caption simply says, "If you see a turtle on a fence post, you know it had help." We need each other, more than we know.

I offer four practical ways in which we can practice the kind of love of which John writes in this passage.

First, we need to allow the other person freedom to be themselves. I start here, because the notion that many people have of love leads to smothering the other person. Husbands and wives learn quickly that the spouse is not his or her carbon copy. They never will be. The same is true of parents. We learn quickly that our children are not carbon copies of us. They are their own persons. They will make choices, some of which we will not agree.

Second, we must be willing to assign a top priority to friendships. We often think of love as if nothing could be more natural in human experience and life than love. Yet, hardly anything fails so regularly as does love. We must make clear that love takes time, effort, even training.  It is not for novices.  Love is an art, just as living is an art; if we want to learn how to love, we must proceed in the same way we have to proceed if we want to learn any other art, say music or painting...or the art of medicine or engineering.  Sadly, in our society, while we have a deep-seated craving for love, we considered everything else more important than love, such as success, prestige, money, or power. We will learn how to acquire all these things, while spending little effort at all to learn the art of loving.[29]

Third, we need to cultivate the ability to share ourselves with others. Most of us rightly build up defenses here. Most of us have been sorry we have trusted someone else with personal information.  We become more careful in deciding when we express ourselves.  Yet, that risk, that act of trust, is so important in friendship.  If we are going to love each other, we need to learn to give the gift of our true self to another.

A group studied healthy marriages. The challenge of marriage is moral.  Marriage is a school of virtue, a domain that requires tact and restraint along with open and honest communication, kindness, and gratitude along with assertiveness and autonomy.  Take the matter of fighting.  Good marriages are not free of conflict.  However, respect for the partner governs the conflict.  No matter how fierce the anger, it stops short of the cruelest cut.  Spouses learn what the relationship can tolerate without breaking. The men and women in this study speak of protecting the marriage as if it were their child. The marriage itself is a creation they cherish and share.  These happily married people see their spouses as essentially admirable and good, as morally worthy.  Many express admiration for the partner’s conscience or honesty, or praise their courage in overcoming earlier obstacles in life.[30]

Fourth, we need to share affection and warmth with others. Now, in the context of a marriage, I could talk about sex right now. I see nothing wrong with that. Our sexuality is a perfectly healthy discussion to have. Yet, we also need to think broadly. This world can be cold and cruel.  People lose jobs.  People evaluate us all the time. We need that warmth and affection ourselves.  Other people need it as well.  In friendship, those physical barriers need to come down.  

Frankly, technology has isolated many of us in front of the computer screen. If you have seen the animated film, Wall-E, you see an imagined future in which the only experience people have is in front of a screen, until a robot breaks the assembly line and forces the human beings to relate to each other. People need the message the church has concerning love for many reasons, not the least of which is that people can feel so lonely in our society.  

Babe Ruth was one of the greatest players of baseball in history.  Unfortunately, he allowed his career to go a little longer than it should have.  He was getting old and had developed quite a large stomach.  He was playing one of his last major league games, this time with the Boston Braves, against the Cincinnati Reds.  He was no longer as agile as he once had been.  He fumbled the ball and threw badly.  In one inning alone, his errors were responsible for five Cincinnati runs. As the Babe walked off the field after the third out, boos and catcalls came from all over the stadium.  Just then, a young boy leaped over the railing and onto the playing field.  With tears streaking from his eyes down his cheeks, he threw his arms around the legs of his hero.  Babe Ruth did not hesitate.  He picked up the child, hugged him, and set him down on his feet with a playful pat on the head.  Suddenly, the booing stopped.  A hush went over that stadium.  They remembered who this man was.  The great Babe, who hit 714 home runs in his career.  The unconditional love of this boy reminded them. It did not matter if he had a difficult day.  He was still a hero.[31]

---

[1]  When reading the Johannine epistles it is crucial to remember the historical and communal context. The letters reveal a community that has been shaken by mutiny, one in which some of the insiders have left (2:18-19). John is writing to keep the faithful together. This communal anxiety shapes this passage in the fourth chapter. The love that is described is neither a love of stranger nor of the outcast - it is a love for those who are part of the Johannine church. This is a text not to be misunderstood as some general "love of neighbor" ethic; rather, it is a text that serves to underline the quality of relationship within the church. One cannot be certain of the details, of course, but in light of the mutiny of part of the community, it is as if John is drawing his church back to the fundamentals of their faith in order to steady them for the coming judgment. Regardless, I John 4:7-21 is an exquisitely lovely passage about God's love for the believer and the love that believers should have for one another. 

[2] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 72. 

[3] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [58.2] 102, in a discussion of the being of humanity in Jesus Christ

[4] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [68.2] 776-7.

[5] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 294.

[6] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 297.

[7] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 396.

[8] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 301.

[9] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 369. He points to W. Kramer, Christ, Lord, Son of God, 1966, and Hahn, Titles, p. 304-5. 

[10] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.1 [59.3] 282.

[11] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [68.2] 756-7.

[12] Here is the pertinent part of the Athanasian Creed, the most serious attempt to define the Trinity. 

That we worship one God in Trinity, and Trinity in Unity; Neither confounding the Persons; nor dividing the Essence. For there is one Person of the Father; another of the Son; and another of the Holy Ghost. But the Godhead of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost, is all one; the Glory equal, the Majesty coeternal. Such as the Father is; such is the Son; and such is the Holy Ghost. The Father uncreated; the Son uncreated; and the Holy Ghost uncreated. The Father unlimited; the Son unlimited; and the Holy Ghost unlimited. The Father eternal; the Son eternal; and the Holy Ghost eternal. And yet they are not three eternals; but one eternal. As also there are not three uncreated; nor three infinites, but one uncreated; and one infinite. So likewise the Father is Almighty; the Son Almighty; and the Holy Ghost Almighty. And yet they are not three Almighties; but one Almighty. So the Father is God; the Son is God; and the Holy Ghost is God. And yet they are not three Gods; but one God. So likewise the Father is Lord; the Son Lord; and the Holy Ghost Lord. And yet not three Lords; but one Lord. For like as we are compelled by the Christian verity; to acknowledge every Person by himself to be God and Lord; So are we forbidden by the catholic religion; to say, There are three Gods, or three Lords. The Father is made of none; neither created, nor begotten. The Son is of the Father alone; not made, nor created; but begotten. The Holy Ghost is of the Father and of the Son; neither made, nor created, nor begotten; but proceeding. So there is one Father, not three Fathers; one Son, not three Sons; one Holy Ghost, not three Holy Ghosts. And in this Trinity none is before, or after another; none is greater, or less than another. But the whole three Persons are coeternal, and coequal. So that in all things, as aforesaid; the Unity in Trinity, and the Trinity in Unity, is to be worshipped.

[13] Fr. Richard P. McBrien, Catholicism.

[14] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 182-3.

[15] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 2, 438.

[16] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 317.

[17] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 116.

[18] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 1, 424-5.

[19] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 138.

[20] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 78.

[21] Barth, Church Dogmatics II.1 [25.2] 34. Thus, I disagree with those who think John refers to the fear that includes the traditional “fear of God.” Secessionists had a theology where they were secure with the author; there could be fear on judgment day. However, what of one’s own inner dwelling of the God of love? This reveals how delicate the relationship is between himself and his opponents.

[22] Barth, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [65.2] 441-2.

[23] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology Volume 3, 184-5.

[24] Pannenberg, Church Dogmatics IV.2 [68..3] 817.

[25] Soren Kierkegaard, “Works of Love,” Part One, III. A.

[26] Ruth Haley Barton, in Sacred Rhythms

[27] John Wesley, Chapter 4 of Plain Account of Christian Perfection.

[28] Albert Schweitzer could say in his Memoirs of Childhood and Youth (1925, p. 87):

When I look back upon my early days, I am stirred by the thought of the number of people whom I have to thank for what they gave me or what they were to me.  At the same time, I am haunted by an oppressive consciousness of the little gratitude I really showed them while I was young.  How many of them have said farewell to life without my having made clear to them what it meant to me to receive from them so much kindness or so much care!  Many a time have I, with a feeling of shame, said quietly to myself over a grave the words which my mouth ought to have spoken to the departed, while he was still in the flesh.

 

[29] "In spite of the deep-seated craving for love, almost everything else is considered to be more important than love: success, prestige, money, power -- almost all our energy is used for the learning of how to achieve these aims, and almost none to learn the art of loving."

[30] Barbara Defoe, “The Moral State of Marriage,” Atlantic Monthly, 1995.

[31] Leadership, Winter 1983, 83.