“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God and God in him.” (1 John 4:16).
These are words of the Apostle John. I have quoted from the Old English King James Version. John wrote about the love of God. He maintains: God is love personified. God is love in person.
John was one of the twelve disciples of Jesus. His relationship with Jesus was special. He was the only disciple who was at the foot of the cross when Jesus died. Jesus spoke to him from the cross and asked him to care for his mother, Mary.
In his gospel, John sometimes refers to “the disciple whom Jesus loved”. We presume that this was a reference to John himself. John was very aware that Jesus loved him.
In the Apostolic Creed, we profess that Jesus is the only begotten Son of God. Obviously, it must have been very special for the disciples to hear Jesus talk about God as a heavenly Father. When Jesus talked about God the Father, this was not just based on knowledge from books. Jesus knew God as His Father. He was the only begotten Son of God.
In the gospel of John, we find the well-known words of Jesus:
“I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6).
Through Jesus, we can get to know God as a Father. Through Him, we can learn about the love of God. Through Him, we can learn to trust in God’s love.
“Philip saith unto him, LOrd, shew us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, Have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? he that hath seen me hath seen the Father; and how sayest thou then, Shew us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me: or else believe me for the very works sake.” (John 14:8-11).
In chapter 17 of his gospel, John recorded how Jesus prayed to the Father. The words of Jesus show his intimate relationship with the Father.
When Jesus was taken captive and suffered, the other disciples forsook him. They fled. Peter denied ever having been with Jesus. The disciples failed. Jesus knew beforehand they would. Yet the Apostle John was aware of Jesus’s love for all of his disciples:
“…having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end.” (John 13:1b).
John had experienced Jesus’s love. He learned to trust in God the Father’s love. He summed up his beliefs saying, “God is love!” – God is love personified. God is love in person!
(The image was produced with WordPress.com AI. All the bible quotes have been taken from the King James Version.)
