1 John 4:12–16

¹² No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been 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 testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.

Commentary

Vs. 12 “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.”

 Even though God is not seen, what is known is that if we love one another God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us, (and thus He will be manifested through us, revealing His love to one and to all). Love then not only marks every true Christian, but also perfects us, for it is only by abiding in His love that we also become His vessels of it (John 15:1-11). And after all that is the point of our sanctification, to be His fruitful people of love (1 Cor. 13).

Vs. 13 “By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit.”

 Though a Christian may doubt themselves when they fail to love as He is love, yet we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. God’s Spirit then does not depart from us when we fail Him, rather He reaffirms us and redirects us back into doing the Will of God through us.

Vs. 14-15 ¹⁴ And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ¹⁵ Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

 Though God is not seen, yet His only begotten Son was seen, seen in this world dying on the Cross as the Savior of the world. Therefore, whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in Him and he in God.

Vs. 16 “And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”

Therefore, the Apostle John reiterates the fact that he (we) have both known and believed the love that God has for us. For it is in our believing and thus receiving God’s love for us through His Sons own death on the Cross that we also now abide in God’s love, for that is the source of our own love. And thus, he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. God loves you, and He will never stop loving you!

Scripture Quotations 

New King James (1982):Thomas Nelson.