56. God Is Love
Covering 1 John Chapters 4 to 5:2:
God is Word; God is Spirit. God is Light; God is Love. (All from John). “And the greatest of these is Love.” – Paul.
1 John 4 places “God is Love” into a most extraordinary context in verses 15-16. – Whoever shall speak the same word, that Jesus Christ is the Son out from God, God dwells inside of him and he dwells inside of God. And we have come to know and to believe the love that is God inside of us. God is love, and the one who dwells inside of love, dwells inside of God, and God dwells inside of him.
You can’t separate God and Love. Either you have both or you have neither. – We have both. – Rooted and grounded inside of Love. To be filled with all the fulness of God is to be filled with all the fulness of Love. (Note: This lesson must be long.)
The Completion of the Seed. The answer to the question – Why? Is – Because God is love. Nonetheless, in the Flow of Gospel Word, John places “God is Light” before “God is Love.” I no longer fear the Light. I know now that when I place myself into the Light, me as I am, I find myself just like Jesus, the One whom God honors above all.
As I look through all the gospel verses included in this lesson, I see that John has one topic, Ruling Verse 8 as the completion of the Seed planted in our earth individually and together. For that reason, I want to bring in a presentation I gained from Perplexity AI. AI is a useful tool when we ask it questions that it can answer with clarity. That is, when we want to know about things in nature, AI gives wonderful meaning. When we want to know things in God, it is the Spirit whom we seek, for only the Spirit can give us meaning.
The Transfer of Code. My question: “How does the genetic code in a seed transfer into the structure of the plant? And then, how does that same genetic code become everything inside the new seeds formed by the plant?” Perplexity AI: “The genetic code in a seed guides plant development because every cell of the plant inherits a copy of that same DNA, and uses different parts of it (different genes) at different times. That same DNA is also copied into the reproductive cells inside flowers, so the new seeds carry a fresh, recombined version of the code that can build the next generation.”
Let me put the remainder into my own words. In fact, the DNA that is found the same in every cell is for us this wondrous Flow of Gospel Word, the “genetic code” of God.
Jesus Duplicates Himself. In essence, the Seed planted in us duplicates Himself, the meaning of Galatians 2:20, with the entirety of the genetic code making up His own existence out from God, transferred in full to each one of us. Yet only part of that code activates as each one of us to fit our own place inside the overall Body. The whole of the genetic code is thus expressed only as the entire Church together.
Although each one of us is different in appearance and purpose from the others, yet we recognize the same genetic code in FULL in all others. Then, as Christ is formed in each one of us, there is a coming together of “male and female” that results in “a reshuffled mix of parental genes.” Then it says this, “Only the cells that become pollen and ovules (life given for others) pass the DNA on to a new generation.”
A Double Jeopardy. I love the line, “a fresh, recombined version of the code.” That’s talking about each of us, in our unique personalities, as a wondrous and new expression of God as Spirit Word. At the same time, we reckon with the “turn” that the Flow of Gospel Word has taken, the great “double jeopardy” of John 14 and 15.
God places two trees before us, LIFE or DEATH. To escape death, we run into Jesus, into John 14:20. There, we hit the second jeopardy, for God says to us, “Now that you are in Jesus, look around. Your brethren are there as well. If you want to know Jesus living as you, then KNOW that He lives as them as well. If you want to REMAIN inside of Jesus, then LOVE them as Jesus to you.” This is where God took me right after union with Christ.
Source and Flow. I have now written about the vine, branches, and fruit from John 15. I see that the Spirit means this metaphor to follow the metaphor of the Seed planted in our earth. Jesus is the Vine, we are the branches, and the fruit is loving one another as the completion of Jesus.
We know that people like to say, “the Christ within,” meaning, “I have the genes of Christ – (so I don’t need Jesus.)” But the branches have no LIFE in themselves, whatever their genes might be, no source, no flow, no movement. And I know that all the “Christ within” never produces God-Love. In other words, Jesus is saying, “Without the Life flowing through you from Me, you cannot ever bring forth Love for one another as My completion.” The Source and Flow, the LIFE, is Christ Jesus.
Jesus Is All Here Now. (Chapter 4) • 1 Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but prove the spirits, whether they are out from God, because many fake and dishonest prophets have gone out [from us] into the world. • 2 By this you know the Spirit out from God: every spirit that speaks the same word with Jesus Christ having come now inside the flesh is out from God; • 3 and any spirit that does not speak the same word with Jesus Christ having come now inside of flesh is not out from God. And this is that spirit of anti-Christ, which you heard is coming, and is now already inside the present world-cosmos.
I have heard two great proclamations preached in the POWER of the Spirit – “When Jesus comes back,” and “Jesus is at the right hand of God.” Both proclamations cut apart Jesus and myself. Both proclamations are anti-Christ in their delivery. Jesus is all here now, dwelling in the form of God.
The Seed Planted. “Jesus having come now inside the flesh” means exactly the same thing as Jesus planted as the Seed of God inside the soul of our humanity. This picture, then, of the Word passing from Jesus into all the structure of the plant, and then concentrating again to become you and me as we speak every Word as personal to ourselves, a Jesus who comes into union with us first, this picture is as much the Word made flesh as Jesus alone.
Jesus is come inside of your flesh – AND, the same Jesus is come inside the flesh of your brother and sister. Anti-Christ denies both; anti-Christ speaks words that contradict both. Then we see, that these opposing words spoken, come out from the opposition of the Spirit out from God versus the spirit of anti-Christ. All words are spirit; we must speak with care.
Anti-God; Anti-Seed; Anti-Life. Notice the words “out from God” repeated four times. We never “trust” someone’s anointing, rather we prove every voice. And the proof is where that voice is taking us.
Now, Jesus possesses the form of God differently from the Father, who is all-pervasive, for Jesus is Personal (as God is Personal). Yet Jesus is the One who makes a Personal God to be Personal inside the heart of each one. Jesus is the Hheart we share with God. And against this Jesus, anti-Christ is very anti-God. Think of this phrase in John 12:24 – the seed remains alone. Jesus spoke that, as if being alone was anti-Himself, especially when His great Desire is that we be with Him inside of God.
The “above-you Christ,” then, is anti-Seed-planted-in-you. And “Jesus far-away” is the absence of the Flow out from God.
Escaping Anti-Christ. 4:1 Ruling Verse 4: We are at war. Our ultimate opponent is death, that is, not knowing God, but our immediate opponent is “truth” that sounds right but is a lie. Anointing out from God takes us to the Father through Jesus and speaks the same word that is Jesus. The proof is humbling one’s self to Love.
2-3 Definition: God gives us clear definition of anti-Christ, that which fits John’s Gospel. Anti-Christ is any word that separates Jesus from us, Jesus from Christ, Jesus from the Life Flow becoming our Love for one another, the “above-you Christ,” the “far-away Jesus.”
2-3 Speak Christ: Jesus is more than the Seed planted, He is also the Flow of Life from God through us, becoming our love for one another as the Church. We escape anti-Christ only by speaking the same Word with Jesus made personal as us.
Out from God. • 4 You are out from God, little children, and have overcome and defeated them [the false spirits who speak contrary to Christ, who speak “I, not Christ.”], because greater is He who is inside of you than he who is in the present world-cosmos.
Victory is the focus of the next lesson; nonetheless, it is present throughout 1 John as we have seen. And thus Ruling Verse 4 is central to John’s letters as it is in his vision. “Out from God” is a continuous and living Flow, through the speaking of Jesus, causing us to be every moment, the Life of the Vine. Honoring God as our Source through the Word He speaks is “believing into Jesus.” It is against that Word that the serpent speaks, that is “anti-Christ.” Thus the completion of Jesus, loving one another, that is, giving ourselves utterly for the sake of the Church, is also Victory over death.
The Outline of Our Victory. Thus we say that Resurrection Life is that Life that carries others into God. We will hit the wall of jeopardy again in 1 John 4:20, as we saw in John Chapters 14-15. Nonetheless, 1 John 4:4 shows us the place of our Victory now. Jeopardy is critical, but we do not live in jeopardy, we live in God. Yet jeopardy taught me this, that the moment I KNEW that Jesus had come into union with me, I also KNEW that I MUST know that Jesus has come into the same union with these others also, even those who have hurt me.
Jeopardy, then, becomes the outline of our Victory. A soldier, training for battle, trains under the constant threat of violent death. This training is not for death, but for life, that the soldier might endure all and win against the enemy.
Sharing Jesus with God. We then see that the word, “Greater is He that is in you,” goes way beyond trust, and is meant to be a preparation for war. KNOWING JESUS SENT into us is for Victory over all that speaks against Christ as the only Life of His Church. The point is not to know anti-Christ, but to share Jesus with God.
4 Definition: “Greater is He that is in you” speaks of Christ Jesus inside of us as the Victor over all sin and death. It is Christ Jesus come now in our flesh, planted as the Seed of God in our earth, a Jesus whom we share with God. Although this line gives hope, it is more than hope, it is all Victory now.
4 Ruling Verse 4: Union with Christ places us into WAR against every voice speaking contrary to Christ Jesus, whether in ourselves or towards the entire Church.
A Flow of God. • 7 Beloved, we should actively love one another; because love is always flowing out from God; and everyone who loves out from God has been conceived of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love has not known God; because • God is love.
Notice that Love is framed inside of and by the definitions of Life. Life is movement, flow, reciprocity. Could it be that John’s four definitions of God are themselves found inside the larger meaning of LIFE? That is something we must ponder. Our largest purpose is to KNOW God, which is the definition of Life. God as Love is always flowing into, through, and out from us. We then Love as inside of and out from that God-Flow.
Essence Carried by Action. God as Word and Spirit, Light and Love, these things are all speaking of Essence. Rock and Fire speak of Essence as well. Theologians use the word “ontology” from the Greek, “to be,” but that word feels to me “like straw in my mouth.” I will stay with “essence” and “source.” Life, then, is not essence, but ACTION. Life is movement, within and without, enabled by water and pushed by fire.
The Essence of God is always in movement, dynamic and energeoing. And the Essence of God always moves with purpose, whether automatically within or by desire without. Love – that is God in essence – is always flowing out from God, which is LIFE. To be seized into God is to be seized into a RIVER. Again, I have no idea what all this means, I just like writing it.
Cause and Effect. Now, God is bringing three metaphors together, Jesus planted as a Seed into our earth, the Flow of Life through Jesus, through us, the branches, into the humility of Church, and war for the sake of that Church. This combination also includes travail to bring forth life. God is Love – And we also – Psalm 22. These contain an element of all-out WAR for the sake of our fellow Christians. We don’t want “war” to dominate our understanding of “Love out from God,” but Victory is definitely part of it.
I am really piecing understanding together a bit at a time. John is more of a circular thinker than a linear thinker. We, however, want Cause and Effect. God-Is-Love is the Cause of all; our Love for one another as the Church is the Effect. Christ Jesus is Seed and Flow, that is, Word and Spirit in-between.
Always Flowing. God Is Love. What does that mean? By this we know Love, that is, what Jesus does continuously to join us with the Father. And We Also – is you and me knowing, and bringing forth that Love as well. Love is ALWAYS flowing out from God – through us.
7-8 Definition: John states, “God is Love.” What does that mean? The metaphor of the vine, the branches, and the fruit applies to this definition of God, that Love is always flowing out from God. John is speaking of cause and effect, source and completion. God-Love is always the cause; our love for one another is the fruit, and abiding in Jesus is the in-between.
7-8 Ruling Verse 8: God-Love is carried inside of Life, that is, the Flow of the knowledge of God. We know Love as it Flows from Jesus to us and then from us to others, returning to God.
Defining Love. • 9 Inside of this the love of God has been made visible among us, in that His Son, the One Seed-Kind whom God has sent into the world-cosmos that we might live through Him. • 10 Inside of this is love, not that we have loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son as the propitiation and resolution encompassing our sins. • 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also are committed to loving one another in full reciprocity.
Do you see how everything fits and finds its meaning only inside the Flow of Gospel Word? All through this section, John seems to be repeating love – love – love. And we know that “love” can be a meaningless goop. As I look across all these verses, however, I can see very specific things being added to the definition of God-Love. For each Gospel Verse, then, I want to capture a different specific.
We Live through Him. Verses 9-11 are an important expansion of 1 John 3:16. And the phrase “live through Him” is symmorphy at the heart.
9 Life: & Ruling Verse 1: To “live through Jesus” is symmorphy at the heart of knowing Love out from God, the Flow of Life.
10 Covenant: “And we also,” from 1 John 3:16, is the turning of Covenant at the center of this flow. We know how Jesus joins us with the Father, Love, and then we become the same Flow of Love towards one another, the same joining, the same Life.
11 Kingdom: God’s purpose is His Love made visible. God-Love made visible through us is the Kingdom of God.
9-11 Ruling Verse 8: Love is NOT of us; we do not Love. Love is a living Flow out from God, passing through us to others as we place ourselves into Jesus. We live and Love through Jesus.
God Made Visible. • 12 No one has seen God [observed Him to know Him] at any time, ever. If we should actively love one another, God lives inside of and among us, and His love is
God made visible. God seen and known. How? – Christians actively loving one another. Consider the familiar diagram. The “Him” in verse 13 is the Father. John 14:20 is always Jesus first, but a Jesus who Himself is inside the Father, and thus so are we.
Problem and Solution. Notice in the diagram that the outer circle, the One now seen and known by all, is the Father. But it is the Father in a very specific way, that is, as the FULL COMPLETION of His Love among us.
12-13 Definition: John frames God-Love in terms of problem and solution. God’s problem is that no one can see Him or know Him. God can Love all He wants, but no one perceives that Love, for God has no body, no created form.
12-13 Ruling Verse 10: Love “brought to full completion” means God made visible as our Love for one another. God inside of us is Source; we “inside of God” makes God the one whom others see as they see our Love for one another.
13 Ruling Verse 3: We KNOW such Love only by the Spirit given to us, flowing through us as Rivers (see Romans 5:5).
The Full Completion of Love. God lives inside of and among us, and His love is brought to full completion inside of and among us. – This is just absolutely profound. Christian Community, believers in Jesus loving one another for real, is not just the completion of Jesus, but it is the Completion of God. It is the meaning of Glory, God’s greatest achievement.
12-13 Ruling Verse 8: God has one purpose inside creation and among humans, and that is His Love brought to FULL COMPLETION inside of and among us as the Church.
12-13 The Form for God through Jesus: Christian Community, believers in Jesus loving one another for real, in daily life together, is not just the completion of Jesus, but it is also the Completion of God. Our love for one another is Glory, God’s deepest desire and His greatest achievement.
Speaking the Same Word. • 15 Whoever shall speak the same word, that Jesus Christ is the Son out from God, God dwells inside of him and he dwells inside of God. • 16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that is God inside of us. God is love, and the one who dwells inside of love, dwells inside of God, and God dwells inside of him.
Notice how speaking the same Word and dwelling inside of God are two parts of the same thing. Speaking the same Word means sharing the same genetic code. The beginning of the Covenant is Word written upon our hearts; the completion of the Covenant is “I will be God inside of them and they will be a people inside of Me.” This is the determined Desire of God. John is really going DEEP with verse 16.
Experiencing Jesus. “To come to know” means to experience Jesus for real. We experience Jesus Sent into us before we can know the Father. John 14:21, Jesus first, comes before John 14:23, the Father coming with Jesus.
15 Speak Christ: To speak Christ is to speak the same Word out from God that Jesus is, the same Word now written upon our hearts. To “come to know” means to experience Jesus for real; it means that we share the same genetic code with Jesus.
15-16 Ruling Verse 10: John repeats twice our dwelling inside of God and God dwelling inside of us. Jesus is personal to each one of us, but for Father at Home, it is us together.
15-16 Covenant: “And I will be God inside of them and they will be a people inside of Me.” – This is the end result, the entire purpose of the New Covenant, a dwelling place for us and for the Father.
A Covenant of Love. John is not just repeating himself, rather, he is spiraling upwards in his thinking, one might say, like the curriculum of one’s school years, covering the same topics at ever deeper levels. Cause and effect is our anchor, but we stay with John.
15-16 Ruling Verse 8: This God in whom we dwell is Love, within and without. And this Love in which we dwell is God, within and without. This Love that is God is a Flow, Love “out from God.” We know that Flow of Love by knowing and experiencing Christ Jesus, Word and Spirit together.
15-16 The Form for God through Jesus: The Heart of the dwelling place of God, His House forever, the thing that binds it all together, is a Covenant of Love. God cannot be known, yet He WANTS above all things to be known. God is made visible only through Christian reciprocal Love.
The Full Meaning of Symmorphy. • 17 Inside of this love, brought to full completion joined together with us, we have the boldness to speak [Christ our life] inside the [to]day of judgment, • that just exactly as He is, so also are we in this present world-cosmos.
Let’s respond first with the obvious. Speak out loud, boldly. – “Because I live inside of God-Love and because God is Love through me, I am just like Jesus right now into my world.”
Seed planted in our earth, Jesus now come inside our flesh, cannot mean anything less. “Brought to full completion joined together with us” is the full meaning of Symmorphy. The “day of judgment” is always right now, this moment, for there is no other moment in existence. Thus the Spirit of God is tying this boldness to speak Christ together with the account we give every moment – Hebrews 4:12-13.
Just Like Jesus. 17 Covenant & Ruling Verse 1: The Covenant is already complete; we are already just like Jesus. “Becoming” the same image is our entrance into knowing what is already True. No one can know the Father except by saying, “Jesus makes me to be just like Himself right now.”
17 Definition: “Love brought to full completion joined together with us” is the meaning of symmorphy, sharing form with Jesus. There is only one day, “today,” for no other day exists. Judgment is the measurement of Christ we place upon ourselves inside the words that we speak.
17 Speak Christ: Every human is giving an account of themselves every moment, that is, in every “right now today,” inside the presence of God (see Hebrews 4:12-13). That account is to speak Christ our only Life – or – to speak of ourselves out from ourselves, that is, death.
Two Opposing Fears. • 18 There is no fear inside of love, but completed love casts out fear; because fear has torment; moreover, the one who fears [is tormented] has not been made complete inside of love. • 19 We love because He first actively loved us.
The fear of torment is NOT the fear of God; in fact, it is the opposite. One who fears in torment drives God far away; one who fears God runs into God immediately and utterly. The one who fears God treats those in whom God dwells with utmost respect. The one who fears in torment enjoys manipulating and abusing other people – in order to torment God “in return.”
Then, verse 19, we love others because He first loves us, is the strongest expression of one of the most important principles inside of God and the Gospel. This is our return to the Father, and it applies to everything of God given to us.
Cast It Out – with Thanksgiving. Tormenting fear is to be “cast out,” which means it is demonic, which means the human is the one accusing God. For that reason, casting the demon out cannot solve the problem. God cleanses from us this hating of God by hating self and others, through our giving thanks inside of and for the sake of all things. It is through giving thanks, then, that we become complete inside of Love.
18 Definition: The fear of torment is NOT the fear of God. The fear of God runs into God and treats others with all respect. The fear of torment is hating God by hating self and others. It must be cast out, yes, but it must also be replaced with giving thanks inside of and for the sake of all things. Completed Love gives thanks, and through giving thanks (the Eucharist), we become complete inside of Love.
The Return. The flow of electricity is patterned after the Flow of God-Life. A wire can be filled with electricity, but it accomplishes nothing unless there is a return wire back to the source. God gives nothing without the full expectation of return, yet the return to God is ONLY through – other people.
19 Life: God-Life is a Flow. But just as electricity accomplishes nothing without a return wire back to its source, so also is God. God gives Himself to us in the full expectation of a return. “We love others out from God loving us” is that return. Whatever God gives, the return is always through other people.
18-19 Ruling Verse 8: Love must be God Himself. God alone is Love. God-Love flows out from God, through us to others, and thus returns to God carrying precious fruit.
The Wall of Jeopardy Again. • 20 If anyone should say, “I love God,” but contemptuously despises his brother, he is fake and dishonest. Indeed, the one who does not love his brother or sister, whom he has seen, is not capable of loving God whom he has not seen. 21 And this is the commandment we have upon Him, that the one who loves God will be loving his brother or sister also.
Living inside of the Flow of God-Love is all Wonder and all Glory. Yet here again we hit that wall of jeopardy. And here, I think, the most important thing is our definition of God.
20-21 Definition: God-Love returns to God through other people. This is the meaning of God-Life. Contempt for others is the reason for self-worship and its necessary “return.” This is the wall of jeopardy inside of Jesus. We have only one Way to return with God to Himself – we must humble ourselves, as Jesus did, for the sake of our brothers and sisters.
The Place of Our Victory. (Chapter 5) • 1 Everyone believing that Jesus is the Christ has been conceived out from God, and everyone loving the One conceiving [Seed] also loves all others who are being conceived out from Him. • 2 By this we know that we love the children birthed out from God, when we love God and keep, guard, and watch over His commandments, His full completion.
We see that John is re-stating Jesus the Seed planted into us and our great care over the Flow of Gospel Word by which we are written as all the “genetic code” that is God. The next lesson is titled “Our Victory.” Our Victory comes out from our Love for one another and for all believers in Jesus. Ruling Verse 4, casting down the accuser, comes out from Ruling Verse 8, our souls set forth for others, and is an integral part of Ruling Verse 9, the ministry of God through us.
Is the Church. Scientists who study the electrical nature of the universe demonstrate with convincing evidence that the features of the surface of the earth, including all “deposits” of minerals, were formed by powerful electrical discharge. This flow of Life, the power of Love returning to God, is what creates the Church. And the discharge point is our Victory for the sake of our brethren – Ruling Verse 4.
The Form for God through Jesus & Ruling Verse 4: We love God, we love His word, we love our brethren. This pathway is the “wire” through which God reveals Himself as Love carried by the living Flow of Life, the Word of His power. The “switch” is our Victory over all that denies Jesus come now in completion as His Church, God’s dwelling place. Our local fellowship is formed out from giving ourselves in return to God (the Eucharist).
Qualities of God-Love. This is great. Through each of the comments on Love, we have found specific descriptions of God-Love. Let’s list those qualities and movements as found in 1 John 4:1 through 5:2. We could also call this, “The Flow of Love and Its Enemies.”
Now, I am mostly a linear thinker, whereas John is partly circular. I must convert this to Cause and Effect, to Purpose and Flow. And in this approach, Purpose comes first (Pro-Thesis), and Cause comes second (Pro-Knowing and Pro-Determination). The Purpose points directly to the Completion, where we are going, which is God-Love made visible (Image and Many Brethren Glorified). But the critical question in-between is HOW! How, how, how. “How” is Symmorphosed with Jesus. In other words, 1 John 4, God-Love made visible, is Ruling Verse 1.
Beginning with How. With our linear layout clear from Paul, let’s now proceed through John’s circular layout.
1. How. Verses 1-3. Jesus Christ come now inside our flesh, the Seed planted, the Flow through the Vine. Enemy 1. Against this Seed is the spirit of anti-Christ, speaking in your ear against Jesus inside of all that is you. (God has forsaken me.)
2. Source and How. Verse 4. Source here, that is, “out from God,” is Pro-Determination because the setting is Victory over all speaking against Jesus in us. The How is again Jesus inside of us, sharing Jesus with God, greater far than outward voices.
3. The Flow: Cause and Effect, Source and Fruit. Verses 7-8. God is Love. Having placed Jesus in us powerfully, John now brings in Love, Love that is always flowing out from God, Love as Source and Completion.
4. Purpose and How, Source and How. Verses 9-11. The Purpose is God-Love made visible. The How is the One Seed planted in us from God. “Live through Him” means symmorphosed. Then again, Source, God loves us first, NOT us loving God, and How, Propitiation, resolution. Then again, Source, God so loves us, and How – And we also.
5. Purpose and Completion, the Covenant, our side of How. Verses 12-13. Purpose stated as problem, no one knows God. The Covenant at the Heart, God among us. Completion – God-Love among us as the Church. Our side of How – the Spirit given to us. (Covenant is central to How.)
6. How – Covenant and Experience. Source and Completion. Verses 15-16. We must speak the same Word as Jesus written upon our hearts. Even more, we must EXPERIENCE Jesus for real. God is Love becomes God in us and we in God – the Church.
From Symmorphy to the Church. 7. HOW! The full meaning of Symmorphy. Verse 17. Jesus fully joined with us – speaking boldly inside of judgment. We are just like Jesus right now.
8. Enemy 2 and the Return. Verses 18-19. Enemy 2 is self-loathing. (I am a worm and no man.) One “tormented in fear” is not a victim, but a perpetrator, hating God disguised as hating self. The answer is the Return, giving ourselves back to the Father no matter how badly we feel – through Loving our brethren.
9. Enemy 3 and the Wall of Jeopardy. Verses 20-21. Enemy 3 is contempt for others. (Dogs surround me.) Dishonesty. Pretending to Love God while acting out from contempt for those in whom God dwells. The Completion of Jesus turns into the commandment against. – Is not capable of loving God.
10. From Source, from How, from Covenant – to Completion. Chapter 5, verses 1-2. Believing Jesus and conceived out from God through Word are the same. The Source becoming the how is Jesus written as Word upon our hearts – the Covenant. The Fruit, the Completion, God-Love made visible, is the Church, many as one, loving one another with pure hearts fervently. We love God; we keep His Word. We Return Love back to God as His Church.
The Way to the Unveiling. John is all about Jesus as the WAY, the path from God-Love to Church-Love. Consider the enemies set against that Way. We have known these enemies, just like Jesus in Psalm 22. Our Victory is the same as His. We give ourselves to God as we are, for the sake of others. Notice also the clarity by which John sets God’s Problem as the meaning of God’s Purpose. God WANTS to be seen and known as Love.
Now, Jesus sharing all with us, written upon our hearts, is the HOW that John weaves all the way through. Yet there is a door, a key, a trigger, set inside of that Way, that turns everything around to God’s Completion as His Church. That key is “And we also,” our RETURN of Love to God through loving His Church.
Remember our definition of 1 John. When I did word studies of Revelation, writing out every verse in the Bible containing some term in John’s vision, the one Bible book that provided the most such verses defining Revelation was 1 John. In other words, we take this Love, coming through this Flow, into how we must know everything found in John’s vision, the Unveiling of Jesus Christ. And the vision begins with Jesus giving Himself to us, that we might LOVE His Church.