Loving Like God

1 John 4:7-8 KJVR Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every
one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. (8) He that loveth not
knoweth not God; for God is love.

1 John 4:7-8 GNB Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from
God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. (8) Whoever does not love
does not know God, for God is love.

Key word love:

2 words for love:
phileō fil-eh'-o to be a friend to (fond of [an individual or an object]), that is, have affection for
agapē
1) brotherly love, affection, good will, love, benevolence
2) love feasts

Key word know:

eídō. To see.
epiginṓskō;
To know fully, as an inceptive verb, to come to know, to gain or receive full knowledge of,
become fully acquainted with.
ginōskō
to know, understand, perceive, have a deep knowledge of
2a) to completely understand
2b) to know
Jewish idiom for sexual intercourse between a man and a woman

A study of agape love

1. All true love has its origin in God

2. Real love shows that we have his Spirit, and that we belong to him.
3. It assimilates us to God, or makes us more and more like him.

How can we see that love originates with him?

Gal 5.22
Gal 5.6
Habakkuk 2:4
John 3.16

… that he gave
dídōmi without augment

1
 should believe
pisteúō faith
God gave for the sole purpose that we might believe. Why, because he loved.
We read in 1 John that everyone that loves is born of God and in John we read that
everyone that believes or has faith is born of God.

If this is true, then anywhere we read “faith” or ‘believe’, we can substitute “love”

Rom 5.1-2
Rom 10.8-9
Rom 12.3
Heb 11.6
Mark 9.2
Mark 11.23
Eph 1.19
Mark 16.17-18

It is impossible to truly love someone else without first loving God. Do you think that
you love your wife/husband/son/daughter, etc as much as you can? It is impossible to
get to that level if you will continually fall into Gods love and let his love fall into you.
The more you love him, the more you will love others. This is the whole message of 1
John.

1 John 4:9-10 KJVR In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because
that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through
him. (10) Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent
his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

1 John 4:9-10 MSG This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only
Son into the world so we might live through him. (10) This is the kind of love we
are talking about--not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done
to our relationship with God.

1 John 4:10 GNB This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he
loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

It is not that we loved him; it is that he loved us, even when we were sinful. Even when
we could not approach him or even look upon him, he loved us. This is the kind of love
we are called to have, to display.

This kind of love is a purging and a changing love. We cannot be in the presence of
almighty God without being changed by his love. For this reason, he cannot ignore our
sin. He must take action to purify us because his love demands that we be saved.

What kind of actions?

2
 1. Word will speak to us
2. Five fold ministry
3. Chastisement

1 John 4:11-12 KJVR Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one
another. (12) No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God
dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Do you desire to see him? We are commanded to seek is face diligently. We are
pressed toward knowing him intimately. If so, then we are pressed toward loving others
with the same passions that he loved us. If God truly dwells in you then you will love
and this love perfects us in every way.