The Fruit of Love

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

    It is the same as if he had said, "We know the love of God for us by believing." Such knowledge is only attained by faith. The love of God is in Christ (Rom. 8:38-39). No man knows nor can be certain of the love and mercy of God to sinners except as he believes in and knows Christ (Matt. 11:27). We go from faith to love; by faith in Christ, God dwells in us, and God is love. Then, wherever God abides, love will be there. Hence, it follows that he that exercises love to God and to men dwells in God and God in him.

    John begins to show the fruit of God's love to us and our love for God; we can dare to stand boldly before God now at the throne of grace (Heb. 10:19) and later at the final judgment. By nature we dread the presence of God, and justly so, for our sins hold us guilty; therefore, condemnation and hell must come to our minds when we think of God. Natural man has reason to fear and shun the presence of God. But the believer does not fear the Day of Judgment; on the contrary, we approach death and judgment confidently and cheerfully because of his love to us in Christ. As Christ is the Son of God by nature, we are sons of God by adoption. As he is loved by the Father with an everlasting and unchangeable love, so are we loved by him with the same love even while we are in this world (1 John 3:1-2). As he was a man of sorrows, afflicted, tempted, hated and tempted by Satan, so are we! Moreover, as he is now in heaven, so are we representatively in him (Eph. 2:6).