Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 John 4:9

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.

9. In this was manifested ] Or, for the sake of uniformity with 1Jn 4:10 ; 1Jn 4:13 ; 1Jn 4:17, Herein was manifested: we have the same Greek in all four verses. ‘Herein’ plainly refers to what follows: comp. 1Jn 3:16 and see on 1Jn 3:19. For ‘manifest’ see on 1Jn 1:2. This is a second reason for our loving one another. We must do this (1) because love is the very Being of Him whose children we are; (2) because of the transcendent way in which His love was manifested. The context shews that ‘the love of God’, which usually in this Epistle means our love to God, here means His love to us: comp. 1Jn 3:16.

towards us ] Rather, in us: we are the sphere in which God’s love is exhibited: comp. 1Jn 4:16 and Joh 9:3, which is very parallel. The latter passage tends to shew that ‘in us’ is to be joined with ‘manifested’ rather than with ‘the love of God’: Herein was the love of God manifested in us. The rendering ‘in our case’ (R. V. margin) is improbable: comp. 1Jn 4:12.

because that God sent ] Better, because God hath sent: we do not need both ‘because’ and ‘that’; and the verb is a perfect, indicating the permanent result of Christ’s mission. In the next verse we have aorists, speaking of past acts without reference to the present.

his only begotten Son ] Literally, His Son, His only begotten: comp. Joh 3:16. As in ‘the life, the eternal life’ (1Jn 1:2), the repetition of the article makes both ideas, ‘son’ and ‘only-begotten’, prominent and distinct. Comp. 1Jn 1:3, 1Jn 2:7-8 ; 2Jn 1:11; 2Jn 1:13. His Son was much to send, but it was also His only Son. The word for ‘only begotten’ ( ) as applied to Christ is peculiar to S. John; it occurs four times in the Gospel (Joh 1:14; Joh 1:18, Joh 3:16; Joh 3:18) and here. ‘Only-born’ would be a more accurate rendering: Christ is the only born Son as distinct from the many who have become sons. The word occurs in LXX. to translate a Hebrew word ( yachid), which is elsewhere rendered ‘beloved’ or ‘darling’ ( ): and oddly enough where the Greek has ‘only’ the A. V. has ‘darling’ and vice vers. Contrast Gen 22:2; Gen 22:12; Gen 22:16 with Psa 22:21; Psa 35:17. The Vulgate has unigenitus and unicus. Comp. Rom 5:8; Rom 8:32.

that we might live through him ] These are the important words, setting forth that in which God’s love is so conspicuous and so unique. The only Son has been sent for this purpose ( ), that we may live, and not die, as we should otherwise have done: comp. 1Jn 3:14 , 1Jn 5:11; Joh 3:16-17; Joh 3:36.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

In this was manifested the love of God – That is, in an eminent manner, or this was a most signal proof of it. The apostle does not mean to say that it has been manifested in no other way, but that this was so prominent an instance of his love, that all the other manifestations of it seemed absorbed and lost in this.

Because that God sent his only begotten Son … – See the notes at Joh 3:16.

That we might live through him – He died that we might have eternal life through the merits of his sacrifice. The measure of that love, then, which was manifested in the gift of a Saviour, is to be found,

(1)In the worth of the soul;

(2)In its exposure to eternal death;

(3)In the greatness of the gift;

(4)In the greatness of his sorrows for us; and,

(5)In the immortal blessedness and joy to which he will raise us.

Who can estimate all this? All these things will magnify themselves as we draw near to eternity; and in that eternity to which we go, whether saved or lost, we shall have an ever-expanding view of the wonderful love of God.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

1Jn 4:9-10

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world

Divine love in its highest manifestation

Mark in illustration of the immensity of that love–

I.

The dignity and worth of Him who was given to the world for its manifestation. God sent His only-begotten Son into the world. This was the first step in the demonstration of His matchless benignity.

II. Observe, as a further illustration of Gods love as here set forth, the condition to which He freely surrendered His Son. He sent Him into the world. He sent Him to be the propitiation for our sins. And think!–this love has been shown to you! All this God did to prove Himself gracious to you–to you, the most ungrateful and hard-hearted here this day, who do not, will not love Him in return?

III. Consider a third particular which the text adduces in illustration of the great love wherewith God has loved us, namely, the glorious end, in relation to our race, which that love contemplated. God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. That which the apostle here means by life, is happy existence–existence in connection with the highest and fullest development of all our powers, both of perception and enjoyment; existence in the possession of the Divine favour and love, moral rectitude, and internal purity. A life is it whose vigour no power of disease can undermine, whose actings are superior to waste and fatigue, whose duration is lasting as Jehovah. Oh! what, then, must be the measure of that love which gave Christ to procure for us such a benefit as this?

IV. Consider, in the last place, how marvellously this love is enhanced by the fact, that it was love to the unloving. Herein is love, says our text, not that we loved God. What should be the effect upon us of such contemplations.

1. Love begets love, and if God has so loved us, we should surely love Him in return.

2. Love is exemplary and if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. (C. M. Merry.)

The love of God

There are two notions of God that have more or less prevalence among men. One represents Him that if there were not a man on earth, if there were nothing in all creation from side to side, there is that in Himself that would make Him forever overflow with taste, and feeling, and love. The one ascribes to Him a nature that is merely susceptible of being called out upon the application of the motive. The other ascribes to Him a nature that pours itself abroad in the earth by reason of its own fulness and richness. It is the latter of these two ideas that I suppose the Scriptures to teach. In our text Gods love for us is not affirmed to exist because God perceived a spark kindled in us, gradually flaming forth and reaching up toward Him. God did not love man because man had prepared himself and made himself lovely, nor did Divine love spring forth from any deed of Gods by which He, for purposes of government, aroused and incited Himself to strong emotion. Love springs not from an act, not from a fact of redemptive sacrifice, The love of God for the world was manifested in the Cross, instead of being created by it.

I. Gods love does not depend upon our character, but upon His own. I do not mean to say that it makes no difference whether a man has a good or a bad character. I do not mean to affirm that there do not spring up, between the Divine nature and ourselves, by reason of our relations to that nature, certain deep intimacies and more wonderful affections. But I do mean to affirm that there is a great overshadowing of love to us, that exists, not on account of our character, but on account of His.

II. The divine love exists and works upon us, not alone when we are conscious, but evermore. Men mount up under flashes of glorious realisation, and it seems as if God then began to love them, because they then first become sensitive to His love. When a man has passed through religious changes from darkness to light; when he has put off his worldly character, and taken on the character of Christ; when, coming out of despondency, the compassionate Saviour rises before his imagination, and he says, Christ has begun to love me–his impression is that the Divine love for him began when the burden which had weighed down his soul was rolled off. This is as if a blind man, who had never seen the heavens, nor the earth, nor the sweet faces of those who loved him, should have a surgical operation performed upon his eyes, resulting in the restoration of his sight, and he should think to himself on going out of doors, Oh! how things are blossoming! The earth is beginning to be beautiful! Mountains and hills are springing up in every direction! The forms of loving friends are being raised up to meet my gaze! And the sun has just begun to shine forth from the heavens! But have not these things existed since the creation, although the mans eyes have not before been in a condition to enable him to see them? A man has lived in a cellar, where he has been a poor, confined creature, striving to live a life which was but like a prolonged death. At last he is permitted to go up one storey, and then one storey higher, and then yet another storey. Thus he keeps on exploring and going up, until finally he reaches the roof. There he beholds the heavens over his head, and the sun in the east, and he is tranced with amazement by the glory of the things which surround him. And yet, every single day during his existence, and for countless ages, the heavens have hung above the earth, the sun has shone forth in splendour, and the creations which astonish his vision have been beheld by men. For forty years he has been in the cellar, and now he has come up where he can see, it seems to him that objects now appear for the first time, because he sees them for the first time. So it is with the disclosures of the love of God in Christ Jesus to Christians. They think that the time at which they first realise Gods love is the time when it is first shed upon them. But as God pours abroad infinite breadths of His being without an eye except His own to behold, so He spreads over our heads an unknown, an immeasurable love, waiting for our recognition, but in no wise depending upon it.

III. There is something unspeakably affecting to me in this thought of the solicitude of Divine love for men, and its patient continuance in God without consciousness on our part. There is something sweet in interpreting the nature of God from the family. Now who can tell the sum of the thoughts which the mother bestows on the child? And yet he is unconscious of most of her solicitude concerning him. He knows that she loves him, but he only feels the pulsations of her love once in awhile. I think we never know the love of the parent for the child till we become parents. Not only does God think of us constantly, and love us steadfastly, but there is a healing, curative nature, forever outworking from the Divine mind upon ours, even although we may cooperate voluntarily with His will. All these yearnings which we have for good, are the crying out of the soul for God, under the influence of His love to us. Every throb of our spirits that answers to spiritual things is caused by the influence of God. And that is not all. We have testimony in the workings of the providence of God in the experiences of our daily life, that Gods love is still shed upon us, although we may be unconscious of it. I recollect to have read the case of a man in a city of Southern Europe, who spent his life in getting property, and became unpopular among his fellow citizens on account of what seemed to them his miserly spirit. When his will was read after his death, it stated that he had been poor, and had suffered from a lack of water; that he had seen the poor of the city also suffering from the same want, and that he had devoted his life to the accumulation of means sufficient to build an aqueduct to bring water to the city, so that forever afterward the poor should be supplied with it. It turned out that the man whom the poor had cursed till his death had been labouring to provide water for the refreshment of themselves and their children. Oh! how God has been building an aqueduct to bring the water of life to us, He not interpreting His acts and we not understanding them!

IV. Gods love is not, as too often ours is, the collateral and incidental element of his life and being. It is His abiding state. All time and all eternity are filled with it. All plans are conceived and directed by it. All histories and all administrations are transfused with and carried forward in it. All triumphs are to end in it, while all that cannot be made to harmonise, and blend, and cooperate with it shall be utterly swept away.

1. Can any other truth so justify and enforce an earnest, instant, manly search, to see if these things be so?

2. If what I have said is true, can any honourable man justify himself for not coming into a living faith in and communion with God?

3. Will not the realisation of such a nature, brought home to us personally, account for all the sometimes discredited Christian experiences? (H. W. Beecher.)

Christ the manifestation of Divine love

1. The love of God as a principle is, of course, eternal. Like His own nature, it is uncreated, self-existent, and independent.

2. But, while the love of God as a principle is from everlasting, the manifestations of this love are related to events, and to circumstances, and to time. Now the manifestation of Gods love not only makes us acquainted with it, but renders that love available to us. Now, in the text, a gift is introduced as manifesting Gods love.

I. The nature of this gift. Now here, you observe, a being is given to us, and a being closely related to God Himself; so closely related to the Father that we must look upon Him as the Son of the Highest. This Being is sent into our world–sent to live in close connection with it; for He is born of a woman, and sent into our world to become thoroughly indentified with it. He is indentified with it as a newborn babe; He is indentified with it as an infant; He is indentified with it as a child; He is indentified with it as a youth; He is indentified with it as a man; He is indentified with it as pursuing the ordinary occupations of His country and age.

II. The intent of this gift. To give life. Originally, life was staked upon a covenant. God said to our first father, Do this, and you shall live. That was a covenant of works, and the continuance of life to Adam under that arrangement was his due. The covenant is broken, and it is utterly impossible for God to place us now under a covenant of similar character. If we are to have life now, it must be by a dispensation of mercy. And while He personally imparts to us that life which consists in freedom from condemnation, He gives us life in soul and spirit by the Spirit of God. (S. Martin.)

The manifestation of Divine love in the gospel

The wife of Tigranes was among the captives on a certain public day when Cyrus, the conqueror of Asia, was reviewing his troops. While the captives pressed forward to see the conqueror, Tigranes presented himself before Cyrus and offered a thousand talents for the redemption of his wife. Among the observations afterwards made respecting the appearance and glory of the conqueror, this noble lady was asked what she thought of Cyrus. She had not seen him. On what then was your attention fixed? On the man who offered a thousand talents for my redemption. And on whom should the attention of Christians be chiefly fixed, but on Him who gave, not a thousand talents, but His own most precious life, for their redemption? We admire the magnanimity of Judah, when we behold him, in concern for the sorrows of an aged parent, offering himself to servitude in the room of the favourite son of the deceased Rachel. But what was this compared with Him who took the sinners place under law, and so to speak, received the full discharge of wrath Divine? Let all the archives of antiquity be explored; bring forward all the generous sacrifices of Greece and Rome; and what are they all to the amazing love here displayed? The love which we celebrate stands alone and without a second. It is the most profitable subject of contemplation that can occupy the mind. It carries you up to those views of God which are the most sublime, the most transforming, and the most happy. (E. D. Griffin, D. D.)

The love of God to men in the Incarnation of Christ

I. It is a great evidence of the love of God to mankind, that He was pleased to take our case into consideration, and to concern Himself for our happiness. Now that He, who is far above us, and after that we by wilful transgression had lost ourselves, had no obligation to take care of us, but what His own goodness laid upon Him; that He should be so solicitous for our recovery, is a great evidence of His goodwill to us, and cannot be imagined to proceed from any other cause.

II. Another evidence of Gods great love to us is, that He was pleased to design so great a benefit for us. This the Scripture expresseth to us by life; because, as it is one of the greatest blessings, so it is the foundation of all other enjoyments.

1. We were spiritually dead, dead in trespasses and sins, as the apostle speaks (Eph 2:1-2).

2. We were likewise judicially dead in law, being condemned by the just sentence of it. What a surprise of kindness is here! that, instead of sending His Son to condemn us, He should send Him into the world to save us. But His love stopped not here; it was not contented to spare us and free us from misery, but was restless till it had found out a way to bring us to happiness.

III. The last evidence of Gods great love to us was this, that God was pleased to use such a means for the obtaining and procuring of this great blessing. He sent His only-begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him.

1. The person whom He was pleased to employ upon this design: He sent His only-begotten Son.

2. How much He abased Him, in order to the accomplishing of this design, implied in these words, He sent Him into the world.

3. To whom He was sent, to the world.

4. That He did all this voluntarily and freely, out of His mere pity and goodness; not constrained hereto by any necessity.

What remains but to apply this to ourselves?

1. Let us propound to ourselves the love of God for our pattern and example.

2. Let us readily comply with the great design of this great love of God to mankind.

3. With what joy and thankfulness should we commemorate this great love of God to mankind. (Abp. Tillotson.)

The love of God

I. The characteristics of Gods love.

1. Everlasting in its date (Jer 31:3).

2. Unmerited in the objects of it (Eze 36:21-23).

3. Immutable in its nature (Psa 89:30-36).

4. Of unspeakable value (Eph 3:17-19).

5. Eternal in its duration (Eph 3:11-12).

II. The manifestation of Gods love.

1. The greatness and glory of the person sending: God (Isa 57:15).

2. The dignity of the person sent: Christ, the God-man (Heb 1:3).

3. The place into which He was sent: this world (1Jn 4:9).

4. The purpose for which He was sent: salvation (Gal 4:4-5).

III. The gracious design.

1. A life of reconciliation with God (2Co 5:18).

2. A life of justification before God (Rom 5:1).

3. A life of Divine communion in God (1Jn 1:3).

4. A life of consolation and genuine happiness (2Co 1:5).

5. A life of eternal glory in heaven, body and soul (Psa 73:24; Gal 6:8).

IV. Improvement. The nature of this life has many most paradoxical traits connected with it.

1. A warlike yet victorious life.

2. A painful yet pleasurable life.

3. A friendless yet friendly life.

4. An humble yet exalted life.

5. A dying yet eternal life.

6. A worthless yet most precious life. (T. B. Baker, M. A.)

The supreme manifestation of Gods love

I. The amazing. Manifestation of Divine love, which is here described. As when some eminently beautiful object rivets the attention of a traveller, so that he scarcely gives even a passing glance to other objects; so the believers thoughts are so fixed upon one manifestation of Gods love. In this was manifested the love of God, etc.

II. For whom this wondrous love has been manifested. God sent His only-begotten Son into the world. It might have happened that, for some reason known to the Creator, such a sacrifice should have been necessary for the world in its first state of innocence; and even in such a case the love of God in sending His Son would have been inconceivably great; but what was really the state of the world, when this love was manifested in its behalf? We shall learn what the state of the world is, by considering what we ourselves are. Some are sincerely desirous of living to the glory of God, while others are seeking to please themselves. But what are the best feelings of the best of us towards God? What is the best conduct of the best of us in comparison with the will of God? Alas! how cold are our affections! How inconsistent is our habitual deportment! The devices of Satan, how often we allow ourselves to be deceived by them! And, if the best are so bad, what must the worst be? And yet God sent His Son into such a world! Oh, what wondrous love!

III. The object which Gods love had in view when He sent His Son. That we might live through Him. (A. Stackhouse, M. A.)

Gods love manifested in Christians

The love of God is not a public spectacle. Love is not a material thing, that all can see alike. Thousands saw the Cross who saw nothing of the love. Where can the love of all that passion, that blood, that death, be seen? In us, who by faith in the blood are saved to life eternal. A man goes down to the shore when a storm is raging. He sees a wreck in the offing and a crowd on the beach, He finds that he is too late to see what they have seen–the lifeboat manned and launched–to see the rescue of those on board. He has come too late for all that, but he can yet see the love of it all in the gratitude and gladness of the saved. In all those saved folk he can see the love of it all made manifest. Well, Calvary is hidden from us. The dying ended in three hours, but the love of it all is manifest in us–in every soul saved from hell–in every gleam of hope that lights the gloom of death–in all the ways by which Christian charity ministers to the needs of men. When thou seest an eagle, said Blake, thou seest a portion of genius; lift up thy head. Yes, and when thou seest a Christian–a soul saved from hell, and being saved from sin–thou seest a manifestation of the love of God. Lift up thy soul in praise. (J. M. Gibbon.)

The love of God

I. God loves man. Why, with a little child speaking of his mothers love, sometimes they fail; how much more when we speak of Gods love! I saw a little child the other day clasp its arms round its mothers neck, and say, Mother, I loves ou, and I know ou loves me, but I dont know how much ou loves me. So the little child spoke; and if it is true in that love, how much more in the love of God, of which all human love is but a shadow, a spark!

II. God has manifested His love. In this was manifested the love of God. Of course God has manifested His love in ten thousand ways. Why everything in Nature, if we only see it rightly, is a manifestation of Gods love. Every ray of warm sunshine is but a going out of God in love. But oh, the manifestation of Gods love in nature is not enough to make us live. When some great artist manifests his skill in a work of art, begotten of his genius, it is exhibited in carpeted saloons, amid grandeur and pomp, and within tapestried walls. But when God manifested this masterpiece of grace His only-begotten Son–it was in the manger of Bethlehem, amidst the surroundings of poverty. Oh, have you believed that love? Many of you have heard about it, but it makes a vast difference when you believe it. The other day I stood by the death bed of a young man; his wife was beside it, and some friends were in the adjoining room; and I stayed there talking with them. And one earnest young man said, Sir, can you understand why God allows such sorrow as that? And I said, Honestly, sir, I dont understand it; but I know that God loves us, and He knows what is best for us. Supposing I had a friend in trouble and I lent him 20,000; do you think that after I had done that I should see him starve for the want of a sixpence? Well, then, if God loves us so much that He gives His Son, let us trust Him for the rest, though we cannot understand it. (M. Rainsford, M. A.)

The love of God manifested in the Son

In this, it was shown, manifestly and undeniably, beyond the reach of misapprehension or comparison. It had been shown before, but how feebly, how doubtfully, compared with that strength of evidence, that display of power which attends its existence now. During that whole period which preceded the coming of our Lord, sin was thus spread over the whole of human kind; and like the fog that hangs on the surface of the earth, it intercepted those bright rays which issue externally from the great source of light in heaven. And this seems to have been the case with man previously to the dispensation of grace in the gospel. He felt the love of God in part. The love of God may be beheld in every object that we see, but they alone see this glorious attribute in its true colour, in its full development, who fix their eyes on the person of Jesus Christ, and who study the real greatness of the love of God as revealed in Him.

I. We say it is shown in the nature of that work which He came to do. Let us consider that work, its character, its object, in order to understand the greatness of the love which prompted it. To silence every cavil, to give an evidence of the love of God which imagination should not reach, to place it above the level of every doubt or insinuation, Christ came, not to cure our natural evils, not to teach, not to direct, though any one of these acts might well have awakened amazement; but He came to die for sinners.

II. Let us now endeavour to remark the evidence of the love of God, which is included in the manner in which that work was accomplished, and the effect produced by His ministry.

1. Let us observe first, in the certainty of its accomplishment. Eternal life is purchased for us by Jesus Christ, and it is offered to all in Him, absolutely and universally. This is the record, says St. John, that God hath given to us eternal life; and this life is in His Son. He hath given it. He who is the truth itself hath given it, and hath given it in His Son. He, therefore, that hath the Son hath life. He that hath the one is secure, absolutely secure of the other. Unlike other marks of love, where there is no positive connection between the pledge and the possession, between the means and the end; unlike the gift of riches, for instance, which does not ensure contentment; unlike the gift of health, which does not ensure joy; unlike these, the gift of Christ ensures eternal life.

2. Again, let us observe it in the largeness of its offers, in the multitude, the innumerable multitude of those who are included in the compass of this love of God. Who has ever come to Christ, and been excluded for want of room?

3. Think, finally, how much it exceeds in magnitude all that was ever before expected. Eternal life, a life of everlasting joy, of uninterrupted holiness and peace. Compared with this, what are the distinctions and circumstances of the world but the colours which adorn a shadow; the illusions of a dream which passes away and is gone? (H. Raikes, M. A.)

Gods love manifested in redemption

I. The redemption of mankind was an act of the freest and most unmerited grace.

1. Gods designs of mercy could not arise from His thinking the constitution He had made with Adam as the representative of his posterity severe and unrighteous.

2. God was not moved to provide a Saviour for His creatures by any sense that His law was too strict in its demands.

3. The inability to perform his duty, which man contracted by his fall, did not render his case in the least more deserving of compassion.

4. God was not moved to this act of unmerited grace by any foreknowledge He had that mankind would receive it with thankfulness.

II. The redemption of mankind is a full demonstration of the unbounded love of the Divine nature. (R. Walker.)

Gods love proved

Does Gods love need to be proved? Yes, as all paganism shows. Gods vicious, gods careless, gods cruel, gods beautiful, there are in abundance; but where is there a god who loves? Non-Christian thinkers can now talk eloquently about Gods love, and sometimes reject the gospel in the name of that love, thus kicking down the ladder by which they climbed. But it was the Cross that taught the world the love of God; and, apart from the death of Christ, men may hope that there is a heart at the centre of the universe, but they can never be sure that there is. Nature and history give but ambiguous oracles on that subject. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Verse 9. In this was manifested the love of God] The mission of Jesus Christ was the fullest proof that God could give, or that man could receive, of his infinite love to the world.

That we might live through him.] The whole world was sentenced to death because of sin; and every individual was dead in trespasses and sins; and Jesus came to die in the stead of the world, and to quicken every believer, that all might live to him who died for them and rose again. This is another strong allusion to Joh 3:16: God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life; where the reader is requested to see the note.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

There could be no higher demonstration of his love, Joh 3:16.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

9. toward usGreek, “inour case.”

sentGreek,“hath sent.”

into the worlda proofagainst Socinians, that the Son existed before He was “sent intothe world.” Otherwise, too, He could not have been our life(1Jo 4:9), our “propitiation“(1Jo 4:10), or our “Saviour”(1Jo 4:14). It is the grandproof of God’s love, His having sent “Hisonly-begotten Son, that we might live through Him,” who isthe Life, and who has redeemed our forfeited life; and it isalso the grand motive to our mutual love.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

In this was manifested the love of God towards us,…. The love of God here spoken of, and instanced in, is not his general love to all his creatures, which is shown in the make of them, and in the support of them in their beings, and in his providential care of them, and kindness to them; but his special love towards his elect, and which was before it was manifested; it was secretly in his heart from everlasting, and did not begin to be at the mission of Christ into the world, but was then in a most glaring manner manifested: there were several acts of it before, as the choice of them in Christ, the appointment of him to be their Saviour, and the covenant of grace made with him on their account; these were more secret and hidden; but now the love and kindness of God appeared, broke forth, and shone out in its glory; this is a most flagrant and notorious instance of it, in which it is exceedingly conspicuous; this is a most clear proof, a plain and full demonstration of it:

because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world; the sender is God the Father, who is distinguished from the Son that is sent; of which act of sending, [See comments on Ro 8:3] and

[See comments on Ga 4:4]; and for him, who is that God against whom we have sinned, and is that lawgiver that is able to save, and to destroy, and of purer eyes than to behold iniquity, to send his Son to be the Saviour of sinful men is an amazing instance of love; and which appears the more manifest, when it is observed that it is “his only begotten Son” that is sent; of which [See comments on Joh 1:14]; and the place he was sent into is the world, where his people are, and where their sins are committed, he came to expiate; and where he was treated with great indignity and contempt, and suffered many things, and at last death itself: the end of his mission was,

that we might live through him; who were dead in Adam, dead in sin, and dead in law, and could not quicken themselves; nor obtain eternal life for themselves, by their performances. Christ came, being sent, that they might have life, and that more abundantly than Adam had in innocence, or man lost by the fall; and accordingly they were quickened together with him; when he was quickened, after he had been put to death, they were virtually and representatively quickened and justified in him; and in consequence of his death and resurrection from the dead, they are regenerated and made spiritually alive, and live unto righteousness; and through his righteousness wrought out for them, and imputed to them, they are in a legal sense alive unto God, and alive and comfortable in their own souls, living by faith on Christ, and have a right and title to eternal life; and which they also have through him, and which is chiefly intended here; for the design is not only that they may live spiritually and comfortably here, but eternally hereafter.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Was manifested (). First aorist passive indicative of . The Incarnation as in 3:5. Subjective genitive as in 2:5.

In us ( ). In our case, not “among us” nor “to us.” Cf. Ga 1:16.

Hath sent (). Perfect active indicative of , as again in verse 14, the permanent mission of the Son, though in verse 10 the aorist occurs for the single event. See Joh 3:16 for this great idea.

His only-begotten Son ( ). “His Son the only-begotten” as in Joh 3:16. John applies to Jesus alone (John 1:14; John 1:18), but Luke (Luke 7:12; Luke 8:42; Luke 9:38) to others. Jesus alone completely reproduces the nature and character of God (Brooke).

That we might live through him ( ‘ ). Purpose clause with and the first aorist (ingressive, get life) active subjunctive of . “Through him” is through Christ, who is the life (Joh 14:6). Christ also lives in us (Ga 2:20). This life begins here and now.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Was manifested. See on Joh 21:1; 1Jo 3:5.

Toward us [ ] . Wrong. Not “among us,” as Joh 1:14, nor “in us;” but as Rev., in margin, in our case. 67 Sent [] . John describes the incarnation as a sending, more frequently than in any other way. Apostellw is to send under commission, as an envoy. The perfect tense, hath sent, points to the abiding results of the sending. See on 3 5.

His only – begotten Son [ ] . Lit., His Son, the only – begotten (Son). A mode of expression common in John, enlarging upon the meaning of a noun by the addition of an adjective or a participle with the article. See 1Jo 1:2; 1Jo 2:7, 8, 25; 1Jo 5:4; Joh 6:41, 44, 50, 51; Joh 14:1, etc. On only – begotten, see on Joh 1:14.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “In this was manifested the love of God toward us.” The birth, life death, and resurrection of Christ, John asserts, was an (outshining-manifestation) of the love of God for men. 1Ti 3:16; Joh 17:6; Heb 1:3; Rom 5:8.

2) “Because that God sent his only begotten son into the world.” Jesus Christ is called the (Greek monogene) only begotten Son of God five times in the New Testament. Acceptance of this affirmation identifies true believers. Rejection of it is the mark of an infidel – whether religious or secular. Joh 1:14; Joh 1:18; Joh 3:16; Joh 3:18; 1Jn 4:9.

3) “That we might live through him.” (Greek hina “in order that”, introduced the purpose of our Savior’s being begotten of the Holy God (the Holy Spirit) – we might live in (di) through Him. Note purpose clauses of Joh 3:16-17.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

9 In this was manifested, or, has appeared. We have the love of God towards us testified also by many other proofs. For if it be asked, why the world has been created, why we have been placed in it to possess the dominion of the earth, why we are preserved in life to enjoy innumerable blessings, why we are endued with light and understanding, no other reason can be adduced, except the gratuitous love of God. But the Apostle here has chosen the principal evidence of it, and what far surpasses all other things. For it was not only an immeasurable love, that God spared not his own Son, that by his death he might restore us to life; but it was goodness the most marvelous, which ought to fill our minds with the greatest wonder and amazement. Christ, then, is so illustrious and singular a proof of divine love towards us, that whenever we look upon him, he fully confirms to us the truth that God is love.

He calls him his only begotten, for the sake of amplifying. For in this he more clearly shewed how singularly he loved us, because he exposed his only Son to death for our sakes. In the meantime, he who is his only Son by nature, makes many sons by grace and adoption, even all who, by faith, are united to his body. He expresses the end for which Christ has been sent by the Father, even that we may live through him, for without him we are all dead, but by his coming he brought life to us; and except our unbelief prevents the effect of his grace, we feel it in ourselves.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

9. In this was manifested The kingdom of nature is full of destruction: it is in the kingdom of grace that God, as love, is manifested, and in the kingdom of glory is perfectly realized. The infinite and universal secret that God is love, rather than that God is power, obscured or concealed in physical nature, is embodied in Christ, revealed in his life and death, and proclaimed by his gospel.

Sent his only Begotten Son Not only proof of his love, but its incarnation and embodiment; revealing God’s character as love even in nature and in all things.

Live Be delivered from original non-existence, and enabled to live the life of eternal love.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘In this was the love of God manifested in us, that God has sent his only unique Son into the world that we might live through him.’

God’s love as in mind in this passage is a love revealed in sending ‘His only unique Son’, (in other words the only One of the same essence and being as Himself. This is using human terminology to depict a divine truth), into the world that we might live through Him. He sent Him in His great love, so that those who would truly respond to Him might have life. And the life we receive is His life, given to us, so that it reproduces His own righteousness and love. It will thus be revealed in love of those who are His.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

1Jn 4:9. In this was manifested the love of God, &c. All the blessings of Providence are effects of the divine love to man; but St. John has said, 1Jn 4:8 that God is Love itself; and to illustrate that, he here pitches upon the most remarkable proof and instance of God’s love to man. The love of God was the source and origin of the plan of our redemption: the eternal Son of God, by his patient suffering and perfect obedience unto death, purchased or obtained of his great Father, to be the person who should be honoured with carrying this glorious plan into execution, which in time he will finish in the most complete manner, for all his faithful saints. God’s sending his Son into the world, includes his dying for us; see 1Jn 4:10. He became the great vicarious Sacrifice, and, through the complete atonement which he has made, God the Father may now be just, and yet a Justifier of those that believe in Jesus. Those false prophets who denied Jesus to have a real body, and really to suffer and die, took away entirely the love which God manifested, in sending his only and dearly-beloved Son to die, that we might live through him. They not only invalidated the force of Christ’s example, and the infinite merit of his atonement, but, of consequence, the greatness of his love, which appeared most illustriously in his willing sufferings and cheerful dying for us: and no wonder that they who thus enervated the love both of the Father and the Son, should not be moved by such infinitely amiable examples to love their Christian brethren.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

1Jn 4:9 . The manifestation of the love of God is the sending of His Son.

refers to the following .

] expresses the objective fact, not the subjective knowledge; the apostle does not mean that the love of God is known by us through the sending of His Son (comp. 1Jn 4:16 ), but that it has by that means come forth from its concealment, has manifested itself in act. is therefore neither “ in ” nor “ among ” us; neither must it be explained = ; is here, as in 1Jn 4:16 and Joh 9:3 = “ to; ” either connected with or with . .; hence either: “it has been manifested to us” (Dsterdieck, Brckner, Braune, etc.), or: “the love of God to us” (Ewald) has been manifested. With the first interpretation the sentence: , makes a difficulty which has been overlooked by the commentators; [263] with regard to the second, the article is wanting before ; but a direct connection of an attributive clause with a substantive, without a connecting article, is very often found in the N. T., and is therefore not “ungrammatical” (as Dsterdieck thinks); the idea is here, then, the same as that which John in 1Jn 4:16 expresses by: . [264] The difference between and is this, that the former indicates only the tendency towards the goal, the latter the abiding at the goal. By we are to understand not mankind in general, but believers in particular, so also 1Jn 4:10 in the case of . . .

In the following sentence: , the special emphasis rests on the last words, for the love which God has towards us is manifested in the fact that He sent His Son into the world for this purpose , that we might live through Him, i.e. become partakers through Him of the life of blessedness. It is especially in its purpose that the sending of His Son is the manifestation of God’s love to us. The more particular description of the Son of God as , which is frequently found in the Gospel of John, appears only here in his Epistles. In Luke (Luk 7:12 , Luk 8:42 , Luk 9:38 ) and in the Epistle to the Hebrews (Heb 11:17 ), denotes the only child of his parents. So the expression is used by John also to denote Christ as the only Son of God, “besides whom His Father has none.” This predicate is suitable to Him, inasmuch as He is the who is , , . Lorinus arbitrarily explains = ; comp. Meyer on Joh 1:14 . Calvin rightly remarks: “quod unigenitum appellat, ad auxesin valet.” How great the love of God, in that He sent His only-begotten Son in order that we might live! Baumgarten-Crusius: “ and are the principal words: the most glorious for our salvation!”

[263] Even Ebrard has not perceived the difficulty. It lies in this, that by . . . something is mentioned which happened for us, but not which happened to us; differently in Joh 9:3 . Brckner thinks that the difficulty is removed by the fact that “in the purpose of the sending of Christ there also lies something which happened to us;” incorrectly, since even if the purpose of that is our life ( ), yet it cannot be said that the love shown in the sending of Christ has manifested itself to us; the result is then that is taken = “has operated,” and that an emphasis is laid on which it does not receive from the context.

[264] Lcke incorrectly observes that with this connection there is in “something superfluous and unsuitable.” This is so far from being the case, that it is just in this that the apostle arrives at the consideration of the relationship between God and the believer. True, the love of God relates to the whole world, Joh 3:16 : , and to all, without exception, He has given, by sending His Son, the possibility of not being lost, but obtaining eternal life, but the loving purpose of God is accomplished only in them that believe; the unbelieving remain ; hence the love of God to the world is more narrowly limited than His love to believers, who are His .

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

DISCOURSE: 2455
THE LOVE OF GOD IN GIVING HIS SON FOR US

1Jn 4:9-10. 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. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

OF all the endearing characters that are given us of God, that by which he is designated in the words immediately preceding our text, is the most comprehensive and most glorious; God is love. It might seem indeed that this appellation but ill-accorded with the sterner attribute of justice: but in the execution of his wrath against impenitent transgressors, his love to the whole creation appears, no less than in his dispensations of grace and mercy to the penitent: even as the love of a judge towards the whole community appears in condemning a murderer, as much as in protecting the weak, or acquitting the innocent. There is however one exercise of his love which infinitely exceeds all others; and that is, the gift of his only-begotten Son to die for us. This is the subject set before us in the text, and which the return of this day [Note: Christmas-day.] calls more especially to our remembrance.

Let us consider,

I.

The love of God as it is here exhibited

Instead of entering at large into the subject of our Saviours incarnation, we shall confine ourselves strictly to the consideration of the Fathers love in the different steps of it, as mentioned in the text. How astonishing is it,

1.

That he should desire the restoration of our souls to life!

[Why should he ever entertain such a thought as this? Could we profit him at all? or would he suffer any loss by leaving us to perish? If he chose to have human beings to behold and participate his glory, could he not in an instant call forth millions into existence, and communicate to them the blessings we had forfeited? Had he determined that we should never fall, and that he would impose on us a necessity to continue in our primeval state, we should have the less wondered at his love: but that he should foresee our fall, and yet determine to restore us; that he should behold us actually fallen, and yet pity us; that, when our first parents fled from him, he should follow them with invitations to accept of mercy; and that, when they shifted off all blame from themselves, and cast it eventually even upon God himself, he should still retain his desire to save them; how amazing was this love! Had he proposed only to remit their punishment, and to blot out their existence, this had been a wonderful act of love: but to desire the restoration of such creatures to his favour, that they might live with him in glory for evermore, is truly such an exhibition of love, as far surpasses the utmost stretch of our conceptions. How differently did he act towards the angels, when they fell! He never entertained a thought of restoring them [Note: Heb 2:16.]: but, when man fell, then, as if he himself could not be happy without us, he concerted with his eternal Son to deliver us, and to save us with an everlasting salvation [Note: Zec 6:13.].]

2.

That he should send his only-begotten Son into the world to effect this!

[What ways of accomplishing this object God might have found, it is not for us to say: but it is reasonable to believe, that nothing less than the incarnation of his only-begotten Son could effect it. And how wonderful it was that he should ever adopt such a measure as that! that he should spare his only dear Son from his bosom, and send him into a world that was already cursed by sin! that he should send him to assume our very nature; to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh; yea, to be made in all points like as we are, sin only excepted! However he might desire our recovery, it seems absolutely incredible that he should ever condescend to use such means to effect it: yet we are told that he actually did so; and that he sent, not an angel, not all the hosts of angels, but even his only-begotten Son, into the world, that we might live through him [Note: Joh 3:16.].]

3.

That, in order to the effecting of it, he should make Him a propitiation for our sins!

[For the honour of Gods moral government, it was necessary that his hatred against sin should be made manifest, and that, if mercy were exercised towards fallen man, it should be only in a way that would consist with the rights of justice, and preserve the honour of Gods broken law. This could only be done by a vicarious sacrifice, a sacrifice of equal value with the souls of all mankind. Such a sacrifice could be made by none but our incarnate God; who therefore assumed our nature, that he might expiate sin by the sacrifice of himself, and make himself a propitiation for the sins of the whole world. What love then was here; that God should send his only-begotten Son into the world for such an end as this! Had he sent him to instruct us by his doctrine and example, it had been a stupendous act of love: but to send him on purpose that he might bear our sins in his own body on the tree, and die in our stead, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God; this is a love that is utterly incomprehensible: it has heights and depths that can never be explored.]
To confirm this view of our subject, we need only call your attention to that assertion of St. Paul, that in this God commendeth his love to us; and to that pious reflection of his, He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things [Note: Rom 5:8; Rom 8:32.]? These passages abundantly prove, that, as the gift of Christ to us was the fruit of the Fathers love, so it was an instance of his love, that infinitely outweighs all else that he ever has done, or ever can do, for sinful man.

Let us now consider,

II.

Our love to God as put in competition with it

It is evidently supposed in our text that some might be blind and impious enough to ascribe their salvation rather to the love which they bore to God, than to that which, of his own free and sovereign grace, he bore to them. Hence the Apostle says, Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us. It is indeed surprising that any child of man should ever entertain such an idea as this which the Apostle explodes: but experience proves, that there is no merit so great, but man will arrogate it to himself; and no tribute so just, but he will refuse it to his God. We proceed then to notice this sentiment in a two-fold view:

1.

The erroneousness of it

[Let us for a moment inquire, What is the state of fallen man? Has he of himself any love to God? So far from it, we are told, that the carnal mind is enmity against God; and that it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be [Note: Rom 8:7.]. There is not any one thing relating to God, which the natural man loves: not his perfections; not his word; not his ordinances; not his people; not his ways: he is in his heart adverse to them all. But it may be said, that many are brought to love God at last. True: but how is this effected? by any power in man? or by any previous good inclination in man? No: It is God that gives us both to will and to do, of his own good pleasure [Note: Php 2:13.]: it is he, and he alone, that makes us to differ, either from others, or from our former selves: we neither have any thing, nor can have any thing, but what we receive from him [Note: 1Co 4:7.]. How then can that which we receive from God be the cause or ground of his conferring it upon us?

The text, it is true, speaks of Gods sending his Son into the world to die for us: and it may be thought, that no one would ascribe that gift to any merit of his own. We grant it: but, if men do not ascribe to their own merits the gift of a Saviour, they ascribe to their own merits the gift of salvation itself: yea, exceeding vehemently do they arrogate to themselves this honour: and when they are constrained to acknowledge, that in their unregenerate state they have done no good works to deserve salvation, they will maintain, that God has respect to some good which he has foreseen in them, and makes some natural or acquired excellence in them the reason and the measure of his favour towards them. But we can scarcely conceive any expressions more strong than those by which God cautions his people against this vain conceit. Hear what he said respecting it to his chosen people the Jews [Note: Deu 7:7-8; Deu 9:4-6 and Eze 36:22; Eze 36:32.] Hear also what Jesus said to his own immediate Disciples, who had certainly as good ground for boasting as any of us can have [Note: Joh 15:16.] Hear further what St. John says in a few verses after our text, and which is applicable, not to one age or people, but to the saints of God in every age; We love him, because he first loved us [Note: ver. 19.]. But indeed it is the voice of Scripture from one end to the other [Note: Jer 31:3. Eph 2:8-9. 2 Tim. 1, 9.], that God has mercy on whom he will have mercy [Note: Rom 9:11; Rom 9:15-16.], and that there is a remnant according to the election of grace [Note: Rom 11:5.]. To be making this truth a constant subject of our ministrations, as some do, is highly injudicious; but, when it comes fairly in our way, we must maintain it, as necessary for the abasing of mans pride, and for the exalting of Gods honour and glory.]

2.

The impiety of it

[God is a jealous God: his very name is Jealous [Note: Exo 34:14.], and his glory he will not give to another [Note: Isa 42:8.]. Now the great end for which he has redeemed man, was the advancement of his own glory. St. Paul, in the space of a few verses, repeats this almost to satiety, if we may so speak [Note: Eph 1:5-7; Eph 1:9; Eph 1:11-12; Eph 1:14; Eph 3:10-11.] But to ascribe the gift of a Saviour, or of salvation, either in whole or in part, to our love to him, is to rob him of his glory; and to establish a ground for glorying in ourselves, when he has declared, that no flesh shall glory in his presence [Note: 1Co 1:27-29.]. Now, in reference to ourselves, we are backward to acknowledge that there is any great sin in this. Let us then transfer our thoughts to the fallen angels, and contemplate them as acting in this manner. They have sinned, as we have: and are as incapable of restoring themselves to the Divine favour, as we are: Let us then suppose God to say, I will send my only-begotten Son into those regions of misery, to bear their punishment, and to expiate their guilt: and I will send my Holy Spirit into their hearts, to change their natures, to renew them after my image, and to fit them for my presence. Suppose, when God, of his own sovereign grace and mercy had done this, those wicked fiends should arrogate the glory to themselves, and say, God has saved us, because he foresaw what holy dispositions we should exercise, and how richly we should merit his favour; What should we think of them? Should we not say, that their guilt was augmented ten-fold; and that the punishment they might expect would be proportionably severe? Where then is the difference between them and us? What have we, more than they, to merit the Divine favour? Or what can we have more than they, except it be given us from above? Know then, that, if God would burn with indignation against them for such pride and ingratitude, so will he against us, if we refuse to give him the glory due to his name. If Herod was made a monument of wrath for accepting from others a tribute due only to his God, much more shall we, if we, reversing what he has spoken, shall presume to say, Herein is love, not that God loved us, but that we loved him, and earned by our love an interest in his favour.]

We conclude with some suitable advice:

1.

Contemplate frequently this love of God to you

[The angels are not interested in the wonders of redemption as we are, and yet are ever desiring to look into them. Shall we then be regardless of them? Shall we not search into them; and meditate upon them; and speak of them; and glory in them; and make them all our salvation, and all our desire? Shall we not especially consecrate to the contemplation of them this season which has been set apart by our Church for that express purpose? O make not this a time for carnal feasting, but for holy meditation, and for delight in God!]

2.

Get your hearts filled with love to him

[If our love be not the cause, it nevertheless should be the consequence, of his love to us. Of this, none can entertain a doubt. Who that is in the smallest degree impressed with the Saviours love to us, does not see the reasonableness of that awful denunciation, If any man love not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be Anathema Maran-atha [Note: 1Co 16:22.]? Yes, on whomsoever that curse may fall, we must all acknowlege the justice of it; and in the day of judgment, when it shall be yet more awfully denounced on the enemies of Christ, there will not be a saint or angel in the universe who will not add his Amen to it. O let us now muse on his love to us, till the fire of Divine love kindle in our hearts, and we speak with our tongues the high praises of our God!]

3.

Seek to abound in love to each other

[This is the improvement which the Apostle suggests in the words following our text [Note: ver. 11.]. In the love of Christ to us is both the reason and the model, for our love to each other. Was his love to us unmerited? we also should freely exercise love even to the evil and unthankful. Did his love lead him to forego the glory and felicity of heaven, and to submit to the accursed death of the cross for us? such should be our love to our fellow-creatures: there should be no measure of labour or self-denial which we should not willingly exercise for the good of others; yea, even to the laying down of our life for them [Note: 1Jn 3:16.]. Here then we see the proper duty of this season: search out the poor, the sick, and the afflicted, that you may administer to them the consolations they stand in need of: and especially exert yourselves to see what you can do for the souls of men This is the work that will most assimilate you to Christ, and will best prove the sincerity of your love to him.]

Fuente: Charles Simeon’s Horae Homileticae (Old and New Testaments)

9 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.

Ver. 9. In this was manifested ] The very naked bowels of his tenderest compassions are herein laid open unto us, as in an anatomy. God so loved his Son that he gave him the world for his possession, Psa 2:7 ; but he so loved the world that he gave Son and all for its redemption.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

9, 10 .] Proof of this as far as we are concerned, in God’s sending His Son to save us. In this (viz. which follows: the is the apodosis, as in ch. 1Jn 3:16 ) the love of God was manifested in regard to us ( must be taken with the verb, not with , which in this case ( pace Huther : being the case of a particular manifestation of that which has been before generally stated. The combination of anarthrous predicatory clauses only takes place when the whole will bear running together into one idea, as – – ) would require the article . Many Commentators have thus wrongly connected it, and in consequence have been compelled to distort into : so Luther, Seb.-Schmidt, Spener, Beza, Socinus, Schlichting, Episcop., Grot., Benson, Neander, al. Bengel has fallen into the former fault, though not into the latter: “amor Dei qui nunc in nobis est, per omnem experientiam spiritualem.” This is upheld also by Sander, who defends it by Gal 1:16 , where a totally different matter is treated of.

Connected then with the verb, it must not be taken as = , but as in reff., especially Joh 9:3 , where the same phrase occurs: “in,” i. e. “in the matter of,” in regard of: cf. 1Jn 4:16 below: the manifestation not being made to us as its spectators, but in our persons and cases, as its “materies.” , communicative, believers in general), that God hath sent (perf. The manifestation is regarded as one act, done implicitly when God sent His Son: but the sending is regarded in its present abiding effects, which have changed all things since it took place) His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him (no words can be plainer than these and need less explanation to any one acquainted with St. John. The endeavours of the old rationalists, Socinus, Schlichting, Grotius, to escape from the assertion of Christ’s prexistence, by rendering . “ad mundum,” ., “dilectissimum,” &c., may be seen in Dsterd. He well remarks, “Such expositors may naturally be expected to give an answer to the question, how a Christ so understood could be our life ( 1Jn 4:9 ), our atonement ( 1Jn 4:10 ), or our salvation ( 1Jn 4:14 ).”

The two emphatic words in the sentence are and . This was the proof, that SUCH a Son of God was sent, that we might LIVE).

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1Jn 4:9 . The Incarnation is a manifestation of the love of God because it is a manifestation of the divine nature, and the divine nature is love. , “in our souls” an inward experience. Cf. Gal 1:16 : . , cf. Luk 7:12 ; Luk 8:42 ; Luk 9:38 . St. John applies the term exclusively to Jesus. It carries the idea of preciousness; cf. LXX Psa 22:20 ; Psa 35:17 , where , “my dear life,” is rendered . . “hath sent as an ” ( cf. Heb 3:1 ). An apostle is not simply nuntius , but nuntius vices mittentis gerens. Cf. Bab. Ber. 34, 2: “Apostolus cujusvis est sicut ipse a quo deputatur”. The perf. is used here because the influence of the Incarnation is permanent. , ingressive or inceptive aor. Cf. Luk 15:24 ; Luk 15:32 ; Rev 20:4-5 . reconciles with (1Jn 1:2 ). The Incarnation manifested the love of God, and the love was manifested that we might get life. Eternal Life is not future but present: we get it here and now. Cf. Joh 17:3 . Amiel: “The eternal life is not the future life; it is life in harmony with the true order of things life in God”.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

manifested. App-106.

toward = in. App-104. The sphere in which the manifestation takes place.

only begotten. See Joh 1:14.

Son. App-108.

that = in order that. Greek. hina.

live. Compare App-170.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

9, 10.] Proof of this as far as we are concerned, in Gods sending His Son to save us. In this (viz. which follows: the is the apodosis, as in ch. 1Jn 3:16) the love of God was manifested in regard to us ( must be taken with the verb, not with , which in this case (pace Huther: being the case of a particular manifestation of that which has been before generally stated. The combination of anarthrous predicatory clauses only takes place when the whole will bear running together into one idea, as –) would require the article . Many Commentators have thus wrongly connected it, and in consequence have been compelled to distort into : so Luther, Seb.-Schmidt, Spener, Beza, Socinus, Schlichting, Episcop., Grot., Benson, Neander, al. Bengel has fallen into the former fault, though not into the latter: amor Dei qui nunc in nobis est, per omnem experientiam spiritualem. This is upheld also by Sander, who defends it by Gal 1:16, where a totally different matter is treated of.

Connected then with the verb, it must not be taken as = , but as in reff., especially Joh 9:3, where the same phrase occurs: in, i. e. in the matter of, in regard of: cf. 1Jn 4:16 below: the manifestation not being made to us as its spectators, but in our persons and cases, as its materies. , communicative, believers in general), that God hath sent (perf. The manifestation is regarded as one act, done implicitly when God sent His Son: but the sending is regarded in its present abiding effects, which have changed all things since it took place) His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him (no words can be plainer than these and need less explanation to any one acquainted with St. John. The endeavours of the old rationalists, Socinus, Schlichting, Grotius, to escape from the assertion of Christs prexistence, by rendering . ad mundum, ., dilectissimum, &c., may be seen in Dsterd. He well remarks, Such expositors may naturally be expected to give an answer to the question, how a Christ so understood could be our life (1Jn 4:9), our atonement (1Jn 4:10), or our salvation (1Jn 4:14).

The two emphatic words in the sentence are and . This was the proof, that SUCH a Son of God was sent, that we might LIVE).

Fuente: The Greek Testament

1Jn 4:9. 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.

There is love in our creation; there is love in providence; but most of all there is love in the gift of Christ for our redemption. The apostle here seems to say, Now that I have found the great secret of Gods love to us; here is the clearest evidence of divine love that ever was or ever can be manifested toward the sons of men.

1Jn 4:10. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

In us there was no love; there was a hatred of God and goodness. The enmity was not on Gods side toward us; but on our side toward him. He loved us and sent his son. The gift of Christ; the needful propitiation for our sins, was all of love on Gods part. Justice demanded the propitiation, but love applied it. God could not be just if he pardoned sin without atonement; but the greatness of the love is seen in the fact that it moved the Father to give his Son to an ignominious death, that he might pardon sinners and yet be just.

1Jn 4:11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

Here we have a fact and an argument. We ought to love. We ought to love after Gods fashion; not because men loved us. Nor because they deserve anything at our hands. We are too apt to look at the worthiness of those whom we help; but our God is gracious to the unthankful and to the evil.

He makes his sun to rise and rain to fall for the unjust as well as for the righteous, therefore we ought to love the unlovely and the unloving. But just as God has a special love for his own people, we who believe in him ought to have a peculiar affection for all who are his.

1Jn 4:12. No man hath seen God at any time.

We do not need to see him to love him. Love knows how good he is, though she hath not beheld him. Blessed are they who have not seen God, yet who love him with heart, and mind, and strength.

1Jn 4:12. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

He is not far to seek. If you love one another, God is in you; he dwells in you, he is your nearest and dearest Friend, the Author of all other love. The grace of love comes from the God of love.

1Jn 4:13. Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.

And his Spirit is the spirit of love. Wherever it comes, it makes man love his fellow man and seek his good; and if you have that love in your heart, it came from God, and you dwell in God.

1Jn 4:14. And we have seen.

Yes, there is something that we have seen. John writes for himself and his fellow apostles, and he says, No man hath seen God at any time, but

1Jn 4:14. We have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world.

John saw him live, and saw him die, and saw him when he had risen from the dead, and saw him as he ascended. So he speaks to the matter of eyesight, and bears testimony that, though we have not seen God, we have, in the person of the representative apostles, seen the Son of God who lived and laboured and died for us.

1Jn 4:15. Whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God.

Let Christ be God to you, and you are saved. If, in every deed, and of a truth. You take him to be the Son of God, and consequently rest your eternal hopes on him, God dwells in you, and you dwell in God.

1Jn 4:16. And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us.

How far is this true of all of you? How many here can join with the beloved apostle, and say, We have known and believed the love that God hath to us? We know it; we have felt it; we are under its power. We know it still, it remains a matter of faith to us; we believe it. We have a double hold of it. We know, we are not agnostics. We believe, we are not unbelievers.

1Jn 4:16. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.

This is not mere benevolence; there are many benevolent people who still do not dwell in love. They wish well to their fellow men; but not to all. They are full of indignation at certain men for the wrong that they have done them. Johns words teach us that there is a way of living in which you are in accord with God, and with all mankind; you have passed out of the region of enmity into the realm of love. When you have come there, by the grace of God, then God dwells in you, and you dwell in him.

1Jn 4:17. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have a boldness in the day of judgment:

That is a wonderful expression, boldness in the day of judgment. According to some, the saints will not be in the day of judgment. Then, what is the use of boldness in the day of judgment? As I read my Bible, we shall all be there, and we shall all give an account unto God. I shall be glad to be there, to be judged for the deeds done in my body; not that I hope to be saved by them, but because I shall have a perfect answer to all accusations on account of my sin. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea, rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. If I am a believer in Christ,

Bold shall I stand in that grand day,

For who aught to my charge shall lay?

While through thy blood absolved I am From sins tremendous curse and shame.

Because as he is, so are we in this world.

Happy Christian men, who can say that? If you live among men as Christ lived among men, if you are a Saviour to them in your measure, if you love them, if you try to exhibit the lovely traits of character that were in Christ, happy are you.

1Jn 4:18. There is no fear in love;

When a man loves with a perfect love, he escapes from bondage.

1Jn 4:18. But perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

There is a loving, holy fear, which is never cast out. Filial fear grows as love grows. That sacred dread, that solemn awe of God, we must ever cultivate; but we are not afraid of him. Dear heart, God is your best Friend, your choicest love. Yea, mine own God is he, you can say; and you have no fear of him now. You long to approach him. Though he is a consuming fire, you know that he will only consume what you want to have consumed; and will purify you, and make your gold to shine more brightly because the consumable alloy is gone from it. He will not consume you, but only that which would work for your hurt if it were left within you. Refining fire, go through my heart! Consume as thou wilt! I long to have sin consumed, that I may be like my God. Say you not so, my brethren?

1Jn 4:19. We love him, because he first loved us.

The reason for our love is found in free grace. God first loved us, and now we must love him; we cannot help it. It sometimes seems too much for a poor sinner to talk about loving God. If an emmet or a snail were to say that it loved a queen, you would think it strange, that it should look so high for an object of affection; but there is no distance between an insect and a man compared with the distance between man and God. Yet love doth fling a flying bridge from our manhood up to his Godhead. We love him, because he first loved us. If he could come down to us, we can go up to him. If his love could come down to such unworthy creatures as we are, then our poor love can find wings with which to mount up to him.

1Jn 4:20. If a man say, I love God.

Not, if a man love God, but if a man say, I love God. It is a blessed thing to be able to say, I love God, when God himself can bear witness to the truth of our statement; but the apostle says, If a man say, I love God,

1Jn 4:20. And hateth his brother, he is a liar:

It is very rude of you, John, to call people liars. But it is not Johns rough nature that uses such strong language; it is his gentle nature. When a loving disposition turns its face against evil, it turns against it with great vehemence of holy indignation. You can never judge a mans character by his books. Curiously enough, Mr. Romaine. Of St. Annes Church, Blackfriars, wrote the most loving books that could be; yet he was a man of very strong temper indeed. Mr. Toplady wrote some of the sharpest things that were ever said about Arminians; but he was the most loving and gentle young man that ever breathed. St. John, full of love and tenderness, hits terribly hard when he comes across a lie. He was so fond of love, that he cannot have it played with, or mocked or mimicked. If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar.

1Jn 4:21. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

This is that new commandment which our Lord gave to his apostles, and through them to his whole church. That ye love one another as I have loved you. John was, in a special sense, that disciple whom Jesus loved. It was meet, therefore, that he should be the apostle to be inspired by the Holy Spirit to bring this commandment to the remembrance of any who had forgotten it. This commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also. God help us so to do, of his great grace!

Amen.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

1Jn 4:9. , in us) that is, the love of God, which is now in us, throughout our whole spiritual experience.-, because) This motive of love is derived from 1Jn 4:3. From that which is said in 1Jn 4:3 respecting Jesus Christ, who is come in the flesh, mutual love is inferred, 1Jn 4:7 : the consequence is proved from the love of God towards us, who sent His Son, that we might live. It is a proof of the love of God towards us: it is a motive to our mutual love.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

world

kosmos = mankind. (See Scofield “Mat 4:8”).

Fuente: Scofield Reference Bible Notes

was: 1Jo 3:16, Joh 3:16, Rom 5:8-10, Rom 8:32

God sent: 1Jo 4:10, Luk 4:18, Joh 5:23, Joh 6:29, Joh 8:29, Joh 8:42

only: Psa 2:7, Mar 12:6, Joh 1:14-18, Joh 3:18, Heb 1:5

we: 1Jo 5:11, Joh 6:51, Joh 6:57, Joh 10:10, Joh 10:28-30, Joh 11:25, Joh 11:26, Joh 14:6, Col 3:3, Col 3:4

Reciprocal: Gen 22:2 – Take Gen 22:12 – seeing Exo 40:6 – General Lev 4:31 – a sweet Lev 4:35 – and the priest shall make Deu 15:15 – General Psa 36:7 – How Psa 47:4 – whom Psa 86:5 – thou Pro 8:24 – I was Isa 53:10 – he hath Isa 63:9 – in his Zec 2:8 – sent Zec 13:7 – smite Mar 9:7 – This Luk 1:78 – tender Luk 2:14 – good Luk 19:10 – General Luk 20:13 – I will Joh 1:18 – the only Joh 1:34 – this Joh 7:29 – for Joh 10:36 – sent Joh 11:36 – Behold Joh 11:42 – that thou Rom 1:3 – his Son Rom 4:25 – Who was Rom 5:15 – and the gift Rom 8:39 – love 2Co 5:15 – that they 2Co 9:15 – his Gal 2:20 – the Son Gal 4:4 – God Eph 3:19 – to know Col 1:20 – having made peace 2Th 2:16 – which 1Ti 1:15 – that Heb 1:6 – And again Heb 2:9 – by 1Pe 1:20 – but 1Jo 3:5 – he 1Jo 4:16 – we

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

LOVE MANIFESTED

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.

1Jn 4:9

Of the reality of Gods love St. John had no doubt; neither need we have any, though some do doubt it, thinking that Gods justice and hatred of sin interfere with His love. But justice does not interfere with love in God. Justice and love are compatible in man, and much more so in God. The Cross of Christ reveals and establishes the harmony between righteousness and mercy. There justice gets its own, and love has its way, and God is a just God and a Saviour, and grace reigns through righteousness. Christs Cross is not the cause but the consequence of Gods love. The text asserts Gods love before He sent Christ; affirms Christs mission to be the manifestation of Gods love. There need be no doubt, then, as to the fact that God loves us, has loved us. But more than this, the text not only implies that God is loving and loves us, but asserts that He is love. Love is the sum and harmony of all His attributes, His essence.

I. The manifestation of Gods love.Gods love is manifested in creation, in preservation, and in all the blessings of this life, but above all in redemption.

(a) God sent His Son.He did not merely allow or consent to His coming. He Himself sent His Son, gave Him His commission and authority.

(b) God sent His only begotten Son. He Who was sent by God as a gift of love was no less than His only begotten Son. Then Gods love is as great as the Divine glory of His Son. God sends no servant, no archangel, but His equal and co-eternal Son, Who, as His only begotten, and sharing that nature which is love, could best manifest Gods love.

(c) God sent His Son into the world. The destination of the Son, His being sent into a fallen and sinful world, a world disordered and corrupt, a world which during thousands of years had not grown better but worse, manifested Gods love. Christs personal history and experience in the world manifested how great was the love of God that sent Him to such a world and to such treatment in it.

(d) God sent His Son that we might live through Him. The purpose of Christs mission, involving His death as a sacrifice for sin, His giving His life to redeem ours, manifested Gods love. They for whom He sent His Son were sinners, guilty, helpless, unloving.

II. Some thoughts which emerge.

(a) Here is the spring and motive of love to God, and the love to man which is its evidence.

(b) If God has given His only begotten Son for our life, with Him also He shall freely give us all things.

(c) How precious is the soul of man! It is the subject of Gods love, and Christ was sent to give it true life.

(d) We must become sons of God, born sons, if we are to manifest His love.

(e) To reject Gods love thus manifested must be the greatest sin and misery, and it is self-inflicted misery as it is wilful sin.

(SECOND OUTLINE)

THE INCARNATION

It may help us to love God more and to adore God Incarnate with more definite and intelligent acts of worship if we carry in our minds clear ideas respecting the facts and the results of the Incarnation.

I. The facts of the Incarnation are these.God the Son was from all eternity, is now, and will be for ever, equal to the Father as touching His Godhead. In all the ages of time that preceded the days of the Cross the Son of God existed, even, according to His own words, Before Abraham was, I AM; and in all the ages of eternityif we may speak of ages in a period of unmeasurable durationHe also had existed; according to the words of the Holy Ghost, In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The unmeasurable eternity passed on, and there came a beginning which marked the first boundary of time; and in that beginning God created the heaven and the earth, and in that creation God the Son, the Eternal Word, took part, for all things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. He, then, Who was sent into the word by the Eternal Father and Creator, was the Eternal Son and Creator. It is He of Whom St. John writes, And the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us; of Whom the Angel Gabriel said to Joseph respecting Mary, That which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a Son, and thou shalt call His name Jesus; for He shall save His people from their sins; of whom St. Luke writes, And she brought forth her firstborn Son, and wrapped Him in swaddling clothes, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn; Who, at the end of His humiliation and sufferings, cried with a loud voice and said, Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit; and having said this, gave up the ghost; and Who, having shewed Himself alive after His Passion by many infallible proofs, was carried up into that heaven in human nature where He had been in Divine nature from all eternity.

Most wonderful facts, and yet attested beyond all rational contradiction in the Gospels, that perfect God, the Son of God in all the qualities of Divine nature, thus became perfect man, the Son of Man in all the qualities of human nature; and that, after thirty-three years of life on earth as a babe, a holy child, a working, teaching, suffering man, He ascended to heaven to reign there with His Divine and human nature inseparably united for ever.

II. The results of this Incarnation.In this was manifested the love of God towards us, because that God sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. The summing up of the results of the fall is contained in the words death through sin, and the summing up of the results of the Incarnation is contained in the words life through holiness.

(a) It was said of Jesus before He came into the world, That Holy Thing Which shall be born of Thee shall be called the Son of God. It was the holiness of His origin which made Christ a New Man and a Second Adam. In Him our human nature was re-created in purity and sinlessness, as it had been originally created in the First Adam, but as it was never inherited from him by his descendants. The Creator did not again build up a human body out of the dust of the ground and inspire it with the breath of life, but He provided a pure Virgin, that she might, by a miracle, become a Holy Virgin Mother; and that thus the human nature of God Incarnate might be inherited from a human parent and formed of her human substance, and yet so inherited that it should be uncontaminated by that which all other human beings inheritthe taint of original sin. Thus the Holy Child Jesus came into the world with the nature of man unfallen, and His soul and body were both untouched by original sin from His cradle to His Cross.

(b) But as Jesus was entirely free from original sin, so also He passed through the probation of His earthly life without ever falling into actual sin. No assaults of the Tempter could make Him disobey His Father as they had made the first Adam do. In the wilderness He withstood all the array of temptations to which human nature is liable through the infirmities of the flesh, the seductions of the world, and the wiles of the devil; in the garden of Gethsemane He resisted the temptation to separate His Will from the Will of His Father by choosing some other way than that of the Cross; at the Cross itself He bore trials of His body and soul such as had never fallen to the lot of man before, yet none of these things could move Him from the pathway of perfect holiness.

(c) By that perfect holiness, therefore, which could thus withstand all assaults of the enemy of God and man, Jesus was qualified to become an offering for the sin of the world, living over again under its greatest trials and difficulties the probational life of human nature, and living it until He had carrried that human nature in His own person beyond the range of the Tempters power. Free from the sin of nature and free from the sin of act, He could be the Representative of all sinners and stay the penalty of sin, as Adam had represented all sinners incurring that penalty; and thus in the words of St. Paul, As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. It was a result of the Incarnation of the Son of God that His death should vanquish the power of death, and that though men must still die before they can live, yet shall the purpose of God in sending His Son into the world be fulfilled, that we might live through Him.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

1Jn 4:9. This verse corresponds with Joh 3:16.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

1Jn 4:9-11. God is love; and in this was the love of God manifested in us: it had its one supreme expression in our case, in us as its sphere. This explains what follows, in the perfect. That God hath sent as the permanent token of His love his only-begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Here only is the Only-begotten in the Epistle. He was sent as the eternal Son, the mystery of whose filial relation is expressed by this word: introduced here partly to indicate the greatness of the love by the measure of the gift, partly to connect our life with His. In the Gospel the Only-begotten is given as a proof of love to the world; but the life is given to those only who believe.

Here the emphasis is on in us; but the life must here include, on account of the next verse, deliverance from condemnation as well as the eternal life itself: hence not in Him, but through Him. The apostle then gees back from the manifestation to the love itself. Herein is love: its origination is not in or through the mission, but in God Himself. Our response is in his thought throughout; but it is only as response: love is of God. Not that we love God, but that he loved us, and sentgoing back again to the pasthis Son as the propitiation for our sins: thus impressively does St. John show what he meant by not that we loved. He provided and sent what not our love but our sins required. Not to be a propitiation; but He sent His Son, whose mission dating from heaven was atonement.

Belovedalways beloved in this connection,since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another: not so to love, as if the example prescribed the kind of love; but we are bound by the nature of the love common to Him and to us: it has been manifested in us to that end.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Observe, 1. That God doth not only bestow love upon his people, but it is good pleasure to manifest that love.

Quest. Wherein has God manifested his love towards us?

Ans. 1. In our creation, making us out of nothing in such a wonderful manner; our bodies curiously wrought as with a needle, our souls beautified with understanding, will, and judgment.

2. In our apostacy and degeneration, when no eye pitied us, and when we had no hearts to pity ourselves, then were his bowels of love and compassion yearning toward us; then he said unto us, Live, when he might have said, Die, and be damned.

3. In our redemption, recovery, and restitution, in sending his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live though him.

Observe, 2. A threefold evidence of God’s love to mankind in the work of redemption, that great and glorious work.

1. It was a wonderful instance of the love of God, that he should be pleased to take our case into consideration, and to concern himself for our happiness; as nothing is more obliging to human nature than love, so no love obliges more than that which is exercised with great condescension after a provocation; such was God’s love to offending man.

2. That he should design so great a benefit to us, as is here expressed, even life, That we might live through him.

3. That God was pleased to use such a mean for the obtaining and procuring of this benefit for us. He sent his own Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Where note, 1. The person sent, his own Son, and only begotten Son.

2. The persons sent to, the men of the world, who were spiritually dead, and judicially dead.

3. The manner of his being sent, voluntarily and freely, not constrained by necessity, not prevailed upon by importunity, not obliged by benefit or kindness from us; but out of his mere pity and goodness towards us, he sent him into a wicked world, and into an ungrateful world, that we might live through him.

From the whole learn, That God’s bestowing his Son upon a lost world, was a manifest evidence of his great and wonderful love unto them: In this was manifest the love of God towards us, &c.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

1Jn 4:9. In this was manifested the love of God Namely, most eminently above all other instances thereof; because that God sent his only-begotten Son into the world That is, evidently, sent him, who was his only-begotten Son before he was sent. This, as Macknight justly observes. is an allusion to our Lords words, Joh 3:16, God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, &c. Christ is called Gods only-begotten Son, to distinguish him from all others, who in Scripture are called the sons of God; and to heighten our idea of Gods love to us, in giving a person of such dignity, and so beloved of God, to die for us. It is supposed, that by giving Christ the title of Gods only-begotten Son in this passage, the apostle intended to overturn the error of Ebion and Cerinthus, who affirmed that Christ was not Gods Son by nature, but that, like other good men, he was honoured with the title of Gods Son on account of his virtues; in which opinion these heresiarchs have been followed by some in modern times. They, however, who hold this opinion ought to show a reason why the epithet of the only begotten is appropriated to Christ. That we might live through him That the sentence of condemnation to the second death, to which we were obnoxious, might be reversed, and that being justified by living faith, and regenerated by the quickening Spirit of God, we might live a spiritual life in the divine favour, and in union with Christ here, and might be conducted to eternal life hereafter.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

The proof of God’s love for people is that He sent His only begotten Son (lit. only born one) to provide eternal life for us (cf. Joh 1:14; Joh 1:18; Joh 3:16). [Note: For a good explanation of why a loving God allows people to go to hell, see Hodges, The Epistles . . ., p. 184.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)