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Taylor Foad

Professor Pickering

New Testament

03 March 2017

Love in First John Outline

Neat facts about Love and the Bible

- What is love?

- Did you know the word “love” is used 645 times in the bible? (NLT)

- 57 times in the Gospel of John

- 46 times in the First Epistle of John

Begin speaking about this

Love is arguably the most used and misused word in the english language. For example, the

word “love” have multiple meanings as noted by the Ancient Greeks: Eros (sexual passion),

Philia (deep friendship), Ludus (playful love), Agape (love for everyone), Pragma (longstanding

love), and Philautia (love of the self). 1 John is a book of the new testament that describes what

Agape love looks like.

The call to love

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1 John 4: 7-9

7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of

God and knows God. 8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 In

this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so

that we might live through him.

John continues to say: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son

as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” We can look at the Greek word “Agape” and place it in this

sentence of love.

Agape: love for all (like stated above)/ unconditional love -------no human can give this kind of

love

An interesting fact is that John isn't saying “God loves us”. If anyone has read the bible, we have

a very clear knowing that God DOES love us, but the point that John is trying to make is that he's

stating “God IS love”.

John is seen as somewhat of defining the word love by saying God is love, but a deeper look at

his choice of words reveals a new level of love. John also defines love by looking at the effects

of love. For example, he states that if you look to see what God did, then you will understand and

see the effects of love. God giving his only son is an act of love. Giving his son to the world and

sending a perfect human to an imperfect place is love. (John 3:16)

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The footnote of the ESV version also states “God loved the world in this way: He gave his only

Son that whoever believes in him would not perish but have everlasting life.”

1 John 3:16, you have a similar message“By this we know love that he laid down his life for us.”

Chapter 4:11, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

God loves flow through us to others. God is really looked at as the OG of love, while we are his

children so we had to get it from somewhere.

Because Jesus lives in us and loves in us, we externally love our neighbors as ourselves.

"1 John And Christian Love | Free Online Bible Classes | Biblicaltraining.Org."

Biblicaltraining.org. N. p., 2018. Web. 11 Mar. 2018.

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"Genesis 1:1 (NLT)." Blue Letter Bible. N. p., 2018. Web. 11 Mar. 2018.

"1 John 4, New International Version (NIV) | Chapter 4 | The Bible App | Bible.Com."

Bible.com. N. p., 2018. Web. 11 Mar. 2018.

"The Ancient Greeks’ 6 Words For Love (And Why Knowing Them Can Change Your Life)."

YES! Magazine. N. p., 2014. Web. 10 Mar. 2018.

Altrogge, Mark, Stephen Altrogge, and Michael Kruger. "1 John 4 Commentary - Matthew

Henry Commentary On The Whole Bible (Complete)." Bible Study Tools. N. p., 2018. Web. 11

Mar. 2018.