If
Conjunction
1. in case that; granting or supposing that; on condition that: Sing if you want to.
2. even though: an enthusiastic if small audience
3. whether: He asked if I knew Spanish.
4. used to introduce an exclamatory phrase: If only Dad could see me now!
5. when or whenever: If it was raining, we had to play inside.
Noun
6. a supposition; uncertain possibility: The future is full of ifs.
7.a condition, requirement, or stipulation: There are too many ifsin his agreement.
There are two Greek words for if used in 1 John.
They are: ean and ei.
Thayer’s Greek Lexicon defines ean as:
A conditional particle, which makes reference to time and to experience, introducing something future, but not determining, before the event, whether it is certainly to take place; if, in case.
And ei as:
First a conditional particle, if; secondly, an interrogative particle, whether.
Chapter 4
Verse 11 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.”
If-ei
Beloved, if God so loved us…there is no doubt that God loves us. He loved us so much in fact that He sent His only Son to die for us. Since God so loved us this much, we have an obligation to each other.
...we ought also to love one another…if God loved us enough to die for us, then we ought to love each other. The word ought here is not an optional thing. It is a must. It is an obligation. We have to love each other because God indeed loved us.
Verse 12 “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.”
If-ean
No man hath see God at any time…throughout Biblical history, man has never seen God. God has been seen in ways such as through nature, in different forms…as a man, an angel…but no one has ever seen God in His full glory and power. Now, how does this part of this verse tie in with the following “if” statement?
…If we love one another…we as Christians ought to love one another. We are brothers and sisters in Christ, and because of that we are family. Families should love each other. What then happens when we love one another?
…God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us…only when we love one another, will God dwell in us. We are without Him if we hate our brothers. Not only does God dwell in us, but His love is perfected in us as well. This does not mean that Christians are prefect, but that God’s love is only complete when we love each other. Now, how does the first part tie into this? Well, we see another way that God can be seen, through our love for each other. When this happens those around us in the world ought to be able to see God’s love in us and desire to be partakers with us.
Verse 20 “If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
If-ean
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar…If we say we love God. There is a lot in just that statement alone. But we can say that as long as we are in the light and are living in His commandments. Now, we must couple this with the rest of the verse…if we hate our brother, we are a liar. We cannot say we love God, and then say we hate our brother.
…for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?...now, we see that not only are we liars if we claim to love God and hate our brother. But now, we see that it is not logical how we can love that which we have not seen, and hate that which we see. This really makes one think…or should anyhow. How many things do we love here in this life? Many I dare say…and they are all things that we can see. But once this life is over, they will be no more. Think now about God’s love. It will take us into eternity if we live according to His commandments. Knowing this should drive us to love Him even more, even though we cannot see Him. We know from verse 12 that no man has seen God. We also are to love Him whom we have not seen…and while this may seem hard, it is really not. For when one uses wisely the Bible, we can “see” God in a way and we will love Him for what He has done. We then have no excuse to not love God, whom we have not seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment