1 john 4

Read 1 John 4 at Bible Gateway.

1 Joh 4:7-21 chiastic structure

1a) 1 Joh 4:7-12b, Love one another because God first loved us;

1a) 1 Joh 4:7a, Beloved, let us love one another;
1b) 1 Joh 4:7b-9a, Love is of God/ His love manifested toward us;
1c) 1 Joh 4:9b, That God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him;
central axis) 1 Joh 4:10a, In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us;
2c) 1 Joh 4:10b, And sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins;
2b) 1 Joh 4:11a, Beloved, if God so loved us;
2a) 1 Joh 4:11b-12b, We ought to love one another/ God abides in us;

1b) 1 Joh 4:12c, And His love has been perfected in us;

1c) 1 Joh 4:13a, By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us;

1d) 1 Joh 4:13b, Because He has given us of His Spirit;

central axis) 1 Joh 4:14, And we have seen + testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world;

2d) 1 Joh 4:15a, Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God;

2c) 1 Joh 4:15b-16, He who abides in love abides in God, and God in him;

2b) 1 Joh 4:17-18, Love has been perfected among us/ perfect love casts out fear;

2a) 1 Joh 4:19-21, We love Him because He first loved us/ he who loves God loves his brother also.

Why the D pairs pair:

By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, 1 Joh 4:2.

Propitiation: this is a word you don’t hear in English very often.

The act of gaining or regaining the favor or goodwill of; appeasement or conciliation; specifically, something that propitiates, as an atoning sacrifice. – Webster’s.

Strong’s G2434, ἱλασμός, hilasmos, akin to hileos (“merciful, propitious”), signifies “an expiation, a means whereby sin is covered and remitted.” It is used in the NT of Christ Himself as “the propitiation,” in 1Jo 2:2; 4:10, signifying that He Himself, through the expiatory sacrifice of His Death, is the Personal means by whom God shows mercy to the sinner who believes on Christ as the One thus provided. In the former passage He is described as “the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.” The italicized addition in the AV, “the sins of,” gives a wrong interpretation. What is indicated is that provision is made for the whole world, so that no one is, by Divine predetermination, excluded from the scope of God’s mercy; the efficacy of the “propitiation,” however, is made actual for those who believe. In 1Jo 4:10, the fact that God “sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” is shown to be the great expression of God’s love toward man, and the reason why Christians should love one another. In the Septuagint, Lev 25:9; Num 5:8; 1Ch 28:20; Psa 130:4; Eze 44:27; Amo 8:14. – Vine’s Expository Dictionary

I am thankful Vine’s lists the places in the Hebrew Bible that were translated with the same Greek verb in the Septuagint:

Then you shall cause the trumpet of the Jubilee to sound on the tenth day of the seventh month; on the Day of Atonement you shall make the trumpet to sound throughout all your land. Lev 25:9

But if the man has no relative to whom restitution may be made for the wrong, the restitution for the wrong must go to the Lord for the priest, in addition to the ram of the atonement with which atonement is made for him. Num 5:8

And David said to his son Solomon, “Be strong and of good courage, and do it; do not fear nor be dismayed, for the Lord God—my God—will be with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you, until you have finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. 1 Chr 28:20.

But there is forgiveness with You, that You may be feared. Psa 130:4.

And on the day that he goes to the sanctuary to minister in the sanctuary, he must offer his sin offering in the inner court,” says the Lord God. Eze 44:27

Those who swear by the sin of Samaria, who say, ‘As your god lives, O Dan!’ And, ‘As the way of Beersheba lives!’ They shall fall and never rise again.” Amo 8:14.