Beloved, we must continue to agape one another, because agape comes from the center of who God is and everyone who agapes, out of God has been begotten and he knows God Himself. (8) The not agaping one, does not know God, because God is that agape. (9) The true agape of God was revealed in us when God sent His only Son into the world, so that we may now live through him. (10) In this the agape is not because we have agaped God, but because He agaped us and sent His Son – the means by which our sins are forgiven. (11) Beloved, if thus God agaped us, we also ought to agape one another. (12) For no one has ever seen God, but if we agape one another, God remains in us and His agape in us, has been completed. [ . . .]
There is no fear in agape, for completed agape throws our fear, because fear punishes us, moreover, he who is afraid has not yet been completed in agape. (19) We continue to agape, because God first agaped us. If anyone says “I agape God” and his brother he is not able to agape, he is a liar for he does not agape his own brother whom he has seen, and God whom he has not seen, he is then unable to agape. And this instruction we have from Him, in order that he who agapes God, may also agape his brother. 1 John 4:7-12 and 4:18-21 [1]
God’s love story is the most powerful one. It is a gift of life we have been given; an example of how to love; reasoning for the continuation of agaping one another; and a costly love poured out for someone like me, and someone like you. If anyone claims to know God, he should not only proclaim that to others, but rather through his daily acts of agape reflect upon what he has been given. It is like the author of First John calling the church-going people to acts of agape, which will be enough of a statement that one truly is in God, because God is agape. God is agape. Small statement, but great in itself, and it would be a kind of disgrace to try with human words to add anything more to this truth. Everything that we know and experience about “being in love,” comes from Him – the center and the concept-maker of “love;” comes from the One, who Himself is “Love.” No one could ever comprehend such concepts, as if you remember, the closest people got to the idea of “love” was through physical pleasures they could experience for their gods, such as Eros, through sexual practice. The more, the better. So God had to refresh His identity for His people, by visualizing His enormous “love” for them right before their eyes. Rightly, through the ways they could relate – human’s emotions, joys, experiences and suffering. That is why His Son had to come in human form and live just like we have lived and then suffer, to visualize the extent of His Father’s agape. Finally, as a response, we now agape God, not because we can [as if it was our own strength or grace toward God], but because He, first agaped us [His grace toward us], through the gift of His only Son.
Thus, through the mystery of agape [but not in mystical terms], or the mystery of God Himself, the inner fear of human nature is overcome through the greater power and goodness of God’s agape. The punishment of fear might be the guilt you have been feeling for something you either have done, or something that was done to you. Example: if your parents tell you to get at least an A- on your biology test, or else they will spank you, you are living in fear before the test. If you do not get an A or A- but a C, you are in even more fear of the coming punishment. After the spanking, you may still feel guilty for the grade you received, as this is the kind of psychae, which comes from being fearful. You did not meet the expected requirements and therefore you have failed your parents and so, you feel guilty until you get a better grade or even double your grades! It might be your thinking, but the message of the Cross and the agape that was brought to earth, by Christ himself, has so much anointed power in it, so much of God’s holy presence in it, that in its own eternal way, with its own promises of life, is able to take away that fear and fill you, and also me, with the change of our thoughts and hopes, rather than guilt.
Cross and the Church: The People
To live a life of agape is to live the kind of life that Christ lived, and to be blessed by the greater agape of God, which will overflow from it.[2] Jesus was saying something new about agape, not only in his words, but in his very way of living, which meant to do good to those who do us no good.[3] Everything that God is as agape, was shown to us through Jesus Christ, so that we may know Him personally and relate to Him daily through our self-sacrificing activities, in which we can find the true meaning and purpose of agape.[4] The self-sacrificing part of agape is that it is able to cut beyond separation of “equals” and “unequals,” of “friendship” and of “influence,” as Christ agaped us beyond our appearance into the eternity of the Father.[5] Further, Christ showed us the practical expression of the eternal life.[6]
The Christian message focuses on the Cross of Christ so much because it is through the Cross that we are able to visualize, to know, and to experience the extent of the agape that God has for His Children; without the Cross, agape would be another theory of one’s pleasure.[7] This is why writers like that of First John reflect so much on the self-sacrificing agape and way of life revealed to us though Jesus.[8] From this one belief that Christians accept, witnessed and proclaim, the agape of God arises among His people, forming unity by the indwelling of the Spirit of God within.[9] Once the unity is formed in the church and the Spirit of God finds its rightful place in the heart of a person, a true believer will be delighted to exalt God for such gifts of life, because he will come to agape God, finding Him worthy of such praise. The person will continue to praise God, as he would anyone who has shown him kindness and helped him in times of great need, as this is the expression of a Gift-Love and a realization which comes out of the Need-Love we discussed earlier.[10] Church-people talk about the Cross and Christ’s sacrifice for all, because God’s agape is the basic factor of man’s existence and pleasures on this earth.[11] To live out such an agape-like-lifestyle is extremely demanding of our time, hearts, ears, resources, talents and gifts, and not one person can face such a task on his own, let alone succeed in it. But if a person responds to this agape-like-lifestyle in Christ, he will be transformed into an agape-like person, and he will then be distinguished from the rest of the world as a follower of Jesus.[12] And as that follower of Jesus, looking to his example of an agape-like-lifestyle, he will continue to give-of-himself, to anyone who is in need, because agape is of God, and God gave out of His only Son for each one of us. There is a sense of obligation, a call and finally a response to do what we ought to do, and that is to agape one another, no matter the cost, the appearance, nor the emotion we might feel. Agape is unconditional.
Copyright © 2007 by Dorota Krzyzaniak
All rights reserved
[1] Krzyzaniak, Current New Greek Testament Translations. Emphasis mine.
[2] E.M. Blaiklock, Letters to children of Light. Commentary on First, Second and Third John (Glendale: Regal Books Division, G/L Publications, 1975), 89.
[3] Morris, 149.
[4] Moffat, 288.
[5] Tillich, 119.
[6] Howley, 1664.
[7] Morris, 143.
[8] Moffat, 278.
[9] Edwards, 4.
[10] Ibid., 6.
[11] Furnish, 149.
[12] Morris, 185.
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