photo by: Tina Phillips

I’ll admit that today in church I did something that I commonly do on Sunday: reading beyond the passage being preached about.  Today, that led me to 1 John 4:18.   I’m amazed sometimes at how I can read a passage and pick up on something which seems so simple and so true, but yet hasn’t stood out before.

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear…

1 John 4:18

The verse just prior says that love is what gives us confidence for the day of judgment.  It wasn’t until this morning that I saw the bigger picture.  I’ve known for a long time that it’s by our faith that we can have confidence on the day of judgment, but today I was able to clearly see the connection of faith and love when it comes to our salvation.

For by grace you have been saved through faith.

Let’s not forget that God is love (1 John 4:16), and love is a choice.  God chooses to love us despite our sin, and it’s the love he has for us that results in the grace we see in Ephesians 2:8.  So in a big picture sense, our faith is an attribution of God’s love for us.   It’s because God loves us, and because we believe in that love that we can have confidence in our salvation.

In summary:

There is no fear in love. (1 John 4:18)

God’s love was manifested through Jesus (1 John 4:9)

Fear is the opposite of faith (Mark 4:40).

Our faith in Jesus is what gives us salvation and confidence.