God "So" Loved The World

2009-05-02 21:21

The word "so" does not mean objective experience, but subjective experience.

The word of God is at work as life only in subjective experience. It is written, "Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." (Hebrews 5:13-14).

All the prophets and the apostles who were sent as servants of God into the world had duties for ministering to the work of God at various times and in various ways, and were faithful to their duties until death, being led by the Spirit.

Among them, the apostle John also had duties for testifying to the love of God and the love of Jesus Christ whom God sent, and were faithful to his duties, being led by the Spirit. John himself experienced the love that was hard for him to describe, and so he said, "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." (John 3:16). In other words, using the word "so," he said that whoever believes in the love, that is experienced subjectively, shall not perish but have eternal life.

Having always leaned on Jesus' heart, John had heard, had seen, had looked at, and had touched with his hands the love. He knew that the love was the way and the truth and the life. Therefore, he said, "That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked at and our hands have touched--this we proclaim concerning the Word of life." (1 John 1:1).

John understood that the love which he had heard, had seen, had looked at and had touched with his hands had been given to all people on earth, and so he said, "God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son." However, because only those who had experienced the love could know the love, he testified to it by using the word "so."

Therefore, the Bible says, "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him." (1 John 4:16).

Only those who have received the love know the love. God let John know the love more deeply than any other prophet or apostle. Therefore, the Bible said, "One of them, the disciple whom Jesus loved, was reclining next to him." (John 13:23). And also, "When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, 'Dear woman, here is your son,' and to the disciple, 'Here is your mother.' From that time on, this disciple took her into his home." (John 19:26-27).

And also, we can know that John had always leaned on the heart of love and lived in the love, when we see this passage, "Peter turned and saw that the disciple whom Jesus loved was following them. (This was the one who had leaned back against Jesus at the supper and had said, 'Lord, who is going to betray you?')" (John 21:20).

Therefore, the Bible says about the love, "He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart; he gently leads those that have young." (Isaiah 40:11).

It is written, "Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.

Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. We know that we live in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in him and he in God.

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him.

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. We love because he first loved us." (1 John 4:7-19).

Therefore, those who don't know the meaning of the words, "so loved," don't have the love, and those who don't have the love are not in God. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. Anyone born of God... Amen. Thank you, Lord.