9 By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (1 John 4:9–11)
Where would popular music be without the topic of love? In the titles to hit songs alone we can see this. “Whole Lotta Love,” by Led Zeppelin and “What About Love,” by Heart come to mind. From a few generations ago there was the crooner Andy Williams singing, “Love Is a Many-Slendored Thing.” What John is writing about here is “all about love,” and it is indeed, “a many-splendored thing!”
We should not lose sight of the reason for the incarnation of Jesus amongst us. Until he was “begotten,” it was the law and not love that reigned supreme. To install godly love, there’d have to be a qualified representative on the ground to pull it off, and an action undertaken so undeniable and irrefutable that the whole world would have to respond one way or the other. His love was manifested “in us,” not “to us,” This inside-out process was what made this transaction so different from the religions of the day, or of any day.
It’s clear in this verse that God’s the protagonist. While we were wallowing in our sin, he took the initiative to fix our problem. We were dead in our sin, meaning incapable of fixing our problem, and all that was done was motivated by love. You see your baby crying and the overwhelming urge is to help him or her because they are helpless. Also, this baby has not yet understood love in that an act of love can be reciprocated. It’s all one-sided. There is faith, yes, that we let our Father hold us, but what is asked of us in return is the love of others. This is the least we can do.
The big word propitiation means to satisfy. It was understood in the pagan culture to which John wrote as something brought to a god to appease his wrath. When you contemplate the gruesome crucifixion of Christ, compounded by the fact he was God’s “own son,” you understand that an appropriate payment was indeed made on our behalf. There is no quantum leap of faith necessary to believe all this when you consider the eye witness accounts and the veracity of God’s word. This is not hearsay or ancient folklore. Indeed a step of faith is required for a change of mind to occur, but it’s just one step. All God expects from us in return is to love others, particularly in the household of the faith.
It’s all about love.
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