Herein has love been perfected with us that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, that even as *he* is, *we* also are in this world.
Here John says that love has reached its goal. The proof is a confidence that can face the day of judgment without fear. The reason given is not what we have become, but what Christ is — and what we already are while still in this world.
The ESV reads "love perfected with us." Older translations read "our love is made perfect," which sends the reader looking inward at the wrong thing. One commentator presses the correction:
Verse 17 reads: "Herein is our love made perfect." Now our love, our response to the love of God, is never perfect. It is never what it should be… No child of God, unless deceived, would claim that his love for God is perfect. Some Bibles correct this very serious fault of translation in the margin. They give "Love with us" instead of "our love." So we should read, "Herein is love with us made perfect," which gives a completely different sense. Clearly the apostle is not thinking of our love for God, but of the love which God has shown.
"Perfected" describes love reaching its goal. One writer names that goal:
Verse 17 teaches us God's purposes and plans about us as saints: "Herein is love with us made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment…" This is a very different thing from His first coming to us in our sins. The perfection of God's love towards His saints shows itself in bringing them to be like Christ Himself.
The day is still future. The confidence is not something handed out when we arrive there.
This is not a state given to us in the day of judgment. God deals with us this way now. And that gives boldness even when we think of the day of judgment ahead. How could it be otherwise? Suppose I truly believe and am sure that God has made me now to be what Christ is. What can the day of judgment then do, except display the perfections — not only of what Christ is for me, but of what you and I are by and in Christ our Lord? And this we are now.
The one who will judge that day is the one we resemble. That is why the day loses its terror:
In truth, what could give us a more complete assurance for that day than to be as Jesus Himself — like the judge? He who will judge in righteousness is our righteousness. We are in Him the righteousness according to which He will judge. We are, as far as judgment goes, as He is. This can truly give us perfect peace. But notice: this is not only true for the day of judgment (it gives us boldness for it) — we are this in this world. Not as He was, but in this world we are as He is.
This likeness is about where God has placed us, not about how well we are doing.
Few things in the Bible carry deeper meaning for the child of God than the statement that "as He is" — the Lord Jesus Christ in glory — "so are we in this world"… Notice, then, that the Holy Spirit is speaking of a positive and absolute standing in the sight of God, not of a practical condition. Notice too that it is a present, everyday standing before Him, held by believers while they are in the world.
Some have used the verse to claim they have reached moral perfection. One writer answers that the verse's own logic rules this out:
His standing is in Christ, and therefore as Christ. To use "As He is, so are we in this world" (1 John 4:17) as proof of our actual state is monstrous, though the writer who does it is by no means alone. The apostle connects it with "boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world"! Think of a man finding boldness for that day in the belief that he himself is morally as perfect as Christ.
Christ Himself is beyond all judgment now. He bore it in full at the cross, and the believer stands where He stands:
Love has given His Son to bear my judgment, fully, absolutely. Then the day of judgment is no cause for fear at all… Is Christ not completely free from judgment now? In grace He bore that judgment at Calvary. The full, unsoftened penalty against sin was laid on Him, the willing sacrifice… And as far as judgment goes, the believer, even now, "in this world" is "as He is," past all possibility of it.
- Source. Love is perfected with us, not by us. The older reading "our love" points the wrong way and leaves us measuring ourselves.
- Gift. Love reaches its peak by placing the believer where Christ is. The day of judgment then holds nothing against him.
- Timing. The boldness is ours now, not a state handed out later. God deals with us this way today.
- Ground. The Judge Himself is our righteousness, so judgment can only display what Christ is for us and what we are in Him.
- Limit. This is standing, not achievement. Use the verse to claim sinless living, and you lose the very confidence it offers.
There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear; for fear has torment, and he that fears has not been made perfect in love.
John ties fear to punishment, and the commentators press two questions: whose love is meant, God's or ours, and which fear love drives out. Older translations put "torment" where the ESV has "punishment," and the writers quoted below use that older word.
One writer starts from ordinary experience of being loved.
Now in love there is no fear; there is confidence. If I am sure that a person loves me, I do not fear him. If I am only wanting to be the object of his affection, I may fear that I am not, and may even fear him. And this fear would always tend to destroy my love for him and my desire to be loved by him. There is an incompatibility between the two feelings — there is no fear in love.
One writer says the older English wording "our love is made perfect" is a mistranslation.
So love has been perfected with us. It is not "our love is made perfect," as the older translation wrongly puts it. God's love has been perfected toward us. It has found its way and done its full work in blessing us, and it is not satisfied while it sees the smallest trace of fear left in us.
One writer separates what gives peace from what removes fear.
God is love, and that is first openly seen at the cross of Christ; and then in the new nature we have a capacity to enjoy that love. But the fear must be taken away, because fear has torment, and torment is not enjoyment. Then he shows what removes the fear. "Perfect love casts out fear" — not perfect righteousness. That had given the peace before God, but the revelation of Himself, and what He is, alone casts out fear.
One writer says the believer stands in the righteousness of the One who will judge him.
Judgment is no longer something to dread, because I am as clear as my Judge. He judges by His own righteousness, and that righteousness is mine. If I am dreading my Father, I cannot enjoy His love. There is torment in that. Love casts out fear. There is nothing to fear if God loves me perfectly, and does nothing but love me.
One writer marks the gap between God's side and ours.
On God's side love has been perfected in regard to us; on our side we may not be made perfect in regard to it. We may truly believe that God loves us, and still not rest in that love enough to leave fear no place in our hearts.
Another writer lets the troubled believer speak for himself.
Think of a Christian who is unsettled by this question. Nothing chills his love more than the fear he is bound to feel if judgment is still waiting at the end of his life. Can you love someone freely and at ease when at times you cannot help fearing Him, because He may cast you into hell? "There is no fear in love," says the apostle. "There is fear in my love," says the plain believer, aware of his many failures.
Love drives out one fear, but one writer keeps another in place.
"There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment." But there is a godly fear that stops evil before it starts. If a believer were saying, "I should like to do this or that," this fear would make him think, "but the eye of God will be looking at me," and give it up.
One writer says freedom from fear releases love in return.
So perfect love casts out fear. Freed from the fear of torment, we are made perfect in love. This great love to us draws out our love: "We love because He first loved us."
- Source. The perfect love here is God's love toward us, not the quality of our love for Him. One writer calls the older reading "our love is made perfect" a mistranslation.
- Ground. Righteousness gives peace before God. Seeing who God is drives fear out of the heart. Judgment stops being dreadful once the believer is as clear as his Judge.
- Reach. Love is not satisfied while any element of fear remains, so the aim is not managed anxiety but its removal.
- Diagnosis. Someone who still fears is not condemned, only incomplete. He believes God loves him, but does not yet rest in that love.
- Result. Dread leaves and godly fear stays. The heart freed from torment loves back, because He first loved us.