1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us. I. IT IS A PRINCIPLE EXACTLY SUITED TO OUR MENTAL CONSTITUTION. Take the case of our love to the creature, and whence does it arise? Two elements invariably attach, in our apprehension, to the object of it. These are excellence in itself and some advantage arising from it to ourselves. Neither of these alone will produce love. Even in the natural love of the parent for the child or of the child for the parent, it will be found these two elements exist. Relative goodness seems to be essential to love. It may be said, such a view destroys the disinterested nature of love, and introduces an element of selfishness. Even were this true, it would not set aside a fact of which all must be conscious in their mental constitution. But we do not admit that a regard to our own happiness is of the nature of selfishness. It is in itself good. The Creator has implanted it in all His intelligent offspring, and it is therefore not blameworthy. Now this is the very ground on which the love of God is based. Every perfection that can command our approval and admiration belongs to Him. But this excellence is all relative to us. In every feature of it we recognise an advantage to ourselves. That unerring wisdom is our guide, that almighty power is our protection, that boundless goodness is our support. We look upon them with delight, and say, "This God is our God." And so we acquiesce in the apostle's sentiment — "We love Him because He first loved us." II. THIS PRINCIPLE IS AS SCRIPTURAL AS IT IS REASONABLE. How naturally and properly does David express himself (Psalm 18:1-3). Excellence upon excellence he discovers in God and celebrates with the highest praise, but everyone of them is regarded as a source of benefit to himself. The Scriptures unite the glory of God and our good. III. THIS PRINCIPLE IS WELL ILLUSTRATED IN THE HISTORY OF REDEMPTION. It began with God. The first movement was on His part. When our first parents fell they fled from God, and discovered no disposition to return to Him. But He followed them with proposals of love. Observe, then, the practical effect of such a revelation on the mind of him who becomes concerned about his own redemption. He sees what the mind of God is. He can have no doubt upon the great truth that "the will of God is his salvation." He has only to acquiesce in an arrangement that has been made already by unerring wisdom and infinite love. IV. THE PRINCIPLES OF THE TEXT APPLY TO EVERY INDIVIDUAL WHO IS SAVED, AS WELL AS TO THE SCHEME OF REDEMPTION BY WHICH HE IS SAVED. God has not devised redemption, and then left it to men to receive it if they will and reject it if they will. The same grace that provided it applies it. V. WHEN THE SOUL IS THUS BROUGHT UNDER THE POWER OF GRACE, IT CONTINUES TO BE POWERFULLY INFLUENCED BY ITS APPREHENSION OF THE UNDESERVED AND GRACIOUS LOVE OF GOD. VI. EVERYTHING IS SO ORDERED IN THE LIFE OF THE BELIEVER AS TO EXERCISE AND ADVANCE THIS DIVINE PRINCIPLE. He is taught to trace up all he enjoys to the gift of God in Christ Jesus (1 Corinthians 3:21-23). He lives in the midst of continual remembrances of God and His love. He looks upon the world in which he has been placed. The marks of sin are many, but the tokens of the Divine love are many more and greater far. (J. Morgan, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: We love him, because he first loved us. |
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