Gary Chapman’s best seller, The 5 Love Languages, describes five ways people show and experience love. God is love; so, of course, He speaks all five of these languages. In 1 John 4, we learn the primary way God showed His love to us: “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” (v. 9).

The coming of Jesus Christ into the world was the defining act of divine love. Jesus was born not merely to serve as a role model. He came to be “an atoning sacrifice for our sins” (v. 10). In the Mosaic law, atonement required the shedding of blood, and to shed His blood, Jesus needed to come in the flesh (see also Heb. 9:22). Jesus’ birth anticipated His death. This, in turn, paved the way for His resurrection. Jesus’ death and resurrection are the basis for the forgiveness we experience. They are also the secret to the life John calls us to in today’s passage (Phil. 3:10).

Christian love is God’s life at work in the believer (vv. 16–17). This is why John portrays love as a test of true faith in verses 19–21. Love for others is not something we do in order to be saved. It works the other way around. To love in the way that John describes, we must first live in God. To receive the life of God, we must be born of God through Christ (v. 7). Our love for others is brought to its full measure through the power of the Holy Spirit (v. 13). Those who wish to become better at showing Christ’s love to others should begin by learning how God has loved us through His Son.