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4:2 This is how you discern the Spirit of God: the incarnation is the central theme of the communication of the Spirit; the fact that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is what gives legitimacy to every prophetic word. (See 1 Peter 1:10-14.)

4:3 No so-called “spiritual revelation” that fails to communicate the revelation of the incarnation of Jesus Christ, is of God. This is the anti-Christ spirit that you have heard of and even now witness in the world. Any idea that Jesus Christ is not the incarnate word of God, does not originate in God but is the typical pseudo mindset of the spirit of this fallen cosmic system. (The Latin rendering from the 2nd century reads, “No spirit that would separate the human Jesus from the divine Christ, is of God.”) 

4:4 My darling children, you have nothing to fear; do not doubt for a moment the legitimacy of your sonship. You originate in God and have already conquered the worldly religious system because of the unveiling of Christ in you. His living presence in you is far superior to the futile anti-Christ mindsets present in the world.

4:5 Their conversation mirrors their source and appeals to a common audience; the pseudo-claim of a pseudo-system has blindfolded multitudes to believe a lie about themselves.

4:6 Our beingness originates in God; anyone who knows what God knows about mankind’s authentic genesis, hears us; those who do not see their origin in God are deaf to what we communicate. This is the difference between the spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (The essence of the incarnation is the revelation that Jesus Christ is the word made flesh; [John 1:1-18] he is the one who as the Son of God, mirrors and redeems the image and likeness of God in human form. He declares God as the only legitimate Father of the human race.)

4:7 Beloved, 1love always includes others, since love springs from God; its source is found in the fellowship of the Father, Spirit and Son. Everyone who encounters love immediately knows that they too are born of the same source. It is not possible to fully participate in love without discovering God. To love is to know God; to know God is to love. (1Agapao from agoo, to lead, and pao, to rest - love is where the Sabbath of God is perfectly celebrated.)

4:8 Not to love, is not to know God. There is nothing in love that distracts from who God is. Love is who God is -  they are inseparable.

4:9 The love of God is unveiled 1within us in the Son; he was 2begotten of the Father in the flesh and sent into the world that we might live because of him. Our lives are mirrored and defined in him. Both his birth in the flesh as well as his commission into the world were 2entirely God’s doing.  (Unfortunately most English translations reads, “The love of God was manifest towards us, or amongst us rather than in us. The Greek word is clear, 1en hemin ἐν ἡμῖν, in us. 

The incarnation is not the origin of Jesus. The word  2monogenes, born only of God, or entirely begotten of God, refers to the physical birth of Jesus, which was the incarnation of the Word. [See John 1:1 “To go back to the very beginning is to find the Word already present there; face to face with God. The Word is I am; God’s eternal eloquence echoes and concludes in him. The Word equals God.” In the beginning, arche, to be first in order, time, place or rank. The Word, logos, was ”with” God; here John uses the Greek Preposition pros, towards; face-to-face. Three times in this sentence John uses the Active Indicative Imperfect form of the verb eimi, namely aen [ἦν] to continue to be, [in the beginning ‘was’ the Word etc...] which conveys no idea of origin for God or for the Logos, but simply continuous existence, “I am.” Quite a different verb egeneto, “became,” appears in John 1:14 for the beginning of the Incarnation of the Logos. The Word ‘became’ flesh. See the distinction sharply drawn in John 8:58, “before Abraham was [born, genesthai from ginomai] I am.” The word eimi, I am; the essence of being, suggesting timeless existence. See also my commentary note on 1 Pet 1:16].) 

4:10 Love is not defined by our love for God, but by his love for us. It is not our response to God that attracts his attention; we have always had his undivided affection as declared in the prophetic promise and finally demonstrated in his Son’s commission and work of atonement for our sins. (See 1 John 2:2 Jesus is our at-one-ment, he has conciliated us to himself and has taken our sins and distortions out of the equation. What he has accomplished is not to be seen as something that belongs to us exclusively; the same at-one-ment includes the entire cosmos. [The word hilasmos, means to conciliate, to bring about atonement, from hileos, gracious, merciful. Also reminds of the word hilaros, cheerful, joyous, hilarious.])

4:11 Loved Ones. If this is true about God’s love for us, it is equally true of his love in us for others.

4:12 God was never visible to anyone until Jesus brought him into full view; now your love does the same. Our love for one another is evidence of God’s seamless union with mankind as witnessed in his love perfected within us. (See John 1:18  Until this moment God remained invisible to everyone; now the authentic begotten Son, [monogenes, begotten only of God] the blueprint of our design, who represents the innermost being of God, [the Son who is in the bosom of the father,] brings him into full view. He is the official authority qualified to announce God. He is our guide who accurately declares and interprets the invisible God within us.)

4:13 His own Spirit is the 1source of this gift, of knowing  that we are 2continuously, seamlessly and very consciously present in him and he in us. (The Preposition 1ek always denotes source or origin. The word 2meno means to continue to be present.)

4:14 We bear witness to that which has 1arrested our attention concerning the Father’s intent in commissioning the Son as Savior of the world. (John uses the word, 1theaomai, to view attentively, to contemplate, to learn by looking. Realizing authentic, redeemed sonship is what rescues the world. )

4:15 For anyone 1to see and to say that Jesus is the Son of God is to awaken to the awareness  that we are 2continuously, seamlessly joined in oneness. (The word 1homologeo, from homo, the same and lego, to speak; thus to say the same. The word 2meno means to continue to be present. Young’s Literal Translation reads: God in him doth remain, and he in God. [Now God cannot remain somewhere if he was never there to begin with, neither can we.] See John 14:20.)

4:16 And thus we have come to know and believe the love that God has unveiled within us. God is love. Love is who God is; to live in this place of conscious, constant love, is to live immersed in God and to feel perfectly at home in his indwelling. (You’re not alone and adrift in the universe; you are at home in the Father’s good pleasure - Godfrey Birtill - The Wine is Alive.)

4:17 So now, with us awakening to 1our full inclusion in this love union, everything is perfect. Its completeness is not compromised in contradiction. Our 2confident conversation 3echoes this fellowship even in the face of 4crisis; because, as he is, so are we in this world - our lives are mirrored in him. We are as blameless in this life as Jesus is. This perfect love union is the source of our confidence whenever we 5face the scrutiny of contradiction. (This place of seamless union is the perfection of Agape - en toutoo teteleotai he agape meth'hemoon; notice, the word 1meth’hemoon, together with us; from meta, together with and hemoon, us; to be included in the same togetherness. The word 2parresia, from para, a Preposition indicating close proximity, and rheo, to pour forth; to flow freely, suggesting unreservedness in speech; bold utterance, confidence. The word, 3echo, to hold, like sound is held in an echo; to resonate. The word 4krisis is often translated, judgment. So, the 5day of judgment, “in the face of crisis”, can be translated, “facing the scrutiny of contradiction in our daily lives.”)

4:18 Fear cannot co-exist in this love realm. The perfect love union that we are talking about expels fear. Fear holds on to an expectation of crisis and judgment [which brings separation] and interprets it as due punishment [a form of karma.] It echoes torment and only registers in someone who does not yet realize the completeness of their love union. [With the Father, Son and Spirit and with one another.] (See Heb 2:15.)

4:19 We love because he loved us first. (We did not invent this fellowship; we are invited into the fellowship of the Father and the Son.)

4:20 If anyone claims to love God but he cannot stand a fellow human, his love for God is fake; how is it possible to not love someone you can see with your eyes yet claim to love an invisible God? (Love is not defined by our ability to like or dislike someone; love is a God-thing from start to finish. God cannot make his love for mankind more tangibly certain than what he did in his Son, Jesus Christ.)

4:21 God’s 1conclusion on this is clear, loving him includes loving your fellow human - there is no distinction. (The word often translated, commandment, 1entole, from en, plus telos, in completeness; I have translated, conclusion.)

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