Charles Spurgeon Commentary 1 John 4:10

"Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins." — 1 John 4:10 (ASV)

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

In us there was no love; there was a hatred of God and goodness.

The enmity was not on God's side toward us, but on our side toward him. he loved us and sent his Son. The gift of Christ, the needful propitiation for our sins, was all of love on God's part. Justice demanded the propitiation, but love applied it. God could not be just if he pardoned sin without atonement; but the greatness of the love is seen in the fact that it moved the Father to give his Son to an ignominious death, that he might pardon sinners and yet be just.