Matthew Henry Commentary 1 John 4:7-13

"Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us: hereby we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit." — 1 John 4:7-13 (ASV)

The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love. The one who does not love the image of God in His people has no saving knowledge of God. For it is God's nature to be kind and to give happiness. The law of God is love; and all would have been perfectly happy, had all obeyed it. The provision of the gospel for the forgiveness of sin and the salvation of sinners, consistently with God's glory and justice, shows that God is love.

Mystery and darkness rest upon many things still. God has so shown Himself to be love that we cannot fall short of eternal happiness, unless through unbelief and impenitence, although strict justice would condemn us to hopeless misery because we break our Creator's laws. None of our words or thoughts can do justice to the free, astonishing love of a holy God towards sinners, who could not profit or harm Him, whom He might justly crush in a moment, and whose deserving of His vengeance was shown in the method by which they were saved, though He could by His almighty Word have created other worlds, with more perfect beings, if He had seen fit.

Do we search the whole universe for love in its most glorious displays? It is to be found in the person and the cross of Christ. Does love exist between God and sinners? Here was the origin, not that we loved God, but that He freely loved us. His love could not be designed to be fruitless in us, and when its proper end and outcome are gained and produced, it may be said to be perfected.

So faith is perfected by its works. Thus it will appear that God dwells in us by His new-creating Spirit. A loving Christian is a perfect Christian; set him to any good duty, and he is perfect for it; he is expert at it. Love oils the wheels of his affections and sets him on that which is helpful to his fellow believers. A person who goes about a task with ill will always does it badly.

That God dwells in us and we in Him were words too high for mortals to use, if God had not put them before us. But how can it be known whether the testimony to this proceeds from the Holy Spirit? Those who are truly persuaded that they are the sons of God cannot help but call Him Abba, Father. From love for Him, they hate sin and whatever disagrees with His will, and they have a sound and hearty desire to do His will.

Such testimony is the testimony of the Holy Spirit.