[17] Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. [18] There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. [19] We love Him because He first loved us.
(1 John 4:17-19)
Verses 16–18 are entirely about love, abiding in God, and fear being cast out by love. There is no exegetical seam through which health, wealth, or dominion can enter. The interpreter has to import that from outside the passage entirely.
Verse 17 does not imply the following:
- Since Jesus has received all power, victory,and dominion, that means so too do we have this reality in the present age
- He cannot be infirmed by any sickness or afflicted by demons therefore we share in that.
- He is in a state of perpetual victory at the right hand of the Father therefore we will never experience any calamity.
That is how this passage is mainly taught however that is not what it means. When we import an inaccurate meaning to scripture or apply bad hermaneutics, we completely miss the message it was meant to convey. Consequently, the truth it was meant to communicate is truncated. We fail to appreciate the text and the God who inspired it the way we would have had it been properly exegeted.
So what does this scripture mean and what are its implications
In verse 16 John speaks concerning love, us abiding in God who is love and him abiding in us. This is meant for us who are saved. According to verse17, the reason we can have confidence for the day of judgement is because as Christ is, so are we in this world. This does not mean we have ontological equivalence or we share in his status as God. He is accepted by the Father and so are we in this world and even on the day of judgement. Our acceptance, boldness and confidence before the Father is based on Christ’s standing, not our degree of sanctification or performance. This is meant to unburden the believer, remove any lingering shame of coming to the Father, big brother mindest as seen in Luke 15 or any orphan mindset. This scripture grants the believer confidence in a Person, Christ! This causes us to see the grace, mercy and love of God for us. He has unburdened us. This is supposed to evoke more awe at his grace, not point us to the dominion Christ won for us, which ultimately points to us.
What the text is doing or meant to accomplish is what Ephesians 2:8-9 does; By grace through faith are we saved not by works so that no man can boast. When we marvel at the sheer mercy of the Lord toward us while we were yet sinners, that awe is precisely supposed to be evoked here. As John Piped says ” God is jealous for his glory” and I believe that is true. The contemporary rendering of this text mininizes and redirects the glory contained in this text. Additionally, the way scriptures are sometimes taught can have this inadvertent effect where believers have an inflated view of themselves that scripture never even implies, with the source being the scriptures that are erroneously interpreted.
The popular reading feels like it’s maximizing; more power, more victory, more dominion. But it’s actually trading something vastly richer: the staggering reality that the God of the universe has accepted broken people in Christ, with full confidence, all the way to the day of judgment. That is the glory John is gesturing at.
Is Christ all powerful and does He possess all authority?Yes. Is the believer invited to walk in victory over the enemy because the Lord triumphed over him?Yes. However this verse is not communicating that. When we add more to this text than it implies we engage in theological extrapolation, which is drawing a broader theologic conclusion from a biblical statement than the statement itself explicitly establishes.
Questions worth considering:
Where does this text point our worship? What is it designed to produce in us as a response to God?John’s intent in 1 John 4:17, read correctly, is to produce wonder at God’s grace, the glory goes to him for accepting us in Christ despite ourselves. The Lord has granted the believer security even for the day of judgement. Our confidence for the day of judgment is not contingent on our performance. Granted, that is not to imply that the believer can live carelessly, for the Lord said we have to walk in the light, as He is in the light. This is to evoke awe at God’s grace and praise Him yet more and more.