00:00Brothers, now in this part of our session let's look at the other verse 4.16
00:29The other expression, God is love, but I am going to read it in its context, verses 15, 16 and 17, from the Jerusalem Bible.
00:40If one confesses Jesus as the son of God, God dwells in him and he in God.
00:46And we have come to know and believe in the love that God has for us.
00:51God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
00:58This is how we know that love has been perfected in us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment.
01:06For as Jesus Christ is, so shall we be in this world.
01:10Brothers, as a brief aside, let me just say that verse 16 says,
01:18He remains in God. Actually, the phrase "remain there" is the one we already know from Johannine literature.
01:27The menein, which can be translated as remain or dwell.
01:32He who dwells in God. The love of God dwells in us.
01:35We should have heard it like that, but well, the translator fell asleep there, didn't know and it was the first word that came to mind.
01:45A small aside just to correct this verse 16 which appears this way in some Jerusalem Bibles.
01:51Okay, let's close this parenthesis and I'll tell you that here too we see the Johannine unity between knowing and loving.
02:02But now we are more in terms of confessing the faith.
02:10They remind us that for the first letter of John it is very important to separate oneself from those who do not believe in Jesus.
02:18And what does John call them? The antichrists.
02:22Rather than being a personal being, it is any group of people who try to deny the existence of Jesus incarnate.
02:32And for John, confessing Jesus is about letting God dwell in my heart.
02:39That I may have this divine life within me, which we later call grace.
02:46Confessing Jesus is having God within me.
02:50And this confession, this confession of faith, this act of faith, leads to a knowing that is believing.
02:59In what? In the divine love that is given to us.
03:04And that is why John adds, God is love.
03:08With their favorite word, dwell, remain, as I told you a little while ago.
03:14Whoever remains in love, remains in God.
03:18Here the perspective is no longer as fraternal as we had seen in verse 8.
03:24This is more about confession, about faith in the God that Jesus Christ reveals to us.
03:31Accepting God's revelation from Jesus, Jesus the revealer,
03:36It is recognizing that God is love.
03:40And this confession of faith has practical effects.
03:45Until we have complete confidence on the day of the trial.
03:49Brothers, here we ask ourselves, here the examination of conscience is necessary.
03:56Verse 8 is very practical; it says that the relationship with my brothers should be of the same quality as the love of God.
04:05I love my brothers as God loves me and as I try to love God, since agape, love, comes from God.
04:14Here, in verse 16, it says God is love, but confessing Jesus.
04:21And it shouldn't be understood simply as an idea that came to me from a certain Jesus of Nazareth.
04:27It should not be understood as a cold, detached knowledge.
04:29It should not be understood as simply a rational idea, something that even philosophers of other religions can say.
04:39No, the God that Jesus Christ reveals to me is love itself.
04:46God is love.
04:46And if I have faith in Jesus, this phrase, God is love, has to literally bathe my life.
04:55My life has to change because I recognize that Jesus reveals to me a God who is totally a loving Father to me.
05:04That's why the typical phrase or typical comments in John's letter with this expression, "God is love,"
05:10John doesn't say, "God has love," because that would be too limited.
05:16It would mean that it has it, but not fully.
05:19No, God is light, God is love.
05:23Jesus, Jesus Christ, the Son of God, this incarnate figure,
05:30but now it dwells in my heart because I have allowed the love of God to dwell in my heart.
05:35And this confession of faith is love.
05:40How do I experience it?
05:41How can I say that I am a Christian?
05:45Loving my brothers with the same love that God has for me.
05:50Save this image if you like it.
05:53It is this glass that is filled.
05:56This cup that is going to be filled, which is my life, that is going to be filled with the love of God.
06:00But it will become so full, to such an extent, that it will overflow on my brothers.
06:08God is love; He should be the great light of our lives.
06:12If we forget any other phrase from the Bible, it's not a big deal.
06:16But let us never, ever, ever forget that God is love.
06:21And perhaps that is why Juan says it twice.
06:24And he says this in the context of brotherly love and in the context of an incarnate Jesus.
06:32Incarnate to give life to us, dying on the cross.
06:37That is why John says, as a propitiatory victim.
06:40And therefore, I must die to myself.
06:43I must give my life.
06:45In love, in love for my brothers.
06:50And then we understand so many saints who have lived by this phrase.
06:55God is love, giving his life for his brothers.
06:58Let's pause here, brothers, so that in the next video we can see the comments of two people I admire very much.
07:05Regarding this expression, God is love.
07:15Thank you.
