1 John 4:17 excites many who find in it a liberation from the seeming insignificance of being human.
There is talk around town that the cross of Christ redeems us from being human, transforming us into gods. Some consider it demeaning to be classified as mere mortals, insisting that they were lifted from such mires of mediocrity. They are of the nature of God.
1 John 4:17 is one of the go-to texts for those whose hearts have been excited by this deification idea.
Pardon my upfront frankness, but what if the modern man’s medicine that alleges to cure his malady of mediocrity called ‘being human’ is rather a resort to mindless mystique devoid of sound sense?
Could it be that the revered Apostle John’s point concerned something wholly other than deification, or how men become gods? Well, let us find out, shall we?
The gods of Greece and the God of John
John’s readers, in a culture heavily influenced by the Greco-Roman thought, knew quite well how to become gods.
Mount Olympus, the abode of gods, still stood for the mighty men of valour to transcend the gulf between the mediocre general mass of men and the lofty ruling gods like Zeus or Apollo by the exercise of reason and acts of heroism.
Indeed, Greco-Roman gods were divinised men. They were men who were made gods and worshipped.
But the God John proclaims is in contradistinction to Apollo or Artemis. Jesus is not a man made God; He is God made Man.
‘What was from the beginning’ (1 John 1:1) is what manifested, the infinite made finite, the eternal dwelling in time.
When we think of this, we notice that the modern thought, the idea that men become gods is more of a Greco-Roman pagan idea than a Christian one.
1 John 4:17
But what do we do with this text? It plainly states that as He is so are we, doesn’t it? No doubt it does. And thank God for this great assurance.
And here is why the interpreter must keep the sense of the text as he discovers and submits to its meaning.
If we plucked this text as a leaf from its branch, we would soon discover how quickly it withers in our hand. Behold it on its branch, and it will continue to beam with life and light.
In order words, we must be careful never to pull one text out of its context and run with it. He who runs with a truncated text pursues the wind and is soon consumed by the whirlwind of false doctrine.
Follow the author to the end, and you will find his meaning.
John who has declared the utter uniqueness of Christ (both in his Gospel and this epistle) is not about to shatter this uniqueness by suggesting divinization, whether universal or select.
‘In this, Love has been made complete with/among us.’ In what? To what does ‘this’ (in Greek, τούτῳ) point? It could not point to something he is about to say, because what follows is a purpose clause introduced by the conjunction ‘in order that/so that/that’ (in Greek ἵνα plus the subjunctive).
John states that in ‘something’ he has discussed before, love is perfected. If we look at the verse before (4:16) we will see to what ‘this’ refers, its antecedent. ‘This’ speaks of abiding/remaining. Love is made complete in the act of abiding, with God abiding in those who abide in Him.
Through the mutual abiding, love is made complete, which grants us boldness in the day of judgment (the intention of the purpose close ‘ so that ’).
We need to recall that John already spoke of the mutual abiding of the Father in the Son, and the Son in the Father (1 John 1:1-4). The Father remains in the Son as the Son remains in the Father.
For this reason, John stressed that ‘our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ’ (1 John 1:3). That is, our ‘remaining’ in God is an image of Jesus’ remaining in the Father. In this, as He is, so are we.
The concept of ‘fellowship’ and ‘remaining’ or ‘abiding’ is the very basis of John’s discussion of ‘love.’ God is love, and those who remain in Him remain in love (4:16). Love and abiding are knit like cloth.
In this remaining love is made perfect so that we may have boldness on judgment day.
Therefore, verse 17b reads: ‘because as He (Greek: ‘that One’) is so are we in this world.’
With the foundation made, we cannot confuse what John is saying. John says nothing about divination. He is not speaking about how men become gods at all. John says that our sonship is an image of Christ’s Sonship, characterised by ‘remaining’ in continual fellowship with the Father.
As that one (Christ) is, in fellowship with the Father, so are we in this world, joined in the communion of mutual indwelling with God. The similarity John calls to is not of nature, but a relationship.
And because we are sons of God, just as Jesus due to our unity with Him, love is perfected in us, giving us boldness on the final day.
Practical Implications
Four times John in this letter mentions God’s love being perfected. It is completed in those who keep His Word (2:5), in those who love one another (4:12), in those who remain in God (4:17), and then, in a negative sense, not in those who fear (4:18).
The perfection in all these cases is both instantaneous and progressive (hence the usage of the perfect tense in all the four instances).
God’s love is being perfected continually in those who remain in Him. It is our remaining in fellowship with the Father that makes us like Christ in this world. And we do this by keeping His Word (4:12), loving one another (4:12), and walking by faith rather than fear (4:18). All this rests in the fact that we are sons of God as Christ is, by relationship.
The discussion here, however, is not about nature, but standing and walk. John has already made the distinction between Christ and the redeemed, in which Christ is ‘from the beginning’ and ‘life’ that came to us, who indeed are redeemed from our own sin and separation by adoption (1 John 1).
In the final analysis, being human is not a malady to be cured, for indeed, God paid Man the greatest compliment by becoming flesh. It is fellowship with God, not divinity that is our joy and foundation of our new identity. In Him, we have communion with God as sons.
As He is, in fellowship with the Father, so are we in this world. If we remain in this fellowship, His love is and will be perfected in us, granting us boldness on the last day.