The Lutheran Pioneer St. Louis — 1920, Page 26

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26 ' The Lutheran Pioneer.

for just think of the distinction conferred upon us,
the opportunity of making happy our fellow-men
for time and eternity; the blessed opportunity of
making them coheirs of our happiness, coheirs with
Christ in the glories of heaven!

Jesus is not dead, but risen! Dispel your fears.
wipe your tears. Sin is slain, death is destroyed,
Satan is laid in chains. Cease all your vain en-
deavors to appease God’s wrath; for He is recon-
ciled with the world, reconciled by the blood of His
Son. All cause for fear is removed. — We know
this; the risen Savior has proclaimed to us the
glad tidings. Can we, dare we, withhold from
others the tidings which alone can make’ them glad ?
No, no! We must bring them the good news, the
resurrection Gospel of joy and gladness. The
Savior’s wish is too plain: “Go ye into all the world
and preach the Gospel to every creature.” Jesus
wants all to be partakers of our joy and happiness.
Let us not fail Him! , F.J.L.

True Christian Love. f
1 Joun 4, 12—16.

“Some friends,” old Jeremy ‘Taylor writes,
“dwell hard by and are fitted for converse. Nature
joins some to us, and religion combines us with
others. Society and accidents, parity of fortune,
and equal dispositions do actuate our friendships.
My friend is able to give me counsel, to restrain my
wanderings, to comfort me in my sorrows. He is

- pleasant to me in private and useful in public. He
will make my joys double, and divide my grief he-
tween himself and me.” How beautiful, true, and
noble was the friendship between David and Jona-
than! “Jonathan made a covenant with the house
of David, and caused David to swear again; because
he loved him as he loved his own soul.” — Chris-
tian friendship flows from Christian love. In our
present verses St. John writes concerning the love

. of Christians to one another.

V.12: No man hath seen God at any lime. If
we love one another, God dwelleth [abideth, R.V.] in
us, and His love ts perfected in us. We cannot be-
hold God with.our natural eyes here below. Nor
can we know Him by nature. “The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for
" they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know.
them, because they are spiritually discerned.” But
if faith’s fruit, the Christian: virtue of love, is within
us, if we love one another, as believers do, then we

know God indeed; otherwise we would not know
how to love. For we have learned it from Him
alone, pure love being an essential attribute of His.
Nor do we then only know Him, but more: He
then dwells in us with Tis loving-kindness, causing
us to show the same kind of love to others. ‘Then
He will not separate Himself from us, but abide
in us, and //is love, that is, such love as proceeds
from Him, has its origin in Him, and is character-
istic of Him, will be perfected in us. In other
words, we are then loving like unto Him, and grow,
become more perfect: in such love, as far as this is
possible here on earth. (Compare v. 17.)

V.13: Hereby know we thal we abide in Him,
and He in us, because LHe hath given us of His
Spirit. Sometimes it seems to us as if God with-
drew Ifis grace from us. But Christians will never
be bereft of all hope and assurance of His loving
and continued presence with them; for His gift,
the Spirit, dwells in them, and works not only faith,
but also sincere self-sacrificing love to the brethren
within them; hence He ever afresh imparts the di-
vine nature to them. This is an unmistakable sign
and proof whereby they know that the mutual union
between God and themselves will not be disrupted
or even weakened.

After again, as already in chap. 1, 1—3, con-
firming his reader’s faith by his apostolic testimony
concerning Christ (v. 14), John also touches on con-
fessing our Lord.. This good work which we should
perform with heart, mouth, and hand, and which,
like love, is wrought by the Spirit, is a proof of His
indwelling in us and hence also of the inseparable
union between God and us. How sweet, strength-

ening, and restful is this certainty to Christians in”

their strenuous labors for the extension of ,the
Chureh and their battles against Satan, world, and
flesh (v. 15)!

V.16: And we have known and helen e the love
that God hath lo us. God is Love; and he that
abideth in love abideth in God and God in him.
Here he incites us to love. First he points to our
faith in _God’s vast love who sent our Savior.” Then
he repeats that profound statement of v.8: “God

is Love.” The final clause, “He that abideth,” etc.,

is also similar to words he had used in preceding
verses. It means: He that remains loving remains
united, with God. Of this union the Spirit makes
us certain by working in us faith and love. Thus
our hearts become contented, and fear vanishes (see
the following verses). John admonishes us to abide

in love, 0 keep on loving, even if it may seem as