James Nisbet Commentary - 1 John 4:21 - 4:21

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James Nisbet Commentary - 1 John 4:21 - 4:21


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GOD’S LOVE FOR THE INDIVIDUAL SOUL

‘And this commandment have we from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.’

1Jn_4:21

It does not need, in order to call’s God’s attention, that a whole nation or an entire Church should turn from sin and set itself to serve Almighty God. There is joy in heaven for one sinner that repenteth.

I. Let us think of this individual love of God for a man’s soul.—It is revealed most plainly to us by our Blessed Lord Himself in His work and in His teaching on earth. Again and again we must be struck as we read the Gospels by seeing how our Lord thought it worth while to give Himself wholly to, to concentrate His entire attention for the time on, one individual—some particular sufferer, it might be, in soul, in mind, or in body. And so, though it is true that at times our Blessed Lord preached to the great multitudes—that He would work His miracles before thousands—yet we know that the souls which our Lord saved were saved one by one with infinite love, with tender care, with wonderful patience. Of all who stood round Calvary we are only told of one who was saved, and that was he upon whom our Lord in the extremity of His suffering turned the whole of His thought and love and care.

II. The Church and the individual.—And the Church which was left by our Lord to carry on His great work has ever sought to work on those same principles. She has tried to bring into the fold those from outside, not in great masses, but one by one. One by one you and I were brought to the font and united to our Lord. One by one we received into our souls the indwelling gift of the Holy Spirit at our confirmation. One by one we received from God’s minister the blessed Body and Blood of our Lord. Can we be thankful enough for these proofs of the love of God for man’s soul?

III. An extension of the principle.—But the Church’s mission in working on our Lord’s principles for the salvation of souls is not confined to the souls of men. It applies to our bodies as well. Just as our Lord would listen to every detail of bodily and mental suffering, so the Church has tried, as she has been able, to help the bodies of her members as well as their souls. And here again shall we not try to work out the same principle? It is very good that we should interest ourselves with great problems for helping large masses—I mean questions like better housing, or the provision of open spaces that will benefit a whole neighbourhood. But surely we shall not exhaust our compassion for our fellow-men in forwarding wide movements of that sort. The text tells us that if we love God we shall love our brother also. I must try and get down to the individual, the separate man and woman. They are all so different, and need such different kinds of help. What are you doing to help your brother?