“By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
(1 John 4:17-21)
John starts this portion of scripture by referring to the previous verse, where he speaks of believers abiding in God and God in them. Since God is love, we have confidence in the day of judgment, where God’s love furnishes the sure hope of eternal life. He goes on to connect fear to eternal judgment.
His statement that there is no fear in love does not rule out the presence and constructive effect of “The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge.” (Proverbs 1:7) Here John speaks of the fear of final judgment. But that fear is overcome by our knowledge of God’s gift.
To further understand this, let’s examine Proverbs 1:7 which was written in the ancient Hebrew language, and consisted of pictorial symbols. Two symbols made up the word ‘knowledge,’ the first is a picture of a door, and the second is a picture of the eye. Combined, these symbols mean “the door of the eye”. The eye is the window into our very being. Experience is gained through visual observation. Knowledge is achieved through these experiences.
The fear of the Lord is an abiding and reverent sense of the presence of God and of accountableness to Him. But, for this to exist, God must be that real, personal Being that we have every reason to believe. Why, because He has revealed Himself to be that Being, in character, love, holiness, and justice, which He has declared Himself to be in His Word. This fear is the beginning of knowledge and cannot properly begin or be based on the right foundation, without first apprehending and applying the facts.
Since Christian love is a gift from God; which takes the initiative; the love of Christians is the response to that love. We are rooted and grounded in our relationship with God, and therefore do not need to fear concerning our life here and in the eternal, because fear has no room or place in a heart that is filled with the love of God. Our confidence for the day of judgment comes from a heart where God’s love has completely filled our hearts to the point of overflowing. Overflowing in the sense of loving others, and putting their interests before our own. (Philippians 2:3-4)