1 John 4:18-21

4:18 There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. ¹  The ²  one who fears punishment ³  has not been perfected in love. 4:19 We love ⁴  because he loved us first.

4:20 If anyone says ⁵  “I love God” and yet ⁶  hates his fellow Christian, ⁷  he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian ⁸  whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. ⁹  4:21 And the commandment we have from him is this: that ¹⁰  the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian ¹¹  too.

[4:18]  ¹ sn The entire phrase fear has to do with punishment may be understood in two slightly different ways: (1) “fear has its own punishment” or (2) “fear has to do with [includes] punishment.” These are not far apart, however, and the real key to understanding the expression lies in the meaning of the word “punishment” (κόλασις, kolasis). While it may refer to torture or torment (BDAG 555 s.v. 1) there are numerous Koine references involving eternal punishment (2 Macc 4:38; T. Reu. 5:5; T. Gad 7:5) and this is also the use in the only other NT reference, Matt 25:46. In the present context, where the author has mentioned having confidence in the day of judgment (4:17), it seems virtually certain that eternal punishment (or fear of it) is what is meant here. The (only) alternative to perfected love, which results in confidence at the day of judgment, is fear, which has to do with the punishment one is afraid of receiving at the judgment. As 4:18b states, “the one who fears [punishment] has not been perfected in love.” It is often assumed by interpreters that the opposite to perfected love (which casts out fear) is imperfect love (which still has fear and therefore no assurance). This is possible, but it is not likely, because the author nowhere mentions ‘imperfect’ love, and for him the opposite of ‘perfected’ love appears to be not imperfect love but hate (cf. 4:20). In other words, in the antithetical (‘either/or’) categories in which the author presents his arguments, one is either a genuine believer, who becomes ‘perfected’ in love as he resides in love and in a mutually indwelling relationship with God (cf. 4:16b), or one is not a genuine believer at all, but one who (like the opponents) hates his brother, is a liar, and does not know God at all. This individual should well fear judgment and eternal punishment because in the author’s view that is precisely where such a person is headed.

[4:18]  ² tn Grk “punishment, and the person who fears.”

[4:18]  ³ tn “Punishment” is not repeated in the Greek text at this point but is implied.

[4:19]  ⁴ sn No object is supplied for the verb love (the author with his propensity for obscurity has left it to the readers to supply the object). The obvious objects that could be supplied from the context are either God himself or other believers (the brethren). It may well be that the author has both in mind at this point; the statement is general enough to cover both alternatives, although the following verse puts more emphasis on love for the brethren.

[4:20]  ⁵ tn Grk “if anyone should say…”

[4:20]  ⁶ tn “Yet” is supplied to bring out the contrast.

[4:20]  ⁷ tn See note on the phrase “fellow Christian” in 2:9.

[4:20]  ⁸ tn See note on the phrase “fellow Christian” in 2:9.

[4:20]  ⁹ sn In 4:20 the author again describes the opponents, who claim to love God. Their failure to show love for their fellow Christians proves their claim to know God to be false: The one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.

[4:21]  ¹⁰ tn The ἵνα (Jina) clause in 4:21 could be giving (1) the purpose or (2) the result of the commandment mentioned in the first half of the verse, but if it does, the author nowhere specifies what the commandment consists of. It makes better sense to understand this ἵνα clause as (3) epexegetical to the pronoun ταύτην (tauthn) at the beginning of 4:21 and thus explaining what the commandment consists of: “that the one who loves God should love his brother also.”

[4:21]  ¹¹ tn See note on the phrase “fellow Christian” in 2:9.