A Valentine's Day Ode to Love

by Dr. John Harvey

Stories on the origin of Valentine’s Day abound. Most likely, February 14 was chosen as the observance of the burial of Valentinius, a priest who lived in the third century. Valentinius ministered to persecuted Christians in Rome, when it wasn’t legal to do so. Part of the legend is that after he healed a lady, he gave her a note signed “your Valentine.” Another part of the legend is that he gave soldiers cut-out parchment hearts to remind them of God’s love. Regardless of the details, the ministry of Valentinius was more about sacrificial love than romantic love. His sacrificial love for persecuted Christians showed others what God looked like. To state that idea as a transferable truth: When we love, others see God in us. That is the truth we see in the three stanzas of 1 John 4:7-12.

The first stanza reminds us that God is the source of love (4:7-8).

Beloved, let us love one another,
because love is from God,
and everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God.
The one who does not love does not know God,
because God is love. 

In verse 7, John states unequivocally that “love is from God.” The Greek preposition he uses paints the picture of “out of from within.” That is, love originates from the very core of who God is. Then in verse 8, John clarifies the reason that God is the source of love: “for God is love.” Love is at the very core of who God is. In his substance, he is “spirit” (John 4:24); in his nature, he is “light” (1 John 1:5) and “love” (1 John 4:8). God is the source of love because he is, by definition, love. He can do nothing other than love, and if we love, we demonstrate that we are God’s children (“born of God”). If others see God’s love in us, it is because he is the source of love. 

The second stanza reminds us that Jesus is the demonstration of love (4:9-10).

God’s love was manifested among us in this,
that God sent his only son into the world that we might live through him.
In this is love,
not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us and sent his son as a propitiation for our sins.

Despite the fact that our love demonstrates that we are God’s children, our love—even our love for God—does not provide a true example of what love is. Only Jesus can do that. Twice John reminds us that “God sent his son,” and he gives two results of that act. In verse 10, John says that God sent Jesus as a “propitiation for our sins.” The idea of propitiation is the satisfying of wrath by a sacrifice. Our pastor in Toronto defined it this way: “God’s frown turns to a smile.” The result in verse 9 follows logically from God’s frown turning to a smile—John says that “we live through him.” Why do we live? Because Jesus died in our place to satisfy God’s wrath. If others see God’s love in us, it’s because he demonstrated love in Jesus. 

The third stanza reminds us that we can be the revelation of love (4:11-12).

Beloved, if God loved us in this way,
we also ought to love one another.
No one has seen God at any time;
if we love one another, God abides in us,
and his love has been fulfilled in us.

John began by writing “let us love one another.” Now, he returns to that idea and says it twice in these verses. In John 13, Jesus taught that our love for one another proves we are his disciples. Here, John says that our love for one another lets others see God in us. That idea is pretty amazing when you consider that John 1:18 says that no one has ever seen God, but the son has “made him known.” When you put this idea together with the rest of Scripture, it teaches us that God reveals himself through creation, through Scripture, through Jesus, and through our love for one another. That last one is both encouraging and challenging. When God abides in us, and when his love is perfectly fulfilled in our love for one another, others see God in us. How’s that for a valentine to the world? 

So, maybe Valentinius gave soldiers cut-out parchment hearts, and maybe he signed a note or two to ladies with “your Valentine.” But God gave the greatest valentine of all: he sent his own son to die for us so that we might live for him. And now, we can reveal God’s love to a watching world by loving one another like Jesus loved us. When we love, others see God in us.