阅读经文 

这可能是有史以来最有力的宣告。在所有关于爱的书卷中，甚至在所有谈论爱的经文中，这是唯一神对爱亲自下定义的地方。爱不只是一种感觉，或者一种行动，甚或是一种承诺——尽管所有这些东西都包括在其中。爱是超越语言的，它藉着圣父的旨意和圣子的牺牲——即耶稣死在十字架上，使我们与神的关系得以恢复——得以清晰地表达出来。

无论我们从哪个角度看，神的爱总是比我们的过犯更多。从父的角度看，祂为了那些需要祂拯救的人，牺牲了祂的爱子。从子的角度看，祂牺牲了自己，使我们能够重新回到父的身边。而从我们的角度来看，在我们现实所见范围之内，我们是迷失的，在世上毫无盼望。由于我们的罪，我们正走向毁灭。我们却无法拯救自己。所以神“差祂的儿子，为我们的罪作了挽回祭”。何以如此？因为祂爱我们。

在这种爱的光照下，再进一步地领悟到：“我们若彼此相爱，神就住在我们里面，爱祂的心在我们里面得以完全了”。（参约壹 4:12）

This might be the most powerful sentence ever written. With all the volumes written about love, even with all the Scriptures that talk about love, this is the only place where God wrote down his definition of love for all to see. Love is not simply a feeling, or an action, or even a commitment—although all of those things are involved. Love is beyond words and has been communicated most clearly through the Father’s will and the Son’s sacrifice—when Jesus died on a cross so that our relationship with God could be restored.

No matter what angle we view it from, God’s love is always more. From the angle of the Father, he sacrificed what was dearest to him for the sake of those who needed him more. From the Son’s perspective, he sacrificed himself so that we could be restored to the Father. And from our perspective, to the extent that we can see it honestly, we were lost and without a hope in the world. Because of our sin, we were headed for destruction with no way to save ourselves. So God “sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” Why? Because he loves us.

And in the light of that love, there is more: “If we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.”