Grammar Of Love!
"Beloved, if God so loved us,
we also ought to love one
another."
1 John 4: 11
Sometimes Greek grammar can illuminate our responsibilities as
Christians, as in 1 John 4:11. When the Greek word “if” is followed
by a certain kind of verb form (in this case, “loved us”), the “if”
condition is assumed to be true.
So we can translate the verse, “If God so loved us”, and indeed,
He did, then we also ought to love one another in the same way.
“So loved us” forces the question, How did God love us? Answer
is found in the preceding verse 10: He sent His Son in the world
to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Putting verses 10-11 together, we see our responsibility. God
loved us sacrificially. If God loved us sacrificially—and indeed,
He did—then we also ought to love one another sacrificially.
Our responsibility, then, is love one another the same way
God has loved us. God sacrificed His Son to love us—what
have we sacrificed to love others? Have we
sacrificed anger,
pride, resentment, material goods, time, self-interest?
Greek grammar makes our responsibility clear.
Since God sacrificed for us, and indeed He did,
we ought to sacrificially love others as well.
"Love so amazing, so divine,
demands my soul, my life, my all."
Isaac Watts
