The Brown Book Commentaries

“There is no fear in Love – and perfect Love casts our fear” ~ unknown (1 John 4:18)
I think if I were forced to pick just a handful of verses from the entire Bible to share with folks
(Christian & non-Christian alike), this verse would undoubtedly make that very short list … Indeed,
for anyone sincerely interested in coming to a fuller comprehension of the deeper meanings of the
Scriptures (and certainly for all of those wishing to properly & fully worship the same) 1 John 4:18 is
truly a crucial verse to know & understand … And this is so for a number of reasons. First, it is so
because 1 John 4:18 (like the over-arching Way of Christ taught & lived by Jesus himself in the
Gospels) essentially mandates not only that we love others with our thoughts (i.e. our gratitude & our
prayers for others‘ Peace & Joy), our words (i.e. our apologies for self & our encouragements of
others), our emotions (i.e. our empathy for those in pain and our revelry for those in celebration), but
that we first & foremost have the courage to dramatically & courageously LOVE others fully (i.e.
humbly) with our actions (a la Matthew 18:3-4 & John 13:15-17 & Matthew 7:21-14 & Matthew
24:12-14 et al) … Second, remember as well that God is composed of ―perfect Love‖ (the Greek
agape here – meaning unconditional regard & affection, and the same Greek agape in Matthew 5:43-
48), and that such Love knows no fear whatsoever. As such, we cannot be called to ever fear God, as
many traditional worshippers & preachers incorrectly advocate, but rather are to humbly ―revere‖ Him
– as the actual Old Testament Hebrew often advocates we do (see the Hebrew yare in Exodus 34:30,
Leviticus 19:14, Leviticus 19:32, Leviticus 25:17, Leviticus 25:36, Psalm 33:8, Ecclesiastes 3:14,
Ecclesiastes 8:12-13 et al – Strong‘s #3372) … Third, the latter half of this verse is crucial as well (the
half that states ―for fear has to do with punishment, and thus whomever fears [and thus whomever
punishes] has not reached perfection in Love‖) – specifically because it strongly implies that there is
no Hell in the Universe of a God of perfect Love – seeing as how Hell is quite clearly a punishment,
and that a God of perfect Love can express neither fear nor the punishment that ensues therefrom …
Yes, conservative Christians tend to respond by saying that it is the willing sinner who chooses to
burn in Hell for eternity – that it is not God‘s fault that sinners decide to suffer forever, and yet this
argument is patently ludicrous; if for no other reason than A) it presumes that sinners are objectively
& fairly aware of that eternal consequence (which they are most certainly not), and B) that sinners
thereby purposefully choose to burn forever rather than kiss the celestial bottom of their Divine
Despot (which only the very few clinically diagnosed masochists would ever do) … No, there is no
easy out here for the non-Loving, conservative (a.k.a. evangelical) Christian. Their God either
directly condemns the billions of ―unworthy Souls‖ to an eternity of suffering (which Jesus very
clearly notes He does not do – see John 5:22 et al) or at the very least He is guilty by implication –
having first & foremost Himself created this unjustly warped system, and at the very least thereafter
passively allowed billions of mostly innocent Souls to burn forever as a patently unjust consequence
thereof … This latter conundrum should make conservative Christians (especially those who consider
themselves to be ―biblical literalists‖) extremely thankful for 1 John 4:18, seeing as how it alone
provides them a scriptural ―out‖ for their now suddenly not nearly so wicked God.
―When the Wheel of Love turns, there are no more rules …
My Heart is open like the heavens.‖ ~ unknown
This is most true indeed, for Love – to truly BE – must be 100% volitional, neither constrained
by rules nor shackled by promises; neither limited by obligations nor hampered by regulations or
dampened by commitments ... When all of these hindrances to choice are dismissed, and Love
thereafter blossoms unabated, the Heart that Loves with that pure magnitude is indeed ―opened like
the heavens‖ – fully able to Love all
it encounters; fully able to Love
without harming another, and as such
fully able to Love without worry or
shame or guilt or regret.
Image 424 (Page 154b) … This picture (which I call ―Abundance of Peace‖) shows a
statue of Buddha in South Korea, and reminds me of the Truth that Virtue becomes
hollow & brittle when it is meekly worshipped more than boldly enlivened …
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