Light, Life, Love: God is Love – John 4:7-16
November 1, 2020Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Speaker: Jerry Cisar
Orthodoxy, often talked about by students of the faith, refers to soundness of faith, which is often boiled down to belief in the right points of truth. As important as that is, we cannot overlook the importance of orthopraxy… right practice. John, in our text today, wants us to understand that orthopraxy, sound practice of the faith, is essential to orthodoxy. In fact, without right practice there is no right doctrine for one cannot know God if they do not love.
In other words, you cannot know without practicing. To know without practicing is to deceive oneself. Put another way: Orthopraxy and orthodoxy are inseparable. When Paul wrote the Philippians, he was not merely wanting to inform them as to how a Christian should live, the goal of his letter was that they live that way. … that Euodia and Syntyche would stop their quarreling. They could not “know what Paul meant” without reconciling.
In our 1 John 4:7-16, John shows us why “Love one another,” is not merely an implication of the Gospel, but is essential to the Gospel itself.