Thursday, August 28, 2014
1 John 4:7-16 (Saint Augustine of Hippo)
This passage has underscored the often repeated notion that “God is love.” Love and God are inextricably linked such that one who loves is born of God and loves God. The author states that when people love each other, God lives in them.
It is important, however, to place the passage in the context of the early church, where, from the beginning, debates arose about all sorts of theological issues. In 1 John it is evident that a heated debate had arisen about the nature of Christ and the community has experienced fracture and dissension. Some have left (see 1 John 2:18-19). The writer thus attempts to stress love as a way of consolidating the people that remain.
Today commemorates of St. Augustine, a North African bishop from the 4th -5th century whose ideas and writings have been central in the development of Christian theological traditions, especially in the West. One of Augustine’s writings is a personal memoir of his own struggles with the Christian faith, which he resisted for many years despite being raised as a Christian. The book is called the Confessions and has become a classic of spiritual autobiography. Although to what extent everything in the memoir is accurate is debatable, it is very helpful to have a text that reveals the emotional, physical, moral and theological struggles that such an influential Christian thinker has had.
- Alicia Batten
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