1 John 4:18

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There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18 (NKJV)

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18 (NIV)

There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

1 John 4:18 (KJV)

Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love.

1 John 4:18 (NLT)

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

1 John 4:18 (ESV)

There is no fear in love [dread does not exist], but full-grown (complete, perfect) love turns fear out of doors and expels every trace of terror! For fear brings with it the thought of punishment, and [so] he who is afraid has not reached the full maturity of love [is not yet grown into love's complete perfection].

1 John 4:18 (AMP)

Scripture quotations taken from the Amplified® Bible (AMP), Copyright © 2015 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. www.lockman.org

New Covenant Meaning

Fear and Love Cannot Coexist

John makes a categorical statement: there is no fear in love. The two are mutually exclusive. Where love is fully operative, fear cannot be. Where fear operates, love has not yet reached its full maturity in that heart. This is not merely an observation about emotional states. It is a theological statement about the New Covenant. The New Covenant is not a fear-based relationship with God. It is a love-based one. Hebrews 12:18-24 contrasts Sinai (which produced such fear that Moses trembled) with the New Covenant mountain (the city of the living God). The fear that dominated old covenant experience is not the posture of the New Covenant believer.

Fear Has to Do With Punishment

John identifies the specific content of the fear he is addressing: it has to do with punishment (kolasis). This is the fear of being condemned, of facing judgment, of God being angry with you. Romans 8:1 says there is now no condemnation for those in Christ Jesus. The believer who is secure in God's love does not live with the fear of divine punishment, because Jesus bore the punishment. Fear of punishment is a sign that the person has not yet fully appropriated the love of God that has been lavished on them (v. 16). The cure for that fear is not trying harder to stop being afraid. It is going deeper into the love.

The context of 1 John 4:18 is the great love passage of verses 7-21. John has said God is love (v. 8), God demonstrated love by sending His Son as the propitiation for our sins (v. 10), and He who abides in love abides in God and God in him (v. 16). Verse 17 says as Jesus is, so are we in this world — meaning our standing before God is the same as Jesus's standing before God. Verse 18 then logically follows: the person who knows they stand before God exactly as Jesus does has no reason to fear punishment. That knowledge drives out fear.

Application for Your Life

If You Are Afraid, Receive More Love

John's diagnosis of fear is pastoral, not condemning: the person who fears has not yet been perfected (matured, made complete) in love. The solution is not to try harder not to be afraid. The solution is to go deeper into the love of God. Read 1 John 4:7-21. Sit with Romans 8:38-39. Let the love that has been lavished on you (1 John 3:1) do what John says it does: drive out the fear. Fear shrinks as the love of God fills the space.

You Are Not Going to Be Punished

The fear 1 John 4:18 addresses is the fear of divine punishment. If you are in Christ, you are not going to be punished. The punishment was laid on Jesus (Isaiah 53:5). Romans 8:1 declares no condemnation. The believer lives not under the shadow of coming judgment but in the light of the love of One who already bore the full weight of judgment on their behalf. Let that settled truth replace the fear.

Prayer Based on This Verse

Father, Your perfect love casts out fear. Where fear about punishment, condemnation, or Your anger has been operating in my life, I invite Your love to do what Your word says it does: drive it out. I am not going to be punished. Jesus bore that. There is no condemnation for me in Christ. I abide in Your love today. I let Your love reach every place in my heart where fear has taken root. Perfect love casts out fear. Let it be so in me. In Jesus' name. Amen.