Unhook From The Fear of Hell – 1 John 4:7-21

In today’s episode, we respond to a listener question: They ask us to elaborate on how we interpret a couple of passages from Mark, John, and Romans. Tune in to hear our answers and why we think it’s not good to be distracted from the hard questions with all of these snippets of verses. 

We then queered the text from 1 John 4:7-21, which ties in neatly with today’s listener question. We talked about how we all need to unhook our fear of an angry God or Hell. We are regarded as “good” just as we are and that there is nothing we can do for God not to love us anymore. We are called to do the work, be part of the community, love other people as a response out of love and not out of obligation. 

Key takeaways:

• Life and societal updates [0:50]
• Listener question about sins and it is wiped clean by Christ [6:24]
• No snippy soundbites [8:35]
• The assumption that you can weave different passages together [10:20]
• The arcs throughout scripture [12:35]
• What does it mean to have faith in Christ? [16:35]
• We are invited into the work [19:57]
• Queering the text: 1 John [21:31]
• “Agape” on Brian’s wrist and the story behind it [23:24]
• How the verse is full of God’s love [25:31]
• Different phrases, different meanings [26:05]
• A couple of points to ponder on [27:05]

Links mentioned:

Christianity Checklist?
Is It All About Getting Into Heaven?

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If you’d like to be featured in future episodes, email your question or Bible passage suggestion to connect@queertheology.com. 

1 John 4:7-21

Dear friends, let’s love each other, because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born from God and knows God. The person who doesn’t love does not know God, because God is love. This is how the love of God is revealed to us: God has sent his only Son into the world so that we can live through him. This is love: it is not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son as the sacrifice that deals with our sins.

 

Dear friends, if God loved us this way, we also ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God remains in us and his love is made perfect in us. This is how we know we remain in him and he remains in us, because he has given us a measure of his Spirit. We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the savior of the world. If any of us confess that Jesus is God’s Son, God remains in us and we remain in God. We have known and have believed the love that God has for us.

 

God is love, and those who remain in love remain in God and God remains in them. This is how love has been perfected in us, so that we can have confidence on the Judgment Day, because we are exactly the same as God is in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love drives out fear, because fear expects punishment. The person who is afraid has not been made perfect in love. We love because God first loved us. Those who say, “I love God” and hate their brothers or sisters are liars. After all, those who don’t love their brothers or sisters whom they have seen can hardly love God whom they have not seen! This commandment we have from him: Those who claim to love God ought to love their brother and sister also.

Photo by Emmanuel Phaeton 

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