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This is an IMPERFECT CHIASM: when we love one another, God abides in us and perfects His love in us. The word Beloved appears in the two markers (verses 7A and 11A) which address us in a personal way.
1) The OPENING SUMMARY, verses 7 to 10, is an emphatic argument for the remaining verses 11 to 19. Verse 7B states we are called to love because God gave that provision. In order for God to abide in us and love one another, we must first know that Jesus′s death for our sins was the complete love sacrifice for us. The a′ element is an AMPLIFICATION of a, as is the b′ element an AMPLIFICATION of b.
2) The two FRAME elements, verses 11B and 19, make a strong point to love one another. God loves us, so therefore we are called to do the same to others.
3) God′s abiding love is stressed in the two B CORRESPONDING ELEMENTS. Our love is perfected when we love one another, for then God lives within us in His perfect love. With that love, we can have certainty of our judgment on that final day (verse 17A).
4) The C CORRESPONDING ELEMENTS are important statements for they confirm how we know that God lives within us. That is, the presence of the Holy Spirit assures us that we live with God: we in Him and He in us.
5) We know that the EXTRA D′ element is emphatic because there is no similar text between verses 13 and 14. The emphasis stated in verse 16A that God not only loves us, He is love (see also verse 8). That statement, God is love, is widely quoted which should confirm the sense of emphasis in those two verses.
6) The two E CENTER POINT elements of the chiasm (verses 14 and 15) incorporate the power of testifying and confessing Jesus, thereby allowing God to abide in him and him in God.
7) The PARENTHESIS in verse 18 is a corollary about how fear from punishment inhibits the understanding of perfect love. Show More Rhetoric Show Less Rhetoric
CHIASM (IMPERFECT):
... love one another: God abides in us and perfects His love in us ...
a personal address
BEGINNING MARKER: Beloved, (v7A)
OPENING SUMMARY: God′s love is to love one another
SUM
let us love one another, for love is from God; (v7B)
love infers one knows God
a
and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. (v7C)
not love infers one does not know God
a′
The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. (v8)
God sent Jesus so we might live
b
By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. (v9)
God sent Jesus to die for our sins
b′
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. (v10)
a personal address
SUB-UNIT MARKER: Beloved, (v11A)
God loves so we love one another
FRAME
if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. (v11B)
we have not seen God (in this world)
A
No one has seen God at any time; (v12A)
loving one another perfects His love in us
B
if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us. (v12B)
we abide in God and He in us
C
By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. (v13)
no text
D
we testify that Jesus is the Savior of the world
E
We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. (v14)
if we testify Jesus is the Son of God, he abides with God
E′
Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. (v15)
EXTRA: that we know God′s love for us
D′
We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, (v16A)
those who love abide in God and God in him
C′
and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. (v16B)
His love is perfected within us
B′
By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; (v17A)
God is in this world, as we are
A′
because as He is, so also are we in this world. (v17B)
love is not perfected when we fear punishment
PARENTHESIS
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. (v18)
God loved us first, so we love
FRAME
We love, because He first loved us. (v19)