‘ Herein is love made perfect with us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment, and he who is afraid is not made perfect in love.'
The one who knows the love of God in Christ in him and abides in Him finds that that love is made perfect within him (see 1 John 4:12). He is aware of that love as revealed in the giving of a Saviour, and the suffering of a Saviour. He is aware that that love has provided a propitiation for his sins. He is aware that that love has set him apart and will one day present him holy, and unblameable, and unreproveable before God (Colossians 1:22), that it has perfected for ever those who are sanctified (Hebrews 10:14). Thus he is filled with love for God, and for his brothers in Christ who are all within the sphere of that love. Thus he has boldness with regard to the day of judgment. He is unafraid because through the cross and through Jesus Christ he knows that God's true love, His saving love, His accepting love, surrounds him. He is accepted as righteous in Christ, and that righteousness produces responsive love and acceptance of love. Of what then is he to be afraid? He will stand in the Judgment day in the love of Christ and of God. For he even walks in this world in the love of God, surrounded and sustained by that love, that holy love, so that he himself is ‘as Christ Jesus'. The love wherewith He loves His Son, such is His love for us who are His.
This love casts out all fear. The one who is safe in the love of God cannot be afraid. For there is no fear in love. To be within God's love in Christ is to be free from fear. Love removes all fear, especially perfect love, which can only signify God's love perfected in us (1 John 4:12). The one who has God's love so perfected in him will not fear. It is only those who are to be punished who need fear, and we know that in His love He has been punished for our sin, He has been made a propitiation for our sin, and there is therefore no further punishment to come for us. Thus those who are afraid demonstrate by that fact that they have not been made perfect in love, they are not enjoying the full benefits of the Gospel. There is a lack of faith and trust and obedience and of walking in the light.
‘Fear has punishment, and he who is afraid is not made perfect in love.' This may suggest that these ones who fear punishment are the false teachers whose end is destruction. They have cause to be afraid because their end is certain. But some fear because they do not trust. They are afraid of punishment when what they should be doing is being made perfect in love. They need to dwell more in His presence and absorb His love, especially as it is revealed through the cross.