When will perfect love cast out fear according to scripture?
Perfect love will cast out fear, but when does that happen according to scripture? Most preachers will show you verse 18 (below) and say that God’s love for us cast out fear, but that’s incorrect.
It’s our remaining in love as we are commanded to do by Jesus Christ (John 13:34-35), and by God (1 John 4:20-21) that will cast out fear of punishment, because in this world we are like Him (verse 17 and verse 6 below).
1 John 4:17-19
17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18 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. 19 We love Him because He first loved us. NKJV
1 John 2:3-6
3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. 4 He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him. 6 He who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked. NKJV
We will have boldness on the day of judgment because we are like Him in this world (verse 17 above) and not because we got saved one day way back when. The love of God is only perfected in those who keep His Word (verse 5 above), and that perfect love casts out fear of punishment.
How can we be so sure, since God so loved the world (John 3:16), and Jesus Christ died for the sins of the whole world (1 John 2:2)? Although true, that doesn’t mean that everyone for whom Christ died, or everyone that God so loved is going to make it into Heaven (Matthew 7:21).
Love for God is to keep His commands, just as love for Jesus is to keep His Word (verses below). Therefore, again the love of God is only perfected in those who keep His Word (1 John 2:5 above), and that perfect love casts out fear of punishment (1 John 4:18 above). Those who do not allow Jesus to reign over them will be destroyed in the end (Luke 19:27).
1 John 5:3
3 For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome. NKJV
John 14:23-24
23 Jesus answered and said to him, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him. 24 He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine but the Father’s who sent Me. NKJV
Not even calling Jesus Lord guarantees that we will be able to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, but we have to do the will of God in Heaven (Matthew 7:21-23).
Matthew 7:21-23
21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ 23 And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ NKJV
We have to do the will of God in order to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. God wants us to believe in His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, and He commanded us to love one another.
John 6:28-29
28 Then they said to Him, “What shall we do, that we may work the works of God?” 29 Jesus answered and said to them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent.” NKJV
Jesus Christ commanded us to love one another, as a new commandment, which is the same thing God has commanded us to do according to the New Covenant.
John 13:34-35
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. [35] By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” NKJV
1 John 4:20-21
20 If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? 21 And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also. NKJV
If we do NOT abide in the doctrine of Christ, we do NOT have God, but he who has the Son has the Father as well.
2 John 1:9-11
9 Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ does not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him; 11 for he who greets him shares in his evil deeds. NKJV
1 John 5:11-12
11 And this is the testimony: that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. NKJV
If we love one another, obeying Jesus Christ and God, then God will remain (abide) in us and His love is perfected in us. Those who remain (abide) in love, remain in God, but those who do not love one another, as we are commanded to do, will not remain.
1 John 4:11-12
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. 16 And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him. NKJV
So, when will perfect love cast out fear? After we are like Him in this world. Just as God loved us, we ought to love one another.
1 John 4:7-10
7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. 8 He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 10 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. NKJV
Therefore, we should fear until we are like Him in this world, and we are instructed to do so. As you read through the list of scriptures below that instruct us to fear the Lord God, think about what would have happened if every church today were preaching these verses, and you had heard them from childhood.
Philippians 2:12
12 Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling; NKJV
2 Corinthians 7:1
1 Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. NKJV
1 Peter 1:17-19
17 And if you call on the Father, who without partiality judges according to each one’s work, conduct yourselves throughout the time of your stay here in fear; 18 knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, 19 but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. NKJV
Hebrews 12:28-29
28 Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear. 29 For our God is a consuming fire. NKJV
Hebrews 4:1
1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. NKJV
As you can tell, the early New Testament church feared the Lord (Acts 9:31), and so should we. Every Christian needs to know these scriptures because the fear of the Lord turns us from evil (Proverbs 16:6). Imagine how many addictions could have been avoided had we known the scriptures since childhood.
The fear of the Lord is life and it prolongs our days (Proverbs 10:27). It’s by the fear of the Lord we escape the snares of death (Proverbs 14:27, 19:23). Imagine how many Christians would still be alive today had they known the fear of the Lord since childhood, but we preach the exact opposite.
They say fear is of the devil
Ive even heard many preachers say, “All fear is of the devil.” Some fear may be of the devil, but the Lord has no problem protecting us from the devil (2 Thessalonians 3:3), assuming we are not living for the flesh, since it is our sins that give us over.
1 John 5:18
18 We know that whoever is born of God does not sin; but he who has been born of God keeps himself, and the wicked one does not touch him. NKJV
We should be in a position to where the devil cannot even touch us (verse 18 above), but we’re not. Why? We cannot be “born of God” (1 John 5:1) and not love Jesus Christ; keeping His Word (John 14:23-24). We cannot be “born of God” and not love one another (1 John 7). We cannot be “born of God” and not overcome the world through faith (1 John 5:4).
A friend of this world makes himself God’s enemy (james 4:4), and to be worldly minded is death (Romans 8:6). We have forgotten our first sacrifice to God for what He has done for us; stop conforming to this world (Romans 12:1-2), and we have rejected the fear of the Lord, so are we going to turn from evil?
Part of the reason He doesn’t answer our cry is because we have not chosen the fear of the Lord. Proverbs 1:28-30. Check it. However, if what we heard from the beginning remains in us (1 John 2:24), then we too will remain (1 John 3:10-11).
Yes, eventually we will serve Him without fear (Luke 1:74), but for now His mercy is on those who fear Him from generation to generation (Luke 1:50, Psalm 103:17, 33:18), and He accepts those who fear Him and works righteousness (Acts 10:35).
Luke 1:50
And His mercy is on those who fear Him From generation to generation. NKJV
Acts 10:35
35 But in every nation whoever fears Him and works righteousness is accepted by Him. NKJV
Therefore, the fear of the Lord God is a good thing for us. It’s a healthy thing and I wanted to show that to those who would believe the scriptures so that they would not be deceived by those who suppress the truth.
Allow me to remind you that those who suppress the truth are unrighteous (Romans 1:18), and there is no inheritance for the unrighteous (1 Corinthians 6:9). So the preachers of our day trade their inheritance for a larger crowd, but all who are led by the blind will also fall into the ditch (Matthew 15:14).
There are many more scriptures in the video. I tried to mention some of the ones I forgot while making this video in a nearby park. Please learn them for yourself so that you will not be deceived (Ephesians 4:13-14).
May the Lord bless all who hear His Word in Jesus name Amen, and I pray also for everyone in the world, that the Lord would send His Word to save, and to heal, and to provide (2 Peter 1:3-4). I’m Alan Ballou; a servant
If you have questions for me, and you are willing to believe the scriptures written in your own Bible, then please ask, but I refuse to argue with unbelievers (2 Timothy 2:24). Farewell
