4:181 John 4:18

There is no dread in love, but completed love drives dread out because dread brings torment, and whoever still dreads has not yet been made complete in love.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+2 God showed that love by sending His only Son as the offering for sins so that people might live through Him, joining divinity with humanity in Christ taking human nature so that through grace humanity may share the divine nature and stand with God.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+1 Love becomes complete in those who know and believe the love God has for them, confess Jesus as Son of God and Saviour of the world, receive His Spirit, and dwell in love so that God dwells in them and they in God.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+2 Made complete in this way believers are like Christ in the world, with their wills reconciled to God's will and love kept glowing, so they have confidence and boldness for the day of judgment.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+2 Love for Christ is inseparable from love for one another, so it is impossible to have Christ-love in the heart while hating a brother, and it is shown by following Christ's example in deed and truth in caring for those in need and being willing to lay down life for fellow believers.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+4

There is no dread in love, for perfected love leaves no room for dread but drives it out, because dread brings torment, and whoever still dreads has not yet been brought to completeness in love.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+4 God showed that love by sending His only Son into the world to save sinners as the offering for sins, that people might live through Him, joining divinity with humanity in Christ taking human nature so that through grace humanity may share the divine nature and stand with God.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+1 That love becomes complete in those who know and believe the love God has for them, confess Jesus as Son of God and Saviour of the world, receive His Spirit, and dwell in love so that God dwells in them and they in God.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+3 Receiving in this way the Spirit of unselfish love and service deepens faith and convictions, perfects love, makes the character increasingly reflect Christ, and is made complete when a person puts on Christ.HSP 16.7+1

Perfect love has length and breadth and height and depth to be known by experience.Lt 29, 1878, par. 5 It means entire conformity to the will of God, being imbued with His Spirit and knowing that God is working through the life.Lt 29, 1878, par. 5 It brings a yearning heart that is not content to rest without it, hungering and thirsting after righteousness.Lt 29, 1878, par. 5 When allowed full sway as the ruling motive power of life, love is a redeeming power filling the heart that controls every other motive and lifts its possessors above the corrupting influences of the world.AA 551.3 It expels all low, selfish motives from the soul and produces complete trust and confidence in God and His dealings, so that believers come to Him in full assurance of faith knowing they will receive from Him everything needful for present and eternal good.AA 551.3+1

When love is made complete in this way believers become like Christ in the world, so that they have confidence and boldness for the day of judgment.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+3 This likeness means Christ abiding in the heart by faith, with wills reconciled to God's will and love kept glowing on the heart instead of becoming cold, hard and unsympathetic toward fellow men.Ms 41, 1890, par. 25–30 Knowing and believing God's love, revealed in Christ's self-sacrifice, makes love complete and gives that confidence on the day of judgment.Ms 82, 1898, par. 26–30

Love for Christ is inseparable from love for one another, so the more love believers have for Christ the more love they will have for one another.10MR 144.1–4+1 It is impossible to have Christ-love in the heart while acting discourteously, drawing apart without love or sympathy, creating ill will, or hating a brother.10MR 144.1–4+1 Whoever says he loves God while hating his brother lies, for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+2

This love is shown by following Christ's example in deed and truth, caring for those in need and being willing to lay down one's life for fellow believers.Ms 82, 1898, par. 26–30 Perfection is reached when the love of Jesus Christ is exercised toward one another in this way.Ms 41, 1890, par. 25–30 That mutual, brotherly love quenches suspicion and the spirit of thinking evil, speaking evil, and supposing brethren intend harm, and those evils must be put away.Ms 41, 1890, par. 25–30 Perfect love leaves no place for hatred and false assumptions against a brother.Lt 391, 1906, par. 15–16

Believers need this love so they will believe the truth, pray humbly together, repent of sins, confess faults to one another, come together in unity and love, and be exceedingly careful to do or say nothing that creates ill will.10MR 144.1–4+1 Without reformation on this point of mutual love there will be a perilous departing from God.10MR 144.1–4+1 Treasuring untrue suppositions against a brother is displeasing to God, must be decidedly changed to stand acquitted before Him, and brings present and eternal injury.Lt 391, 1906, par. 15–16

Such love is a test of genuine religious experience and sanctification, proving love for God by love for the brother who is seen.10MR 144.1–4+2 Loving God because He first loved means God commands that he who loves God must love his brother also.Lt 221, 1903, par. 2–6+2

Perfect love brings freedom, not bondage, binding believers up with Christ and leading upward step by step into the liberty of heaven where the soul finds freedom full, large and abundant with room by Christ's side in a love higher, deeper and broader than any earthly love.Lt 115, 1902, par. 22–28 It holds people in right relation to others and expels selfishness from the hearts of those who love God supremely and their neighbor as themselves.Lt 115, 1902, par. 22–28 That completed love ends harassing self-condemnation, because the person stands as a sinner saved by the blood of Christ.Lt 50, 1891, par. 5 It turns the life to seeking how best to glorify Christ, to stop doing evil and learn to do well as a student in the school of Christ entering upon His life and practicing His virtues with no taint of worldly maxims corrupting the thoughts or woven into the character, with Jesus Christ as the model.Lt 50, 1891, par. 5 Gratitude, love and loyalty become the ruling motives, and these must dwell richly in every soul who will be a final overcomer.Lt 50, 1891, par. 5

It casts out all fear of what others will say.Lt 115, 1902, par. 22–28 When holiness and love abound in those who profess Christ they act like a refining fire, consuming what is impure and scattering darkness.GW92 376.1 Love for Christ casts out unbelief, for Simon's small sense of his obligation left him short of the respect and love he owed to the Saviour, while Mary's gratitude for pardoning mercy filled her heart with love.2SP 381.1 Love and fear-driven service are opposed, for service motivated by fear is not the willing, loving allegiance God accepts.RH Feb 8, 1915+1 He wants allegiance grounded in confidence in His justice, goodness and benevolence, and destroying Satan before the nature and consequences of sin were clear would have led His creatures to serve Him from fear rather than love.RH Feb 8, 1915+1

Perfect love is peace and joy in the love of God and glad expectation of meeting Jesus soon at His near personal appearing, with felt evidences of His love.CET 37.3–38.2+1 Belief that His coming is near stirs the soul to seek more earnestly for sanctification by the Spirit of God, and through that truth the heart finds peace, joy and perfect love that drives testimony to others and fills the soul with peace and happiness even when opposed.CET 37.3–38.2+1 There is no jealous fear in perfect love, so where a husband's heart is devoted to his wife, fear that he will think too much of others who have no claim to his affections is groundless and has no place.Lt 9, 1864, par. 1–3 Holding onto it brings many hours of unnecessary suffering in watching and scrutinizing words and acts with a censuring mind and putting a wrong construction upon innocent words and acts, which Satan magnifies to mar the happiness of a family that might be complete.Lt 9, 1864, par. 1–3 That spirit of jealousy is cruel as the grave and causes estrangement of feeling between husband and wife, while the mother's sadness and trouble awakens sympathy in the children so they see with the mother and become separated in greater or less degree from the father.Lt 9, 1864, par. 1–3 Perfect love can also be professed falsely by a deceitful person with lengthy claims of holiness of heart, perfect peace and submission to the will of God, and freedom from trials and temptations.LSEGW 129.2–3