1 John 1–5
“God Is Love”
How has your life been influenced by love? Why do we all need to feel love, especially God’s love? The Apostle John wrote epistles to Saints who were being misled by false teachings. He focused on God’s love for the Saints and how this love was manifested through the saving mission of Jesus Christ. This lesson is intended to help you feel God’s love for you.
Emphasizing home-centered gospel learning. Gospel learning is a home-centered activity. Look for opportunities to encourage students to share in class what they are learning at home. Also encourage them to share with their families what they are learning and experiencing in seminary.
Student preparation: Invite students to come prepared to share different ways they could accurately complete the following statement: “God is …”
Possible Learning Activities
God is …
Display the phrase “God is …” Invite students to reflect on their preparation for class as they identify as many ways as possible to accurately complete this statement. Students could work in pairs or small groups and could write on the board ways they would complete the statement. Invite a few volunteers to share why they completed the statement the way they did.
In your study journal, write the phrase “God is …” Write down as many ways as you can think of to accurately complete this statement. For example, you could write “God is all-knowing” or “God is all-powerful.”
Read 1 John 4:8, 16, looking for ways John described God.
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What did you find?
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Why do you think God could be described as love?
One of God’s defining characteristics is His love for us. Think about the following questions:
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Do you feel that Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love you personally? Why or why not?
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Do you believe that They are aware of you and of your personal successes and struggles? Why or why not?
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What are ways They have shown or might show Their love for you?
As you study John’s epistle, look for truths that may help you answer these questions. Also ponder how understanding and feeling Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s love for you may make a difference in your life.
Consider inviting a student to read or summarize the following paragraph.
John’s teachings about God’s love
John likely wrote his epistles between AD 80 and AD 100 from Ephesus. Some Church members had adopted beliefs from a group called the Gnostics. This group taught that Jesus did not have a physical body and that salvation came through special knowledge rather than through faith in Christ. John refuted these false doctrines by teaching several important themes, including how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ showed Their perfect love through the Savior’s life, Atonement, and Resurrection (see 1 John 1:1–3; 3:16; 4:9–10).
Consider drawing a large heart on the board. As students do the following study activity and complete their own hearts in their journals, they could come up to the board and write their favorite verse and phrase on the class heart.
Read 1 John 4:19, and consider marking why we love God, according to John.
In your study journal, draw a large heart. In the middle of the heart, write “I know Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ love me because …” Leave enough room to write scripture references and phrases. Ponder how Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ “first loved us.”
Read the following passages. Look for and mark phrases that show Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ’s love for you. Write those phrases along with their associated scripture references inside the heart.
Be sure to display the following scripture references where students can see them.
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1 John 2:1–2 (Note: An advocate is someone who pleads for, comforts, and supports us. Propitiation means an atoning sacrifice that satisfies the justice of God.)
Review the phrases and references you marked and wrote down. Select the phrase that is most meaningful to you, and complete two or three of the following:
Display the following instructions for students to see as they complete the activity.
Consider providing an example for students of how to complete the following portion of their journal entry.
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Explain how the phrase you chose is meaningful to you.
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If possible, describe an experience in which you felt Heavenly Father’s or Jesus Christ’s love in that way. You could also share an example from the scriptures, a Church video, or a general conference talk. (To see an example, consider watching Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles’ talk “That I Might Draw All Men unto Me” from time code 7:32 to 9:14.)
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Describe how knowing the truth of this phrase has made, is making, or can make a difference in your life. Consider adding your personal testimony of God’s love.
Give students sufficient time to complete their journal entries. Invite several volunteers to share with the class what they wrote.
Consider inviting students who are able to share a photo of their journal page on social media along with their personal testimony of God’s love.
Consider sharing this journal entry with friends and family or even on social media.
Ponder what you have learned as you read the following statement by Elder Robert C. Gay of the Seventy about the power of God’s love:
His love is greater than our fears, our wounds, our addictions, our doubts, our temptations, our sins, our broken families, our depression and anxieties, our chronic illness, our poverty, our abuse, our despair, and our loneliness. He wants all to know there is nothing and no one He is unable to heal and deliver to enduring joy.
(Robert C. Gay, “Taking upon Ourselves the Name of Jesus Christ,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2018, 99)
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What is most important to you in this statement? Why?
Feeling God’s love
Imagine that someone you know didn’t think they felt the love of God or didn’t notice it very often. Think about what you have learned today, as well as your own personal experiences.
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What could you share with them that might help them feel the love of God?
It could be effective to give students time to ponder the previous question before they answer. It could also be useful to have students share ideas in small groups before discussing the question as a class.
In the lessons that follow, you will study John’s additional teaching of how we show our love for Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ, including keeping Their commandments and loving one another.
Consider singing “I Stand All Amazed” (Hymns, no. 193) as a class or sharing a personal example of the influence of God’s love.
Seek Heavenly Father’s help and listen and feel for promptings from Him through the Holy Ghost. Think of ways you can access or receive God’s love and how you can notice His love more often in your life. Ponder how consistently doing so could increase the joy you experience in your life.
Commentary and Background Information
Where can I learn more about God’s love?
Consider studying President Russell M. Nelson’s February 2003 Ensign article titled “Divine Love” (pages 20–25) to find insights on God’s love.
How can recognizing and feeling God’s love influence our lives?
While serving as a member of the Seventy, Elder John H. Groberg explained:
When filled with God’s love, we can do and see and understand things that we could not otherwise do or see or understand. Filled with His love, we can endure pain, quell fear, forgive freely, avoid contention, renew strength, and bless and help others in ways surprising even to us.
Jesus Christ was filled with unfathomable love as He endured incomprehensible pain, cruelty, and injustice for us. Through His love for us, He rose above otherwise insurmountable barriers. His love knows no barriers. He invites us to follow Him and partake of His unlimited love so we too may rise above the pain and cruelty and injustice of this world and help and forgive and bless.
(John H. Groberg, “The Power of God’s Love,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2004, 11)
Supplemental Learning Activities
Witnesses of the Savior’s Resurrection testify of His reality and help us recognize His personal love
If students would benefit from discussing the personal nature of the Savior’s love, invite them to read 1 John 1:1–3 and 3 Nephi 11:13–17 . These passages describe the experiences that both John and the people in the Americas had with the resurrected Savior.
Invite students to share what these experiences teach us about Jesus Christ and His love.
Testify that although we may not physically be able to touch the Savior, He can help us come to know Him through other ways, such as the scriptures and the Holy Ghost. He will show us His love through the many tender mercies He extends to us (see 1 Nephi 1:20). Invite students to share personal examples of when they have experienced the Savior’s love for them.
1 John 2:1. “We have an advocate”
If students would benefit from a better understanding of the Savior’s role as our advocate with the Father, invite them to study 1 John 2:1–2. Share that advocate means someone who pleads for, comforts, and supports us. Invite students to study Doctrine and Covenants 45:3–5, looking for how the Savior is our advocate. It may also be helpful for students to read the epistle of Philemon to see how Paul was an advocate for Onesimus as he asked Church members to accept Onesimus because of Paul. Or they could read the account of Abigail, Nabal, and David in 1 Samuel 25:1–35 to see how Abigail acted as an advocate by offering to take responsibility for Nabal’s mistakes so that he would not receive the punishment David had come to inflict. Invite students to share ways that the Savior has been, is, and will be an advocate for them and why this is important to understand.
God is light and love
If students would benefit from focusing on God’s light in addition to God’s love, consider inviting them to study 1 John 2:8–11; 3:16, 23–24; 4:7–21. Invite them to ponder the experiences John had with the Savior’s light and love (such as those recorded in John 2:1–11 or John 5:1–9). They could also consider what John learned from Jesus’s teachings recorded in John 3:16–17; 8:12; 12:35–36, 46; 15:9–14; 19:25–27. Invite students to share similarities between these teachings and what 1 John teaches about the light and love of God. Invite students to share experiences that have taught them that God is light and love.