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Inward Testimony
Peace of the Rock
1John 4:17-18
Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. (KJV)
"perfect" = teleios = complete, mature, lacking nothing, finished
"torment" = kolasis (noun)= punishment, And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life
(Matt.25:46).
Peace or fear
When peace is removed, there is fear. The unconverted fear God's judgment on sin, but those in Christ have no fear of God's judgment; they dwell at peace under the blood of Christ. The peace a believer knows at the hour he first believed is ongoing as he matures in God's word of love, even amid the hostility of the world's darkness which will always oppose the children of light just as it opposed Jesus (Jn.14:27,16:23, Phil.1:28-30).
Peace and love
Jesus is our rock and refuge amid the storms of this world because His word is a solid rock of refuge. If being obedient to the simple gospel gives me peace from the wrath of God toward my sin, how much more will my sanctification in God's word cover me with peace amid the wrath of merely Satan, although he may desire to sift me like wheat (Jn.17:14). John's
point in this passage is that if we abide in God's love then God's peace will abide in us (Phil.4:9, Col.3:14-15); and if we have peace concerning the judgment of God, then all else is small potatoes.
Mercy unto you, and peace, and love, be multiplied (Jude 1:2)