THE LOVE OF GOD IS PERFECTED IN THIS LIFE:-- "But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him" (1 John 2:5). The love of God is first shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Ghost when one is genuinely born of the Spirit. But this initial instilling of the love of God into the heart of one newly born again is not perfect, not without alloy. It is when the Christian seeker receives the second work of grace, the mighty baptism of the Holy Ghost, that the Christian's love is made perfect: "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" (1 John 4:17). This purifying baptism not only purges the heart from all sin and fills it with perfect love, but it also removes all fear of the great coming Judgment. St. John wrote: "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" (1 John 4:18). But the perseverance aspect of retaining the love of God is brought out in 1 John 2:5, quoted above, and the clear inference is that it is only those who obediently keep God's word who continue to possess the experience of perfect love.
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