1 John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
This verse continues the promise of mutual indwelling, that we will live in God and He will live in us. Believing is dwelling. The person who believes, receives, and knows that God loves him dwells in God’s love, for God is love. Beware! It does not say that love is God. Our human love for others and the resultant good works are tainted with sin and self. It is self-serving. Only God’s love is purely self-giving and self-sacrificing.
Dwelling in love is the promise, though it can be misconstrued as a condition. Loving does not bring God into us; believing does. And once we have God in us we have God’s love in us. He is the one who loves others through me. God lives in me and loves out of me, for love is His very character and nature.
However, there is a condition to the promise of living in love: ”we know and believe the love God has to us.” Faith comes by hearing the Gospel. Our focus is on God’s love to us, not on our efforts to love God and others. That will come as a result of Gods love for us and in us. That’s the promise: we will live in love. Therefore, we fix our eyes in the cross; that is where the love of God is revealed.