16 We have come to know and believe in the love that God has for us. God is love, and the person who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.17 This is how love has been perfected among us: we will have confidence on the day of judgment because, while we are in this world, we are just like him.18 There is no fear where love exists. Rather, perfect love banishes fear, for fear involves punishment, and the person who lives in fear has not been perfected in love.