1 John 4:7

7 Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God's child and knows God.

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1 John 4:7 Meaning and Commentary

1 John 4:7

Beloved, let its love one another
The apostle having finished what he proposed to say concerning the trying of spirits, returns to his former exhortation to brotherly love, and which comes with fresh force and strength; for since worldly men follow, hear, embrace, and cleave to the false teachers; such as are of God, and on the side of truth, should love one another, and their faithful ministers, and stand fast in one spirit by the truths of the Gospel, in opposition to every error:

for love is of God:
to love one another is the command of God, it is his revealed will, and is well pleasing in his sight; it comes from him, is a gift of his grace, and a fruit of his Spirit, and which he teaches regenerate ones to exercise:

and everyone that loveth
God, as the Alexandrian copy reads, or Christ, and the saints, who seem to be particularly meant:

is born of God;
for love to the brethren is an evidence of regeneration; (See Gill on 1 John 3:14);

and knoweth God;
he knows God in Christ, and therefore loves those who have the grace of God in them, and the image of Christ upon them; he knows the mind and will of God, being taught of God to love the brethren; and he knows the love of God, and has had an experience of the grace of God, which influences him to love the saints.

1 John 4:7 In-Context

5 And they belong to the world, so what they say is from the world, and the world listens to them.
6 But we belong to God, and those who know God listen to us. But those who are not from God do not listen to us. That is how we know the Spirit that is true and the spirit that is false.
7 Dear friends, we should love each other, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has become God's child and knows God.
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
9 This is how God showed his love to us: He sent his one and only Son into the world so that we could have life through him.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.