1 John 4:6-12

6 ¹We are from God; ²he who knows God listens to us; ³he who is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know ⁴the spirit of truth and ⁵the spirit of error.

God Is Love

7 ⁶Beloved, let us ⁷love one another, for love is from God; and ⁸everyone who loves is ⁹born of God and ¹⁰knows God.

8 The one who does not love does not know God, for ¹¹God is love.

9 By this the love of God was manifested ¹²in us, that ¹³God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him.

10 In this is love, ¹⁴not that we loved God, but that ¹⁵He loved us and sent His Son to be ¹⁶the propitiation for our sins.

11 ¹⁷Beloved, if God so loved us, ¹⁸we also ought to love one another.

12 ¹⁹No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His ²⁰love is perfected in us.

Cross References

• 1. John 8:23; 1 John 4:4
• 2. John 8:47; John 10:3f; John 18:37
• 3. 1 Corinthians 14:37
• 4. John 14:17
• 5. 1 Timothy 4:1
• 6. 1 John 2:7
• 7. 1 John 3:11
• 8. 1 John 5:1
• 9. 1 John 2:29
• 10. 1 Corinthians 8:3; 1 John 2:3
• 11. 1 John 4:7, 16
• 12. John 9:3; 1 John 4:16
• 13. John 3:16; 1 John 4:10; 1 John 5:11
• 14. Romans 5:8, 10; 1 John 4:19
• 15. John 3:16; 1 John 4:9; 1 John 5:11
• 16. 1 John 2:2
• 17. 1 John 2:7
• 18. 1 John 4:7
• 19. John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:16; 1 John 4:20
• 20. 1 John 2:5; 1 John 4:17

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "begotten"
• [b]. Or "in our case"
• [c]. Or "unique," only one of His kind