1 John 4:9-19

9 God has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him.

10 This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins.

11 Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love each other.

12 No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.

13 We know that we live in him and he lives in us because he has given us his Spirit.

14 We have seen and testify to the fact that the Father sent his Son as the Savior of the world.

15 God lives in those who declare that Jesus is the Son of God, and they live in God.

16 We have known and believed that God loves us. God is love. Those who live in God's love live in God, and God lives in them.

17 God's love has reached its goal in us. So we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. While we are in this world, we are exactly like him [with regard to love].

18 No fear exists where his love is. Rather, perfect love gets rid of fear, because fear involves punishment. The person who lives in fear doesn't have perfect love.

19 We love because God loved us first.