1 John 4:11

11 Beloved, if thus did God love us, we also ought one another to love;

1 John 4:11 Meaning and Commentary

1 John 4:11

Beloved, if God so loved us
As to send his Son to be a propitiatory sacrifice for our sins, and to obtain eternal life for us through his sufferings and death: the apostle uses the same language his Lord and master did, ( John 3:16 ) ;

we ought also to love one another;
for those who are the objects of God's love ought to be the objects of ours; and if God has loved our fellow Christians and brethren to such a degree, as to send his Son to die for them, we ought to love them too; and if we are interested in the same love, the obligation is still the greater; and if God loved them with so great a love, when they did not love him, but were enemies to him, then surely we ought to love them now they are become the friends of God, and ours also; as God loved them freely, and when unlovely, and us likewise in the same manner, and under the same circumstances, then we ought to love, and continue to love the saints, though there may be something in their temper and conduct disagreeable: God is to be imitated in his love; and his love to us, which is unmerited and matchless, should influence and engage us to the love of the brethren, who have a far greater claim to our love than we can make to the love of God; and which indeed is none at all, but what he is pleased to give us.

1 John 4:11 In-Context

9 In this was manifested the love of God in us, because His Son -- the only begotten -- hath God sent to the world, that we may live through him;

10 in this is the love, not that we loved God, but that He did love us, and did send His Son a propitiation for our sins.

11 Beloved, if thus did God love us, we also ought one another to love;

12 God no one hath ever seen; if we may love one another, God in us doth remain, and His love is having been perfected in us;

13 in this we know that in Him we do remain, and He in us, because of His Spirit He hath given us.