1 John 4:7-21

God Is Love

7 Beloved, ¹let us love one another, for love is from God, and ²whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

8 ³Anyone who does not love does not know God, because ⁴God is love.

9 In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that ⁵God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him.

10 In this is love, ⁶not that we have loved God ⁷but that he loved us and sent his Son to be ⁸the propitiation for our sins.

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

12 ⁹No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and ¹⁰his love is perfected in us.

13 ¹¹By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 And ¹²we have seen and testify that ¹³the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of ¹⁴the world.

15 ¹⁵Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

16 So ¹⁶we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. ¹⁷God is love, and ¹⁸whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

17 By this ¹⁹is love perfected with us, so that ²⁰we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because ²¹as he is so also are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love, but ²²perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not ²³been perfected in love.

19 ²⁴We love because he first loved us.

20 ²⁵If anyone says, “I love God, ” and ²⁶hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot^[a] love God ²⁷whom he has not seen.

21 And ²⁸this commandment we have from him: ²⁹whoever loves God must also love his brother.

Cross References

• 1. 4:7 ch. 3:11
• 2. 4:7 ch. 2:29
• 3. 4:8 ch. 3:10
• 4. 4:8 ver. 16; 2 Cor. 13:11; [ch. 1:5; John 4:24]
• 5. 4:9 See John 3:16
• 6. 4:10 Rom. 5:8, 10
• 7. 4:10 [See ver. 9 above]
• 8. 4:10 See ch. 2:2
• 9. 4:12 ver. 20; John 1:18; 1 Tim. 6:16
• 10. 4:12 ch. 2:5
• 11. 4:13 ch. 3:24
• 12. 4:14 ch. 1:1, 2
• 13. 4:14 See John 3:17
• 14. 4:14 See ch. 2:2
• 15. 4:15 ch. 5:5; [Rom. 10:9]; See Matt. 14:33
• 16. 4:16 John 6:69
• 17. 4:16 See ver. 8
• 18. 4:16 ver. 12; ch. 3:24
• 19. 4:17 [ch. 2:5]
• 20. 4:17 ch. 2:28; 3:21
• 21. 4:17 [ch. 3:1]
• 22. 4:18 [John 3:18; Rom. 8:15]
• 23. 4:18 [See ver. 17 above]
• 24. 4:19 ver. 10
• 25. 4:20 ch. 2:4; 3:17
• 26. 4:20 ch. 2:9, 11
• 27. 4:20 ver. 12; [1 Pet. 1:8]
• 28. 4:21 Gal. 6:2
• 29. 4:21 ver. 7; ch. 3:11

Footnotes

• [a] 4:20 Some manuscripts 'how can he'