1 John 4:7

7 Dear friends, let us love one another; for love has its origin in God, and every one who loves has become a child of God and is beginning to know God.

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 They are the world's children, and so their language is that of the world, and the world listens to them. We are God's children.

6 The man who is beginning to know God listens to us, but he who is not a child of God does not listen to us. By this test we can distinguish the Spirit of truth from the spirit of error.

7 Dear friends, let us love one another; for love has its origin in God, and every one who loves has become a child of God and is beginning to know God.

8 He who is destitute of love has never had any knowledge of God; because God is love.

9 God's love for us has been manifested in that He has sent His only Son into the world so that we may have Life through Him.