Verse of the Day

Tuesday, September 8

1 John 4:19

We love because He first loved us.

BSB

Parallel translations (2) ▾

ASV

We love, because he first loved us.

KJV

We love him, because he first loved us.

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Commentary

3 voices

We are made in His image. Those who are born again are spiritually begotten of God and are reflections of our heavenly Father. At one time we walked in darkness but now we are beloved children of light. And the fruit of light is all that is good and right and true. As we now have the eyes of our hearts enlightened by the knowledge of Him, we are able to walk in love, as beloved children. We first have to have recieved the love in order to emanate it.

Marcus Brown

Albert Barnes

1798–1870

Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)

We love him, because he first loved us - This passage is susceptible of two explanations; either. (1) That the fact that he first loved us is the “ground” or “reason” why we love him, or. (2) That as a matter of fact we have been brought to love him in consequence of the love which he has manifested toward us, though the real ground of our love may be the excellency of his own character.

The record, by era

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament (1755)

We love him, because he first loved us - This is the sum of all religion, the genuine model of Christianity. None can say more: why should any one say less, or less intelligibly?

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

Charles Spurgeon

1834–1892

The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1008: “Love's Logic” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition) (1871)

THIS is a great doctrinal truth, and I might with much propriety preach a doctrinal sermon from it, of which the sum and substance would be the sovereign grace of God. God’s love is evidently prior to ours: “He first loved us.” It is also clear enough from the text that God’s love is the cause of ours, for “We love him because he first loved us.”

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

Translate, We (emphatical: WE on our part) love (in general: love alike Him, and the brethren, and our fellow men), because He (emphatical: answering to "we"; because it was He who) first loved us in sending His Son (Greek aorist of a definite act at a point of time). He was the first to love us: this thought ought to create in us love casting out fear (1Jo 4:18).

Voices on this verse

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Original language & word study

7 tagged words

Original	Transliteration	Meaning	Word study
ἡμεῖς	hēmeis	We ourselves	G3165 →
ἀγαπῶμεν	agapōmen	love	G25 →
ὅτι	hoti	because	G3754 →
αὐτὸς	autos	He himself	G846 →
πρῶτος	prōtos	first	G4413 →
ἠγάπησεν	ēgapēsen	loved	G25 →
ἡμᾶς.	hēmas	us.	G3165 →

Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread: the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.

G25agapomenlove143×

The walk

The walk8

Where the connections lead

Follow this verse’s cross-references two steps out. Each card is a verse this one points to, and beneath it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several different paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it. Every stop shows its own words, and every stop is a page.

Through
John 3:16
For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
leads to
- Romans 5:8
  But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- 1 John 4:9–10
  This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.
- Romans 8:32
  He who did not spare His own Son but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, freely give us all things?
- John 3:15
  that everyone who believes in Him may have eternal life.
- John 11:25–26
  Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in Me will live, even though he dies.
Through
John 15:16
You did not choose Me, but I chose you. And I appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will remain—so that whatever you ask the Father in My name, He will give you.
leads to
- Jeremiah 1:5–7
  “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
- John 15:19
  If you were of the world, it would love you as its own. Instead, the world hates you, because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world.
- Ephesians 2:10
  For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance as our way of life.

Featured studies on this passage

On 1 John 4:19

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Theological Words

Eight words that carry the Bible's theology — agape, chesed, logos, hilastērion, berith, shalom, emunah, doxa — each a door into its full workbench page.

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About 1 John

The Last Supper — Gustave Doré (engraving, public domain)

1 John: the study guide →Read chapter 4 →The featured study →

Love
We love because he first loved us — love as response, not initiative

Where this verse is studied1

Featured studies on this verse

Featured studyThe Tests of Life — 1 John's Three TestsOpen the study →

The days before this one

Every verse of the day keeps its own page.

Thu, Aug 6Proverbs 17:28Even a fool is considered wise if he keeps silent, and discerning when he holds his tongue.

Continue: 1 John 4 →

01Commentary

The record, by era

Voices on this verse

02Original language & word study

03The walk

Where the connections lead

04Related verses

05Featured studies on this passage

06About 1 John

Featured studies on this verse

The days before this one

The record, by era

Where the connections lead

Commentary

Original language & word study

The walk

Related verses

Featured studies on this passage

About 1 John