1 John 4:7
in 1 John 4Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.
KJV
Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
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This verse in 1 John 4
Commentary
17 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Beloved, let us love one another - This verse introduces a new topic, the consideration of which occupies the remainder of the chapter. See the Analysis. The subject is one on which John dwells more than on any other - that of love. His own character especially inclined him to the exercise of love; and the remarkable affection which the Lord Jesus had shown for him, seems to have had the effect to give this grace a special prominence in his views of what constituted true religion. Compare Joh 13:
This site's exposition
let us love one another
on 1 John 4:7-8
The love test rests on its source, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God, as 5:1 ties faith to the new birth. The sentence God is love pairs with God is light at 1:5, each naming what God is.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this, the love of God was revealed in us, …
To practice righteousness and judgment means to live virtuously, and to live virtuously means to obey God's law, the purpose of which is to help us to base our lives on the principle of love. This is the love which comes from God, as John says.
Love is from God, as have declared those whom he has made not only his great lovers but also his great preachers.
Just as the person who does not choose what he ought to choose has done wrong and does not love what he ought to love, so those who love only those who are worthy of love receive only that level of praise due to them.
"Beloved, let us love one another." Why? Because a man adviseth? "Because love is of God." Much hath he commended love, in that he hath said, "Is of God:" but he is going to say more; let us eagerly hear. At present he hath said, "Love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God." Why? "For God is love." What more could be said, brethren? If nothing were said in praise of love throughout the pages of this epistle, if nothing whatever throughout the other pages of the Scriptures, and this one only thing were all we were told by the voice of the Spirit of God, "For Love is God;" nothing more ought we to require.
10 more voices on this verse
The Medieval Church4 voices
What does it mean to say that love is from God? Surely this refers to the man who came from God, who was revealed according to the image and likeness of the one who made him? For when this man appeared, he was revealed as …
Beloved, let us love one another, etc. He has highly recommended charity, which he said is from God; he is about to say more, let us listen attentively:
And everyone who loves is born of God, etc. What more could be said? God is charity. Therefore, to act against charity is to act against God. Let no one say: I sin against man when I do not love my brother, and it is …
Having shown that one must love certain people, namely those of like mind, he returns to what he said at the beginning. He says that love and the one who loves are from God, that the one who loves, and he alone, is born of …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
Let us love one another - From the doctrine he has just been defending he draws this exhortation. It is by the Spirit that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Everyone that truly loveth God and his neighbour is born of God.
The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love. The new nature in the children of God is the offspring of his love: and the temper and complexion of it is love.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — scripture-overlap:81%@v3-8
Beloved, let its love one another,....
From the high and heavenly descent of love: For love is of God. He is the fountain, author, parent, and commander of love; it is the sum of his law and gospel: And every one that loveth (whose spirit is framed to judicious holy love) is born of God,
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
At the same time, 1Jo 4:7-21 is connected with the immediately preceding context, 1Jo 4:2 setting forth Christ's incarnation, the great proof of God's love (1Jo 4:10). Beloved--an address appropriate to his subject, "love." love--All love is from God as its fountain: especially that embodiment of love, God manifest in the flesh. The Father also is love (1Jo 4:8).
Beloved, let us love one another - And ever be ready to promote each other’s welfare, both spiritual and temporal. For love is of God - And ever acts like him; he loves man, and daily loads him with his benefits. He that loveth most has most of God in him; and he that loveth God and his neighbor, as before described and commanded, is born of God, εκ του Θεου γεγεννηται, is begotten of God - is a true child of his heavenly Father, for he is made a partaker of the Divine nature; and this his love to God and man proves.
The words behind it
22 Greek wordsEvery Greek word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Greek | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ἀγαπητοί, | agapetoi | Beloved, | G27 → | 61 times |
| ἀγαπῶμεν | agapomen | we may love | G25 → | 143 times |
| ἀλλήλους, | allelous | one another, | G240 → | 100 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | because | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| ἡ | he | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀγάπη | agape | love | G26 → | 114 times |
| ἐκ | ek | from | G1537 → | 911 times |
| τοῦ | tou | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεοῦ | theou | God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| ἐστιν | estin | is | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| πᾶς | pas | everyone | G3956 → | 1235 times |
| ὁ | ho | who | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀγαπῶν | agapon | is loving | G25 → | 143 times |
| ἐκ | ek | from | G1537 → | 911 times |
| τοῦ | tou | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεοῦ | theou | God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| γεγέννηται | gegennetai | has been born | G1080 → | 97 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| γινώσκει | ginoskei | knows | G1097 → | 221 times |
| τὸν | ton | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεόν· | theon | God; | G2316 → | 1312 times |
Ἀγαπητοί,Beloved,
agapetoiG27 →61 times
ἀγαπῶμενwe may love
agapomenG25 →143 times
ἀλλήλους,one another,
allelousG240 →100 times
ὅτιbecause
hotiG3754 →1292 times
ἡ<the>
heG3588 →19766 times
ἀγάπηlove
agapeG26 →114 times
ἐκfrom
ekG1537 →911 times
τοῦ<the>
touG3588 →19766 times
θεοῦGod
theouG2316 →1312 times
ἐστινis
estinG1510 →2333 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
πᾶςeveryone
pasG3956 →1235 times
ὁwho
hoG3588 →19766 times
ἀγαπῶνis loving
agaponG25 →143 times
ἐκfrom
ekG1537 →911 times
τοῦ<the>
touG3588 →19766 times
θεοῦGod
theouG2316 →1312 times
γεγέννηταιhas been born
gegennetaiG1080 →97 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
γινώσκειknows
ginoskeiG1097 →221 times
τὸν<the>
tonG3588 →19766 times
θεόν·God;
theonG2316 →1312 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Galatians 5:22But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
it leads to
- Colossians 3:12–17
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, clothe yourselves with hearts of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.
- 1 Corinthians 13:4–7
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.
- John 15:5
I am the vine and you are the branches. The one who remains in Me, and I in him, will bear much fruit. For apart from Me you can do nothing.
- James 3:17–18
But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere.
- John 15:2
He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
- Colossians 3:12–17
Through
1 John 4:8Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
it leads to
- 1 John 4:16
And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
- 1 John 4:16
Through
1 John 4:20If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
it leads to
- 1 John 4:12
No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 John 4:12
Through
1 Peter 1:22Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart.
it leads to
- 1 Timothy 1:5
The goal of our instruction is the love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and a sincere faith.
- 1 Timothy 1:5
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies14
On this verse
On this chapter
About 1 John
This page draws on 15 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Andreas of Caesarea, CATENA; Augustine of Hippo, City of God 17.4; Augustine of Hippo, ON THE GIFT OF PERSEVERANCE 21.56; Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on 1 John 7; Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON 1 JOHN; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on 1 John and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 John.