1 John 4:11
in 1 John 4Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
KJV
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
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This verse in 1 John 4
Commentary
13 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another - (1) Because he is so much exalted above us, and if he has loved those who were so inferior and so unworthy, we ought to love those who are on a level with us; (2) Because it is only in this way that we can show that we have his Spirit; and, (3) Because it is the nature of love to seek the happiness of all.
This site's exposition
we also ought to love one another
on 1 John 4:11-12
Obligation follows gift: if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God, yet if we love one another, God remains in us. The verb teleioo, perfected, means brought to its intended end.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers3 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, …
He sacrificed for our sins. Where did He find the sacrifice? Where did He find the victim which he would offer pure? Other He found none; His own self He offered. "Beloved, if God so loved us we ought also to love one another." "Peter," saith He, "lovest thou me?" And he said, "I love." "Feed my sheep."
If any of you perchance wish to keep charity, brethren, above all things do not imagine it to be an abject and sluggish thing; nor that charity is to be preserved by a sort of gentleness, nay not gentleness, but tameness and listlessness. Not so is it preserved. Do not imagine that thou then lovest thy servant when thou dost not beat him, or that thou then lovest thy son when thou givest him not discipline, or that thou then lovest thy neighbor when thou dost not rebuke him: this is not charity, but mere feebleness. Let charity be fervent to correct, to amend: but if there be good manners, let them delight thee; if bad, let them be amended, let them be corrected. Love not in the man his error, but the man: for the man God made, the error the man himself made. Love that which God made, love not that which the man himself made. When thou lovest that, thou takest away this: when thou esteemest that, thou amendest this. But even if thou be severe at any time, let it be because of love, for correction. For this cause was charity betokened by the Dove which descended upon the Lord. That likeness of a dove, the likeness in which came the Holy Ghost, by whom charity should be shed forth into us: wherefore was this? The dove hath no gall: yet with beak and wings she fights for her young; hers is a fierceness without bitterness. And so does also a father; when he chastises his son, for discipline he chastises him. As I said, the kidnapper, in order that he may sell, inveigles the child with bitter endearments; a father, that he may correct, does without gall chastise. Such be ye to all men. See here, brethren, a great lesson, a great rule: each one of you has children, or wishes to have; or if he has altogether determined to have no children after the flesh, at least spiritually he desires to have children:-what father does not correct his son? […]
The Medieval Church2 voices
Beloved, if God so loved us, etc. What then follows:
But if, he says, God so loved us, although we are by no means of the same nature as He, then much more ought we to love, to love those akin to us, and, having learned the surpassing quality of love, to show it to …
6 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The peculiar love of God to the church and to the saints should be productive of a peculiar love there: If God so loved us, we ought surely (in some measure suitably thereto) to love one another. The Christian love is an assurance of the divine inhabitation: If we love one another, God dwelleth in us,
Beloved, if God so loved us,....
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
God's love to us is the grand motive for our love to one another (1Jo 3:16). if--as we all admit as a fact. we . . . also--as being born of God, and therefore resembling our Father who is love.
THE Law commands love, indeed, all its precepts are summed up in that one word, "love." More widely read it runs thus—"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself—yet all this amounts only to, "You shall love." But the Law, by reason of our depravity, never produced love. We were commanded to love, but we did no such thing. The spirit that is in us is selfish and it lusts to envy and to enmity.
THE Law commands love, indeed, all its precepts are summed up in that one word, "love." More widely read it runs thus—"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself—yet all this amounts only to, "You shall love." But the Law, by reason of our depravity, never produced love. We were commanded to love, but we did no such thing. The spirit that is in us is selfish and it lusts to envy and to enmity. Why do wars and fights come among us? Come they not from our lusts? Since the Fall, man has become man's bitterest foe upon the earth—and the world is full of hate, slandering, struggles, fighting, wounding, and slaying—all that the Law can do is to show the wrong of enmity and threaten punishment. It cannot supply an unregenerate heart with a fountain of love. Man remains unloving and unlovable till the Gospel takes him in hand and, by Grace, accomplishes that which the Law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh. Love is winning many hearts to the Kingdom of God and its reign shall extend till love shall rule over the whole earth. And so the Kingdom of God shall be set up among men and God shall dwell among them. At the present moment love is the distinguishing mark of the people of God. Jesus said, "By this shall all men know that you are My disciples, if you have love, one to another." And John said, "We know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the Brethren." The man whose spirit is selfish has not the spirit of Christ and, "if any man have not the spirit of Christ he is none of His." The man whose spirit is that of envy and contention is evidently no follower of the lowly and loving Jesus—and those who do not follow Jesus are none of His. They that are Christ's are filled with His love.
If God so loved us - Without any reason or consideration on our part, and without any desert in us; we ought also, in like manner, to love one another, and not suspend our love to a fellow-creature, either on his moral worth or his love to us. We should love one another for God’s sake; and then, no unkind carriage of a brother would induce us to withdraw our love from him; for if it have God for its motive and model, it will never fail.
The words behind it
12 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 |
| εἰ | ei | if | G1487 → | 508 times |
| οὕτως | houtos | so | G3779 → | |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεὸς | theos | God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| ἠγάπησεν | egapesen | loved | G25 → | 143 times |
| ἡμᾶς, | hemas | us, | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| καὶ | kai | also | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| ἡμεῖς | hemeis | we ourselves | G3165 → | 1936 times |
| ὀφείλομεν | opheilomen | ought | G3784 → | 35 times |
| ἀλλήλους | allelous | one another | G240 → | 100 times |
| ἀγαπᾶν· | agapan | to love; | G25 → | 143 times |
Ἀγαπητοί,Beloved,
agapetoiG27 →61 times
εἰif
eiG1487 →508 times
οὕτωςso
houtosG3779 →
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
θεὸςGod
theosG2316 →1312 times
ἠγάπησενloved
egapesenG25 →143 times
ἡμᾶς,us,
hemasG3165 →1936 times
καὶalso
kaiG2532 →9120 times
ἡμεῖςwe ourselves
hemeisG3165 →1936 times
ὀφείλομενought
opheilomenG3784 →35 times
ἀλλήλουςone another
allelousG240 →100 times
ἀγαπᾶν·to love;
agapanG25 →143 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
John 13:34A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
it leads to
- 1 Peter 1:22
Since 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.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 5:2
and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
- Leviticus 19:18
Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the LORD.
- John 15:17
This is My command to you: Love one another.
- 1 Peter 1:22
Through
Colossians 3:13Bear with one another and forgive any complaint you may have against someone else. Forgive as the Lord forgave you.
it leads to
- Ephesians 4:32
Be kind and tenderhearted to one another, forgiving each other just as in Christ God forgave you.
- Mark 11:25
And when you stand to pray, if you hold anything against another, forgive it, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your trespasses as well.”
- James 2:13
For judgment without mercy will be shown to anyone who has not been merciful. Mercy triumphs over judgment.
- Ephesians 4:2
with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love,
- Ephesians 4:32
Where this verse is studied
On this page
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On this verse
About 1 John
This page draws on 11 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); Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on 1 John 7; Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 1707: “"Herein Is Love"” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on 1 John and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 John.