1 John 4:20
in 1 John 4If 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.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, cannot love God whom he hath not seen.
KJV
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
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This verse in 1 John 4
Commentary
23 notes on this verseIf a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother - This, as well as many other parts of this epistle, seems levelled against the Jews, who pretended much love to God while they hated the Gentiles; and even some of them who were brought into the Christian Church brought this leaven with them. It required a miracle to redeem St. Peter’s mind from the influence of this principle. See Acts 10. Whom he hath seen - We may have our love excited towards our brother, 1. By a consideration of his excellences or amiable qualities.
This site's exposition
We love because He first loved us
on 1 John 4:19-21
The chain begun at verse 10 closes: We love because He first loved us. The claim I love God from one who hates his brother is a lie, since the brother is seen and God is not. The command binds both loves together in verse 21.
This site's exposition
I love God
John tests the claim to love God by the brother who can be seen. Love that fails the visible test cannot be trusted with the invisible one. The letter calls such a claim a lie, as at 2:4.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
And so a little after he says, "For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen"? because the reason that he does not see God is, that he does not love his brother. For he who does not love his brother, abideth not in love; and he who abideth not in love, abideth not in God, because God is love. Further, he who abideth not in God, abideth not in light; for "God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all." He therefore who abideth not in light, what wonder is it if he does not see light, that is, does not see God, because he is in darkness? But he sees his brother with human sight, with which God cannot be seen. But if he loved with spiritual love him whom he sees with human sight, he would see God, who is love itself, with the inner sight by which He can be seen. Therefore he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God, whom on that account he does not see, because God is love, which he has not who does not love his brother?
"If any man say, I love God." What God? wherefore love we? "Because He first loved us," and gave us to love. He loved us ungodly, to make us godly; loved us unrighteous, to make us righteous; loved us sick, to make us whole. Ask each several man; let him tell thee if he love God. He cries out, he confesses: I love, God knoweth. There is another question to be asked. "If any man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar." By what provest thou that he is a liar? Hear. "For he that loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not?"
What then? does he that loves a brother, love God also? He must of necessity love God, must of necessity love Him that is Love itself. Can one love his brother, and not love Love? of necessity he must love Love. What then? because he loves Love, does it follow that he loves God? Certainly it does follow. In loving Love, he loves God. Or hast thou forgotten what thou saidst a little while ago, "Love is God"? If "Love is God," whoso loveth Love, loveth God. Love then thy brother, and feel thyself assured. Thou canst not say, "I love my brother, but I do not love God." As thou liest, if thou sayest "I love God," when thou lovest not thy brother, so thou art deceived when thou sayest, I love my brother, if thou think that thou lovest not God. Of necessity must thou who lovest thy brother, love Love itself: but "Love is God:" therefore of necessity must he love God, whoso loveth his brother.
But if thou love not the brother whom thou seest, how canst thou love God whom thou seest not? Why does he not see God? Because he has not Love itself. That he does not see God, is, because he has not love: that he has not love, is, because he loves not his brother. The reason then why he does not see God, is, that he has not Love. For if he have Love, he sees God, for "Love is God:" and that eye is becoming more and more purged by love, to see that Unchangeable Substance, in the presence of which he shall always rejoice, which he shall enjoy to everlasting, when he is joined with the angels.
Only, let him run now, that he may at last have gladness in his own country. Let him not love his pilgrimage, not love the way: let all be bitter save Him that calleth us, until we hold Him fast, and say what is said in the Psalm: "Thou hast destroyed all that go a-whoring from Thee" -and who are they that go a-whoring? they that go away and love the world: but what shall thou do? he goes on and says:-"but for me it is good to cleave to God." All my good is, to cling unto God, freely. For if thou question him and say, For what dost thou cling to Him? and he should say, That He may give me-Give thee what? It is He that made the heaven, He that made the earth: what shall He give thee? Already thou are cleaving to Him: find something better, and He shall give it thee.
15 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers2 voices
A commentator
CyprianTreatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews · Written before 258.
proposed
Also in the same place: "If any one shall say that he loves God, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he who loveth not his brother whom he seeth, how can he love God whom he seeth not? "
We love him, because he first loved us. If anyone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And …
The Medieval Church5 voices
Why then is it first given to the disciples on earth, and afterward sent from heaven, unless because there are two precepts of charity, namely the love of God and the love of neighbor? The Spirit is given on earth so that the neighbor may be loved; the Spirit is given from heaven so that God may be loved. Therefore, just as there is one charity and two precepts, so there is one Spirit and two givings. First from the Lord standing on earth, afterward from heaven, because in the love of neighbor one learns how to arrive at the love of God. Hence the same John says: He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?
Hence it is that, as we have already said in another sermon, the same Spirit is read to have been given to the disciples twice: first by the Lord while dwelling on earth, afterward by the Lord presiding from heaven. On earth, indeed, he is given that neighbor may be loved; from heaven, truly, that God may be loved. But why first on earth, afterward from heaven, unless it is plainly given to understand that, according to John's voice, "He who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God whom he does not see?" Therefore let us love our neighbor, brothers; let us love him who is near us, that we may be able to arrive at the love of him who is above us.
If anyone says, 'I love God,' etc. How do you prove that he is a liar? Listen:
For he who does not love his brother, etc. He who loves his brother loves God. It is necessary to love God in order to love love itself. For God is love. And lest anyone dare to say: "And what does it hinder to love …
Above, the apostle insistently proved that love must be mutual, passing from God to us and from us to God; he added to this that if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another. Now he again raises the discourse to …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
The eye is wont to affect the heart; things unseen less catch the mind, and thereby the heart. The incomprehensibleness of God very much arises from his invisibility; the member of Christ has much of God visible in him. How then shall the hater of a visible image of God pretend to love the unseen original, the invisible God himself?
2 Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: 3 And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
), he therein gives his profession the lie." That such a one loves not God the apostle proves by the usual facility of loving what is seen rather than what is unseen: For he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen, how can he love God, whom he hath not seen?
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
If a man say I love God, and hateth his brother,....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The true ideal of man, lost in Adam, is realized in Christ, in whom God is revealed as He is, and man as he ought to be. Thus, by faith in Christ, we learn to love both the true God, and the true man, and so to love the brethren as bearing His image. hath seen--and continually sees.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother - His Christian brother; or, in a larger sense, any man. The sense is, that no man, whatever may be his professions and pretensions, can have any true love to God, unless he loves his brethren. He is a liar - Compare the notes at 1Jn 1:6. It is not necessary, in order to a proper interpretation of this passage, to suppose that he “intentionally” deceives. The sense is, that this must be a false profession. For he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen ... - It is more reasonable to expect that we should love one whom we have seen and known personally, than that we should love one whom we have not seen. The apostle is arguing from human nature as it is, and everyone feels that we are more likely to love one with whom we are familiar than one who is a stranger. If a professed Christian, therefore, does not love one who bears the divine image, whom he sees and knows, how can he love that God whose image he bears, whom he has not seen? Compare the notes at 1Jn 3:17.
A commentator
JB LightfootChristian Life in the Second and Third Centuries, Lecture 3 · Written before 1889.
proposed
But I cannot dismiss this subject without calling your attention to the practical measures which flowed immediately from these gatherings for worship. The collection of alms to be distributed to the orphan and the prisoner, to the sick and the stranger, is regarded by Justin …
Modern Voices1 voice
Before any modern man talks with authority about loving men, I insist (I insist with violence) that he shall always be very much pleased when his barber tries to talk to him. His barber is humanity: let him love that. If he is not pleased …
The words behind it
31 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ἐάν | ean | If | G1437 → | 352 times |
| τις | tis | anyone | G5100 → | 528 times |
| εἴπῃ | eipe | shall say | G2036 → | 925 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | that | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| ἀγαπῶ | agapo | I love | G25 → | 143 times |
| τὸν | ton | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεὸν | theon | God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| καὶ | kai | and | G2532 → | 9120 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀδελφὸν | adelphon | brother | G80 → | 343 times |
| αὐτοῦ | autou | of him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| μισῇ, | misea | may hate, | G3404 → | 40 times |
| ψεύστης | pseustes | a liar | G5583 → | 10 times |
| ἐστίν· | estin | he is; | G1510 → | 2333 times |
| ὁ | ho | The [one] | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| γὰρ | gar | for | G1063 → | 1039 times |
| μὴ | me | not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| ἀγαπῶν | agapon | loving | G25 → | 143 times |
| τὸν | ton | the | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| ἀδελφὸν | adelphon | brother | G80 → | 343 times |
| αὐτοῦ | autou | of him | G846 → | 5565 times |
| ὃν | hon | whom | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| ἑώρακεν, | he'oraken | he has seen, | G3708 → | 60 times |
| τὸν | ton | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεὸν | theon | God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| ὃν | hon | whom | G3739 → | 1405 times |
| οὐχ | ouch | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἑώρακεν | he'oraken | he has seen | G3708 → | 60 times |
| οὐ | ou | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| δύναται | dunatai | is he able | G1410 → | |
| ἀγαπᾶν· | agapan | to love; | G25 → | 143 times |
ἐάνIf
eanG1437 →352 times
τιςanyone
tisG5100 →528 times
εἴπῃshall say
eipeG2036 →925 times
ὅτιthat
hotiG3754 →1292 times
ἀγαπῶI love
agapoG25 →143 times
τὸν<the>
tonG3588 →19766 times
θεὸνGod
theonG2316 →1312 times
καὶand
kaiG2532 →9120 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
ἀδελφὸνbrother
adelphonG80 →343 times
αὐτοῦof him
autouG846 →5565 times
μισῇ,may hate,
miseaG3404 →40 times
ψεύστηςa liar
pseustesG5583 →10 times
ἐστίν·he is;
estinG1510 →2333 times
ὁThe [one]
hoG3588 →19766 times
γὰρfor
garG1063 →1039 times
μὴnot
meG3361 →1066 times
ἀγαπῶνloving
agaponG25 →143 times
τὸνthe
tonG3588 →19766 times
ἀδελφὸνbrother
adelphonG80 →343 times
αὐτοῦof him
autouG846 →5565 times
ὃνwhom
honG3739 →1405 times
ἑώρακεν,he has seen,
he'orakenG3708 →60 times
τὸν<the>
tonG3588 →19766 times
θεὸνGod
theonG2316 →1312 times
ὃνwhom
honG3739 →1405 times
οὐχnot
ouchG3756 →1664 times
ἑώρακενhe has seen
he'orakenG3708 →60 times
οὐnot
ouG3756 →1664 times
δύναταιis he able
dunataiG1410 →
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
1 John 2:4If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
it leads to
- 1 John 1:6
If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Titus 1:16
They profess to know God, but by their actions they deny Him. They are detestable, disobedient, and unfit for any good deed.
- James 2:14–16
What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith, but has no deeds? Can such faith save him?
- 1 John 1:6
Through
1 John 3:17If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?
it leads to
- Hebrews 13:16
And do not neglect to do good and to share with others, for with such sacrifices God is pleased.
- Isaiah 58:7–10
Isn’t it to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the poor and homeless into your home, to clothe the naked when you see him, and not to turn away from your own…
- Deuteronomy 15:7–11
If there is a poor man among your brothers within any of the gates in the land that the LORD your God is giving you, then you are not to harden your heart or…
- Proverbs 19:17
Kindness to the poor is a loan to the LORD, and He will repay the lender.
- Luke 3:11
John replied, “Whoever has two tunics should share with him who has none, and whoever has food should do the same.”
- Hebrews 13:16
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies9
On this verse
About 1 John
This page draws on 16 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the New Testament; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, ON THE TRINITY 8.11; Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on 1 John 9; Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles; Cyprian, Treatise XII Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews; GK Chesterton, Tremendous Trifles, The Orthodox Barber (1909); Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 26; Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 30; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; JB Lightfoot, Christian Life in the Second and Third Centuries, Lecture 3; 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.