1 John 4:8
in 1 John 4Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
KJV
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
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This verse in 1 John 4
Commentary
20 notes on this verse"God," then, being good, "is love," it is said. Whose "love worketh no ill to his neighbour," neither injuring nor revenging ever, but, in a word, doing good to all according to the image of God. "Love is," then, "the fulfilling of the law;" like as Christ, that is the presence of the Lord who loves us; and our loving teaching of, and discipline according to Christ. By love, then, the commands not to commit adultery, and not to covet one's neighbour's wife, are fulfilled.
This site's exposition
let us love one another
on 1 John 4:7-8
Beloved, let us love one another moves from the truth test to the love test, the second of the letter's tests run in this chapter's own pass, and grounds the command in its source, for love is of God, love not a human achievement but a divine origin. Every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God ties love to the new birth as directly as 5:1 ties faith to it, love the family likeness rather than a separate virtue tacked onto belief. He that loveth not knoweth not God states the negative with equal force, for God is love, the letter's second great is-statement paired with God is light at 1:5, each naming what God is rather than merely what he does.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers5 voices
If God is love, it follows that the more companions and partners in the faith whom we see being born, in addition to ourselves, the more effusive will be the love in which we rejoice, since it is the possession of this love which is being set before us.
Love is so much the gift of God that it is called God.
Receive, then, with the love of fathers and of brethren, him whom we have with merciful severity corrected. For although one part of the work was done by you and another part by us, both parts, being indispensable to our brother's salvation, were done by the same love. The same God was therefore working in both, for "God is love."
Now see that to act against love is to act against God. Let no man say, "I sin against man when I do not love my brother, (mark it!) and sin against man is a thing to be taken easily; only let me not sin against God. How sinnest thou not against God, when thou sinnest against love? "Love is God." Do "we" say this? If we said, "Love is God" haply some one of you might be offended and say, What hath he said? What meant he to say, that "Love is God"? God "gave" love, as a gift God bestowed love. "Love is of God: Love Is God." Look, here have ye, brethren, the Scriptures of God: this epistle is canonical; throughout all nations it is recited, it is held by the authority of the whole earth, it hath edified the whole earth. Thou art here told by the Spirit of God, "Love is God." Now if thou dare, go against God, and refuse to love thy brother!
In what sense then was it said a while ago, "Love is of God;" and now, "Love Is God?" For God is Father and Son and Holy Ghost: the Son, God of God, the Holy Ghost, God of God; and these three, one God, not three Gods. If the Son be God, and the Holy Ghost God, and that person loveth in whom dwelleth the Holy Ghost: therefore "Love is God;" but "Is God," because "Of God." For thou hast both in the epistle; both, "Love is of God," and, "Love is God." Of the Father alone the Scripture hath it not to say, that He is "of God:" but when thou hearest that expression, "Of God," either the Son is meant, or the Holy Ghost. Because while the apostle saith, "The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit which is given unto us:" let us understand that He who subsisteth in love is the Holy Ghost. For it is even this Holy Spirit, whom the bad cannot receive, even He is that Fountain of which the Scripture saith, "Let the fountain of thy water be thine own, and let no stranger partake with thee." For all who love not God, are strangers, are antichrists. And though they come to the churches, they cannot be numbered among the children of God; not to them belongeth that Fountain of life. To have baptism is possible even for a bad man; to have prophecy is possible even for a bad man. We find that king Saul had prophecy: he was persecuting holy David, yet was he filled with the spirit of prophecy, and began to prophesy. To receive the sacrament of the body and blood of the Lord is possible even for a bad man: for of such it is said, "He that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh judgment to himself." To have the name of Christ is possible even for a bad man; i.e. […]
13 more voices on this verse
The Church Fathers3 voices
A commentator
Lucius Caecilius Firmianus LactantiusThe Divine Institutes Book 1 · Written before 325.
proposed
But perchance some one may ask of us the same question which Hortensius asks in Cicero: If God is one only, what solitude can be happy? As though we, in asserting that He is one, say that He is desolate and solitary. Undoubtedly He has ministers, whom we call messengers. And that is true, which I have before related, that Seneca said in his Exhortations that God produced ministers of His kingdom. But these are neither gods, nor do they wish to be called gods or to be worshipped, inasmuch as they do nothing but execute the command and will of God.
What kind of love are we talking about here? It is the true love and not simply what people use this word to mean. It comes from our attitude and knowledge and must proceed from a pure heart. For there is also a love of evil things. Robbers love other robbers, and murderers love each other too, not out of love which comes from a good conscience but from a bad one.
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, …
The Medieval Church3 voices
For today the Holy Spirit came upon the disciples with a sudden sound, and changed the minds of carnal men into love of Him, and while tongues of fire appeared outwardly, their hearts were made flaming within, because as they received God in the vision of fire, they burned sweetly through love. For the Holy Spirit Himself is love. Hence John also says: "God is love." Therefore whoever desires God with a whole heart already has Him whom he loves. For no one could love God if he did not have Him whom he loves.
"God is love." Wherefore, the man who lives in love reaps the fruit of life from God, and while yet in this world, he even now breathes the air of the resurrection.
Why then does the one who does not love not know God? He confirms this in the following manner. God is love. For just as God is called goodness because in His goodness He created the intelligible and sensible world, so too, having sent His …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
God is often styled holy, righteous, wise; but not holiness, righteousness, or wisdom in the abstract, as he is said to be love; intimating that this is his darling, his reigning attribute, the attribute that sheds an amiable glory on all his other perfections.
Not that this is the only conception we ought to have of him; we have found that he is light as well as love ( ch. i. 5 ), and God is principally love to himself, and he has such perfections as arise from the necessary love he must bear to his necessary existence, excellence, and glory; but love is natural and essential to the divine Majesty: God is love.
He that loveth not, knoweth not God,.... If a man loves not the children of God, those that are born of him, he does not know, so as to love God, the Father of them; for to pretend love to God, the begetter of them, whom he sees not, and not love those who are begotten by him, and are visible objects of respect, is a contradiction, and cannot be reconciled: see 1Jn 4:
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
He that loveth not - As already described, knoweth not God - has no experimental knowledge of him. God is love - An infinite fountain of benevolence and beneficence to every human being. He hates no thing that he has made. He cannot hate, because he is love. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and the unjust. He has made no human being for perdition, nor ever rendered it impossible, by any necessitating decree, for any fallen soul to find mercy.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
knoweth not--Greek aorist: not only knoweth not now, but never knew, has not once for all known God. God is love--There is no Greek article to love, but to God; therefore we cannot translate, Love is God.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He that loveth not, knoweth not God - Has no true acquaintance with God; has no just views of him, and no right feelings toward him. The reason for this is implied in what is immediately stated, that “God is love,” and of course if they have no love reigning in their hearts, they cannot pretend to be like him. For God is love - He is not merely benevolent, he is benevolence itself. Compare the notes at 2Co 13:11. Never was a more important declaration made than this; never was more meaning crowded into a few words than in this short sentence - “God is love.” In the darkness of this world of sin - in all the sorrows that come now upon the race, and that will come upon the wicked hereafter - we have the assurance that a God of infinite benevolence rules over all; and though we may not be able to reconcile all that occurs with this declaration, or see how the things which he has permitted to take place are consistent with it, yet in the exercise of faith on his own declarations we may find consolation in “believing” that it is so, and may look forward to a period when all his universe shall see it to be so. […]
Modern Voices1 voice
A commentator
GK ChestertonThe Everlasting Man, Part II, Chapter IV: The Witness of the Heretics (1925) (1925)
proposed
If there is one question which the enlightened and liberal have the habit of deriding and holding up as a dreadful example of barren dogma and senseless sectarian strife, it is this Athanasian question of the Co-Eternity of the Divine Son. On the other hand, …
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ὁ | ho | The [one] | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| μὴ | me | not | G3361 → | 1066 times |
| ἀγαπῶν | agapon | loving | G25 → | 143 times |
| οὐκ | ouk | not | G3756 → | 1664 times |
| ἔγνω | egno | has known | G1097 → | 221 times |
| τὸν | ton | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεόν, | theon | God, | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| ὅτι | hoti | because | G3754 → | 1292 times |
| ὁ | ho | <the> | G3588 → | 19766 times |
| θεὸς | theos | God | G2316 → | 1312 times |
| ἀγάπη | agape | love | G26 → | 114 times |
| ἐστίν. | estin | is. | G1510 → | 2333 times |
ὁThe [one]
hoG3588 →19766 times
μὴnot
meG3361 →1066 times
ἀγαπῶνloving
agaponG25 →143 times
οὐκnot
oukG3756 →1664 times
ἔγνωhas known
egnoG1097 →221 times
τὸν<the>
tonG3588 →19766 times
θεόν,God,
theonG2316 →1312 times
ὅτιbecause
hotiG3754 →1292 times
ὁ<the>
hoG3588 →19766 times
θεὸςGod
theosG2316 →1312 times
ἀγάπηlove
agapeG26 →114 times
ἐστίν.is.
estinG1510 →2333 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 4:7Beloved, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
it leads to
- 1 John 4:20
If 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.
- 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.
- 1 John 2:10
Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.
- Galatians 5:22
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- 1 Thessalonians 4:9–10
Now about brotherly love, you do not need anyone to write to you, because you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another.
- 1 John 4:20
Through
Psalms 86:15But You, O Lord, are a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness.
it leads to
- Psalms 103:8
The LORD is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Ephesians 2:4–7
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Psalms 103:8
Through
1 John 4:16And 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.
it leads to
- 1 John 3:24
Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.
- 1 John 3:24
Where this verse is studied
By subject
Love35 verses
On this page
Studies5
About 1 John
This page draws on 19 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); Augustine of Hippo, SERMONS 260c.1; Augustine of Hippo, LETTERS 186; Augustine of Hippo, LETTERS 219; Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on 1 John 7; Clement of Alexandria, The Stromata Book 4; GK Chesterton, The Everlasting Man, Part II, Chapter IV: The Witness of the Heretics (1925); Gregory the Dialogist, Forty Gospel Homilies, Homily 30; Isaac of Nineveh, ASCETICAL HOMILIES 46; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, CATENA; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the New Testament (1746-1748); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the New Testament; Lucius Caecilius Firmianus Lactantius, The Divine Institutes Book 1; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Oecumenius, Commentary on 1 John and Theophylact of Ohrid, Commentary on 1 John.