English Standard Version
1 John 4:10
10In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
- New International Version (NIV)This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
- New King James Version (NKJV)In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
- New Living Translation (NLT)This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Context of 1 John 4:10
8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
Read all of 1 John 41 John 4:10 word by word
ἐν τούτῳ ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη, οὐχ ὅτι ἡμεῖς ἠγαπήκαμεν τὸν θεόν, ἀλλ᾽ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς καὶ ἀπέστειλεν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἱλασμὸν περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Hereinἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
- ·οὗτοςhoutos houtoi hautē hautai · this/he/she/itG3778
- isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
- loveὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- loveἀγάπηagapē · loveG26
- notοὐou · noG3756
- thatὅτιhoti · that/since: thatG3754
- weἐγώegō · I/weG1473
- lovedἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
- Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
- butἀλλάalla · butG235
- heαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
- andκαίkai · andG2532
- sentἀποστέλλωapostellō · to sendG649
- Sonυἱόςuihos · sonG5207
- the propitiationἱλασμόςhilasmos · propitiationG2434
- forπερίperi · aboutG4012
- sinsἁμαρτίαhamartia · sinG266
Cross-references for 1 John 4:10
- 1 John 4:8Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
- 1 John 3:1See what kind of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God; and so we are. The reason why the world does not know us is that it did not know him.
- 1 John 4:19We love because he first loved us.
- Deuteronomy 7:7It was not because you were more in number than any other people that the Lord set his love on you and chose you, for you were the fewest of all peoples,
- John 15:16You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.
- Romans 5:8but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- Romans 8:29For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.
- 2 Corinthians 5:19that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
- Ephesians 2:4But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us,
- 1 John 2:2He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.
- Daniel 9:24"Seventy weeks are decreed about your people and your holy city, to finish the transgression, to put an end to sin, and to atone for iniquity, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to seal both vision and prophet, and to anoint a most holy place.
- Romans 3:25whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God's righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins.
- 1 Peter 2:24He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed.
- 1 Peter 3:18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,
Commentaries on 1 John 4:10
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 10Not that we loved God - And that he was thereby induced to give his Son to be a propitiation for our sins. No: we were enemies to God, and yet Christ died for our ungodly souls. (See Romans 5:6-11, and the notes there.) So it was God's love, not our merit, that induced him to devise means that his banished might not be expelled from him.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 10Herein is love - In this great gift is the highest expression of love, as if it had done all that it can do. Not that we loved God - Not that we were in such a state that we might suppose he would make such a sacrifice for us, but just the opposite. If we had loved and obeyed him, we might have had reason to believe that he would be willing to show his love to us in a corresponding manner. But we were alienated from him. We had even no desire for his…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-13Verses 7-13 The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love. He that does not love the image of God in his people, has no saving knowledge of God. For it is God's nature to be kind, and to give happiness. The law of God is love; and all would have been perfectly happy, had all obeyed it. The provision of the gospel, for the forgiveness of sin, and the salvation of sinners, consistently with God's glory and justice, shows that God is love. Mystery and darkness…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9-10Jesus Christ, whom God the Father sent, showed God’s love in his life on earth. He also showed this love in his sacrificial death on the cross, where he became the sacrifice that reconciles us to God.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1010. Herein is love--love in the abstract: love, in its highest ideal, is herein. The love was all on God's side, none on ours. not that we loved God--though so altogether worthy of love. he loved us--though so altogether unworthy of love. The Greek aorist expresses, Not that we did any act of love at any time to God, but that He did the act of love to us in sending Christ.Read the comment
Topics related to 1 John 4:10
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 John 4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Luther’s Commentary on Selected Bible Passages
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries