English Standard Version
1 John 4:11
11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
1 John 4:11 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
- New International Version (NIV)Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
- New Living Translation (NLT)Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.
Context of 1 John 4:11
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. 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. Beloved, 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. 13By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.
Read all of 1 John 41 John 4:11 word by word
Ἀγαπητοί, εἰ οὕτως ὁ θεὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἡμεῖς ὀφείλομεν ἀλλήλους ἀγαπᾶν·Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 John 4:11
- 1 John 3:16By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- Matthew 18:32Then his master summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
- Luke 10:37He said, "The one who showed him mercy." And Jesus said to him, "You go, and do likewise."
- John 13:34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
- John 15:12"This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
- 2 Corinthians 8:8I say this not as a command, but to prove by the earnestness of others that your love also is genuine.
- Ephesians 4:31Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice.
- Ephesians 5:1Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.
- Colossians 3:13bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive.
Commentaries on 1 John 4:11
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 11If 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.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 11Beloved, 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. There are much stronger reasons why we should love one another than there were why God…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. 11-12Those who have received God’s love will also love others who belong to God. When we show love to one another, it becomes clear that we truly love God.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1111. 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. In proportion as we appreciate God's love to us, we love Him and also the brethren, the children (by regeneration) of the same God, the representatives of the unseen God.Read the comment
Topics related to 1 John 4:11
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