God’s Word Translation
1 John 4:10
10This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment 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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)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.
- 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.
Context of 1 John 4:10
8The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love. 9God has shown us his love by sending his only Son into the world so that we could have life through him. This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins. 11Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love each other. 12No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives 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 4:8The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love.
- 1 John 3:1Consider this: The Father has given us his love. He loves us so much that we are actually called God’s dear children. And that’s what we are. For this reason the world doesn’t recognize us, and it didn’t recognize him either.
- 1 John 4:19We love because God loved us first.
- Deuteronomy 7:7The Lord set his heart on you and chose you, even though you didn’t outnumber all the other people. You were the smallest of all nations.
- John 15:16You didn’t choose me, but I chose you. I have appointed you to go, to produce fruit that will last, and to ask the Father in my name to give you whatever you ask for.
- Romans 5:8Christ died for us while we were still sinners. This demonstrates God’s love for us.
- Romans 8:29This is true because he already knew his people and had already appointed them to have the same form as the image of his Son. Therefore, his Son is the firstborn among many children.
- 2 Corinthians 5:19In other words, God was using Christ to restore his relationship with humanity. He didn’t hold people’s faults against them, and he has given us this message of restored relationships to tell others.
- Ephesians 2:4But God is rich in mercy because of his great love for us.
- 1 John 2:2He is the payment for our sins, and not only for our sins, but also for the sins of the whole world.
- Daniel 9:24“Seventy sets of seven time periods have been assigned for your people and your holy city. These time periods will serve to bring an end to rebellion, to stop sin, to forgive wrongs, to usher in everlasting righteousness, to put a seal on a prophet’s vision, and to anoint the Most Holy One.
- Romans 3:25God showed that Christ is the throne of mercy where God’s approval is given through faith in Christ’s blood. In his patience God waited to deal with sins committed in the past.
- 1 Peter 2:24Christ carried our sins in his body on the cross so that freed from our sins, we could live a life that has God’s approval. His wounds have healed you.
- 1 Peter 3:18This is true because Christ suffered for our sins once. He was an innocent person, but he suffered for guilty people so that he could bring you to God. His body was put to death, but he was brought to life through his 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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