1 John 4:12

1 John 4:12 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
• New International Version (NIV)No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
• English Standard Version (ESV)No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.
• New King James Version (NKJV)No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.

Context of 1 John 4:12

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. 11Dear friends, if this is the way God loved us, we must also love each other. No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us. 13We know that we live in him and he lives in us because he has given us his Spirit. 14We have seen and testify to the fact that the Father sent his Son as the Savior of the world.

1 John 4:12 word by word

θεὸν οὐδεὶς πώποτε τεθέαται· ἐὰν ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους, ὁ θεὸς ἐν ἡμῖν μένει καὶ ἡ ἀγάπη αὐτοῦ ἐν ἡμῖν τετελειωμένη ἐστίν.Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• No manοὐδείςoudeis · noneG3762
• hath seenθεάομαιtheaomai · to look atG2300
• Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• at any timeπώποτεpōpote · everG4455
• Ifἐάνean · ifG1437
• we loveἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
• one anotherἀλλήλωνallēlōn · one anotherG240
• Godὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• dwellethμένωmenō · to stayG3306
• inἐνen · in/on/amongG1722
• usἐγώegō · I/weG1473
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• hisαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
• loveἀγάπηagapē · loveG26
• isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• perfectedτελειόωteleioō · to perfectG5048

Cross-references for 1 John 4:12

• 1 John 4:20Whoever says, “I love God,” but hates another believer is a liar. People who don’t love other believers, whom they have seen, can’t love God, whom they have not seen.
• Genesis 32:30So Jacob named that place Peniel [Face of God], because he said, “I have seen God face to face, but my life was saved.”
• Exodus 33:20But you can’t see my face, because no one may see me and live.”
• Numbers 12:8I speak with him face to face, plainly and not in riddles. He even sees the form of the Lord. Why weren’t you afraid to criticize my servant Moses?”
• John 1:18No one has ever seen God. God’s only Son, the one who is closest to the Father’s heart, has made him known.
• 1 Timothy 1:17Worship and glory belong forever to the eternal king, the immortal, invisible, and only God. Amen.
• 1 Timothy 6:16He is the only one who cannot die. He lives in light that no one can come near. No one has seen him, nor can they see him. Honor and power belong to him forever! Amen.
• Hebrews 11:27Faith led Moses to leave Egypt without being afraid of the king’s anger. Moses didn’t give up but continued as if he could actually see the invisible God.
• 1 John 4:6We belong to God. The person who knows God listens to us. Whoever doesn’t belong to God doesn’t listen to us. That’s how we can tell the Spirit of truth from the spirit of lies.
• 1 John 3:24Those who obey Christ’s commandments live in God, and God lives in them. We know that he lives in us because he has given us the Spirit.
• 1 John 4:17God’s love has reached its goal in us. So we look ahead with confidence to the day of judgment. While we are in this world, we are exactly like him ⌞with regard to love⌟.
• 1 John 2:5But whoever obeys what Christ says is the kind of person in whom God’s love is perfected. That’s how we know we are in Christ.
• 1 Corinthians 13:13So these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the best one of these is love.

Commentaries on 1 John 4:12

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12No man hath seen God at any time - The very words, with the change of ̔ for , of this apostle in his gospel, John 1:18. We may feel him, though we cannot see him; and if we love one another he dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us - it has then its full accomplishment, having moulded us according to its own nature.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12No man hath seen God at any time - See the notes at John 1:18, where the same declaration occurs. The statement seems to be made here in order to introduce a remark to show in what way we may know that we have any true knowledge of God. The idea is, “He has never indeed been seen by mortal eyes. We are not, then, to expect to become acquainted with what he is in that way. But there is a method by which we may be assured that we have a true knowledge of…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. 1212. God, whom no man hath seen at any time, hath appointed His children as the visible recipients of our outward kindness which flows from love to Himself, "whom not having seen, we love," compare Notes, 1Jo 4:11, 1Jo 4:19, 20. Thus 1Jo 4:12 explains why, instead (in 1Jo 4:11) of saying, "If God so loved us, we ought also to love God," he said, "We ought also to love one another." If we love one another, God dwelleth in us--for God is love; and it must…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 John 4:12

• Commandments
• Fellowship
• God Continued...
• Love
• Perfection
• Righteousness

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Benevolence
• Dwell
• Fear
• Love
• Perfect
• Brotherly Kindness; Brotherly Love
• Johannine Theology
• John, the Epistles of

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