1 John 4:7

1 John 4:7 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
• New International Version (NIV)Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
• English Standard Version (ESV)Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.
• New King James Version (NKJV)Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

Context of 1 John 4:7

5These people belong to the world. That’s why they speak the thoughts of the world, and the world listens to them. 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. Dear friends, we must love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God. 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.

1 John 4:7 word by word

Ἀγαπητοί, ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους, ὅτι ἡ ἀγάπη ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ ἐστιν καὶ πᾶς ὁ ἀγαπῶν ἐκ τοῦ θεοῦ γεγέννηται καὶ γινώσκει τὸν θεόν·Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Belovedἀγαπητόςagapētos · belovedG27
• let us loveἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
• one anotherἀλλήλωνallēlōn · one anotherG240
• forὅτιhoti · that/since: sinceG3754
• loveὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• loveἀγάπηagapē · loveG26
• isεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• ofἐκek ex · out fromG1537
• Godθεόςtheos · GodG2316
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• every oneπᾶςpas · allG3956
• is bornγεννάωgennaō · to begetG1080
• knowethγινώσκωginōskō · to knowG1097

Cross-references for 1 John 4:7

• 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.
• 1 John 2:10Those who love other believers live in the light. Nothing will destroy the faith of those who live in the light.
• 1 John 3:10This is the way God’s children are distinguished from the devil’s children. Everyone who doesn’t do what is right or love other believers isn’t God’s child.
• 1 John 5:1Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born from God. Everyone who loves the Father also loves his children.
• 1 John 4:8The person who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, because God is love.
• Deuteronomy 30:6The Lord your God will circumcise your hearts and the hearts of your descendants. You will love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and you will live.
• Galatians 5:22But the spiritual nature produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
• 1 Thessalonians 4:9You don’t need anyone to write to you about the way Christians should love each other. God has taught you to love each other.
• 2 Timothy 1:7God didn’t give us a cowardly spirit but a spirit of power, love, and good judgment.
• 1 Peter 1:22Love each other with a warm love that comes from the heart. After all, you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth. As a result you have a sincere love for each other.
• 1 John 4:12No one has ever seen God. If we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.
• 1 John 2:29If you know that Christ has God’s approval, you also know that everyone who does what God approves of has been born from God.
• 1 John 3:14We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love other believers. The person who doesn’t grow in love remains in death.
• John 17:3This is eternal life: to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you sent.
• 2 Corinthians 4:6We are his servants because the same God who said that light should shine out of darkness has given us light. For that reason we bring to light the knowledge about God’s glory which shines from Christ’s face.
• Galatians 4:9But now you know God, or rather, God knows you. So how can you turn back again to the powerless and bankrupt principles of this world? Why do you want to become their slaves all over again?

Commentaries on 1 John 4:7

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 7Beloved, let us love one another - And ever be ready to promote each other's welfare, both spiritual and temporal. For love is of God - And ever acts like him; he loves man, and daily loads him with his benefits. He that loveth most has most of God in him; and he that loveth God and his neighbor, as before described and commanded, is born of God, , is begotten of God - is a true child of his heavenly Father, for he is made a partaker of the Divine nature…Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 7Beloved, let us love one another - This verse introduces a new topic, the consideration of which occupies the remainder of the chapter. See the Analysis. The subject is one on which John dwells more than on any other - that of love. His own character especially inclined him to the exercise of love; and the remarkable affection which the Lord Jesus had shown for him, seems to have had the effect to give this grace a special prominence in his views of what…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. 7-21John explains where a Christian’s love comes from and how it is shown in daily life.Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 77. Resumption of the main theme (1Jo 2:29). Love, the sum of righteousness, is the test of our being born of God. Love flows from a sense of God's love to us: compare 1Jo 4:9 with 1Jo 3:16, which 1Jo 4:9 resumes; and 1Jo 4:13 with 1Jo 3:24, which similarly 1Jo 4:13 resumes. At the same time, 1Jo 4:7-21 is connected with the immediately preceding context, 1Jo 4:2 setting forth Christ's incarnation, the great proof of God's love (1Jo 4:10). Beloved--an…Read the comment

Topics related to 1 John 4:7

• Commandments
• Fellowship
• Love
• Regeneration
• Righteous
• Righteousness

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Benevolence
• Fear
• Love
• Perfect
• Sanctification
• Bear; Born
• Begotten
• Brotherly Kindness; Brotherly Love

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