God’s Word Translation
1 Thessalonians 4:9
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.
1 Thessalonians 4:9 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
- New International Version (NIV)Now about your love for one another we do not need to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love each other.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,
- New King James Version (NKJV)But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another;
Context of 1 Thessalonians 4:9
7God didn’t call us to be sexually immoral but to be holy. 8Therefore, whoever rejects this ⌞order⌟ is not rejecting human authority but God, who gives you his Holy Spirit. You don’t need anyone to write to you about the way Christians should love each other. God has taught you to love each other. 10In fact, you are showing love to all the Christians throughout the province of Macedonia. We encourage you as believers to excel in love even more. 11Also, make it your goal to live quietly, do your work, and earn your own living, as we ordered you.
Read all of 1 Thessalonians 41 Thessalonians 4:9 word by word
Περὶ δὲ τῆς φιλαδελφίας οὐ χρείαν ἔχετε γράφειν ὑμῖν· αὐτοὶ γὰρ ὑμεῖς θεοδίδακτοί ἐστε εἰς τὸ ἀγαπᾶν ἀλλήλους·Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- ·ὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
- ·χρείαchreia · needG5532
- Butδέde · thenG1161
- as touchingπερίperi · aboutG4012
- brotherly loveφιλαδελφίαphiladelphia · brotherly loveG5360
- ye needἔχωechō · to have/beG2192
- notοὐou · noG3756
- that I writeγράφωgraphō · to writeG1125
- unto youσύsu · youG4771
- forγάρgar · forG1063
- yourselvesαὐτόςautos · it/s/heG846
- areεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
- taught of Godθεοδίδακτοςtheodidaktos · divinely instructedG2312
- toεἰςeis · towardG1519
- loveἀγαπάωagapaō · to loveG25
- one anotherἀλλήλωνallēlōn · one anotherG240
Cross-references for 1 Thessalonians 4:9
- Leviticus 19:8Those who eat it will be punished because they have dishonored what is holy to the Lord. They must be excluded from the people.
- Psalms 133:1See how good and pleasant it is when brothers and sisters live together in harmony!
- John 13:34“I’m giving you a new commandment: Love each other in the same way that I have loved you.
- John 15:12Love each other as I have loved you. This is what I’m commanding you to do.
- Acts 4:32The whole group of believers lived in harmony. No one called any of his possessions his own. Instead, they shared everything.
- Romans 12:10Be devoted to each other like a loving family. Excel in showing respect for each other.
- Ephesians 5:1Imitate God, since you are the children he loves.
- Hebrews 13:1Continue to love each other.
- 1 Peter 3:8Finally, everyone must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love each other, have compassion, and be humble.
- 2 Peter 1:7to godliness add Christian affection; and to Christian affection add love.
- 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 3:11The message that you have heard from the beginning is to love each other.
- 1 John 4:7Dear friends, we must love each other because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born from God and knows God.
- 1 Thessalonians 5:1Brothers and sisters, you don’t need anyone to write to you about times and dates.
- Jeremiah 31:34No longer will each person teach his neighbors or his relatives by saying, ‘Know the Lord.’ All of them, from the least important to the most important, will know me,” declares the Lord, “because I will forgive their wickedness and I will no longer hold their sins against them.”
- Hebrews 8:10But this is the promise that I will make to Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put my teachings inside them, and I will write those teachings on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.
Commentaries on 1 Thessalonians 4:9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9Touching brotherly love - They were remarkable for this; and though the apostle appears to have had this as a topic on which he intended to write to them, yet, from the account which he received of their prosperous state by Timothy, he finds that it is unnecessary to spend any time in inculcating a doctrine which they fully understood and practised. See 1 Thessalonians 3:6.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9But as touching brotherly love - The “peculiar charity and affection which one Christian owes to another.” Doddridge; see the notes on John 13:34. Ye need not that I write unto you - That is, “as I have done on the other points.” They were so taught of God in regard to this duty, that they did not need any special instruction. For ye yourselves are taught of God - The word here rendered “taught of God” - ́́ theodidaktoi- occurs nowhere else in the New…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 9-12Verses 9-12 We should notice in others what is good, to their praise, that we may engage them to abound therein more and more. All who are savingly taught of God, are taught to love one another. The teaching of the Spirit exceeds the teachings of men; and men's teaching is vain and useless, unless God teach. Those remarkable for this or any other grace, need to increase therein, as well as to persevere to the end. It is very desirable to have a calm and…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another (see Isaiah 54:13): through the teachings of Jesus (John 13:34–35), through the death of Jesus on the cross (Romans 5:8; Ephesians 5:1–2), and through the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5; Galatians 5:22).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 99. brotherly love, &c.--referring here to acts of brotherly kindness in relieving distressed brethren. Some oldest manuscripts support English Version reading, "YE have"; others, and those the weightiest, read, "WE have." We need not write, as ye yourselves are taught, and that by God: namely, in the heart by the Holy Spirit (Joh 6:45; He 8:11; 1Jo 2:20, 27). to love--Greek, "with a view to," or "to the end of your loving one another." Divine teachings…Read the comment
Topics related to 1 Thessalonians 4:9
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on 1 Thessalonians 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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