New King James Version
1 John 4:10
10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation 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 Living Translation (NLT)This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Context of 1 John 4:10
8He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. 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. 11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been 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 4:8He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
- 1 John 3:1Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
- 1 John 4:19We love Him because He first loved us.
- Deuteronomy 7:7The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples;
- John 15:16You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you.
- Romans 5:8But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- Romans 8:29For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.
- 2 Corinthians 5:19that is, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not imputing their trespasses to them, and has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
- Ephesians 2:4But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us,
- 1 John 2:2And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
- Daniel 9:24“Seventy weeks are determined For your people and for your holy city, To finish the transgression, To make an end of sins, To make reconciliation for iniquity, To bring in everlasting righteousness, To seal up vision and prophecy, And to anoint the Most Holy.
- Romans 3:25whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed,
- 1 Peter 2:24who Himself bore our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, having died to sins, might live for righteousness—by whose stripes you were healed.
- 1 Peter 3:18For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the 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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries