New Living Translation
1 John 4:10
10This 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.
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
8But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 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. 11Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression 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 4:8But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
- 1 John 3:1See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him.
- 1 John 4:19We love each other because he loved us first.
- Deuteronomy 7:7“The Lord did not set his heart on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other nations, for you were the smallest of all nations!
- John 15:16You didn’t choose me. I chose you. I appointed you to go and produce lasting fruit, so that the Father will give you whatever you ask for, using my name.
- Romans 5:8But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.
- Romans 8:29For God knew his people in advance, and he chose them to become like his Son, so that his Son would be the firstborn among many brothers and sisters.
- 2 Corinthians 5:19For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation.
- Ephesians 2:4But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much,
- 1 John 2:2He himself is the sacrifice that atones for our sins—and not only our sins but the sins of all the world.
- Daniel 9:24“A period of seventy sets of seven has been decreed for your people and your holy city to finish their rebellion, to put an end to their sin, to atone for their guilt, to bring in everlasting righteousness, to confirm the prophetic vision, and to anoint the Most Holy Place.
- Romans 3:25For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past,
- 1 Peter 2:24He personally carried our sins in his body on the cross so that we can be dead to sin and live for what is right. By his wounds you are healed.
- 1 Peter 3:18Christ suffered for our sins once for all time. He never sinned, but he died for sinners to bring you safely home to God. He suffered physical death, but he was raised to life in 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
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