New Living Translation
1 John 4:19
19We love each other because he loved us first.
1 John 4:19 in other versions
Context of 1 John 4:19
17And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world. 18Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first. 20If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? 21And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
Read all of 1 John 41 John 4:19 word by word
ἡμεῖς ἀγαπῶμεν ὅτι αὐτὸς πρῶτος ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς.Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for 1 John 4:19
- 1 John 4:10This 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.
- Luke 7:47“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
- John 3:16“For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.
- 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.
- 2 Corinthians 5:14Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life.
- Galatians 5:22But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- Ephesians 2:3All of us used to live that way, following the passionate desires and inclinations of our sinful nature. By our very nature we were subject to God’s anger, just like everyone else.
Commentaries on 1 John 4:19
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 19We love him because he first loved us - This is the foundation of our love to God. We love him because we find he has loved us. We love him from a sense of obligation and gratitude. We love him from the influence of his own love; from his love shed abroad in our hearts, our love to him proceeds. It is the seed whence our love springs. The verse might be rendered, Let us therefore love him, because he first loved us: thus the Syriac and Vulgate.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 19We love him, because he first loved us - This passage is susceptible of two explanations; either. (1)that the fact that he first loved us is the “ground” or “reason” why we love him, or. (2)that as a matter of fact we have been brought to love him in consequence of the love which he has manifested toward us, though the real ground of our love may be the excellency of his own character. If the former be the meaning, and if that were the only ground of…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-21Verses 14-21 The Father sent the Son, he willed his coming into this world. The apostle attests this. And whosoever shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God dwelleth in him, and he in God. This confession includes faith in the heart as the foundation; makes acknowledgment with the mouth to the glory of God and Christ, and profession in the life and conduct, against the flatteries and frowns of the world. There must be a day of universal judgment…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 19God loved us first, even when we were still sinners and had not yet turned away from sin (Romans 8:5–11). God began this work. Because he loved us, he gave us the ability to respond to him with love and to show that same love to other people.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1919. him--omitted in the oldest manuscripts. Translate, We (emphatical: WE on our part) love (in general: love alike Him, and the brethren, and our fellow men), because He (emphatical: answering to "we"; because it was He who) first loved us in sending His Son (Greek aorist of a definite act at a point of time). He was the first to love us: this thought ought to create in us love casting out fear (1Jo 4:18).Read the comment
Topics related to 1 John 4:19
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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