Passage

1 John 4.7-8

Book: 1 John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

5. They are of the world: therefore speak they as of the world, and the world heareth them. 6. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he who is not of God heareth us not. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him. 10. Herein 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 4:5-10, ASV)

WEB

5. They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 6. We are of God. He who knows God listens to us. He who is not of God doesn’t listen to us. By this we know the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7. Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God. 8. He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.

By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. (1 John 4:5-10, WEB)

KJV

5. They are of the world: therefore speak they of the world, and the world heareth them. 6. We are of God: he that knoweth God heareth us; he that is not of God heareth not us. Hereby know we the spirit of truth, and the spirit of error.

7. Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 8. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. 10. Herein 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 4:5-10, KJV)

YLT

5. They, of the world they are; because of this from the world they speak, and the world doth hear them; 6. we, of God we are; he who is knowing God doth hear us; he who is not of God, doth not hear us; from this we know the spirit of the truth, and the spirit of the error.

7. Beloved, may we love one another, because the love is of God, and every one who is loving, of God he hath been begotten, and doth know God; 8. he who is not loving did not know God, because God is love.

In this was manifested the love of God in us, because His Son, the only begotten, hath God sent to the world, that we may live through him; 10. in this is the love, not that we loved God, but that He did love us, and did send His Son a propitiation for our sins. (1 John 4:5-10, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: The letter is formally anonymous. Early and unanimous tradition assigns it to John the apostle (Irenaeus, Against Heresies 3.16.5 and 3.16.8, c. AD 180), and its vocabulary and style are closely shared with the Fourth Gospel.
Audience: Churches in Roman Asia, addressed after a secession: "they went out from us, but they were not really of us" (1 John 2:19). The departing teachers denied that Jesus is the Christ (2:22) and that He has come in the flesh (4:2).
Location: Traditionally Ephesus, the center of the Johannine circle in Asia Minor.
Time period: c. AD 85-95, late in the apostolic period. The stated purpose is assurance: "these things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life" (1 John 5:13).

Theological reading

"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love."

The argument runs from God's nature to the command. Not "love because it is right" but "love because love originates in God and you were born of Him." Christian ethics in this letter is derivative from ontology and from new birth, which is why the imperative is addressed to agapētoi, beloved: the people commanded to love are named by the love already given to them.

Two claims, one positive and one negative. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows Him; the one who does not love does not know God. John states the negative flatly, and it is one of his three recurring tests of genuine faith alongside belief in the incarnate Christ and obedience to the commands. The tests are not three ways to qualify but three symptoms of one life.

"God is love." The first of the chapter's two occurrences (verse 16 is the other). It is a statement of nature, and John has already defined its content by the sending of the Son (verses 9-10), so the word cannot be filled with whatever the reader brings to it.

On the scope of the command. The immediate object here is one another, fellow believers, which is the letter's usual frame after a painful church split. That is a narrower focus than the enemy-love of Matthew 5:44, and it is a focus rather than a limit: the letter is addressing a congregation that had just watched people walk out.

See G0026 - agape and Biblical Love.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G1080 - gennao, gennao, Strong's G1080
G0026 - agape, agape, Strong's G0026
G0025 - agapao, agapao, Strong's G0025
G1097 - ginosko, ginosko, Strong's G1097
G3956 - pas, pas, Strong's G3956
G2316 - theos, theos, Strong's G2316

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

100 Verses of Compassion and God's Goodness, via 1 John 4.8
Biblical Love, via 1 John 4.8
Can God Have Lackful Emotions, via 1 John 4.8
Christians Behaving Badly, via 1 John 4.8
Divine Attributes, via 1 John 4.8
Divine Simplicity, via 1 John 4.8
Doctrine, via 1 John 4.8
God is Impossible Paradox Cluster, via 1 John 4.8
God Showed No Love in Eden Objection, via 1 John 4.8
Hell and Eternal Punishment, via 1 John 4.8
Lesson 2.2, The Six Structural Commitments of Christianity, via 1 John 4.8
Lesson 2.3, The Doctrine of God, via 1 John 4.8
Morality, via 1 John 4.8
One and the Many Problem, via 1 John 4.8
OT vs NT God Objection, via 1 John 4.8
The Muslim Defense, via 1 John 4.8
Trinity Common Objections, via 1 John 4.7-21
Trinity Love-Overflow Argument, via 1 John 4.8
Verses on Gods Goodness and Human Worth, via 1 John 4.8

People:

Friedrich Nietzsche, via 1 John 4.8
John the Apostle, via 1 John 4.8

Lexicon:

G0025 - agapao, via 1 John 4.7-21, 1 John 4.8
G0026 - agape, via 1 John 4.8
G1080 - gennao, via 1 John 4.7
G1097 - ginosko

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.