ris3n's Apologetics Codex

Passage

1 John 4.9-10

Book: 1 John · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

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ASV

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.

9. 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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12. No man hath beheld God at any time: if we love one another, God abideth in us, and his love is perfected in us: (1 John 4:7-12, ASV)
WEB

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.

9. 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. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another. 12. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12, WEB)
KJV

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.

9. 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. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another. 12. No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us. (1 John 4:7-12, KJV)
YLT

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.

9. 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. Beloved, if thus did God love us, we also ought one another to love; 12. God no one hath ever seen; if we may love one another, God in us doth remain, and His love is having been perfected in us; (1 John 4:7-12, 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

The letter's definition of love, stated by reference to an event rather than a feeling.

"In this is love." Twice in two verses John says en toutō estin hē agapē, and both times what follows is something God did. Verse 9: He sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. Verse 10: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. The definition is ostensive; love is identified by pointing at the cross.

"Not that we loved God." The order is deliberate and is the letter's answer to any account in which divine love responds to human merit or initiative. Compare Romans 5:8, "while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us."

"Propitiation." Hilasmos (G2434 - hilasmos) appears in the New Testament only here and at 1 John 2:2. The long dispute is whether it means propitiation (the turning aside of wrath) or expiation (the removal of sin); C. H. Dodd argued for expiation on Septuagint grounds, and Leon Morris (The Apostolic Preaching of the Cross, 1955) argued at length for retaining the wrath-related sense, which is now the more common position in conservative scholarship. The word group in secular Greek is unambiguously propitiatory, and the Johannine context has God as the one who sends the propitiation, which rules out any picture of an angry deity placated by a third party.

"Only begotten." Monogenēs (G3439 - monogenes) means unique, one of a kind, from monos plus genos; it is not built on the verb "to beget". See G1080 - gennao.

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.

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Lexicon:

Passages:

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.