Meaning, commentary and cross references
1 John 4:16
“So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”In other translations
KJV · King James Version
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
NIV · New International Version
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.
WEB · World English Bible
We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
What does 1 John 4:16 mean?
John Gill · Exposition of the Entire Bible, on 1 John 4:16
And we have known and believed,.... Or have a full assurance and knowledge of, and faith in, the love that God hath to us; shown as in many instances, so more especially in sending his Son to be the propitiation for our sins, to be the Saviour of us, and that we might live through him. God is love; See Gill on 1 John 4:8, and he that dwelleth in love; who dwells by faith upon the love of God as displayed in Christ, and abides in the exercise of love to God and to the saints: dwelleth in God, and God in him; See Gill on 1 John 4:13; the last clause, "and God in him", is left out in the Syriac version.
John Gill, Exposition of the Entire Bible (1746–63). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Matthew Henry · Commentary on the Whole Bible, on 1 John 4:14–16
God's love is thus seen and exerted in Christ Jesus; and thus have we known and believed the love that God hath to us, Jo1 4:16. The Christian revelation is, what should endear it to us, the revelation of the divine love; the articles of our revealed faith are but so many articles relating to the divine love. The history of the Lord Christ is the history of God's love to us; all his transactions in and with his Son were but testifications of his love to us, and means to advance us to the love of God: God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself, Co2 5:19. Hence we may learn, 1.
Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible (1706–21; Romans–Revelation completed by Nonconformist ministers). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
John Calvin · Commentaries, on 1 John 4:11–16
16. Et nos cognovimus et credimus dilectionem quam habet Deus in nobis: Deus charitas est; et qui manet in charitate, in Deo manet, et Deus in eo. 11 Beloved Now the Almighty accommodates to his own purpose what he has just taught us respecting the love of God; for he exhorts us by God's example to brotherly love; as also Paul sets before us Christ, who offered himself to the Father a sacrifice of pleasant fragrance, that every one of us might labor to benefit his neighbors. (Ephesians 5:2.) And John reminds us, that our love ought not to be mercenary, when he bids us to love our neighbors as God has loved us; for we ought to remember this, that we have been loved freely.
John Calvin, Commentaries (Calvin Translation Society English text). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Context: 1 John 4:13–19 (WEB)
13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. 14We have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as the Savior of the world. 15Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God. 16We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. 17In this, love has been made perfect among us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because as he is, even so we are in this world. 18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love. 19We love him, because he first loved us.
Cross references
- 1 John 3:24
He who keeps his commandments remains in him, and he in him. By this we know that he remains in us, by the Spirit which he gave us.
- Psalms 36:7–9
- 1 John 3:1
See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us, because it didn’t know him.
- 1 John 4:8–10
He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.
- Psalms 18:1–3
- 1 John 4:12–13
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 3:16
By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- Psalms 31:19