Meaning, commentary and cross references
1 John 4:8
“Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love.”In other translations
KJV · King James Version
He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
NIV · New International Version
Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
WEB · World English Bible
He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.
What does 1 John 4:8 mean?
John Gill · Exposition of the Entire Bible, on 1 John 4:8
He that loveth not, knoweth not God,.... If a man loves not the children of God, those that are born of him, he does not know, so as to love God, the Father of them; for to pretend love to God, the begetter of them, whom he sees not, and not love those who are begotten by him, and are visible objects of respect, is a contradiction, and cannot be reconciled: see 1 John 4:20. This clause is left out in the Ethiopic version, and is transposed in the Syriac version, which reads the text thus, "for God, is love, and whoever loveth not, knoweth not God". By which reading, the following reason stands in close connection with 1 John 4:7.
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 4:7–13
He that loveth not knoweth not God, Jo1 4:8. What attribute of the divine Majesty so clearly shines in all the world as his communicative goodness, which is love. The wisdom, the greatness, the harmony, and usefulness of the vast creation, which so fully demonstrate his being, do at the same time show and prove his love; and natural reason, inferring and collecting the nature and excellence of the most absolute perfect being, must collect and find that he is most highly good: and he that loveth not (is not quickened by the knowledge he hath of God to the affection and practice of love) knoweth not God; it is a convictive evidence that the sound and due knowledge of God dwells not in such a…
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 4:7–10
8. Qui non diligit, non novit Deum; quia Deus dilectio est. 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. 9. In hoc apparuit dilectio Dei in nobis, quod Filium suum unigenitum misit Deus in mundum, ut per eum vivamus. 10.
John Calvin, Commentaries (Calvin Translation Society English text). Public domain. Digital text: Free Use Bible API (bible.helloao.org).
Context: 1 John 4:5–11 (WEB)
5They are of the world. Therefore they speak of the world, and the world hears them. 6We 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. 7Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love. 9By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him. 10In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
Cross references
- 1 John 4:16
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.
- 1 John 4:7
Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
- Psalms 86:15
- 2 Corinthians 13:11
Finally, brothers, rejoice! Be perfected. Be comforted. Be of the same mind. Live in peace, and the God of love and peace will be with you.
- Psalms 86:5
- Ephesians 2:4
But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us,
- Exodus 34:6–7
The LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, “The LORD! The LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
- 1 John 1:5
This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.