Font Size
1 John 4:16-20
Holman Christian Standard Bible
1 John 4:16-20
Holman Christian Standard Bible
16 And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and the one who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
17 In this, love is perfected with us so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment,(A) for we are as He is in this world.(B) 18 There is no fear in love; instead, perfect love drives out fear,(C) because fear involves punishment.[a] So the one who fears has not reached perfection in love.(D) 19 We love[b] because He first loved us.(E)
Keeping God’s Commands
20 If anyone says, “I love God,” yet hates his brother,(F) he is a liar.(G) For the person who does not love his brother(H) he has seen cannot love the God he has not seen.[c]
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 1 John 4:18 Or fear has its own punishment or torment
- 1 John 4:19 Other mss add Him
- 1 John 4:20 Other mss read has seen, how is he able to love . . . seen? (as a question)
1 John 4:16-20
New International Version
1 John 4:16-20
New International Version
16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love.(A) Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.(B) 17 This is how love is made complete(C) among us so that we will have confidence(D) on the day of judgment:(E) In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,(F) because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us.(G) 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister(H) is a liar.(I) For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen,(J) cannot love God, whom they have not seen.(K)
Holman Christian Standard Bible (HCSB)
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
New International Version (NIV) 
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.