Knowing God through Love

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God(A) and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. God’s love was revealed among us in this way:[a] God sent(B) His One and Only Son(C) into the world so that we might live(D) through Him. 10 Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us(E) and sent His Son to be the[b] propitiation(F) for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.(G) 12 No one has ever seen God.[c](H) If we love one another, God remains in[d] us and His love is perfected in us.

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Footnotes

  1. 1 John 4:9 Or revealed in us
  2. 1 John 4:10 Or a
  3. 1 John 4:12 Since God is an infinite being, no one can see Him in His absolute essential nature; Ex 33:18-23.
  4. 1 John 4:12 Or remains among

God’s Love and Ours

Dear friends, let us love one another,(A) for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God(B) and knows God.(C) Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.(D) This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son(E) into the world that we might live through him.(F) 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us(G) and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.(H) 11 Dear friends,(I) since God so loved us,(J) we also ought to love one another.(K) 12 No one has ever seen God;(L) but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.(M)

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