¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us.^(A) And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.^(B)

⁸ Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.^{(A) 9} This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^(B) into the world that we might live through him.^{(C) 10} This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us^(D) and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.^{(E) 11} Dear friends,^(F) since God so loved us,^(G) we also ought to love one another.^(H)