1 John 4:15-21

Easy-to-Read Version

¹⁵ Anyone who says, “I believe that Jesus is the Son of God,” is a person who lives in God, and God lives in that person. ¹⁶ So we know the love that God has for us, and we trust that love.

God is love. Everyone who lives in love lives in God, and God lives in them. ¹⁷ If God’s love is made perfect in us, we can be without fear on the day when God judges the world. We will be without fear, because in this world we are like Jesus.^{[a] 18} Where God’s love is, there is no fear, because God’s perfect love takes away fear. It is his punishment that makes a person fear. So his love is not made perfect in the one who has fear.

¹⁹ We love because God first loved us. ²⁰ If we say we love God but hate any of our brothers or sisters in his family, we are liars. If we don’t love someone we have seen, how can we love God? We have never even seen him. ²¹ God gave us this command: If we love God, we must also love each other as brothers and sisters.