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1 John 4:7-21
Good News Translation
1 John 4:7-21
Good News Translation
God Is Love
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. 9 And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. 10 This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.
11 Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another. 12 (A)No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us.
13 We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If we declare that Jesus is the Son of God, we live in union with God and God lives in union with us. 16 And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us.
God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. 17 Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on the Judgment Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ's. 18 There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment.
19 We love because God first loved us. 20 If we say we love God, but hate others, we are liars. For we cannot love God, whom we have not seen, if we do not love others, whom we have seen. 21 The command that Christ has given us is this: whoever loves God must love others also.
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1 John 4:7-21
New International Version
1 John 4:7-21
New International Version
God’s Love and Ours
7 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) 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.(D) 9 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)
13 This is how we know(N) that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.(O) 14 And we have seen and testify(P) that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.(Q) 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,(R) God lives in them and they in God.(S) 16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love.(T) Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.(U) 17 This is how love is made complete(V) among us so that we will have confidence(W) on the day of judgment:(X) In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,(Y) 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.(Z) 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister(AA) is a liar.(AB) For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen,(AC) cannot love God, whom they have not seen.(AD) 21 And he has given us this command:(AE) Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.(AF)
1 John 4:7-21
The Message
1 John 4:7-21
The Message
God Is Love
7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn’t know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can’t know him if you don’t love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they’ve done to our relationship with God.
11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!
13-16 This is how we know we’re living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He’s given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we’ve seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God’s Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we’ve embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.
To Love, to Be Loved
17-18 God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.
19 We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.
20-21 If anyone boasts, “I love God,” and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won’t love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can’t see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You’ve got to love both.
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Good News Translation (GNT) 
Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition) © 1992 American Bible Society. All rights reserved. For more information about GNT, visit www.bibles.com and www.gnt.bible.
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.
The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson