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[a] in this way: 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 atoning sacrifice[b](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.(H) If we love one another, God remains in[c] us and his love is made complete in us.

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Footnotes

  1. 4:9 Or in us
  2. 4:10 Or the propitiation
  3. 4:12 Or remains among

Loving One Another

Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. 10 This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.

11 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. 12 No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

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