1 John 4:7–12
John says God is love, and his love showed when he sent his Son
Study it word by word7Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.
8Whoever does not love has not known God, because God is love.
9By this the love of God was revealed among us: that God has sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.
10In this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as the expiation for our sins.
11Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
12No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been brought to completion in us.
In its context
5They are from the world; for this reason they speak from the world, and the world listens to them.
6We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. From this we know the spirit of truth and the spirit of error.
…
13By this we know that we remain in him and he in us: because he has given us of his Spirit.
14And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world.
Its words in the original
- ἈγαπητοίAgapētoi· beloved
Beloved, dear.
- ἀγαπῶμενagapōmen· love
Love: to seek the good of the other, even of someone who does not deserve it.
- ἀλλήλουςallēlous· one another
One another, each other.
- ἀγάπηagapē· love
Love.
- θεοῦtheou· God, god
God. In the plural or in another sense, "gods".
- ἐστινestin· be
Be, exist.
- γεγέννηταιgegennētai· beget, be born
Beget, become the father of; said of a mother, give birth; in the passive, be born. In family lists it also covers grandchildren and later descendants.
- γινώσκειginōskei· know
Know, come to know, realize. Said of a man and a woman, have sexual relations.
- ἐφανερώθηephanerōthē· reveal, make known
Reveal, show, make known.
- υἱὸνhuion· son, Son
Son. Also descendant: "son of David" means one of King David's family, and is a title of the promised Messiah.
- μονογενῆmonogenē· only, unique
Only, unique; the only one of its kind.
- ἀπέσταλκενapestalken· send
Send someone on a mission. The word "apostle", one who is sent, comes from it.
- κόσμονkosmon· world
World: what God created; also humanity, and humanity living with its back turned to God.
- ζήσωμενzēsōmen· live
Live, be alive.
- ἱλασμὸνhilasmon· expiation
Expiation: the sacrifice that takes away sin and appeases wrath.
- ἁμαρτιῶνhamartiōn· sin
Sin: missing the mark, failing God and what he commands.
- ὀφείλομενopheilomen· ought, owe
Owe; ought, be obliged.
- πώποτεpōpote· ever, never yet
Ever yet; with a negative, never.
- τεθέαταιtetheatai· see, behold
See, look at closely, behold.
- μένειmenei· remain
Stay, remain.
- τετελειωμένηteteleiōmenē· complete, perfect
Finish, complete; make perfect.