1 John 4 · Verse 11

1 John 4:11

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
1 John 4:11, King James Version

1 John 4:11 in other translations

BSBBeloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
WEBBeloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
ASVBeloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
YLTBeloved, if thus did God love us, we also ought one another to love;
DARBYBeloved, if God has so loved us, we also ought to love one another.
BBEMy loved ones, if God had such love for us, it is right for us to have love for one another.
WebsterBeloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

What does 1 John 4:11 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
11. God's love to us is the grand motive for our love to one another (1Jo 3:16). if--as we all admit as a fact. we ... also--as being born of God, and therefore resembling our Father who is love. In proportion as we appreciate God's love to us, we love Him and also the brethren, the children (by regeneration) of the same God, the representatives of the unseen God.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Barnes' Notes
Verse 11. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

(1.) Because he is so much exalted above us, and if he has loved those who were so inferior and so unworthy, we ought to love those who are on a level with us;

(2.) because it is only in this way that we can show that we have his Spirit; and,

(3.) because it is the nature of love to seek the happiness of all. There are much stronger reasons why we should love one another than there were why God should love us; and unless we do this, we can have no evidence that we are his children.

(e) "if God" Mt 18:33, Jn 15:12,13

Albert Barnes, 1834 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 11 If God so loved us - Without any reason or consideration on our part, and without any desert in us; we ought also, in like manner, to love one another, and not suspend our love to a fellow-creature, either on his moral worth or his love to us. We should love one another for God's sake; and then, no unkind carriage of a brother would induce us to withdraw our love from him; for if it have God for its motive and model, it will never fail.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on 1 John 4:7-13

The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love. He that does not love the image of God in his people, has no saving knowledge of God. For it is God's nature to be kind, and to give happiness. The law of God is love; and all would have been perfectly happy, had all obeyed it. The provision of the gospel, for the forgiveness of sin, and the salvation of sinners, consistently with God's glory and justice, shows that God is…

Read the full comment on 1 John 4:7-13 →

1 John 4:11 in the original Greek

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

Ἀγαπητοί,AgapētoiBeloved,G27
εἰeiifG1487
οὕτωςhoutōssoG3779
ὁho<the>G3588
θεὸςtheosGodG2316
ἠγάπησενēgapēsenlovedG25
ἡμᾶς,hēmasus,G3165
καὶkaialsoG2532
ἡμεῖςhēmeiswe ourselvesG3165
ὀφείλομενopheilomenoughtG3784
ἀλλήλουςallēlousone anotherG240
ἀγαπᾶν·agapanto love;G25

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for 1 John 4:11

  • John 15:12-13

    This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

  • Colossians 3:13

    Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye.

  • John 13:34

    A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.

  • 1 John 3:23

    And this is his commandment, That we should believe on the name of his Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as he gave us commandment.

  • Luke 10:37

    And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.

  • 1 John 3:16-17

    Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?

  • 2 Corinthians 8:8-9

    I speak not by commandment, but by occasion of the forwardness of others, and to prove the sincerity of your love. For ye know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that, though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, that ye through his poverty might be rich.

  • Ephesians 4:31-5:2

    Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.

  • Matthew 18:32-33

    Then his lord, after that he had called him, said unto him, O thou wicked servant, I forgave thee all that debt, because thou desiredst me: Shouldest not thou also have had compassion on thy fellowservant, even as I had pity on thee?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
3:16,17,23; Mt 18:32,33; Lu 10:37; Joh 13:34; 15:12,13; 2Co 8:8,9
Eph 4:31,32; 5:1,2; Col 3:13

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • 1 John 4:10

    Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

  • 1 John 4:11

    Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

  • 1 John 4:12

    No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.

Read all of 1 John 4

1 John 4:11 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Amados, si Dios así nos ha amado, debemos también nosotros amarnos unos á otros.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Bien-aimés, si Dieu nous aima ainsi, nous aussi nous devons nous aimer l’un l’autre.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Geliebte, wenn Gott uns also geliebt hat, so sind auch wir schuldig, einander zu lieben.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Carissimi, si sic Deus dilexit nos: et nos debemus alterutrum diligere.