4 Ways You May Be Reading 1 John 4:8 Wrong
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In 1 John 4:8, the apostle writes to the church, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
1 John is full of these firm, absolute statements. As one example, 1 John 2:23 says, “No one who denies the Son has the Father. Whoever confesses the Son has the Father also.” Like his Gospel, John expresses things clearly and firmly, pointing to the nature of things and how they result in action. John sees the unseen realities and identities, and he shares these with us so that we can better live to honor the Father.
Looking specifically at 1 John 4:8, the disciple Jesus loved makes a conclusion based on one of those realities. God is love. Therefore, if someone doesn’t love, that person doesn’t know God.
Looking at this verse, we must not only see what John means, and what the Spirit wishes to teach us, but also what the apostle isn’t saying. Many times, a good definition includes what something is not. God is love. Which also means he’s not hate or indifference. Such distinctions are important because it first gives proper boundaries and better definitions, and second, it keeps the devil or others from twisting the words of Scripture for their own ends or deception.
To delve deeper, let’s begin with context.
What Is the Context of 1 John 4:8?
The apostle John wrote this letter, and he was one of Jesus’ original twelve disciples. John’s own Gospel famously refers to himself as the “beloved disciple” or the one Jesus loved. Christian tradition and scholars believe he wrote this letter from Ephesus late in life, toward the end of the first century. Since Christianity had exploded and spread across the Roman Empire, the early church had been challenged by Greek philosophy and false teachers; gnostic influences were a major threat. John addresses these ideas and clearly affirms truth for the church.
1 John encourages believers with their secure salvation, God’s overwhelming love, and the need to follow God’s commandments. He writes how believers have eternal life in Christ alone. And since God is love, John writes how love is the defining trait of those who know God.
1 John 4 includes how to test the spirits and who really belongs to the family of God. To delineate between heresy and truth, John expresses truth firmly and clearly. Only messages confirming Jesus came as God in human flesh are from God (1 John 4:1-2). John then reminds the church to love one another, as Jesus commanded. And since God is love, those who come from God will love. In verses 9-10, John gives the example of God’s love with Jesus’ death and sacrifice for salvation. Disciples of Christ will demonstrate the same self-sacrificial love.
What Love Is John Talking About?
With such an absolute statement, it matters what kind of love John was talking about. In his day and ours, different definitions of love exist. Love for ice cream is different than love between husband and wife. Therefore, the Greeks had different terms for love. Eros meant romantic love, philia sibling or friendship love, and storge as family love.
The New Testament appropriated the Greek term agape to refer to God’s love: selfless, sacrificial, divine. Like God, this love stands apart from human love. God’s love seeks to save, gives freely and generously, and provides good things unconditionally.
In 1 Corinthians 13, the apostle Paul describes God’s divine love. Contextually, Paul writes to a divided and spiritually immature church in Corinth. They loved participating in the gifts of the Spirit but failed at loving one another. Paul’s teaching echoes 1 John 4:8, telling those in Corinth that if they don’t have love, their actions and accomplishments mean nothing. Agape, divine love is the greatest value, the point of the whole work of God since he is love. Paul defines the aspects of love: patient, kind, not jealous. Love doesn’t dishonor other people, seek its own way, or keep a record of sins. Love rejoices in the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes and endures all things.
Unlike the other Greek definitions of love, agape comes from will rather than emotion, requiring commitment and intentionality. God’s love chooses to do so even when others fail or betray us. God’s love isn’t passive; it always leads to action. Therefore, Jesus lived the perfect model for God’s love (John 3:16).
What Does 1 John 4:8 Mean?
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.”
In the larger context of 1 John, the apostle teaches how to tell true believers apart from false teachers and those who don’t believe. God’s love believes the truth, knows God intimately, and from that relationship, transformation happens. Disciples will learn love from the Father and treat others like the Son did.
John also uses the Greek word agape. If we claim to be a Christian, literally “little Christ” or a person acting like the Messiah, then we will love others as Christ loved us. If not, our claim proves false.
John heard these ideas from Jesus in person. The night before his death, Jesus told his disciples, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another” (John 13:34-35). Earlier in his ministry, Jesus listed “love your neighbor as yourself” as the second greatest commandment, loving God with everything within us. But now there’s a new commandment, to love as Jesus did, as God loves. Jesus even adds that this transformative love will be evidence we belong to God and follow him.
The apostle John points us to Jesus in 1 John 4, reminding them how God showed his love through the Son. Now, the Son shows his love through the Church. Love becomes a test of our sincerity and relationship. Loving as Christ does isn’t optional for disciples; it’s essential.
John writes 1 John not to condemn but to encourage. As harsh as it may sound to some, John pens these words to call the born-again believers to their identity and life for God, not to discourage them. Let’s not be discouraged, either.
What Does 1 John 4:8 Not Mean?
When John writes, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love,” he intends to give believers tools to distinguish between real and false teachers, those of the Spirit and those seeking to deceive. Love becomes a sign God’s Spirit works in someone’s life.
At the same time, between our own sinful nature or spiritual enemy, we can misunderstand and misapply 1 John 4:8, as we see in the following ways.
1. Thinking it means living perfectly or you’re not saved.
A reader could interpret this to mean if you fail at loving someone for one moment, you’re going to hell. As we’ve already said, John’s writing clearly seeks to bring others closer to Jesus, not condemn them. Also, he’s not pointing to sinless perfection. He addresses God’s faithful and forgiving nature in the first chapter.
We should look to the general pattern of divine love, a process of sanctification. We will still struggle, but John also encourages us that God completes his love in and through us (1 John 4:12). John is urging us to embrace transformation and the fruit of the Spirit to show God’s work.
2. Using it to tell someone else they’re not saved.
If John isn’t using it to condemn anyone, neither should we. People may have moments of anger, bitterness, or sin, failing to love as God loves. But John isn’t trying to catch us or unduly judge us for one mistake. One sin doesn’t automatically mean a person doesn’t love God. As John does in the first chapter, loving like God also offers opportunity for repentance, restoration, and forgiveness.
3. Interpreting “love” as a worldly version, not divine.
Modern people often point to love as something that must feel good. When people make them feel bad in some way, that’s hate. If anyone quotes this verse for their own interpretation of love instead of God’s, it becomes deception and a perversion. As we’ve established, John means an eternal, godly love, not other versions based on emotion or self-satisfaction. Divine love speaks truth and doesn’t affirm lies or sin. God’s love always seeks the other’s eternal, ultimate good.
4. Making this verse a weapon against other believers.
As part of the fruit of the Spirit, we should be humble. To take this verse and feel or express superiority over anyone else also goes against God’s love. Truth should encourage and convict us, not lead to pride. John writes to help believers know they belong to Jesus (1 John 5:13), not to start comparing believers to one another for boasting or arrogance.
1 John 4:8 sets a standard for evidence of who belongs to God — those who love like Jesus. But his purpose is to encourage and convict to more transformation, not a burden of legalism or self-righteousness. Reading this verse rightly, it calls us to let God’s love work in and through us to bless others.
Peace.
Photo credit: Pexels/Hassan OUAJBIR
