1 John 4:11-19

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

12 ¹No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and ²his love is perfected in us.

13 ³By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.

14 And ⁴we have seen and testify that ⁵the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of ⁶the world.

15 ⁷Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.

16 So ⁸we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. ⁹God is love, and ¹⁰whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.

17 By this ¹¹is love perfected with us, so that ¹²we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because ¹³as he is so also are we in this world.

18 There is no fear in love, but ¹⁴perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not ¹⁵been perfected in love.

19 ¹⁶We love because he first loved us.

Cross References

• 1. ver. 20; John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:16
• 2. 1 John 2:5
• 3. 1 John 3:24
• 4. 1 John 1:1, 2
• 5. See John 3:17
• 6. See 1 John 2:2
• 7. 1 John 5:5; [Romans 10:9]; See Matthew 14:33
• 8. John 6:69
• 9. See ver. 8
• 10. ver. 12; 1 John 3:24
• 11. [1 John 2:5]
• 12. 1 John 2:28; 1 John 3:21
• 13. [1 John 3:1]
• 14. [John 3:18; Romans 8:15]
• 15. [See ver. 17 above]
• 16. ver. 10