1 John 4:7

James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary - 1 John 4:7

‘LOVE IS OF GOD’‘Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God.’ 1 John 4:7 (R.V.) This section of the Epistle, 1 John 4:7-Ecclesiastes :, contains one of those profound truths which are so often expressible in simple words, but which are inexhaustible in their fulness of meaning, God is love. I. This is the foundation—a foundation great and wide—and therefore we may expect that the edifice to be built up on it will be great... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 4:1-21

The Centrality of Christian Love (1 John 3:11 to 1 John 4:21 ). The reference to loving one’s brother, deliberately added almost as an appendage in 1 John 3:10 in order to introduce the next section, now leads on to that section where love is pre-eminent. Previously any emphasis has been on God’s love for His own (1 John 2:5; 1 John 2:15; 1 John 3:1) although love of fellow-Christians has not been totally ignored (1 John 2:8-11), but from now on the thought becomes central. The emphasis has... read more

Peter Pett

Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 4:7-8

God Is Essentially Light and Love, Holy Love, And Therefore Those who Are His and Know Him and Abide in Him Will Reveal That Love To All Who Are His (1 John 4:7 to 1 John 5:3 ). ‘Beloved, let us love one another. For love is of God, and every one who loves is begotten of God, and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.’ This statement, beloved of all, especially the world which interprets it totally incorrectly, is not at all quite so simple to understand, and... read more

Arthur Peake

Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 4:7-21

1 John 4:7-Ecclesiastes : . John returns to the theme of 1 John 3:14 ff., be cause if the Church is the home of truth, still more is it the home of love. The evidence for our Divine sonship is that the love manifested by God in sending His Son for our redemption— a fact to which the Church bears witness— issues in love on our part to God and to our brethren; love, when mature, casts out fear. Moreover the proof that we love the unseen God is that we love our brother, as Christ commanded us.... read more

Matthew Poole

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible - 1 John 4:7

Beloved, let us love one another: in opposition to the malice and cruelty of these enemies to true and pure Christianity, he exhorteth to mutual love, not limited to themselves, as undoubtedly he did not intend, see note on 1 John 3:14; but that they should do their part towards all others, letting it lie upon them, if it were not reciprocated and mutual. For love is of God; this he presses as a further discrimination; nothing being more evidential of relation and alliance to God, than a duly... read more

Joseph Exell

Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary - 1 John 4:7-14

CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES1 John 4:7.—The previous verses are in some sense an “aside.” The apostle now resumes his proper theme. His main truth is this—Love is the mark of the children of God, who is love. Love to God is a delusion if it does not find expression in love toward one another as brethren. And love of the brethren is a sure test of our having the Spirit of God, for the spirit of antichrist is a self-seeking and self-serving spirit. “Just as it severs the Divine from the human in... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - 1 John 4:7

1 John 4:7 Love of Relations and Friends. There have been men before now who have supposed Christian love was so diffusive as not to admit of concentration upon individuals, so that we ought to love all men equally. And many there are who, without bringing forward any theory, yet consider practically that the love of many is something superior to the love of one or two, and neglect the charities of private life while busy in the schemes of expansive benevolence or of effecting a general union... read more

William Nicoll

Sermon Bible Commentary - 1 John 4:7-10

1 John 4:7-10 Love is of God; God is Love. I. "Love is of God." This does not mean merely that love comes from God and has its source in God, that He is the Author or Creator of it. All created things are of God, for by Him all things were made, and on Him they all depend. But love is not a created thing; it is a Divine property, a Divine affection; and it is of its essence to be communicative and begetting, to communicate itself and, as it were, beget its own likeness. "Love is of God." It is... read more

Chuck Smith

Chuck Smith Bible Commentary - 1 John 4:1-21

Shall we turn now in our Bibles to I John chapter 4. As we go back to verse 1Jo 4:24 of chapter 3, the later portion, "Hereby we know that He abides in us by the Spirit which He has given us." I know that God abides in life. How do I know? Because He has given me the Holy Spirit.Paul said, "The Holy Spirit is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession" ( Ephesians 1:14 ). We have been sealed, he said, with this Holy Spirit of promise; the seal was God's mark... read more

Joseph Sutcliffe

Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments - 1 John 4:1-21

1 John 4:1-3 . Believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God. Whether those teachers believe that Christ is come in the flesh, which to the present hour the unbelieving jews deny. Try them by the faith of all the holy apostles and confessors, whether they confess that Christ is the Son of the living God. Whether he be the glory that shone in the ancient church, and dwelt on the mercyseat. The Eternal Son, the Word, the Wisdom of God, crucified for sinners. False... read more

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