Bible Strands
1 John 4:13
By this we know that we remain in Him, and He in us: He has given us of His Spirit.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The author addresses believers immediately after instructing them on mutual love in 4:12 and immediately before testifying to the Father sending the Son in 4:14. He establishes the criterion for recognizing their abiding relationship with God.
The words — The text highlights μένομεν (menomen), meaning "we abide" or "we remain," and γινώσκομεν (ginōskomen), meaning "we know." These verbs link experiential knowledge directly to the state of mutual indwelling.
The thread — The theme of the Spirit's presence as evidence of God's indwelling appears in 1 John 3:24, which ties remaining in God to keeping His commandments and receiving the Spirit. The author notes in 1 Corinthians 3:16 that believers are God’s temple because His Spirit dwells in them, while Ephesians 2:20 describes the community as built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets with Christ Jesus as the cornerstone.
Why it lands — The verse requires readers to examine their lives for the concrete marker of the Spirit's presence as proof of their union with God. It directs attention away from speculative theology toward the observable reality of divine indwelling.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Greek words
King James Version
Hereby know we that we dwell in him, and he in us, because he hath given us of his Spirit.
Cross-references
- Ephesians 2:20 built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus Himself as the cornerstone.
- 1 John 3:24 Whoever keeps His commandments remains in God, and God in him. And by this we know that He remains in us: by the Spirit He has given us.
- 1 Corinthians 3:16 Do you not know that you yourselves are God’s temple, and that God’s Spirit dwells in you?
- Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,
- 1 Corinthians 2:12 We have not received the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we may understand what God has freely given us.
- Romans 8:9 You, however, are controlled not by the flesh, but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ.
- 1 John 4:15 If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
- John 14:20 On that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you are in Me, and I am in you.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;