Bible Strands
1 John 4:16
And we have come to know and believe the love that God has for us. God is love; whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The author writes to believers navigating doctrinal and ethical challenges, placing this declaration between instructions to confess Jesus as the Son of God and warnings about confidence at the final judgment.
The words — The Greek ἐγνώκαμεν (egnōkamen) indicates a settled, experiential knowledge, and πεπιστεύκαμεν (pepisteukamen) marks a decisive commitment to the love God has for us.
The thread — The text states that mutual indwelling occurs through love, a pattern that runs through 1 John 3:24 regarding remaining in God, Psalms 36:7 on taking refuge in divine love, and 1 John 3:1 on the identity of God's children.
Why it lands — The verse states that abiding in love is identical to abiding in God, which requires readers to measure their spiritual reality by their continued practice of love rather than subjective experience.
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
And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.
Cross-references
- 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.
- Psalms 36:7 How precious is Your loving devotion, O God, that the children of men take refuge in the shadow of Your wings!
- 1 John 3:1 Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God. And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know Him.
- Psalms 18:1 For the choirmaster. Of David the servant of the LORD, who sang this song to the LORD on the day the LORD had delivered him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. He said: I love You, O LORD, my strength.
- 1 John 4:8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
- 1 John 4:12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
- 1 John 3:16 By this we know what love is: Jesus laid down His life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers.
- Psalms 31:19 How great is Your goodness which You have laid up for those who fear You, which You have bestowed before the sons of men on those who take refuge in You!
- 1 Corinthians 2:9 Rather, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no heart has imagined, what God has prepared for those who love Him.”
- John 6:69 We believe and know that You are the Holy One of God.”