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Expositor's Greek Testament (Nicoll)

1 John 4:7

St. John reiterates the “old commandment” (1 John 2:7-11). It is so all-important that he cares not though his readers be tired of hearing it. Cf. the anecdote which St. Jerome relates on Galatians 6:10 : “Beatus Joannes Evangelista cum Ephesi moraretur usque ad ultimam senectutem, et vix inter discipulorum manus ad Ecclesiam deferretur, nec posset in plura vocem verba contexere, nihil aliud per singulas solebat proferre collectas nisi hoc: Filioli, diligite alterutrum. Tandem discipuli et fratres qui aderant, tædio affecti quod eadem semper audi-rent, dixerunt: Magister, quare semper hoc loqueris? Qui respondit dignam Joanne sententiam: Quia præceptum Domini est, et si solum fiat, sufficit.” Love is the divine nature, and those who love have been made partakers of the divine nature (2 Peter 1:4); and by the practice of love they “get to know God” more and more.

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See also 1 John 4:7 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    Verse 7. _BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER_] And ever be ready to promote each other's welfare, both spiritual and temporal. _FOR LOVE IS OF GOD_] And ever acts like him; he loves man, and daily loa...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER - This verse introduces a new topic, the consideration of which occupies the remainder of the chapter. See the Analysis. The subject is one on which John dwells more t...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    V. HEREBY WE KNOW Chapter S 3:19-5:13 _ 1. Hereby we know that we are of the truth (1 John 3:19)_ 2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God (1 John 4:1) 3. Hereby know we the Spirit of truth and of error...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    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...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    THE PERILS OF THE SURGING LIFE OF THE SPIRIT (1 John 3:24 B- 1 John 4:1) _ 4:1 This is how we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit which he gave to us. Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but t...

  • Barclay Daily Study Bible (NT)

    Beloved, let us love one another, because love has its source in God, and everyone who loves has God as the source of his birth and knows God. He who does not love has not come to know God. In this Go...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    LOVE. App-135. LOVE. App-135. BORN. begotten....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Love is the Mark of the Children of the God who is Love 7. _Beloved, let us love one another_ See on 1 John 3:2. The transition seems abrupt, as if the Apostle had summarily dismissed an unwelcome sub...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    1 John 2:29 to 1 John 5:12. God is Love There seems to be no serious break in the Epistle from this point onwards until we reach the concluding verses which form a sort of summary (1 John 5:13-21). T...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    1 John 2:29 to 1 John 5:12. GOD IS LOVE There seems to be no serious break in the Epistle from this point onwards until we reach the concluding verses which form a sort of summary (1 John 5:13-21). Th...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    ἈΓΑΠΗΤΟΊ, ἈΓΑΠΩ͂ΜΕΝ�. See on 1 John 3:2 and 1 John 4:11. The transition seems abrupt, as if the Apostle had summarily dismissed an unwelcome subject. But the connexions of thought in S. John’s writing...

  • Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges Commentary

    7–21. LOVE IS THE MARK OF THE CHILDREN OF THE GOD WHO IS LOVE...

  • Charles Rose Commentaries

    ΆΓΑΠΏΜΕΝ _praes. conj. act. от_ ΆΓΑΠΆΩ (G25) любить. Побудительный _conj._, "давайте любить" ΆΓΑΠΏΝ _praes. act. part. от_ ΆΓΑΠΆΩ. ΓΕΓΈΝΝΗΤΑΙ _perf. ind. pass. от_ ΓΕΝΝΆΩ (G1080) нести; _pass._ рожд...

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER:— St. Jerome tells us, that when this blessed evangelist had continued at Ephesus to extreme old age, and was with difficulty carried to the church between the arms of...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    HEREBY WE KNOW PART IV 1 John 4:7-21; 1 John 5:1-21 GOD IS LOVE Divine Sonship Tested By The Inter-Relationship Of: 1. Love 2. Faith 3. Righteousness CHAPTER XII _THE SOURCE OF LOVE_...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. Resumption of the main theme (). Love, the sum of righteousness, is the test of being...

  • Commentary on the Minor Epistles by Caton

    VERSE 7. BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER. We must not in any manner imitate the false teachers, for they would lead us astray, but be governed by the example and spirit of our Master. We show, as he...

  • Concordant Commentary on the New Testament by A. E. Knoch

    3 The spirit of antichrist is the spirit of the world. It does not want the Christ of the Scriptures, but prefers some substitute more suited to its taste. This spirit has come to pervade, not only th...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    4:7 begotten (b-19) Or 'is born.' as ch. 3.9....

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    FELLOWSHIP WITH GOD IN LOVE 1. Try the spirits] RV 'Prove the spirits.' The verb is used of testing metals. 2, 3. See on 2 John 1:7....

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    HOW CAN I BE SURE? 1 JOHN _IAN MACKERVOY_ CHAPTER 4 TEST THE *SPIRITS TO SEE IF THEY ARE TRUE (1 JOHN 4:1-6) V1 My friends, do not believe every *spirit. First, make sure where they are from. Se...

  • Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

    THE PERFECT LOVE THE SUREST TEST (1 John 4:7). (_a_) _Fraternal love the necessary product of the true knowledge of God, because God is love_ (1 John 4:7). (_b_) _The grand recent historical exhibi...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE TOKEN OF GOD'S LOVE 1 John 4:1 In those days the intense ferment of men's minds wrought many delusions and heresies which were fraught with temptation to young converts, and the Apostle wished to...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Two closely related perils threaten our fellowship with God as love, false prophets and the spirit which actuates them. Teaching is to be tested by the indwelling Spirit. All who refuse to confess tha...

  • Gary Hampton Commentaries

    GOD'S CHILDREN ARE KNOWN BY THEIR LOVE God's children can be identified by their love for others, which was first demonstrated by the Father. God was willing to give up His Son for the good of those l...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    (6) Beloved, let us love one another: (7) for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. (6) He returns to the commending of brotherly love and charity. (7) The first...

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    Let us love one another. This is the repeated admonition of St. John, the evangelist, both in this epistle and to the end of his life, as St. Jerome relates in his Epist. ad Galat. (cap. vi. tom. 4, p...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and everyone that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. (8) He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. (9) In this was manifested the...

  • James Nisbet's Church Pulpit Commentary

    _‘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,...

  • John Calvin's Bible Commentary

    7_Beloved _He returns to that exhortation which he enforces almost throughout the Epistle. We have, indeed, said, that it is filled with the doctrine of faith and exhortation to love. On these two poi...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    Now, to make use of this last proof, caution was required, for many false prophets would assume, and even in the time of the apostle had already assumed, the semblance of having received communication...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    BELOVED, LET ITS LOVE ONE ANOTHER,.... The apostle having finished what he proposed to say concerning the trying of spirits, returns to his former exhortation to brotherly love, and which comes with f...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. Ver. 7. _Beloved, let us love one another_] This beloved disciple breathes nothing but...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Let us love one another_ From the doctrine he has just been defending, he draws this exhortation: as if he had said, Think it not enough speculatively to admit the Christian doctrine, but let it be y...

  • Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament (1851)

    LOVE IS OF GOD; he is its author, and those who exercise it are his children, spiritually born of him....

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    The greatness of God's love:...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    BELOVED, LET US LOVE ONE ANOTHER; FOR LOVE IS OF GOD, AND EVERY ONE THAT LOVETH IS BORN OF GOD AND KNOWETH GOD....

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    But there must be guards as to the operation of the Spirit of God, that is, the child of God must be guarded against all that would imitate the operation of the Spirit. Satan is extremely cunning, and...

  • Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible

    7-13 The Spirit of God is the Spirit of love. He that does not love the image of God in his people, has no saving knowledge of God. For it is God's nature to be kind, and to give happiness. The law o...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    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...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    1 John 4:7 Beloved G27 love G25 (G5725) another G240 for G3754 love G26 is G2076 (G5748) of G15

  • Peter Pett's Commentary on the Bible

    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 o...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    _The love which this Faith embraces and knows: in its origin; its supreme manifestation; its perfect reflection in us; the whole section being begun, continued, and ended in this._ 1 John 4:7-8. Two s...

  • Philip Schaff's Popular Commentary on the NT (4 vols)

    The ruling idea of the third part is Faith in the Spirit's testimony concerning the Son of God incarnate. The close of chap. 3 introduces the theme by the first explicit mention of faith and the Spiri...

  • Robertson's Word Pictures of the New Testament

    OF GOD (εκ του θεου). Even human love comes from God, "a reflection of something in the Divine nature itself" (Brooke). John repeats the old commandment of 1 John 2:7. Persistence in loving (present...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    1 John 4:7 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 a...

  • Sermon Bible Commentary

    1 John 4:7 The Source of Love. I. Essentially and eternally, all love is of God, and all God is love. To reveal this to man, that stream of paradise was parted, and became into three heads. There was...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    1 John 4:1. _Beloved, believe not every spirit,_ A simpleton believes every word that he hears, but «the wise man's eyes are in his head,» so he examines what he sees and hears, and does not blindly...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    1 John 4:1. _Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world._ If John had need to say that in the early mornin...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    1 John 4:1. _Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirit whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world._ This is an unction of which there is great need i...

  • Spurgeon's Bible Commentary

    1 John 4:1. _Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world._ It was so in John's day: it is so in these days....

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: Christians warned of false doctrines concerning Christ's person and work. Tests of the true. CHARACTERS: God, Christ, Holy Spirit, anti-christ, John. CONCLUSION: God's people must be ever c...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    1 John 4:1. _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 den...

  • The Bible Study New Testament

    BECAUSE LOVE COMES FROM GOD. "The false teachers claim knowledge is all that is necessary to please God, and they do not love one another. Love grown cold is a sign of evil (Matthew 24:12). Therefore,...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    1 JOHN 4:7 The Assurance of God through the Love of God. John’s teaching in these verses is like the apostle Paul’s “love chapter,” 1 Corinthians 13:1.1 JOHN—NOTE ON

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    Would someone please check the Psalm number in sentence formatted in blue in the 3rd note of ver. 18. CHAPTER 4 1. _Most dearly beloved_, &c. By the word _spirit_ he means suggestion, inspiration, im...

  • The Great Commentary of Cornelius à Lapide

    _Dearly beloved, let us love one another._ These words are rightly connected with what preceded. He means that the spirit of error is the spirit of cupidity, but the Spirit of truth is the Spirit of l...

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    _CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES_ 1 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,...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION 1 JOHN 4:1 - 1 JOHN 5:12 (2) _The source of son-ship. _Possession of the Spirit. 1 JOHN 4:1 Confession of the Incarnation is

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    Shall we turn now in our Bibles to I John chapter 4. As we go back to verse 1 John 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 kn...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    1 John 2:10; 1 John 2:29; 1 John 3:10; 1 John 3:14; 1 John 4:12;...

  • Vincent's Word Studies in the New Testament (4 Volume Set)

    Of God [ε κ τ ο υ θ ε ο υ]. Flows from God....

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    TESTING THE TRUE AND THE FALSE 1 John 4:1 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We have in our opening verses some important admonitions, and also some important instructions. 1. IMPORTANT ADMONITIONS. (1) "Believe...

  • Wells of Living Water Commentary

    THE LOVE OF GOD CHAPTER 1 John 4:7 INTRODUCTORY WORDS We have always thought of the thirteenth chapter of I Corinthians as the Love Chapter. However, we have in the Word of God another chapter whic...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Let us love one another — From the doctrine he has just been defending he draws this exhortation. It is by the Spirit that the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Every one that truly loveth God...

  • William Burkitt's Expository Notes

    Our apostle here resumes his exhortation to brotherly love, and urges and reinforces it with fresh arguments. 1. He assures us, that LOVE IS GOD; that is, the fruit of his good spirit in us; common l...

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Old Testament