Paragraph 4:7–10

Read 4:7–10 in both Berean Standard Bible and Good News Translation. Compare the two versions.

Paragraph Theme: In these verses John urges us to love one another because God showed us how much he loved us by sending his Son to die for us.

4:7a

let us love: (Tense) The tense of the Greek verb here shows that this is an order or encouragement to continue loving each other.

4:7b

love comes from: (Metaphor) See the note on 2:16e “is not from.” The basic meaning of the metaphor here is that love is something especially associated with God and that he is the one who causes and enables Christians to love others.

4:7c

Everyone who loves: (Meaning) John is referring to Christians who love others. He does not mean that any non-Christian who loves someone is a child of God. In translation this may need to be made clear by saying, “Anyone of you who loves.”

who loves: (Lexical Problem) No object of love is mentioned here, but throughout this section John is talking about loving other people. So if the verb “love” requires an object in your language, you can say “who loves other people.” This applies also to 4:8a.

born of God: (Metaphor) This refers to the same idea as being a child of God, because such a person has received spiritual life from God.

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All Scripture quotations in this publication, unless otherwise indicated, are from The Holy Bible, Berean Standard Bible. BSB is produced in cooperation with Bible Hub, Discovery Bible, OpenBible.com, and the Berean Bible Translation Committee.