But the one who loves God is known by God.
Parallel translations
- WEB But if anyone loves God, the same is known by him.
- KJV But if any man love God, the same is known of him.
- NKJV But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him.
- NASB but if anyone loves God, he is known by Him.
- NLT But the person who loves God is the one whom God recognizes.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
But the one who loves God is truly known by Him. What ultimately counts is not our knowledge of God but His gracious knowing of us.
Overview
Paul redirects from human knowing to divine knowing. To love God is the mark of one whom God has savingly known—chosen, embraced, and claimed (cf. Gal 4:9). This grounds the believer's security not in the strength of their intellect but in God's prior gracious initiative. Love for God, not boasted knowledge, is the true evidence of belonging to Him.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 25
- Rev 3:8–9I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door, which no one can shut. For you have only a little strength, yet you have kept My word and have not denied My name.
- Exod 33:17So the LORD said to Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”
- Nah 1:7The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of distress; He cares for those who trust in Him.
- 2 Tim 2:19Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”
- 1 Cor 2:9Rather, 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.”
- Gal 4:9But now that you know God, or rather are known by God, how is it that you are turning back to those weak and worthless principles? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again?
- Rev 2:19I know your deeds—your love, your faith, your service, your perseverance—and your latter deeds are greater than your first.
- Jas 1:12Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.
- Jer 1:5“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
- John 10:14I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me,
- Rom 8:28–29And we know that God works all things together for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purpose.
- Ps 1:6For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
- Matt 7:23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
- 1 Jn 4:19We love because He first loved us.
- Rev 2:9I know your affliction and your poverty—though you are rich! And I am aware of the slander of those who falsely claim to be Jews, but are in fact a synagogue of Satan.
- 1 Jn 5:2–3By this we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments.
- 1 Pet 1:8Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,
- Exod 33:12Then Moses said to the LORD, “Look, You have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found favor in My sight.’
- Ps 17:3You have tried my heart; You have visited me in the night. You have tested me and found no evil; I have resolved not to sin with my mouth.
- Rev 3:15–16I know your deeds; you are neither cold nor hot. How I wish you were one or the other!
- John 21:17Jesus asked a third time, “Simon son of John, do you love Me?” Peter was deeply hurt that Jesus had asked him a third time, “Do you love Me?” “Lord, You know all things,” he replied. “You know I love You.” Jesus said to him, “Feed My sheep.
- Jas 2:5Listen, my beloved brothers: Has not God chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom He promised those who love Him?
- Rev 2:13I know where you live, where the throne of Satan sits. Yet you have held fast to My name and have not denied your faith in Me, even in the day when My faithful witness Antipas was killed among you, where Satan dwells.
- Ps 139:1–2For the choirmaster. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me and known me.
- Rom 11:2God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel:
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Christ at the center
Christ crucified is the wisdom and power of God; he is our Passover sacrificed for us, the firstfruits of resurrection, the foundation on which everything is built.
How 1 Corinthians 8:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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