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.
Parallel translations
- WEB By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
- KJV Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
- NKJV By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.
- NASB We know love by this, that He laid down His life for us; and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.
- NLT We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters.
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
We know what love is because Christ laid down his life for us, and we should likewise lay down our lives for fellow believers. The cross defines self-giving love.
Overview
The supreme definition of love is Christ's self-sacrifice on the cross. His laying down his life sets the pattern for believers, who ought to give themselves sacrificially for one another. This roots Christian love in the gospel itself, calling for costly, self-denying love modeled on the Savior.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- 1 Jn 4:9–11This is how God’s love was revealed among us: God sent His one and only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him.
- Eph 5:2and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.
- John 13:34A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.
- John 3:16For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that everyone who believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
- Rom 5:8But God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
- John 15:12–13This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
- Rev 1:5and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn from the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him who loves us and has released us from our sins by His blood,
- 1 Pet 3:18For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit,
- Acts 20:28Keep watch over yourselves and the entire flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which He purchased with His own blood.
- Matt 20:28just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
- Eph 5:25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her
- Titus 2:13as we await the blessed hope and glorious appearance of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ.
- 1 Jn 2:6Whoever claims to abide in Him must walk as Jesus walked.
- Rom 16:4who have risked their lives for me. Not only I but all the churches of the Gentiles are grateful to them.
- Rev 5:9And they sang a new song: “Worthy are You to take the scroll and open its seals, because You were slain, and by Your blood You purchased for God those from every tribe and tongue and people and nation.
- Phil 2:17But even if I am being poured out like a drink offering on the sacrifice and service of your faith, I am glad and rejoice with all of you.
- John 10:15just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father. And I lay down My life for the sheep.
- 1 Pet 2:24He Himself bore our sins in His body on the tree, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. “By His stripes you are healed.”
- 1 Pet 1:18For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers,
- Phil 2:30because he nearly died for the work of Christ, risking his life to make up for your deficit of service to me.
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Christ at the center
Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'
How 1 John 3:16 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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