If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
Parallel translations
- WEB If a man says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who doesn’t love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
- KJV If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
- NKJV If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?
- NASB If someone says, “I love God,” and yet he hates his brother or sister, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother and sister whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
- NLT If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
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
Anyone who claims to love God while hating a fellow believer is a liar, since love for the visible brother is the test of love for the unseen God. Love for God cannot exist without love for people.
Overview
John exposes the inconsistency of professing love for God while harboring hatred for a brother. The visible neighbor is the testing ground of the invisible God: refusing to love the one we can see proves we do not truly love the One we cannot. This blunt application shows that Christian profession must be matched by Christian practice.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- 1 Jn 3:17If anyone with earthly possessions sees his brother in need, but withholds his compassion from him, how can the love of God abide in him?
- 1 Jn 2:9If anyone claims to be in the light but hates his brother, he is still in the darkness.
- 1 Jn 4:12No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
- 1 Jn 2:4If anyone says, “I know Him,” but does not keep His commandments, he is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
- 1 Jn 2:11But whoever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness. He does not know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
- 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,
- 1 Jn 1:6If we say we have fellowship with Him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 4:20 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
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.