Devine Scripture

1 John 4:10

What does 1 John 4:10 mean?

A plain-English look at 1 John 4:10 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.

What 1 John 4:10 means

Here is love’s true definition: not that we initiated love toward God, but that He first loved us and sent His Son as the propitiation for our sins. Love begins with God’s gracious initiative. Propitiation means that Jesus, by His sacrificial death, dealt with our sin and turned away the just judgment we deserved. God’s love is costly and just, not indulgent sentiment. This anchors assurance: forgiveness rests on the Son’s finished work, not our fluctuating devotion. When believers grasp this, their love for others is shaped by mercy that absorbs wrong and seeks reconciliation, reflecting the God who loved us at supreme cost.

Parallel translations

WEB

World English Bible · 2000

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

KJV

King James Version · 1611

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

ASV

American Standard Version · 1901

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

BBE

Bible in Basic English · 1949

And this is love, not that we had love for God, but that he had love for us, and sent his Son to be an offering for our sins.

YLT

Young's Literal Translation · 1862

in this is the love, not that we loved God, but that He did love us, and did send His Son a propitiation for our sins.

DRA

Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752

In this is charity: not as though we had loved God, but because he hath first loved us, and sent his Son to be a propitiation for our sins.

DBY

Darby Bible · 1890

Herein is love, not that we lovedGod, but that he loved us, and sent his Son a propitiation for our sins.

Context

Verse 10 completes the gospel heart introduced in verse 9. After stating the purpose of the sending (life through the Son), John names the means: the Son’s atoning sacrifice. This grounds the coming exhortation in verse 11—if God loved us in this way, we ought to love one another. The flow moves from revelation of God’s love to our responsive duty, tying Christian ethics to the cross.

v.9Herein was the love of God manifested in us, that God hath sent his only begotten Son into the world that we might live through him.

v.10This passage

v.11Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Cross references

Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.

  • John 15:16

    Ye did not choose me, but I chose you, and appointed you, that ye should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should abide: that whatsoever ye shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

  • 1 Peter 3:18

    Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit;

  • 1 John 4:19

    We love, because he first loved us.

  • 1 John 3:1

    Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called children of God; and such we are. For this cause the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

  • 1 John 4:8

    He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

  • 1 John 2:2

    and he is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but also for the whole world.

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