1 John 4:9-19
New Catholic Bible
9 God’s love was revealed to us in this way:
God sent his only-begotten Son into the world
so that we might have life through him.
10 This is what love is:
not that we have loved God,
but that he loved us
and sent his Son as expiation for our sins.[a]
11 Beloved,
since God loved us so much,
we should love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God,
but if we love one another,
God abides in us,
and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we can be certain
that we abide in him
and that he abides in us:
he has given us a share in his Spirit.[b]
14 Moreover, we have seen for ourselves
and can testify
that the Father has sent the Son
as the Savior of the world.
15 God abides in anyone who acknowledges
that Jesus is the Son of God,
and that person abides in God.
16 We have come to know
and to believe in
the love that God has for us.
God is love,
and whoever abides in love
abides in God,
and God in him.
17 This is how love is made perfect in us,
enabling us to have confidence
on the Day of Judgment,
because even in this world
we have become like him.
18 In love there is no fear;
indeed, perfect love casts out fear,
because fear has to do with punishment,
and whoever fears
has not yet achieved perfection in love.
19 Therefore, we love because he first loved us.
Footnotes
- 1 John 4:10 It was God who first loved us when we had no love for him or even for ourselves (see Rom 5:6-10). He showed his love by sending his Son to atone for our sins (see 1 Jn 2:2). This is the motive for our love for one another.
- 1 John 4:13 A share in his Spirit: this is the Spirit promised for the Messianic Age (see Acts 2:17-21, 33); he has been poured out into our hearts (see Rom 5:5; 1 Thes 4:8) and brings forth in us the inner certainty that the Apostles proclaimed outwardly (see 1 Jn 5:6f; Acts 5:32)—in this case about the Divine adoption of Christians (see Rom 8:15f; Gal 4:6).
