New Testament
1 John
First John was written so that believers might know they have eternal life. It returns again and again to two tests and one assurance: walk in the light, love one another, and rest in the truth that God is love.
1 John 1
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 1 John 1:5
This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
Discussed in: - 1 John 1:7
But if we walk in the light as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son, cleanses us from all sin.
Discussed in: - 1 John 1:9
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
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1 John 2
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 1 John 2:7-8
Brothers, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning. Again, I write a new commandment to you, which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light already shines.
Discussed in: - 1 John 2:9-11
He who says he is in the light and hates his brother is in the darkness even until now. He who loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no occasion for stumbling in him. But he who hates his brother is in the darkness, and walks in the darkness, and doesn’t know where he is going, because the darkness has blinded his eyes.
Discussed in: - 1 John 2:15
Don’t love the world or the things that are in the world. If anyone loves the world, the Father’s love isn’t in him.
Discussed in: - 1 John 2:19
They went out from us, but they didn’t belong to us; for if they had belonged to us, they would have continued with us. But they left, that they might be revealed that none of them belong to us.
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1 John 3
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 1 John 3:2
Beloved, now we are children of God. It is not yet revealed what we will be; but we know that when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him just as he is.
Discussed in: - 1 John 3:15
Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life remaining in him.
Discussed in: - 1 John 3:16
By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.
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1 John 4
God Is Love
“He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.”
1 John 4:19-21We Love Because He First Loved Us
“We love him, because he first loved us. 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? This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.”
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
Use this list to find the article where each passage is explained or placed in context.
- 1 John 4:8
He who doesn’t love doesn’t know God, for God is love.
Read the passage article - 1 John 4:9-10
By this God’s love was revealed in us, that God has sent his only born Son into the world that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Discussed in: - 1 John 4:10
In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
Discussed in: - 1 John 4:12
No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us.
Discussed in: - 1 John 4:16
We know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him.
Discussed in: - 1 John 4:17
In this, love has been made perfect amongst us, that we may have boldness in the day of judgement, because as he is, even so we are in this world.
Discussed in: - 1 John 4:18
There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear has punishment. He who fears is not made perfect in love.
Discussed in: - 1 John 4:19
We love him, because he first loved us.
Read the passage article - 1 John 4:19-21
We love him, because he first loved us. 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? This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
Read the passage article - 1 John 4:20
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?
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1 John 5
Passages discussed across 316Quotes
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- 1 John 5:4
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world: your faith.
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More about 1 John
First John reads less like a formal letter and more like an older Christian writing warmly to people he calls his little children. By tradition it comes from John, near the end of a long life, writing to believers who had been unsettled by teachers leaving the church and casting doubt on what they had been taught. Some were left wondering whether they really belonged to God at all. John writes to settle that. He says plainly that his purpose is so that they may know they have eternal life, and that note of assurance sounds through the whole letter like a steady drumbeat under everything else he says.
John keeps returning to a few simple tests, not to make people anxious but to help them see what is real. Do you walk in the light rather than hiding in the dark? Do you love your brothers and sisters in practical ways and not just in words? Do you hold to the truth about who Jesus is? These are not hurdles to clear for God's affection. They are the natural marks of a life that has truly met him, the way warmth is the natural mark of a fire. John is gentle about failure too; he reminds them that if anyone does sin, there is one who speaks to the Father in their defence.
At the centre of it all is one of the most quoted statements in the whole Bible. In 4:8 John writes that whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. He does not mean love is a vague feeling, and he is careful to define it by the cross, by the God who sent his Son for us. But he draws a straight line from that love to ours: because we have been loved like that, we are freed and made able to love one another. The whole letter circles this truth, that God is love, and that knowing him changes how we treat the people around us.
If you have ever lain awake wondering whether your faith is genuine, or whether God could really mean it about you, this letter was written for that exact worry. John does not want anyone to live in fear of where they stand. He keeps lowering the volume on doubt and turning it up on assurance, reminding his readers that perfect love drives out fear. Read it when you need reassuring rather than challenging. It will gently challenge you too, but its first instinct is to comfort, and to settle a troubled heart in the love that came looking for it first.
Questions about 1 John
- Why was 1 John written?
- John states his purpose plainly: he writes so that believers may know they have eternal life. The church he was writing to had been shaken by teachers who left and challenged what the Christians had been taught, leaving some unsure whether their faith was real or whether they truly belonged to God. So John writes to reassure them. He offers a few simple tests of a genuine faith, walking in the light, loving one another, and holding to the truth about Jesus, not to make them anxious but to help them recognise the real thing in themselves and rest in it.
- What does it mean that 'God is love' in 1 John 4:8?
- John is not saying that love is God, or reducing God to a warm feeling. He is saying that love is so central to who God is that anyone who genuinely knows him will begin to love others, and a life with no love in it shows it has not truly known him. He defines that love by the cross, by the God who sent his Son for us, so it is costly and concrete, not sentimental. The verse is famous because it is true and tender at once: the God at the heart of everything is, in his very nature, love.
- How can I know I am really a Christian, according to 1 John?
- John offers reassurance rather than a checklist to fret over. He points to gentle marks of a real faith: a life turned towards the light rather than hidden in the dark, a genuine, practical love for others, and a settled belief that Jesus is the Son of God. These are not conditions you must perfect to earn God's love but signs that his life is already at work in you. And when you do fail, John points to Jesus who speaks to the Father in your defence. The aim of the whole letter is that you would know, and stop being afraid.
Topics in 1 John
The themes these verses speak to. Follow one to find related verses from right across the Bible.