the Fifth Week after Easter
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1 John 4:8
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Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
knoweth: 1 John 2:4, 1 John 2:9, 1 John 3:6, John 8:54, John 8:55
God is: 1 John 1:5, Exodus 34:6, Exodus 34:7, Psalms 86:5, Psalms 86:15, 2 Corinthians 13:11, Ephesians 2:4, Hebrews 12:29
Reciprocal: Psalms 52:1 - goodness Nahum 1:7 - Lord Zechariah 9:17 - how great is his goodness Matthew 19:17 - there Mark 10:18 - that is Mark 12:31 - Thou John 16:3 - because 1 Corinthians 13:2 - and have 1 Corinthians 16:14 - General Philippians 2:1 - if any comfort James 2:13 - and 1 John 3:10 - neither 1 John 3:14 - because 1 John 4:6 - he that knoweth 1 John 4:7 - love is 1 John 4:10 - Herein 1 John 4:16 - God is love
Cross-References
And in process of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to Jehovah.
At harvest time, Cain brought a gift to the Lord . He brought some of the food that he grew from the ground, but Abel brought some animals from his flock. He chose some of his best sheep and brought the best parts from them. The Lord accepted Abel and his gift.
As time passed, it happened that Kayin brought an offering to the LORD from the fruit of the ground.
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
And after a time, Cain gave to the Lord an offering of the fruits of the earth.
And in processe of dayes it came to passe, that Cain brought of the fruite of the grounde, an oblation vnto ye lorde:
And in processe of time it came to passe, that Kain brought an oblation vnto the Lorde of the fruite of the ground.
And in the course of time it came to pass that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering to the LORD.
After some time Cain brought some of his harvest and gave it as an offering to the Lord .
And it was so after some time that Cain brought of the fruits of the earth a sacrifice to the Lord.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
He that loveth not, knoweth not God,.... If a man loves not the children of God, those that are born of him, he does not know, so as to love God, the Father of them; for to pretend love to God, the begetter of them, whom he sees not, and not love those who are begotten by him, and are visible objects of respect, is a contradiction, and cannot be reconciled: see 1 John 4:20. This clause is left out in the Ethiopic version, and is transposed in the Syriac version, which reads the text thus, "for God, is love, and whoever loveth not, knoweth not God". By which reading, the following reason stands in close connection with 1 John 4:7.
For God is love; he loves himself; there is an entire love between the three divine Persons, who are in the strictest, and in the most inconceivable and inexpressible manner affected to each other; their love is natural and essential: God loves all his creatures as such, nor does he hate any of them, as so considered; and he bears an everlasting, unchangeable, and invariable love to his elect in Christ Jesus; of which an instance is given in the following verses, and is a reason why the saints should love one another; that they might be like their heavenly Father, by whom they are begotten, and of whom they are born, and whose children they are; seeing he is love itself, and in his breast is nothing else but love. So the Shekinah is, by the Cabalistic Jews t, called אהבה, "love".
t Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 15. 1. & Lex. Cabal. p. 43, 44.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
He that loveth not, knoweth not God - Has no true acquaintance with God; has no just views of him, and no right feelings toward him. The reason for this is implied in what is immediately stated, that “God is love,” and of course if they have no love reigning in their hearts, they cannot pretend to be like him.
For God is love - He is not merely benevolent, he is benevolence itself. Compare the notes at 2 Corinthians 13:11. Never was a more important declaration made than this; never was more meaning crowded into a few words than in this short sentence - “God is love.” In the darkness of this world of sin - in all the sorrows that come now upon the race, and that will come upon the wicked hereafter - we have the assurance that a God of infinite benevolence rules over all; and though we may not be able to reconcile all that occurs with this declaration, or see how the things which he has permitted to take place are consistent with it, yet in the exercise of faith on his own declarations we may find consolation in “believing” that it is so, and may look forward to a period when all his universe shall see it to be so. In the midst of all that occurs on the earth of sadness, sin, and sorrow, there are abundant evidences that God is love.
In the original structure of things before sin entered, when all was pronounced “good;” in the things designed to promote happiness, where the only thing contemplated is happiness, and where it would have been as easy to have caused pain; in the preservation of a guilty race, and in granting that race the opportunity of another trial; in the ceaseless provision which God is making in his providence for the wants of unnumbered millions of his creatures; in the arrangements made to alleviate sorrow, and to put an end to it; in the gift of a Saviour more than all, and in the offer of eternal life on terms simple and easy to be complied with - in all these things, which are the mere expressions of love, not one of which would have been found under the government of a malignant being, we see illustrations of the sublime and glorious sentiment before us, that “God is love.” Even in this world of confusion, disorder, and darkness, we have evidence sufficient to prove that he is benevolent, but the full glory and meaning of that truth will be seen only in heaven. Meantime, let us hold on to the truth that he is love. Let us believe that he sincerely desires our good, and that what seems dark to us may be designed for our welfare; and amidst all the sorrows and disappointments of the present life, let us feel that our interests and our destiny are in the hands of the God of love.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse 8. He that loveth not — As already described, knoweth not God-has no experimental knowledge of him.
God is love. — An infinite fountain of benevolence and beneficence to every human being. He hates no thing that he has made. He cannot hate, because he is love. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and the unjust. He has made no human being for perdition, nor ever rendered it impossible, by any necessitating decree, for any fallen soul to find mercy. He has given the fullest proof of his love to the whole human race by the incarnation of his Son, who tasted death for every man. How can a decree of absolute, unconditional reprobation, of the greater part or any part of the human race, stand in the presence of such a text as this? It has been well observed that, although God is holy, just, righteous, &c., he is never called holiness, justice, &c., in the abstract, as he is here called LOVE. This seems to be the essence of the Divine nature, and all other attributes to be only modifications of this.
