1 John 4:8 (KJV)

What does this mean?

John is writing to a church he loves, urging them to love one another, and he gives the deepest reason for it. He says that anyone who does not love has not come to know God, because love is God's very nature — it is who he is, not just something he does. The verse does not say that loving people makes you a Christian; it says that knowing God, who is love itself, shows itself in love.

What does this teach us?

Love is the proof of knowing God. If love sits at the very core of who God is, then a life that has met him will start to look like him, and the clearest sign of that is love for the people around you.

How can we apply this?

Look at one relationship today where love has gone cold, and ask what knowing God would look like there. It may be a phone call, a kindness, a forgiveness, or simply listening — love is the proof, and today is a good day to show it.

Related KJV passages

• “We love him, because he first loved us.”

  1 John 4:19

• “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.”

  John 13:34

• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

  John 3:16