1 John 4:20

If a man says, I have love for God, and has hate for his brother, his words are false: for how is the man who has no love for his brother whom he has seen, able to have love for God whom he has not seen?

Bible in Basic English

In The King James Version

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?

In Context

19We have the power of loving, because he first had love for us.

21And this is the word which we have from him, that he who has love for God is to have the same love for his brother.

Read all of 1 John 4

Cross References

1 Peter 1:8To whom your love is given, though you have not seen him; and the faith which you have in him, though you do not see him now, gives you joy greater than words and full of glory:

1 John 2:4The man who says, I have knowledge of him, and does not keep his laws, is false, and there is nothing true in him:

1 John 2:11But he who has hate for his brother is in the dark, walking in the dark with no knowledge of where he is going, unable to see because of the dark.

1 John 4:12No man has ever seen God: if we have love for one another, God is in us and his love is made complete in us:

Matthew Henry on 1 John 4:18-21

The Divine Love. ( a. d. 80.) 17 Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love. 19 We love him, because he first loved us. 20 If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? 21 And this… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study 1 John 4:20