1 John 4:20

If a man says ‘I love God,’ and yet hates his Brother, he is a liar; for the man who does not love his Brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.

Twentieth Century New Testament

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 love, because God first loved us.

21Indeed, we have this Command from God — ‘He who loves God must also love his Brother.’

Read all of 1 John 4

Cross References

1 Peter 1:8Though you have never seen him, yet you love him; though you do not even now see him, yet you believe in him, and exalt with a triumphant happiness too great for words,

1 John 2:4The man who says ‘I know Jesus,’ but does not lay his commands to heart, is a liar, and the Truth has no place in him;

1 John 2:11while he who hates his Brother is in the Darkness, and is living in the Darkness, and does not know where he is going, because the Darkness prevents his seeing.

1 John 4:12No human eyes have ever seen God, yet, if we love one another, God remains in union with us, and his love attains its perfection 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