This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
Parallel Translations
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This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
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And this commaundement have we of him: that he which loveth God shuld love his brother also.
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And this commandement haue we of him, that he that loueth God, should loue his brother also.
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Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (19)
Passages linked to 1 John 4:21 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Matthew 22:37-39 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. A second likewise is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’
- Leviticus 19:18 “ ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am Yahweh.
- 1 John 3:11 For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
- Galatians 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
- 1 Thessalonians 4:9 But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,
- 1 Peter 3:8 Finally, all of you be like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, courteous,
- John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- John 15:12 “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
- Romans 12:9-10 Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another;
- 1 Peter 4:8 And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.
- 1 John 3:14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. He who doesn’t love his brother remains in death.
- 1 John 3:23 This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.
- Mark 12:29-33 Jesus answered, “The greatest is, ‘Hear, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one: you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. The second is like this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” The scribe said to him, “Truly, teacher, you have said well that he is one, and there is none other but he, and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.”
- Luke 10:37 He said, “He who showed mercy on him.” Then Jesus said to him, “Go and do likewise.”
- Romans 13:9-10 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love doesn’t harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
- Galatians 5:6 For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision amounts to anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith working through love.
- 1 John 4:11 Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.
- 1 John 3:18 My little children, let’s not love in word only, or with the tongue only, but in deed and truth.
- Matthew 5:43 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 21 And this commandment This is a stronger argument,…
21 And this commandment This is a stronger argument, drawn from the authority and doctrine of Christ; for he not only gave a commandment respecting the love of God, but bade us also to love our brethren. We must therefore so begin with God, as that there may be at the same time a transition made to men.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain A second reason, why God cannot be hated and…
A second reason, why God cannot be hated and our neighbor loved, because the selfsame Lawmaker commanded both to love him and our neighbor.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 21 And this commandment have we from him, That…
21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
Ver. 21. And this commandment we have from him] Lo, here a singular evidence of God’s great love to us, that he commandeth us also the love of our neighbour as well as of himself: quasi non tam de se amando fuerit sollicitus, quam de proximo nostro diligendo, saith Aretius. Our Saviour therefore, summing up the law, joineth those two precepts, "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all," &c., and "Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." Yea, God prefers mercy before sacrifice; and is content that his own immediate service should be intermitted, rather than offices of love to our brother omitted. "Leave there thy gift, and go thy way; first be reconciled," Mat 5:24.
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Love his brother also] If he be a good man, love him in God; if bad, for God.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Both ought to be conjoined, being required both by…
Both ought to be conjoined, being required both by the same authority.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain This commandment; this great and chief commandment, above the…
This commandment; this great and chief commandment, above the rest, this summary and comprehensive commandment, including all the rest, namely, to love God above all, for his own sake, and to love our brother as ourselves, for God’s sake, this command, so full of wisdom, so agreeable to right reason, and so much our duty and interest to comply with, have we received from God; and it is most certain that we love him not, if we keep it not; This commandment have we from God, that he who loveth God, loveth his brother also.
Learn thence, 1. That the great God, by his gracious command, requires that we love him and place the supremacy of our love upon him.
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2. That as God requires us to love him above ourselves, so does he oblige us, by virtue of his command, to love our brother as ourselves; as sincerely, though not so intensely, as ourselves.
Learn, 3. That the same commandment that requires us to love God, requires love to our brethren also; God interprets the neglect of our duty to our brother, as a neglect of our obligation to himself.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And this commandment have we from him - Both…
And this commandment have we from him - Both God and his opinions or mode of worship be, purely because he is the child, and bears the image, of God. Bigotry is properly the want of this pure and universal love. A bigot only loves those who embrace his opinions, and receives his way of worship; and he loves them for that, and not for Christ's sake.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 21. This commandment have we] We should love…
Verse 21. This commandment have we] We should love one another, and love our neighbour as ourselves. The love of God and the love of man can never be separated; he who loves God will love his brother; he who loves his brother gives this proof that he loves God, because he loves with a measure of that love which, in its infinitude, dwells in God.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain And this commandment have we from him - That…
And this commandment have we from him - That is, the command to love a brother is as obligatory as that to love God. If one is obeyed, the other ought to be also; if a man feels that one is binding on him, he should feel that the other is also; and he can never have evidence that he is a true Christian, unless he manifests love to his brethren as well as love to God. See the notes at Jam 2:10.
That he who loveth God love his brother also - See the notes at Joh 13:34-35. Compare Joh 15:12, Joh 15:17.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Besides the argument (Jo1 4:20) from the common feeling…
Besides the argument (Jo1 4:20) from the common feeling of men, he here adds a stronger one from God's express commandment (Mat 22:39). He who loves, will do what the object of his love wishes.
he who loveth God--he who wishes to be regarded by God as loving Him.
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Next: 1 John Chapter 5
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 21. And this whole doctrine of love takes the…
21. And this whole doctrine of love takes the form of a commandment. Not only we may, but we must. It is a divine invariable law, that the lover of God be a lover of his brother. Our highest blessedness is our highest duty.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 21. And this commandment have we] The Apostle drives…
21. And this commandment have we] The Apostle drives home his arguments for the practice of brotherly love by the fact that God has commanded all who love Him to love their brethren. Some take ‘Him’ to mean Christ. But this is unlikely, as Christ has not been mentioned for several verses: although it must be admitted that S. John is so full of the truth that ‘I and My Father are one’, that he makes the transition from the Father to the Son and from the Son to the Father almost unconsciously. Where has God given this commandment? In the whole Law, which is summed up in loving God with all one’s heart and one’s neighbour as oneself (Deu_6:5; Lev_19:18; Luk_10:27). The Apostle thus anticipates a possible objection. A man may say ‘I can love God without loving my brother, and I can prove my love by keeping His commandments’ (Joh_14:15). ‘Nay’, says S. John, ‘your own argument shews your error: you cannot keep His commandments without loving your brother’. Thus then we have two revelations of God: our brother, who is His image; and His commandment, which is His will. Not to love our brother is a flagrant violation of both. As Pascal puts it, we must know men in order to love them, but we must love God in order to know Him.
that he who loveth God love his brother also] “The final particle (ἵνα) gives more than the simple contents of the commandment. It marks the injunction as directed to an aim” (Westcott). See on 1Jn_1:9.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain That he who loveth God love his brother also.…
That he who loveth God love his brother also. This is the great commandment, on which hang all the Law and the prophets (Mat_22:37, Mat_22:39; Luk_10:27; Joh_13:34) and, whateverwe may think of the relation between seeing and loving, there is the Divine command to love, not only the invisible God, but the visible brother in whom the invisible God dwells. Sight may hinder as well as help; it is hard to love what is squalid and hideous. In such cases let us remember the Divine command; let us remember the Divinity which even the most debased humanity contains.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 21. This commandment. It is God's will that he…
21. This commandment. It is God's will that he who loves the Father should love the children also.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.