1 João 4:20-5:1 NVT

The Pulpit Commentary - 1 John 4:20-21

Love to man the expression of love to God. Connecting link: The apostle has just declared that the love which pervades believers is owing to God's love to them. He now advances to another and, indeed, to the final step in this paragraph on love, in which he sets forth more powerfully than ever the truth which he has thrice before ( 1 John 3:10 , 1 John 3:17 ; 1 John 4:8 £ ) indicated, that love to God and love to man are inseparably connected together; that if any man declares... read more

Albert Barnes

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible - 1 John 4:20

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother - His Christian brother; or, in a larger sense, any man. The sense is, that no man, whatever may be his professions and pretensions, can have any true love to God, unless he loves his brethren.He is a liar - Compare the notes at 1 John 1:6. It is not necessary, in order to a proper interpretation of this passage, to suppose that he “intentionally” deceives. The sense is, that this must be a false profession.For he that loveth not his brother whom... read more

Joseph Benson

Joseph Benson's Commentary of the Old and New Testaments - 1 John 4:20-21

1 John 4:20-21. If any man say, I love God And even say it with the utmost confidence; and hateth his brother Which he will do more or less, if he do not love him; he is a liar He affirms what is false, although, perhaps, he may not know it to be so; for he that loveth not his brother, whom he hath seen Who is daily presented to his senses to raise his esteem, or move his kindness or compassion toward him; how can he love God, whom he hath not seen? Whose excellences are not the... read more

Donald C. Fleming

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - 1 John 4:7-21

The character of Christian love (4:7-5:5)It is God’s nature to love. Love in human nature has been spoiled by sin, but when people are born again by the work of God, they learn to love as God loves (7-8). The character of God’s love is seen in his act of giving his Son to die for those who have rebelled against him. They are worthy of death, but Jesus died to bear the judgment of sin on their behalf. As a result they can now have life (9-10). People cannot see God, but they can see that he... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - 1 John 4:20

a man = any one. App-123 . seen . App-133 . read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - 1 John 4:20

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, cannot love God whom he hath not seen.If people have any proper knowledge at all of God, they cannot fail, at the same time, to be aware of God-like qualities manifested in all human life, even in the unregenerated; for all people were made in God's image, irrespective of the eroding and defacing influence of sin. Failure to see this, with its consequent inclination to love... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - 1 John 4:20

1 John 4:20. For he that loveth not his brother, &c.— By brother is all along to be understood a real Christian; and if Christian professors are what their religion obliges them to be, that is, more holy than other men, we ought in reason to love them with a greater degree of affection than others. It is intimated, ch. 1Jn 5:1 that every one who loveth God, will of course love all Christians, who are his children, and resemble him. Here we are taught, that he who loveth not Christians, who... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - 1 John 4:20

20. loveth not . . . brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen—It is easier for us, influenced as we are here by sense, to direct love towards one within the range of our senses than towards One unseen, appreciable only by faith. "Nature is prior to grace; and we by nature love things seen, before we love things unseen" [ESTIUS]. The eyes are our leaders in love. "Seeing is an incentive to love" [OEligCUMENIUS]. If we do not love the brethren, the visible... read more

Thomas Constable

Expository Notes of Dr. Thomas Constable - 1 John 4:20

A claim to love God is a poor substitute for genuine love of the brethren. 1 John 4:19 left open the possibility of such a claim. John therefore clarified that a claim to love God is not a true demonstration of love. In John’s hyperbolic parlance, failing to love is to hate. Love for the unseen God will find expression in love for our brethren whom we can see. It is easier to love someone we can see than it is to love someone we cannot see. read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - 1 John 4:1-21

Fellowship with God in Love1. Try the spirits] RV ’Prove the spirits.’ The verb is used of testing metals. 2, 3. See on 2 John 1:7. 3. Confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh] RV ’confesseth not Jesus.’4. He that is in the world] the Devil: cp. 1 John 3:10; John 8:44; John 12:31. 5. They] the false prophets. 6. We] the Christian teachers.8. God is love] the third fundamental maxim (see Intro.). Love is not merely an attribute of God, it is His very Being. Hence to be without love... read more