1 John 4:7-21
Fifth Sunday of Easter B
7 Beloved,A let us loveB one another, because loveC is from God;D everyone who loves is bornE of God and knowsF God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.
9 God’s love was revealedG among us in this way: God sentH his onlyI Son into the worldJ so that we might live through him. 10 In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrificeK for our sins.L
11 Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also oughtM to love one another. 12 No one has ever seenN God; if we love one another, God livesO in us, and his love is perfectedP in us.
13 By this we know that we abideQ in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit.R 14 And we have seen and do testifyS that the Father has sent his Son as the SaviorT of the world.
15 God abides in those who confessU that JesusV, W is the Son of God, and they abide in God. 16 So we have known and believeX the love that God has for us.
God is love, and those who abide in love abide in God, and God abides in them. 17 Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldnessY on the day of judgment,Z because as he is, so are we in this world. 18 There is no fearAA in love, but perfectBB love castsCC out fear; for fear has to do with punishment,DD and whoever fearsEE has not reached perfection in love. 19 We love because he first loved us.
20 Those who say, “I love God,” and hateFF their brothersGG or sisters, are liars;HH for those who do not love a brother or sister whom they have seen,II cannot love God whom they have not seen.JJ 21 The commandmentKK we have from him is this: those who love God must love their brothers and sisters also.
Image credit: “Love is…” by Chris Jones, 2012.