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1 John 4 · a question people ask

"Beloved, let’s love one another" (4:7). Is love here an invitation, or a command?

In the text

The chapter puts it in more than one way. It says, "Beloved, let’s love one another" (4:7). It says, "we also ought to love one another" (4:11). And its last verse says, "This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother." (4:21). These notes explain these verses no further than their own words.

The verses

“Beloved, let’s love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.”
1 John 4:7 · World English Bible
“Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also ought to love one another.”
1 John 4:11 · World English Bible
“This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.”
1 John 4:21 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of 1 John 4

1 John 4: Love is of God

Both verses in this chapter that open with Beloved and call for love of one another give a reason in the same verse: "for love is of God" (4:7), and "if God loved us in this way" (4:11).

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Last reviewed October 12, 2026. Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions