₇Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Whoever loves is a child of God and knows God. ₈Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ₉And God showed his love for us by sending his only Son into the world, so that we might have life through him. ₁₀This is what love is: it is not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the means by which our sins are forgiven.

₁₁Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another. ₁₂No one has ever seen God, but if we love one another, God lives in union with us, and his love is made perfect in us.

₁₃We are sure that we live in union with God and that he lives in union with us, because he has given us his Spirit. ₁₄And we have seen and tell others that the Father sent his Son to be the Saviour of the world. ₁₅If anyone declares that Jesus is the Son of God, he lives in union with God and God lives in union with him. ₁₆And we ourselves know and believe the love which God has for us.

God is love, and those who live in love live in union with God and God lives in union with them. ₁₇Love is made perfect in us in order that we may have courage on Judgement Day; and we will have it because our life in this world is the same as Christ's. ₁₈There is no fear in love; perfect love drives out all fear. So then, love has not been made perfect in anyone who is afraid, because fear has to do with punishment.

₁₉We love because God first loved us. ₂₀If we say we love God, but hate our brothers and sisters, we are liars. For people cannot love God, whom they have not seen, if they do not love their brothers and sisters, whom they have seen. ₂₁The command that Christ has given us is this: all who love God must love their brother or sister also.