1 John 4:8 (YLT)

Passage

he who is not loving did not know God, because God is love.

Nearby Context

1 John 4:6 we--of God we are; he who is knowing God doth hear us; he who is not of God, doth not hear us; from this we know the spirit of the truth, and the spirit of the error.

1 John 4:7 Beloved, may we love one another, because the love is of God, and every one who is loving, of God he hath been begotten, and doth know God;

1 John 4:8 he who is not loving did not know God, because God is love.

1 John 4:9 In this was manifested the love of God in us, because His Son--the only begotten--hath God sent to the world, that we may live through him;

1 John 4:10 in this is the love, not that we loved God, but that He did love us, and did send His Son a propitiation for our sins.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "loving" and "love". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "loving" and "love", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 7's "Beloved may we love one another because..." into verse 9's "In this was manifested the love of...", so "loving" and "love" belong inside that flow. In 1 John context, the local focus is Christ, faith, and discipleship.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "loving" and "love" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.