“He that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?”
The full verse · 1 John 4:20 · KJV
a , I , , he a : he that he hath , he he ?
Asked by
John: the apostle who, by long church tradition, wrote this letter to believers he calls "little children" (1 John 2:18)
Asked to
Reader: the believers John first wrote to, whom he calls "Beloved" (1 John 4:11), and anyone who reads the letter today
The Scene
John has just written, "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19), and now tests anyone who claims to love God.
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionJohn wants to close the gap between what people say and how they live. A person can say "I love God" and no one can check it directly, because God is unseen. But a brother can be seen. Barnes explains that John is "arguing from human nature as it is," since we are more likely to love someone we know than a stranger. If love fails with the one in front of us, the claim to love the unseen God is empty. Gill says it plainly: "it cannot be thought he should; the thing is not reasonable to suppose; it is not possible he should."
The Response
What Scripture recordsThe answer is plain: he cannot. The ESV states it outright: he "cannot love God whom he has not seen." John then grounds it in God's own word: "And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also" (1 John 4:21). He carries the thought on: "every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him" (1 John 5:1).
Historical Context
The world behind the wordsJohn has already said, "No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us" (1 John 4:12). The unseen God makes Himself known among His people through their love. So the brother who can be seen becomes the place where love for God is tested.
The word "liar" here does not have to mean a person is deliberately deceiving others. Barnes says it is not necessary to suppose he intentionally deceives; his claim is simply false. Gill says not even "black and white, or hot and cold" are more contradictory than this claim.
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyThis question shows that love for God and love for people cannot be pulled apart. John's whole chapter flows from the truth that "God is love" (1 John 4:16) and that "he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Love that begins with God reaches outward to His children. Barnes sums up John's point: "no man, whatever may be his professions and pretensions, can have any true love to God, unless he loves his brethren."
Matthew Henry describes the person John has in view as one who says "I am a lover of his name, and house, and worship," yet hates "his brother, whom he should love for God's sake." Worship, church attendance, and religious words are good, but they are not the measure. The measure is love.
Look Closer
Why does John point to the brother "whom he hath seen"?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Father, You loved me first; who is the brother or sister You are asking me to love as a way of loving You?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- Why do you think it can feel easier to love God in worship than to love a difficult person in your church or family?
- Think of someone whose love for others made their love for God believable to you. What did they do?
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Your love for God shows up in how you treat the people you can see. That includes the brother who is hard to like and the sister who has hurt you.
This doesn't mean you have to feel warm toward everyone before you can say you love God. John's love is shown "in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18), and it begins with God's love for you, not yours for Him (1 John 4:19). When love for someone is hard, start by receiving God's love again, then take one real step toward that person.
Scripture's own application: 1 John 4:11, 21
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
“And wherefore slew he him?”
“Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?”
“Who is a liar but he that denieth that Jesus is the Christ?”