1 John 4:10

Bible in Basic English (1941)

And this is love, not that we had love for God, but that he had love for us, and sent his Son to be an offering for our sins.

📖 Grammatical Analysis

Original Text

Ἐν τούτῳ ἐστὶν ἡ ἀγάπη, οὐχ ὅτι ἡμεῖς ἠγαπήσαμεν τὸν Θεόν, ἀλλʼ ὅτι αὐτὸς ἠγάπησεν ἡμᾶς, καὶ ἀπέστειλεν τὸν Υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἱλασμὸν περὶ τῶν ἁμαρτιῶν ἡμῶν.

Transliteration

In toutō estin the agapē, not that hēmeis ēgapēsamen the Theon, but that autos ēgapēsen us, and apesteilen the Huion of him hilasmon concerning the hamartiōn of us.

Grammar Details

• *toutō*: dative, neuter, singular - this/in this
• *estin*: present indicative, 3rd singular - is
• *agapē*: nominative, feminine, singular - love
• *hēmeis*: nominative, plural - we
• *ēgapēsamen*: aorist active indicative, 1st plural - we loved
• *Theon*: accusative, masculine, singular - God
• *autos*: nominative, masculine, singular - he/himself
• *ēgapēsen*: aorist active indicative, 3rd singular - he loved
• *apesteilen*: aorist active indicative, 3rd singular - he sent
• *Huion*: accusative, masculine, singular - Son
• *hilasmon*: accusative, masculine, singular - propitiation/atonement
• *hamartiōn*: genitive, feminine, plural - of sins

Word Meanings

• *agapē*: love/divine love/selfless love
• *ēgapēsamen*: we loved/we showed love
• *ēgapēsen*: he loved/he showed love
• *apesteilen*: he sent/he dispatched/he commissioned
• *hilasmon*: propitiation/atonement/means of forgiveness
• *hamartiōn*: sins/failures/misses of the mark

Referenced Verses

• Eph 2:4-5 : 4 But God, being full of mercy, through the great love which he had for us, 5 Even when we were dead through our sins, gave us life together with Christ (by grace you have salvation),
• 1 John 2:2 : 2 He is the offering for our sins; and not for ours only, but for all the world.
• 1 John 3:1 : 1 See what great love the Father has given us in naming us the children of God; and such we are. For this reason the world does not see who we are, because it did not see who he was.
• Rom 5:8-9 : 8 But God has made clear his love to us, in that, when we were still sinners, Christ gave his life for us. 9 Much more, if we now have righteousness by his blood, will salvation from the wrath of God come to us through him. 10 For if, when we were haters of God, the death of his Son made us at peace with him, much more, now that we are his friends, will we have salvation through his life;
• John 15:16 : 16 You did not take me for yourselves, but I took you for myself; and I gave you the work of going about and producing fruit which will be for ever; so that whatever request you make to the Father in my name he may give it to you.
• 1 Pet 3:18 : 18 Because Christ once went through pain for sins, the upright one taking the place of sinners, so that through him we might come back to God; being put to death in the flesh, but given life in the Spirit;
• 1 John 4:19 : 19 We have the power of loving, because he first had love for us.
• 1 John 4:8-9 : 8 He who has no love has no knowledge of God, because God is love. 9 And the love of God was made clear to us when he sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him.
• Rom 3:25-26 : 25 Whom God has put forward as the sign of his mercy, through faith, by his blood, to make clear his righteousness when, in his pity, God let the sins of earlier times go without punishment; 26 And to make clear his righteousness now, so that he might himself be upright, and give righteousness to him who has faith in Jesus.
• Deut 7:7-8 : 7 The Lord did not give you his love or take you for himself because you were more in number than any other people; for you were the smallest of the nations: 8 But because of his love for you, and in order to keep his oath to your fathers, the Lord took you out with the strength of his hand, making you free from the prison-house and from the hand of Pharaoh, king of Egypt.
• Dan 9:24 : 24 Seventy weeks have been fixed for your people and your holy town, to let wrongdoing be complete and sin come to its full limit, and for the clearing away of evil-doing and the coming in of eternal righteousness: so that the vision and the word of the prophet may be stamped as true, and to put the holy oil on a most holy place.
• John 3:16 : 16 For God had such love for the world that he gave his only Son, so that whoever has faith in him may not come to destruction but have eternal life.
• Rom 8:29-30 : 29 Because those of whom he had knowledge before they came into existence, were marked out by him to be made like his Son, so that he might be the first among a band of brothers: 30 And those who were marked out by him were named; and those who were named were given righteousness; and to those to whom he gave righteousness, in the same way he gave glory.
• 2 Cor 5:19-21 : 19 That is, that God was in Christ making peace between the world and himself, not putting their sins to their account, and having given to us the preaching of this news of peace. 20 So we are the representatives of Christ, as if God was making a request to you through us: we make our request to you, in the name of Christ, be at peace with God. 21 For him who had no knowledge of sin God made to be sin for us; so that we might become the righteousness of God in him.
• Titus 3:3-5 : 3 For in the past we were foolish, hard in heart, turned from the true way, servants of evil desires and pleasures, living in bad feeling and envy, hated and hating one another. 4 But when the mercy of God our Saviour, and his love to man was seen, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we did ourselves, but in the measure of his mercy, he gave us salvation, through the washing of the new birth and the giving of new life in the Holy Spirit,
• 1 Pet 2:24 : 24 He took our sins on himself, giving his body to be nailed on the tree, so that we, being dead to sin, might have a new life in righteousness, and by his wounds we have been made well.