God Is Love: What 1 John 4:16 Really Means

And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 1 John 4:16

Humans love love. It’s everywhere, on the radio, in bestselling novels, on jackets, t-shirts, and social media captions. We dedicate holidays to it. We write songs and shoot movies about it. Love, in all its forms, captures our attention and shapes our stories. We crave it. Celebrate it. Obsess over it.

But for all our fascination with love, do we really understand it?

In this post, we’re going to explore the meaning of 1 John 4:16 and see what this powerful verse reveals about the nature of love and what it means to truly live in it.

The Context of 1 John 4:16

The author of the letters known as 1, 2, and 3 John never explicitly names himself, but early church tradition attributes them to the apostle John, the same John who wrote the Gospel of John and Revelation. These letters were likely written near the end of the first century, around 90 A.D., a time when the early church was facing growing persecution under Emperor Domitian. The Jewish temple had been destroyed. Christians were gathering in homes. There were no buildings, no programs—just house churches, relationships, and handwritten letters passed from one community to the next.

And much like the Gospel of John, these letters carry a poetic, almost lyrical tone. The themes overlap heavily especially with Jesus’ words in John 14–16. On the night before his death, Jesus comforts his disciples by talking about abiding in his love and sending the Spirit. Those same themes show up again in 1 John. It’s as if John never got over what he heard that night. It marked him. Shaped him. And now, years later, he’s still meditating on it.

Love is the heartbeat of these letters. God’s love for us. Our love for him. And the way that love should spill over into our relationships with one another.

That’s the context from which 1 John 4:16 emerges.

The Meaning of 1 John 4:16

The first half of chapter 4 focuses on the Spirit—how we can recognize the Spirit of God and how that Spirit testifies to Jesus. But the second half pivots to love. And not just any love, God’s love, shown to us through Jesus, and now expected to be shown through us.

The connection is clear: because God loves us, we ought to love one another. That’s the throughline. That’s the mark of someone who truly knows God. Not head knowledge. Not religious performance. Not spiritual giftedness. Love.

John isn’t introducing a vague emotional feeling or a cultural ideal. He’s grounding love in something far more substantial, God’s very nature. “God is love.”

Let that sink in for a second.

God is love. Not just loving. Not just good at loving. Love is not just one of his attributes. It’s who he is. It’s his essence.

The Greek word used here is agape. This isn’t romantic love (eros) or brotherly love (philia). Agape is a selfless, sacrificial, unconditional kind of love. The kind of love that keeps showing up. The kind of love that doesn’t bail. The kind of love that Jesus displayed with his life, death, and resurrection.

This is the love we’re called to reflect.

When John writes, “Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them,” the English word lives appears three times. But the Greek word carries a deeper idea—it means to remain, to dwell, to abide.

This isn’t a passing experience. It’s a way of life. It’s where we’re meant to stay.

You could read this verse like this: “Whoever abides in love, abides in God, and God abides in them.”

That word abide matters. It suggests a kind of rootedness. Staying power. It’s not about occasional acts of kindness. It’s about choosing to remain in God’s love—to be shaped by it, to rest in it, and to live it out toward others.

John drives the point home even further in the verses that follow. He makes it clear that if God’s love is truly in us, it must come out in how we treat other people. Especially those who are difficult to love.

“We love because he first loved us.”
1 John 4:19

God’s love moves first. And we are invited to respond.

How 1 John 4:16 Applies to Your Life

It’s easy to agree with the message of 1 John 4:16. It’s a beautiful verse, one that looks great on coffee mugs and framed artwork. But living it out? That’s another story.

If you read the entire letter of 1 John—and even the Gospel—it becomes clear that this call to love comes with no asterisk. No exceptions. No fine print.

There’s no loophole that excuses you from loving the parent who left you, the friend who betrayed you, or the person who continues to hurt you. God’s love is offered freely to all. And our love should reflect that same posture.

Now, that doesn’t mean we pretend that pain doesn’t exist. It doesn’t mean we enable destructive behavior or refuse to set healthy boundaries. Love doesn’t erase justice, and it doesn’t ignore wisdom.

But even with boundaries in place, we can still choose to respond with kindness. We can still honor others with our words, even when they don’t deserve it. We can still hope for their good. Why? Because God loves them. And if His love lives in us, then it should change the way we interact with everyone—even our enemies.

So let me ask you: is there someone in your life who’s hard to love? Someone who’s wounded you, disappointed you, or just plain gets under your skin?

What would it look like to show God’s kind of love to them—not because they deserve it, but because you’ve been loved first?

That’s what it means to abide in love. That’s what it looks like to live in God and have God live in you.

Because God is love.

And when we stay rooted in that love—when we choose to live in it—we bring a little more of His presence into a world that’s desperate for it.