Jamieson, Fausset and Brown on 1 John 4:8
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1 John4:8
8. knoweth not--Greek aorist: not only knoweth not now, but never knew, has not once for all known God.
God is love--There is no Greek article to love, but to God; therefore we cannot translate, Love is God. God is fundamentally and essentially LOVE: not merely is loving, for then John's argument would not stand; for the conclusion from the premises then would be this, This man is not loving: God is loving; therefore he knoweth not God IN SO FAR AS God is loving; still he might know Him in His other attributes. But when we take love as God's essence, the argument is sound: This man doth not love, and therefore knows not love: God is essentially love, therefore he knows not God.
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible, 1 John 4:8. Public domain.
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