1 John 3:16 — Bible Verse Meaning & Context

1 John 3:16 reads: "By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." — from the New Testament, 1 John (General epistle). The full verse is shown above with both the World English Bible (WEB) and King James Version (KJV) translations side by side.

1 John 3:16 is in the book of 1 John, traditionally attributed to John the apostle and written around c. 85–95 AD. 1 John is general epistle in the New Testament, originally addressed to Churches threatened by early proto-gnostic heresy. Best known for "God is love" and assurance of eternal life.

1 John 3:16 is primarily a Bible verse about Love. Within 1 John, 1 John writes to believers shaken by early proto-gnostic teaching denying that Christ came in the flesh. Read the full passage above with surrounding context.

1 John 3:16 in the World English Bible (WEB) reads: "By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.". The King James Version (KJV) reads: "Hereby1722 5129 perceive we1097 the love26 of God, because3754 he1565 laid down5087 his846 life5590 for5228 us2257: and2532 we2249 ought3784 to lay down5087 our lives5590 for5228 the brethren80.". The WEB is a modern public-domain translation that updates the KJV's 1611 English while keeping a similar formal-equivalence style. Both render the same underlying Greek or Hebrew text.

1 John 3:16 is 24 words in the WEB translation (112 characters), broken into 3 clauses. It is short and well-suited to memorisation. Estimated reading time is about 7 seconds.

To memorise 1 John 3:16, split it into its 3 natural clauses and learn one at a time. Repeat the full verse out loud five times, then write it from memory. Saving the verse as a photo wallpaper using our verse image studio helps daily review — the visual association with a memorable background dramatically improves recall.

1 John writes to believers shaken by early proto-gnostic teaching denying that Christ came in the flesh. He gives three running tests of authentic Christian life: belief in Jesus, obedience, and love. The famous declaration "God is love" (4:8) and the assurance that "you may know that you have eternal life" (5:13) are at its core. 1 John 3:16 sits within this larger story — 1 John as a whole emphasises love, truth, assurance.

Many readers use 1 John 3:16 as a daily reminder verse — saving it as a phone wallpaper, sharing it on Pinterest, or memorising it for prayer. The verse studio on this page lets you download 1 John 3:16 on 52 different backgrounds for free. Pair the verse with the surrounding chapter context shown above to understand its full meaning before applying it.