4:20 If anyone says 1 “I love God” and yet 2 hates his fellow Christian, 3 he is a liar, because the one who does not love his fellow Christian 4 whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 5
1 tn Grk “if anyone should say…”
2 tn “Yet” is supplied to bring out the contrast.
3 tn See note on the phrase “fellow Christian” in 2:9.
4 tn See note on the phrase “fellow Christian” in 2:9.
5 sn In 4:20 the author again describes the opponents, who claim to love God. Their failure to show love for their fellow Christians proves their claim to know God to be false: The one who does not love his fellow Christian whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.