1John 4:16

The phrase ὁ θεὸς ἀγάπη ἐστίν, though syntactically valid as a subject–predicate nominative construction, introduces a notable gender discord: θεός is grammatically masculine, while ἀγάπη is feminine.

In classical Attic prose, such gender mismatch between a subject and a predicate noun, especially in an identity statement (i.e., X is Y), would be stylistically dissonant and typically avoided. Greek idiom generally favors gender agreement in such constructions, particularly when asserting essence or nature. Writers would often recast the predicate into a participial or adjectival form (e.g., ὁ θεὸς ἐστὶν ὁ ἀγαπῶν, "God is the one who loves") or use neuter abstracts (e.g., ὁ θεὸς ἐστὶν τοῦτο· ἀγάπη, “God is this: love”) to circumvent the conflict.

A more grammatically and contextually consistent rendering of 1 John 4:16—particularly in view of the extended personification of ἀγάπη in 1 Cor. 13:4–8, where ἀγάπη is unambiguously treated as a feminine subject (e.g., μακροθυμεῖ, χρηστεύεται)—would be:
“And we ourselves have come to recognize and to trust the Agápē-Love, whom the God is holding within ourselves—the God. She is Agápē-Love; and the one remaining within the Agápē-Love, within the God he is remaining, and the God within himself is remaining.”
This translation preserves the gender of ἀγάπη (ἡ ἀγάπη) as feminine and allows for its personification—common in Hellenistic literary conventions—without eliding the article or collapsing the noun into a genderless abstraction. The phrase ὁ θεός ἀγάπη ἐστίν thus becomes, not a metaphysical identity claim with gender discord, but a structured declaration in which the feminine subject (Agápē) is theologically and syntactically upheld as a living, indwelling referent. This translation foregrounds the internal reciprocity of divine presence and love, without compromising Greek grammar or disregarding the rhetorical texture of the Johannine idiom.

(cf.  Eli-Am אליעם)