For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
Parallel translations
- WEB For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
- BSB This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
- NKJV For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,
- NASB For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we are to love one another;
- NLT This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
The message heard from the beginning is that we should love one another. Mutual love is central to the gospel.
Overview
John returns to the foundational command: love one another. This is not new but part of the original Christian message. Love for fellow believers is a defining mark of the family of God. The verse introduces the contrast with Cain, illustrating love's opposite in hatred and murder.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- John 15:12This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
- 2 Jn 1:5And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
- 1 Jn 4:7Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
- John 13:34–35A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
- 1 Pet 3:8Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
- 1 Jn 4:21And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
- Eph 5:2And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
- 1 Pet 4:8And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves: for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.
- 1 Th 4:9But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.
- 1 Jn 1:5This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
- Gal 6:2Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.
- 1 Jn 2:7–8Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.
- 1 Pet 1:22Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:
- 1 Tim 1:5Now the end of the commandment is charity out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Jesus is the Word of life made manifest, the propitiation for our sins, the Son in whom is eternal life — 'that you may know that you have eternal life.'
How 1 John 3:11 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.