For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
Parallel translations
- KJV For this is the message that ye 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 15:12“This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
- 2 Jn 1:5Now I beg you, dear lady, not as though I wrote to you a new commandment, 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 everyone who loves has been born of God, and knows God.
- John 13:34–35A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another.
- 1 Pet 3:8Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tender hearted, courteous,
- 1 Jn 4:21This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
- Eph 5:2Walk in love, even as Christ also loved you, and gave himself up for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling fragrance.
- 1 Pet 4:8And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.
- 1 Th 4:9But concerning brotherly love, you have no need that one write to you. For you yourselves are taught by God to love one another,
- 1 Jn 1:5This is the message which we have heard from him and announce to you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.
- Gal 6:2Bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ.
- 1 Jn 2:7–8Brothers, I write no new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.
- 1 Pet 1:22Seeing you have purified your souls in your obedience to the truth through the Spirit in sincere brotherly affection, love one another from the heart fervently:
- 1 Tim 1:5but the goal of this command is love, out of a pure heart and a good conscience and sincere faith;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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.