And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
Parallel translations
- WEB This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.
- BSB And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the very commandment you have heard from the beginning, that you must walk in love.
- NKJV This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.
- NASB And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you are to walk in it.
- NLT Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.
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
Love is defined as walking according to God's commandments, the very thing they were told to do from the beginning. True love and obedience to God are inseparable.
Overview
John guards love from sentimentality by anchoring it in obedience to God's commands, just as Jesus taught that loving him means keeping his word (John 14:15). There is a deliberate circularity: the commandment is to love, and love is to keep the commandments, showing that genuine love and faithful obedience define each other. This sets the standard by which the community can discern true believers from the deceivers John addresses next.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- 1 Jn 5:3For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
- John 15:10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.
- 1 Jn 2:24Let that therefore abide in you, which ye have heard from the beginning. If that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son, and in the Father.
- John 14:15If ye love me, keep my commandments.
- Gal 5:13–14For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
- 1 Jn 2:5But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him.
- John 15:14Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you.
- Rom 13:8–9Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
- John 14:21He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.
- 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 5:15And if we know that he hear us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
To walk in truth and love is to abide in 'the teaching of Christ'; whoever has the Son has both the Father and life.
How 2 John 1:6 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.