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.
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.
- KJV 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.
- 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.
- 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 loving God, that we keep his commandments. His commandments are not grievous.
- John 15:10If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and remain in his love.
- 1 Jn 2:24Therefore, as for you, let that remain in you which you heard from the beginning. If that which you heard from the beginning remains in you, you also will remain in the Son, and in the Father.
- John 14:15If you love me, keep my commandments.
- Gal 5:13–14For you, brothers, were called for freedom. Only don’t use your freedom for gain to the flesh, but through love be servants to one another.
- 1 Jn 2:5But whoever keeps his word, God’s love has most certainly been perfected in him. This is how we know that we are in him:
- John 15:14You are my friends, if you do whatever I command you.
- Rom 13:8–9Owe no one anything, except to love one another; for he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law.
- John 14:21One who has my commandments, and keeps them, that person is one who loves me. One who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will reveal myself to him.”
- 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 5:15And if we know that he listens to us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked 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.