By this everyone will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another.”
Parallel translations
- WEB By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- KJV By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.
- NKJV By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
- NASB By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”
- NLT Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.”
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
Jesus says love among His disciples is how everyone will recognize them as His. It makes mutual love the visible badge of true discipleship.
Overview
Christ identifies love within the community as the chief witness to the watching world. Such love commends the gospel and authenticates genuine discipleship. The verse challenges believers to make Christlike love the unmistakable mark of their life together.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- 1 Jn 4:20–21If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.
- 1 Jn 2:10Whoever loves his brother remains in the light, and there is no cause of stumbling in him.
- 1 Jn 3:10–14By this the children of God are distinguished from the children of the devil: Anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is anyone who does not love his brother.
- John 17:21that all of them may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I am in You. May they also be in Us, so that the world may believe that You sent Me.
- 1 Jn 2:5But if anyone keeps His word, the love of God has been truly perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him:
- Acts 4:32–35The multitude of believers was one in heart and soul. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they owned.
- Gen 13:7–8And there was discord between the herdsmen of Abram and the herdsmen of Lot. At that time the Canaanites and the Perizzites were also living in the land.
- Acts 5:12–14The apostles performed many signs and wonders among the people, and with one accord the believers gathered together in Solomon’s Colonnade.
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
John declares him plainly: the eternal Word made flesh, the Lamb of God, the great 'I AM' — bread, light, door, shepherd, way, truth, life, resurrection — that you may believe and have life in his name.
How John 13:35 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.