This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you.
Parallel translations
- WEB “This is my commandment, that you love one another, even as I have loved you.
- KJV This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
- BSB This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
- NKJV This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.
- NASB “This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you.
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 commands the disciples to love one another as He has loved them. Self-giving love is the hallmark of His followers.
Overview
This restates the new commandment with Christ's own love as the standard and pattern. The measure of love is not human sentiment but the sacrificial love of Jesus, soon to be displayed at the cross. Such love among believers is both the fruit of abiding in Him and the visible mark of true discipleship.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Jn 4:21This commandment we have from him, that he who loves God should also love his brother.
- 1 Pet 4:8And above all things be earnest in your love among yourselves, for love covers a multitude of sins.
- John 13:34A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another.
- 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.
- Rom 12:10In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another;
- 1 Jn 3:23This is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, even as he commanded.
- 1 Pet 3:8Finally, be all like-minded, compassionate, loving as brothers, tender hearted, courteous,
- 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 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 Th 3:12and the Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men, even as we also do toward you,
- 1 Jn 3:11–18For this is the message which you heard from the beginning, that we should love one another;
- 2 Th 1:3We are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers, even as it is appropriate, because your faith grows exceedingly, and the love of each and every one of you towards one another abounds;
- 1 Jn 2:7–10Brothers, 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 15:12 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.