These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Parallel translations
- WEB “I command these things to you, that you may love one another.
- BSB This is My command to you: Love one another.
- NKJV These things I command you, that you love one another.
- NASB This I command you, that you love one another.
- NLT This is my command: Love each other.
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 repeats His command that the disciples love one another. Mutual love is to define the community of His followers.
Overview
This verse rounds off the section on abiding and love by restating the central command to love one another. It also forms a hinge into the next theme, the world's hatred, contrasting the love within the believing community with the hostility outside it. Love among Christ's people is both the fruit of abiding in Him and a refuge against a hostile world.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- John 15:12This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
- 1 Jn 3:14–17We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.
- 1 Pet 2:17Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king.
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 15:17 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.