⁵ And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: ^(A)that we love one another.

¹¹ For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, ^(A)that we should love one another,

A Brotherly and Orderly Life

⁹ But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for ^(A)you yourselves are taught by God ^(B)to love one another;

^12 (A)This is My ^(B)commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.

^34 (A)A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. ^35 (B)By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ ^(A)and love one another, as He gave ^[a]us commandment.

Obedience by Faith

^20 (A)If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, ^[a]how can he love God ^(B)whom he has not seen?

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love ^[a]his brother abides in death. ^15 (A)Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ^(B)no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

The Outworking of Love

^16 (C)By this we know love, ^(D)because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷ But ^(E)whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

¹⁸ My little children, ^(F)let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

⁸ And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ^(A)“love will cover a multitude of sins.”