⁵ But now, dear lady, I ask you, not as though I were writing you a new commandment but one we have had from the beginning: let us love one another.^(A)

Love One Another

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

⁹ Now concerning love of the brothers and sisters, you do not need to have anyone write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,^(A)

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

³⁴ I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.^{(A) 35} By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”^(B)

²⁰ Those who say, “I love God,” and hate a brother or sister are liars, for those who do not love a brother or sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.^(A)

²³ And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us.^(A)

¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life because we love the brothers and sisters. Whoever does not love abides in death.^{(A) 15} All who hate a brother or sister are murderers, and you know that murderers do not have eternal life abiding in them.^{(B) 16} We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers and sisters.^{(C) 17} How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?^(D)

¹⁸ Little children, let us love not in word or speech but in deed and truth.^(E)

⁸ Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.^(A)

God Is Love

⁷ Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.^{(A) 8} Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. ⁹ God’s love was revealed among us in this way: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might live through him.^{(B) 10} In this is love, not that we loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.^{(C) 11} Beloved, since God loved us so much, we also ought to love one another.^{(D) 12} No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.^(E)