²⁴ Simon Peter motioned to him to find out who it was He was talking about. ²⁵ So he leaned back against Jesus and asked Him, “Lord, who is it?”

¹² This is My command: Love one another as I have loved^(A) you. ¹³ No one has greater love than this, that someone would lay down his life^(B) for his friends.

⁷ Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command^(A) but an old command that you have had from the beginning. The old command is the message^(B) you have heard. ⁸ Yet I am writing you a new command, which is true in Him and in you, because the darkness is passing away^(C) and the true light^(D) is already shining.^(E)

⁹ The one who says he is in the light but hates his brother^(F) is in the darkness until now. ¹⁰ The one who loves his brother^(G) remains in the light, and there is no cause for stumbling in him.^{[a] 11} But the one who hates his brother^(H) is in the darkness, walks in the darkness,^(I) and doesn’t know where he’s going,^(J) because the darkness has blinded his eyes.

Love in Action

¹⁶ This is how we have come to know love: He laid down His life^(A) for us.^(B) We should also lay down our lives for our brothers.^{(C) 17} If anyone has this world’s goods^(D) and sees his brother in need^(E) but closes his eyes^(F) to his need—how can God’s love reside in him?^(G)

¹⁸ Little children, we must not love with word or speech, but with truth and action.^(H)

Knowing God through Love

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God^(A) and knows God. ⁸ The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love. ⁹ God’s love was revealed among us in this way:^[a] God sent^(B) His One and Only Son^(C) into the world so that we might live^(D) through Him. ¹⁰ Love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us^(E) and sent His Son to be the^[b] propitiation^(F) for our sins. ¹¹ Dear friends, if God loved us in this way, we also must love one another.^{(G) 12} No one has ever seen God.^[c](H) If we love one another, God remains in^[d] us and His love is perfected in us.

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Messiah has been born of God,^(A) and everyone who loves the Father also loves the one born of Him.

⁵ So now I urge you, dear lady—not as if I were writing you a new command, but one we have had from the beginning—that we love one another.^{(A) 6} And this is love:^(B) that we walk according to His commands.^(C) This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love.^[a]