1 John 2:3-11

Love and Hatred for Fellow Believers

3 We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands.

4 Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person.

5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God^[a] is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:

6 Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.

7 Dear friends, I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning. This old command is the message you have heard.

8 Yet I am writing you a new command; its truth is seen in him and in you, because the darkness is passing and the true light is already shining.

9 Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister^[b] is still in the darkness.

10 Anyone who loves their brother and sister^[c] lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.

11 But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.

Cross References

• 1. ver 5; 1 John 3:24; 1 John 4:13; 1 John 5:2
• 2. S ver 4
• 3. S John 14:15
• 4. ver 3; Titus 1:16; 1 John 3:6; 1 John 4:7,8
• 5. 1 John 1:6,8
• 6. S John 14:15; John 14:21,23
• 7. 1 John 4:12
• 8. S ver 3
• 9. S Matthew 11:29; 1 Peter 2:21
• 10. S 1 Corinthians 10:14
• 11. ver 24; 1 John 3:11,23; 1 John 4:21; 2Jn 5,6
• 12. S John 13:34
• 13. Romans 13:12; Hebrews 10:25
• 14. John 1:9
• 15. Ephesians 5:8; 1 Thessalonians 5:5
• 16. ver 11; Leviticus 19:17; 1Jn 3:10,15,16; 1 John 4:20,21
• 17. 1 John 1:5
• 18. 1 John 3:14
• 19. ver 11; Psalms 119:165
• 20. S ver 9
• 21. S 1 John 1:6
• 22. John 11:9; John 12:35

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "word, God’s love"
• [b]. The Greek word for "brother or sister" ("adelphos" ) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in verse 11; and in 3:15, 17; 4:20; 5:16.
• [c]. The Greek word for "brother and sister" ("adelphos" ) refers here to a believer, whether man or woman, as part of God’s family; also in 3:10; 4:20, 21.