1 John 3:23

His commandment (h entolh autou). That (ina). Subfinal use of ina in apposition with entolh (commandment) and explanatory of it, as in John 15:12 (entolh ina). See Christ's summary of the commandments ( Mark 12:28-31 ; Matthew 22:34-40 ). So these two points here (1) We should believe (pisteuswmen, first aorist active subjunctive according to B K L, though Aleph A C read the present subjunctive pisteuwmen) either in a crisis (aorist) or the continuous tenor (present) of our lives. The "name" of Jesus Christ here stands for all that he is, "a compressed creed " (Westcott) as in Matthew 1:3 . Note dative onomati here with pisteuw as in Matthew 5:10 , though ei onoma (on the name) in Matthew 5:13 ; John 1:12 ; John 2:23 ; John 3:18 . But (2) we should love one another" (agapwmen allhlou), as he has already urged ( John 2:7 ; John 3:11 ) and as he will repeat ( John 4:7 John 4:11 ; 2 John 1:5 ) as Jesus (even as he gave us commandment, that is Christ) had previously done ( John 13:34 ; John 15:12 John 15:17 ). There are frequent points of contact between this Epistle and the words of Jesus in Joh 13-17.