2 John 1:6
◄  2 John 1:6  ►
New International Version (©2011)
And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

New Living Translation (©2007)
Love means doing what God has commanded us, and he has commanded us to love one another, just as you heard from the beginning.

English Standard Version (©2001)
And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.

New American Standard Bible (©1995)
And this is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Holman Christian Standard Bible (©2009)
And this is love: that we walk according to His commands. This is the command as you have heard it from the beginning: you must walk in love.

International Standard Version (©2012)
And this is what demonstrates love: that we live according to God's commandments. Just as you have heard from the beginning what he commanded, you must live by it.

NET Bible (©2006)
(Now this is love: that we walk according to his commandments.) This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; thus you should walk in it.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English (©2010)
And this is love, that we walk according to his commandment; this commandment is according to what you have heard from the beginning, in which you have been walking.

GOD'S WORD® Translation (©1995)
Love means that we live by doing what he commands. We were commanded to live in love, and you have heard this from the beginning.

King James 2000 Bible (©2003)
And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

American King James Version
And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

American Standard Version
And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And this is charity, that we walk according to his commandments. For this is the commandment, that, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in the same:

Darby Bible Translation
And this is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, according as ye have heard from the beginning, that ye might walk in it.

English Revised Version
And this is love, that we should walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, even as ye heard from the beginning, that ye should walk in it.

Webster's Bible Translation
And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, that as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.

Weymouth New Testament
The love of which I am speaking consists in our living in obedience to God's commands. God's command is that you should live in obedience to what you all heard from the very beginning.

World English Bible
This is love, that we should walk according to his commandments. This is the commandment, even as you heard from the beginning, that you should walk in it.

Young's Literal Translation
and this is the love, that we may walk according to His commands; this is the command, even as ye did hear from the beginning, that in it ye may walk,

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

1:4-6 It is good to be trained to early religion; and children may be beloved for their parents' sake. It gave great joy to the apostle to see children treading in their parents' steps, and likely in their turn to support the gospel. May God bless such families more and more, and raise up many to copy their example. How pleasing the contrast to numbers who spread irreligion, infidelity, and vice, among their children! Our walk is true, our converse right, when according to the word of God. This commandment of mutual Christian love, may be said to be a new one, in respect of its being declared by the Lord Christ; yet, as to the matter, it is old. And this is love to our own souls, that we obey the Divine commands. The foresight of the decay of this love, as well as of other apostacies, or fallings away, might engage the apostle to urge this duty, and this command, frequently and earnestly.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 6. - And this is love; i.e., the love which the commandment enjoins consists in this - active and unremitting obedience. Just as in the sphere of thought truth must be combined with love (see on verse 3), so in the sphere of emotion love must be combined with obedience. Warm feelings, whether towards God or towards man, are worse than valueless if they are not united, on the one hand with obedience, on the other with truth. This was the elect lady's danger; in the exuberance of her chanty she was forgetting her obligations to the truth and the commandment.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And this is love, that we walk after his commandments,.... By observing them as a rule of conversation, in so doing love is shown to God; and such may expect the fresh discoveries of the love of God to, them; See Gill on 1 John 5:3;

this is the commandment, that as ye have heard from the beginning,

ye should walk in it; that is, this is the will of God, that his people should walk in the truth of the Gospel, and abide by it, as they heard and received it at their first conversion, from the mouths of the apostles, or other faithful ministers of the word; a reason for which, is given in 2 John 1:7.

Wesley's Notes on the Bible

1:6 And this is the proof of true love, universal obedience built on the love of God. This - Love. Is the great commandment which ye have heard from the beginning - Of our preaching.

2 John 1:6 Parallel Commentaries
Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible


Walking in the Truth
4I rejoiced greatly that I found of your children walking in truth, as we have received a commandment from the Father. 5And now I beseech you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. 6And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

Deuteronomy 13:4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.
John 14:15 "If you love me, keep my commands.
John 14:21 Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them."
John 14:23 Jesus replied, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.
1 John 2:5 But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:
1 John 2:7 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.
1 John 2:24 As for you, see that what you have heard from the beginning remains in you. If it does, you also will remain in the Son and in the Father.
1 John 5:3 In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome,