1 John 3:11

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

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Word by word — the Greek

Word	Greek	Strong’s	Meaning
For	ὅτι hoti	G3754	demonstrative · conjunction
this	αὕτη hautē	G3778	the he (she or it) · demonstrative pronoun — nominative singular feminine
is	ἐστί estí	G2076	he (she or it) is
message	ἀγγελία angelia	G31	an announcement · noun — nominative singular feminine
that	ἣν hēn	G3739	the relatively (sometimes demonstrative) pronoun · relative pronoun — accusative singular feminine
heard	ἠκούσατε ēkousate	G191	to hear (in various senses) · verb — aorist active indicative, 2nd person plural
from	ἀπ᾽ ap᾽	G575	"off · preposition
beginning	ἀρχῆς archēs	G746	(properly abstract) a commencement · noun — genitive singular feminine
that	ἵνα ina	G2443	compare G3588 (ὁ)) · preposition
love	ἀγαπῶμεν agapōmen	G25	to love (in a social or moral sense) · verb — present active subjunctive, 1st person plural
another	ἀλλήλους· allēlous	G240	one another · reciprocal pronoun — accusative plural masculine

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

John 15:12 This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
2 John 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one…
1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
John 13:34-35 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
1 Peter 3:8 Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous:
1 John 4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.
Ephesians 5:2 And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour.
1 Thessalonians 4:9 But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another.

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 John 3:11-13

The apostle, having intimated that one mark of the devil's children is hatred of the brethren, takes occasion thence, I. To recommend fraternal Christian love, and that from the excellence, or antiquity, or primariness of the injunction relating thereto: And this is the message (the errand or charge) which you heard from the beginning (this came among the principal parts of practical Christianity), that we should love one another, Jo1 3:11. We should love the Lord Jesus, and value his love, and consequently love all the objects of it, and thereupon all our brethren in Christ. II. To dissuade from what is contrary thereto, all ill-will towards the brethren, and that by the example of Cain. Hi…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 John 3:11

the message--"announcement," as of something good; not a mere command, as the law. The Gospel message of Him who loved us, announced by His servants, is, that we love the brethren; not here all mankind, but those who are our brethren in Christ, children of the same family of God, of whom we have been born anew.

Adam Clarke on 1 John 3:11

For this is the message - See Jo1 1:5. From the beginning God hath taught men that they should love one another. How essentially necessary this is to the comfort and well-being of man in this state of trial and difficulty, every sensible man must see. All are dependent upon all; all upon each, and each upon all. Mutual love makes this dependence pleasant and doubly profitable. Nothing can be more pleasing to an ingenuous and generous mind than to communicate acts of kindness.

John Gill on 1 John 3:11

For this is the message,.... Sent from God by Christ, or what he in his ministry declared, and is the commandment which was so frequently urged by him, John 13:34; that ye have heard from the beginning; of the preaching of the Gospel to them, and of their conversion; see 1 John 2:7; that we should love one another; to which the command of Christ, the reason with which it is enforced, and the early notice of it, should engage.

The Church Fathers

For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, that you should love one another. The Lord saying: This is my commandment, that you love one another (John XV).
— Bede, Commentary on the Catholic Epistles

"For this is the message which we heard from the beginning, that we should love one another." He has made it manifest to us that it is of this he speaks; whoso acts against this commandment, is in that accursed sin, into which those fall who are not born of God.
— Augustine of Hippo, Ten Homilies on 1 John 5

But on the other hand, others are not forward to support their needy brethren with things; but only to cherish them with soft words. Which persons the holy preaching of James strongly rebukes, saying, If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, and one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled: notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body: what shall it profit you? Which persons the Apostle also admonishes, saying, My little children, Let us not love in word, neither in tongue: but in deed and in truth. For our loving affection must always be shewn forth at once by respectfulness of speech, and by the service of almsgiving.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book 21, Section 29

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

1 John 3:11

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 John 3:11-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 John 3:11

Adam Clarke on 1 John 3:11

John Gill on 1 John 3:11

The Church Fathers

1 John 3:11

Word by word — the Greek

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on 1 John 3:11-13

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on 1 John 3:11

Adam Clarke on 1 John 3:11

John Gill on 1 John 3:11

The Church Fathers

John Calvin on 1 John 3:10-14

Tyndale Open Study Notes on 1 John 3:11-22