2 John 1:6
What does 2 John 1:6 mean?
A plain-English look at 2 John 1:6 in WEB alongside six other public-domain English translations, with cross-references and chapter context.
What 2 John 1:6 means
John defines love not as mere emotion but as a life of obedience—walking according to God’s commandments. Love is action shaped by God’s revealed will. He echoes that this command has been heard “from the beginning,” urging continuous practice—keep walking in it. This guards against sentimentalism on one hand and cold legalism on the other. True love gladly does what God says, and God’s commands direct love’s shape and boundaries. In a world of competing claims about spirituality, John ties love to concrete obedience, which protects the community from error and harm. When Christians walk in God’s ways, their love is real, recognizable, and fruitful.
Parallel translations
WEB
World English Bible · 2000And 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.
KJV
King James Version · 1611And 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.
ASV
American Standard Version · 1901And 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.
BBE
Bible in Basic English · 1949And love is the keeping of his laws. This is the law which was given to you from the first, so that you might keep it.
YLT
Young's Literal Translation · 1862and 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,
DRA
Douay-Rheims (Challoner) · 1752And 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:
DBY
Darby Bible · 1890And 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.
Context
This verse completes John’s appeal to love (vv. 5–6) by giving love a biblical definition—obedience. It serves as a hinge to the warning that follows (v. 7). Since love is measured by keeping God’s commands, any teaching that denies God’s revelation about Jesus cannot be loving, however smooth it sounds. Thus, defining love prepares the community to evaluate teachers and to practice discerning hospitality in the next section (vv. 7–11).
v.5And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
v.6This passage
v.7For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, even they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. This is the deceiver and the antichrist.
Cross references
Related passages from across Scripture, drawn from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge.
- 1 John 5:15
and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.
- 1 John 2:24
As for you, let that abide in you which ye heard from the beginning. If that which ye heard from the beginning abide in you, ye also shall abide in the Son, and in the Father.
- 2 John 1:5
And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote to thee a new commandment, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
- John 15:14
Ye are my friends, if ye do the things which I command you.
- Romans 13:8
Owe no man anything, save to love one another: for he that loveth his neighbor hath fulfilled the law.
- Galatians 5:13
For ye, brethren, were called for freedom; only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another.