Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have already heard.

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down,

Now by this we know that we have come to know God: if we keep his commandments.

Now this is his commandment: that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave us the commandment.

The one who says “I have come to know God” and yet does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in such a person.

and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do the things that are pleasing to him.

And the commandment we have from him is this: that the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian too.

By this we know that we love the children of God: whenever we love God and obey his commandments.

On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him and in you, because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining.

And the person who keeps his commandments resides in God, and God in him. Now by this we know that God resides in us: by the Spirit he has given us.