Dear friends, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning. ¹  The old commandment is the word that you have already ²  heard.

Now ¹  this is his commandment: ²  that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he gave ³  us the commandment.

And the commandment we have from him is this: that ¹  the one who loves God should love his fellow Christian ²  too.

On the other hand, I am writing a new commandment to you which is true in him ¹  and in you, because ²  the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. ³ 

For ¹  this is the gospel ²  message ³  that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another, ⁴