First John: 1 John 3:11-The Command to Love One Another Lesson # 117

1 John 3:11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another. (ESV)

“For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction hoti (ὅτι), “for” (2) nominative feminine singular form of the demonstrative pronoun houtos (οὗτος), “this” (3) third person singular present active indicative form of the verb eimi (εἰμί), “is” (4) articular nominative feminine singular form of the noun angelia (ἀγγελία), “the message” (5) accusative feminine singular form of the relative pronoun hos (ὅς), “that” (6) second person plural aorist active indicative form of the verb akouō (ἀκούω), “heard” (7) preposition apo (ἀπό), “from” (8) genitive feminine singular form of the noun archē (ἀρχή), “the beginning.”

The conjunction hoti means “consequently, therefore” since it is employed with the indicative mood of the verb eimi, “is” in order to form a result clause which means that the word is introducing a clause which presents the result of John’s teaching in 1 John 3:10, which presents the means by which God’s children are manifested.

The demonstrative pronoun houtos means “this” and is kataphoric meaning that it is pointing to the declarative statement which follows it, namely, hina agapōmen allēlous (ἵνα ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους), “that we should love one another.”

The noun angelia means “the message” and refers to the command that the apostles of Jesus Christ received from Him to love one another as He had loved them which is recorded in John 13:34 and 15:12.

The noun angelia is functioning as a predicate nominative meaning it is making an assertion about the subject which is the demonstrative pronoun houtos which as we noted is kataphoric pointing to the declarative statement hina agapōmen allēlous (ἵνα ἀγαπῶμεν ἀλλήλους), “that we should love one another.”

Therefore, the noun angelia is making the assertion that this message which the recipients of First John heard from the beginning of their indoctrination to the Christian way of life was the command to love one another.

The verb eimi means “to be identical with” since the word functions as a copula placing the subject houtos, “this” and the predicate angelia, “the message” in predicate relation to each other and is serving to unite these two words.

Therefore, the verb eimi denotes that this message which the recipients of First John heard from the beginning of their instruction to the Christian way of life is equivalent or identical to the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another.

The relative pronoun hos means “which” and refers to the angelia, “the message” since the two words agree in number (singular) and gender (feminine).

Therefore, the word refers to the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 requiring the believer to love their fellow believer as He loves them since angelia refers to this command.

The verb akouō means, “to hear through instruction” since the word pertains to receiving information regarding a particular subject.

Specifically, the word refers to the recipients of First John receiving through instruction from the apostle John and other pastors the Lord’s command to love one another.

The word is used in the same exact way in 1 John 2:7.

The second personal plural form of this verb means “each of you” since the word pertains the recipients of this epistle as a corporate unit and is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

Therefore, this verb akouō is expressing the idea that each one of the recipients of this epistle heard through instruction the Lord Jesus Christ’s command to love one another.

The noun archē means “the beginning” and is used in a relative sense to denote the beginning of the recipients of First John being instructed that they are required to love one another as God’s children.

The word is used to denote the very beginning of John’s readers being taught the Lord’s command requiring each of them to love one another.

It marks the point of time at the beginning of the process of being taught this command or in other words, it marks the beginning of the process of being indoctrinated into the Christian way of life.

This noun archē is the object of the preposition apo, which means “from” since the word functions as a marker of the extent of time from a point in the past and is pertaining to the beginning of John’s reader’s Christian indoctrination and specifically being instructed to obey the Lord’s command to love one another.

“That we should love one another” is composed of the following: (1) conjunction hina (ἵνα), “that” (2) first person plural present active subjunctive form of the verb agapaō (ἀγαπάω), “we love” (3) accusative masculine plural form of the reciprocal pronoun allēlōn (ἀλλήλων), “one another.”

The conjunction hina is employed with the subjunctive mood of the verb agapaō in order to form a direct object clause which gives to the reader the content of the main verb, which in our context is the verb eimi.

This indicates that the conjunction is introducing a clause which answers the question as to “what?” John is referring to by the noun angelia, “the message.”

The verb agapaō means “to divinely love” referring to the function of God’s love in the life of the apostle John and his readers since John is speaking of the love which is reproduced in the Christian by God the Holy Spirit when they obey the Lord’s command in John 13:34 to love one another.

In other words, this love is divine in quality and character because is resides in the character and nature of God and is reproduced in the Christian by the Spirit when they obey this command.

The first person plural form of this verb means “we” referring to John and each of the recipients of First John.

Thus, this is an “inclusive” we referring to both the author and his readers.

By using the first person plural form rather than the second person plural form, the apostle John is identifying with his readers that he is subject to this command to love one another like they are.

The first person plural form of this verb is used in a distributive sense emphasizing no exceptions.

Each believer is required to obey the command to love one another and there are no exceptions.

The present tense of the verb agapaō is a customary present used to signal a repeated or habitual action indicating that the Lord Jesus Christ commanded John and all those who trust in Him as their Savior to make it their habit of loving each other.

The reciprocal pronoun allēlōn is used with reference to the relationship between believers with each other.

The word denotes that there was to be a mutual exchange between all of them in that they were to love each other as the Lord loved them.

This exchange between each other is the proper, appropriate and obligatory response by them to each other since both were created by God, according to His image, redeemed at the cross, justified through faith alone and Jesus Christ alone and fellow members of the body of Christ.

This mutual exchange will be the result of experiencing fellowship with God by operating in God’s love towards one another and is an expression of that love.

1 John 3:11 Therefore, this is the message which each one of you heard from the beginning, namely that, each one of us must make it our habit of loving one another. (My translation)

1 John 3:11 is a result clause which means that this verse is presenting the result of John’s teaching in 1 John 2:28-3:10, which presents the means by which God’s children are manifested.

In 1 John 3:10, John asserts that any person who at any time does not practice that which constitutes true righteousness by no means possesses the characteristic originating from the one true God, which is of course, righteousness.

He then specifies what he means by this statement by asserting that failing to practice divine righteousness is failing to divinely love one’s fellow-believer.

Now, here in verse 11, the apostle John asserts that the command to love one another is the message the recipients of First John have heard from the beginning of their Christian instruction or indoctrination.

Therefore, since God’s children are to be characterized as practicing the righteousness of God in their lives, which is equivalent to practicing the love of God with each other, the recipients of First John were consequently taught the command to love one another from the beginning of their Christian instruction.

By obeying the command to love one another, they would be practicing the righteousness of God in their lives which is the subject in 1 John 2:28-3:10.

In 1 John 3:11, the apostle John states that the message to love one another was heard by the recipients of First John from the beginning of their instruction regarding the Christian way of life.

John is presenting an implicit command to the recipients of this epistle to continue making it their habit of obeying this command.

The recipients of this epistle were already obeying the command to love one another since John affirms in 1 John 2:12-14 that they were remaining faithful to his apostolic teaching and were thus rejecting the false doctrine taught by the proto-Gnostic teachers whose teaching originated with Satan and his kingdom.

In fact, the affirmations in these verses serve to commend the recipients of this epistle for remaining faithful.

1 John 3:11 is the first time in First John that the apostle John explicitly mentions the Lord Jesus Christ’s command in John 13:34 and 15:12 to love one another.

This command which is mentioned explicitly here in 1 John 3:11 and implicitly in 1 John 2:7 is recorded in John 13:34 and 15:12.

What John says in 1 John 2:7, he says in 2 John 4-6.