John 15:17 (DRB)

Passage

These things I command you, that you love one another.

Nearby Context

John 15:15 I will not now call you servants: for the servant knoweth not what his lord doth. But I have called you friends. because all things, whatsoever I have heard of my Father, I have made known to you.

John 15:16 You have not chosen me: but I have chosen you; and have appointed you, that you should go and should bring forth fruit; and your fruit should remain: that whatsoever you shall ask of the Father in my name, he may give it you.

John 15:17 These things I command you, that you love one another.

John 15:18 If the world hate you, know ye that it hath hated me before you.

John 15:19 If you had been of the world, the world would love its own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "things", "command", "love", and "another". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "things" and "command", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 16's "You have not chosen me but I..." into verse 18's "If the world hate you know ye...", so "things" and "command" belong inside that flow. In John context, the local focus is the identity of Jesus, new birth, eternal life, and belief and unbelief.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "things" and "command" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.