Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 2 John 1:6

"And 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." — 2 John 1:6 (ASV)

Four times in vv.4–6 the author uses the noun “command” (GK 1953). This is his way of making clear that what he is saying is a direct expression of God’s will. And how does one know that one is fulfilling that will? The test of love is obedience to God’s commands, and the test of obedience is whether one “walks in love.” The argument is intentionally circular. Love of God must result in obedience to the Word of God or it is not true love, like God’s gift in Jesus Christ. Jesus’ own love was manifested by his obedience even to death. Love of God can finally be expressed only in action and truth . Do we love our brother and sister? Are we prepared to die for them? Obedience that does not lead to the life of love in which we love one another even to death is not obedience offered to God. Not to love means to remain in darkness and in death . Hatred of one’s brother is obedience to and gratification of one’s own evil nature (cf. 1Jn 3:12) and has nothing to do with God.