What Does John 15:12 Mean in the King James?
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The love you give is measured by the love you have already received.
THE MEANING
Love between you and another takes its measure from the love already shown to you. That received love is present now as the pattern for love moving between you. The commandment holds both together: you are loved, and that love is shared.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
This undoes the belief that you must generate love from nothing before you can offer it.
THE ROOT
ἀγαπᾶτε
agapate agapaō
GROWS FROM
ἀγαπ-
agap-
To love or hold dear.
The verb for “love one another” belongs to the same word family as the verb for “I have loved you.” The sentence joins received love and shared love in one continuous movement.
ALSO GROWS
agapē: Love
ἀγάπη
The noun shares the same stem, linking the act of loving with love itself.
agapētos: Beloved, dear
ἀγαπητός
This related word names the one held dear, connecting love with being loved.
THE PATTERN
Love flows outward from what is first given, taking that received love as its measure.
Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.We love him, because he first loved us.THE THREAD
We love him, because he first loved us.The verbs translated “love” share the Greek stem ἀγαπ- (agap-, love or hold dear). John names the same movement at work here: love already given becomes love that moves outward.
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