is obviously the commandment to love, as 3:11 shows (cf. 3:16 and John 15:12–13). To know Jesus Christ then is to live in love with one’s fellow believers, to walk in the light. As we shall see, to hate is to remain in darkness (2:9, 11). When John writes about the one who says she or he abides in Jesus walking in the same way Jesus walked (v. 6), he means, of course, walking in love. (On the imagery of walking, see below, p. 144.) One should not read this statement as if the “ought to walk” were