John 15: love one another as I have loved you
Jesus asks his disciples to remain in his love and to love one another.
Bible reference: John 15:9-12
At a glance
- Length, read slowly
- Under a minute
- Where it goes
- Scripture reading · Christian wedding ceremony and Wedding ceremonyRead by: reader
- Second reading · Christian wedding ceremonyRead by: reader
Have the officiant read your choice first: they have the last word.
We don’t show modern translations here: they are protected by copyright. You can find them in your church’s Bible or on the publisher’s website. Further down this page is the text from the King James Version, which you may use freely.
Use in your programWhat this reading says
Jesus is speaking to his closest friends on the last evening before his death. He tells them that he has loved them the way his Father loved him, and asks them to stay inside that love. Staying means keeping his commandments, the way he kept his Father's. He says why: so that his joy can be in them, and their joy can be complete. Then he gives the one commandment that matters here. Love one another as I have loved you. A wedding adds one more link to that chain.
When it fits
This is the gospel for a church wedding where you want the service built around Jesus' own voice rather than a letter about him. It is one of the gospel options in the Catholic rite and appears in Episcopal and Presbyterian wedding liturgies too. For a non-religious ceremony it does not transfer; the whole point is who is speaking. A couple who likes its warmth but wants a text any lay reader can take might look at 1 John 4, written in the same tradition. Set beside Colossians 3, which lists what love does, this passage is about where love rests.
Reading it aloud
Who reads this depends on your church. In a Catholic Mass the priest or deacon proclaims the gospel, so a friend cannot be given it; ask your pastor, because in many Protestant churches a family member can. Read it gently and take the four verses as four separate thoughts. Leave a real pause before the final commandment. The King James Version says "continue ye in my love" where newer translations say "remain" or "abide", and the "ye" and "hath" slow some readers. Add the translation your church uses to the wedding program with its credit line.
Text from the King James Version
John 15:9-12
This older translation is in the public domain in the United States, so you may print it in your program for free. A Catholic Mass reads from the lectionary, so for a Mass, paste the text your parish uses.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love. If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love. These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full. This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
Goes well with
- 1 John 4: let us love one another1 John 4:7-12A letter from the same tradition that a lay reader can take at any service.
- Colossians 3: above all, put on loveColossians 3:12-17What loving one another looks like in a kitchen on a weekday.
- Genesis 2: it is not good to be aloneGenesis 2:18-24The traditional first reading before this gospel in a Catholic wedding.