⁹ I have loved you, just as my Father has loved me. So remain faithful to my love for you.¹⁰ If you obey me, I will keep loving you, just as my Father keeps loving me, because I have obeyed him.

¹¹ I have told you this to make you as completely happy as I am.¹² Now I tell you to love each other, as I have loved you.¹³ The greatest way to show love for friends is to die for them.¹⁴ And you are my friends, if you obey me.¹⁵ Servants don’t know what their master is doing, and so I don’t speak to you as my servants. I speak to you as my friends, and I have told you everything that my Father has told me.

¹⁶ You did not choose me. I chose you and sent you out to produce fruit, the kind of fruit that will last. Then my Father will give you whatever you ask for in my name.¹⁷ So I command you to love each other.