Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God. | And walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. |
And this hope will not lead to disappointment. For we know how dearly God loves us, because he has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love. | And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. |
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God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. | This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. |
For husbands, this means love your wives, just as Christ loved the church. He gave up his life for her to make her holy and clean, washed by the cleansing of God’s word. | Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word. |
Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law. | Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. |
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. | For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. |
Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. | Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. |
If you love me, obey my commandments. | If you love me, keep my commands. |
And do everything with love. | Do everything in love. |
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? | Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? |
Since God chose you to be the holy people he loves, you must clothe yourselves with tenderhearted mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience. | Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. |
But even as he spoke, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my dearly loved Son, who brings me great joy. Listen to him.” | While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” |
Father, I want these whom you have given me to be with me where I am. Then they can see all the glory you gave me because you loved me even before the world began! | Father, I want those you have given me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. |
Three things will last forever—faith, hope, and love—and the greatest of these is love. | And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. |
And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. | Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. |
Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. | Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. |
Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other, for love covers a multitude of sins. | Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins. |
May God give you more and more mercy, peace, and love. | Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance. |
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. | There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love. |
My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. | I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. |
When you obey my commandments, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. | If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love. |
No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us. | No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us. |
See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don’t recognize that we are God’s children because they don’t know him. | See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! The reason the world does not know us is that it did not know him. |
But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God’s grace that you have been saved!) | But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved. |
They did not conquer the land with their swords; it was not their own strong arm that gave them victory. It was your right hand and strong arm and the blinding light from your face that helped them, for you loved them. | It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them. |