You have heard the saying, 'You must love your neighbour and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, read more. that you may be sons of your Father in heaven: he makes his sun rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the just and the unjust. For if you love only those who love you, what reward do you get for that? do not the very taxgatherers do as much? and if you only salute your friends, what is special about that? do not the very pagans do as much? You must be perfect as your heavenly Father is perfect.

Let this be how you pray: 'our Father in heaven, thy name be revered,

Stretching out his hand towards his disciples he said, "Here are my mother and my brothers! Whoever does the will of my Father in heaven, that is my brother and sister and mother."

But you are not to be called 'rabbi,' for One is your teacher, and you are all brothers; you are not to call anyone 'father' on earth, for One is your heavenly Father;

then Jesus said to them, "Have no fear! Go and tell my brothers to leave for Galilee; they shall see me there."

I give you a new command, to love one another ??as I have loved you, you are to love one another. By this everyone will recognize that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another."

This is my command: you are to love one another as I have loved you. To lay life down for his friends, man has no greater love than that.

Jesus said, "Cease clinging to me. I have not ascended yet to the Father, but go to my brothers and tell them, 'I am ascending to my Father and yours, to my God and yours.'"

Brothers, sons of Abraham's race and all among you who reverence God, the message of this salvation has been sent to us.

For the sons of God are those who are guided by the Spirit of God. You have received no slavish spirit that would make you relapse into fear; you have received the Spirit of sonship. And when we cry, "Abba! Father!", read more. it is this Spirit testifying along with our own spirit that we are children of God; and if children, heirs as well, heirs of God, heirs along with Christ ??for we share his sufferings in order to share his glory.

For he decreed of old that those whom he predestined should share the likeness of his Son ??that he might be the firstborn of a great brotherhood.

Put affection into your love for the brotherhood; be forward to honour one another;

let your hope be a joy to you; be stedfast in trouble, attend to prayer, contribute to needy saints, make a practice of hospitality.

be at peace with all men, if possible, so far as that depends on you. Never revenge yourselves, beloved, but let the Wrath of God have its way; for it is written, Vengeance is mine, I will exact a requital ??the Lord has said it. No, read more. if your enemy is hungry, feed him, if he is thirsty, give him drink; for in this way you will make him feel a burning sense of shame. Do not let evil get the better of you; get the better of evil by doing good.

Be in debt to no man ??apart from the debt of love one to another. He who loves his fellow-man has fulfilled the law. You must not commit adultery, you must not kill, you must not steal, you must not covet ??these and any other command are summed up in a single word, You must love your neighbour as yourself. read more. Love never wrongs a neighbour; that is why love is the fulfilment of the law.

At the moment I am off to Jerusalem on an errand to the saints.

As the human body is one and has many members, all the members of the body forming one body for all their number, so is it with Christ. For by one Spirit we have all been baptized into one Body, Jews or Greeks, slaves or freemen; we have all been imbued with one Spirit. read more. Why, even the body consists not of one member but of many. If the foot were to say, 'Because I am not the hand, I do not belong to the body,' that does not make it no part of the body. If the ear were to say, 'Because I am not the eye, I do not belong to the body,' that does not make it no part of the body. If the body were all eye, where would hearing be? If the body were all ear, where would smell be? As it is, God has set the members in the body, each as it pleased him. If they all made up one member, what would become of the body? As it is, there are many members and one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, 'I have no need of you,' nor again the head to the feet, 'I have no need of you.' Quite the contrary. We cannot do without those very members of the body which are considered rather delicate, just as the parts we consider rather dishonourable are the very parts we invest with special honour; our indecorous parts get a special care and attention which does not need to be paid to our more decorous parts. Yes, God has tempered the body together, with a special dignity for the inferior parts, so that there may be no disunion in the body, but that the various members should have a common concern for one another. Thus if one member suffers, all the members share its suffering; if one member is honoured, all the members share its honour. Now you are Christ's Body, and severally members of it.

It is because you are sons that God has sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts crying 'Abba! Father!' So you are servant no longer but son, and as son you are also heir, all owing to God.

in Christ Jesus circumcision is not valid, neither is uncircumcision, but only faith active in love.

Brothers, you were called to be free; only, do not make your freedom an opening for the flesh, but serve one another in love. For the entire Law is summed up in one word, in You must love your neighbour as yourself read more. (whereas, if you snap at each other and prey upon each other, take care in case you destroy one another).

But the harvest of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, good temper, kindliness, generosity, fidelity,

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men and in particular to the household of the faith.

So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all men and in particular to the household of the faith.

Thus you are strangers and foreigners no longer, you share the membership of the saints, you belong to God's own household,

Drop all bitter feeling and passion and anger and clamouring and insults, together with all malice;

and lead lives of love, just as Christ loved you and gave himself up for you to be a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

And above all you must be loving, for love is the link of the perfect life.

You need no one to write you upon brotherly love, for you are yourselves taught by God to love one another,

God is not unfair; he will not forget what you have done, or the love you have shown for his sake in ministering, as you still do, to the saints.

Let your brotherly love continue.

Let your brotherly love continue. Never forget to be hospitable, for by hospitality some have entertained angels unawares.

Do not forget beneficence and charity, either; these are the kind of sacrifices that are acceptable to God.

Now that your obedience to the Truth has purified your souls for a brotherly love that is sincere, love one another heartily and steadily.

Now that your obedience to the Truth has purified your souls for a brotherly love that is sincere, love one another heartily and steadily.

Do honour to all, love the brotherhood, reverence God, honour the emperor.

Lastly, you must all be united, you must have sympathy, brotherly love, compassion, and humility,

Resist him; keep your foothold in the faith, and learn to pay the same tax of suffering as the rest of your brotherhood throughout the world.

Beloved, if God had such love for us, we ought to love one another. God no one has ever seen; but if we love one another, then God remains within us, and love for him is complete in us. read more. This is how we may be sure we remain in him and he in us, because he has given us a share in his own Spirit; and we have seen, we can testify, that the Father has sent the Son as the Saviour of the world. Whoever confesses that 'Jesus is the Son of God,' in him God remains, and he remains in God; well, we do know, we have believed, the love God has for us. God is love, and he who remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. Love is complete with us when we have absolute confidence about the day of judgment, since in this world we are living as He lives. Love has no dread in it; no, love in its fulness drives all dread away, for dread has to do with punishment ??anyone who has dread, has not reached the fulness of love. We love, because He loved us first. If anyone declares, 'I love God,' and yet hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who will not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot possibly love the God whom he has never seen. And we get this command from him, that he who loves God is to love his brother as well.

"Write your vision in a book, and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and Smyrna and Pergamum and Thyatira and Sardis and Philadelphia and Laodicea."