"You have heard that it was said, 'You must love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' But I tell you, practice loving your enemies and praying for your persecutors, read more. to prove that you are sons of your Father in heaven, for He makes His sun rise on bad as well as good people, and makes the rain come down on doers of right and of wrong alike. For if you practice loving only those who love you, what reward will you get? Do not even the tax-collectors practice that? And if you say 'Good morning' to your brothers only, what more than others are you doing? So you, my followers, ought to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is."

So this is the way you must pray: Our Father in heaven, Your name be revered.

And with a gesture toward His disciples He said, "Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my mother and sister and brother."

But as for you, you must not seek for others to call you 'Teacher,' for you have but one who is 'Teacher,' and you are all brothers. And you must not call anyone on earth 'father,' for the Heavenly One is your Father.

Then Jesus said to them, "Do not be afraid. Go, tell my brothers to go back to Galilee, and there they will see me."

I give you a new command, to love one another. Just as I have loved you, you too must love one another. By this everybody will know that you are my disciples, if you keep on showing love for one another."

This is my command to you, to keep on loving one another as I have loved you. No one can show greater love than this, the giving of his life for his friends.

Jesus said to her, "Stop clinging to me so, for I have not yet gone up to my Father; but go to my brothers and tell them that I am going up to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

Brothers, descendants of the race of Abraham, and all among you who reverence God, it is to us that the message of this salvation has been sent.

For all who are guided by God's Spirit are God's sons. For you do not have a sense of servitude to fill you with dread again, but the consciousness of adopted sons by which we cry, "Abba," that is, "Father." read more. The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirits that we are God's children; and if children, then also heirs, heirs of God and fellow-heirs with Christ if in reality we share His sufferings, so that we may share His glory too.

For those on whom He set His heart beforehand He marked off as His own to be made like His Son, that He might be the eldest of many brothers;

In brotherly love be affectionate to one another, in personal honors put one another to the fore,

ever happy in hope, always patient in suffering, ever persistent in prayer, always supplying the needs of God's people, ever practicing hospitality.

If possible, so far as it depends on you, live in peace with everybody. Stop taking revenge on one another, beloved, but leave a place for God's anger, for the Scripture says, "Vengeance belongs to me; I will pay them back, says the Lord." read more. Do the opposite. If your enemy is hungry, give him something to eat. If he is thirsty, give him something to drink, for if you act in this way, you will heap burning coals upon his head! Stop being conquered by evil, but keep on conquering evil with good.

Stop owing anybody anything, except the obligation to love one another, for whoever practices loving others has perfectly satisfied the law. For the commandments, "You must not commit adultery; you must not murder; you must not steal; you must not have an evil desire," and any other commandment if there is any, are summed up in this command, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself." read more. Love never does a wrong to one's neighbor; so love is the perfect satisfaction of the law.

But just now I am on my way to Jerusalem to help God's people.

For just as the human body is one and yet has many parts, and all the parts of the body, many as they are, constitute but one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit all of us, Jews or Greeks, slaves or freemen, have been baptized into one body, and were all imbued with one Spirit. read more. For the body does not consist of one part but of many. If the foot says, "Since I am not a hand, I am not a part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body. If the ear says, "Since I am not an eye, I am not a part of the body," that does not make it any less a part of the body. If all the body were an eye, how could we hear? If all the body were an ear, how could we smell? But as it now is, God has placed the parts, every one of them, in the body just as He wanted them to be. If they were all one part, how could it be a body? But as it now is, there are many parts, but one body. The eye cannot say to the hand, "I do not need you," or the hand to the feet, "I do not need you." No, on the contrary, even those parts of the body that seem to be most delicate are indispensable, and the parts of it we deem devoid of honor we dress with special honor, and our ill-shaped parts receive more careful attention, while our well-shaped parts do not want for anything. Yes, God has perfectly adjusted the body, giving great honor to its apparently inferior parts, so that there is no disharmony in the body, but all the parts have a common care for one another. If one part suffers, all the parts suffer with it. If one part receives an honor, all the parts can share its joy. So you are Christ's body, and individually parts of it.

And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, "Abba," that is, "Father." So you are no longer a slave, but a son; and if a son, then an heir by God's own act.

For in union with Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor lack of it counts for anything; but only faith that is spurred on to action by love.

For you, brothers, were called to freedom; only you must not let your freedom be an excuse for the gratification of your lower nature, but in love be slaves to one another. For the whole law is summed up in one saying, "You must love your neighbor as you do yourself." read more. But if you continue to bite and eat one another, beware lest you are destroyed by one another.

But the product of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

So then whenever we have an opportunity, let us practice doing good to everybody, but especially to the members of the family of faith.

So then whenever we have an opportunity, let us practice doing good to everybody, but especially to the members of the family of faith.

So you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but you are fellow-citizens of God's people and members of His family;

You must remove all bitterness, rage, anger, loud threats, and insults, with all malice.

and practice living in love, just as Christ loved you too and gave Himself for you as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

And over all these qualities put on love, which is the tie of perfection that binds us together.

Now as to brotherly love, you have no need of anyone's writing you, for you have yourselves been taught by God to love one another,

For God is not so unjust as to forget the work you have done and the love you have shown His name in the service you have rendered for your fellow-Christians, and still are doing.

You must let your brotherly love continue.

You must let your brotherly love continue. Do not remain neglectful of hospitality to strangers, for by it some have entertained angels without knowing it.

And stop neglecting to do good and to be generous, for God is highly pleased with just such sacrifices as these.

Since you have purified your souls by obeying the truth, in sincere love for the brotherhood you must love one another heartily and fervently,

Since you have purified your souls by obeying the truth, in sincere love for the brotherhood you must love one another heartily and fervently,

Show honor to everyone. Practice love for the brotherhood; practice reverence to God and honor to the Emperor.

Finally, you must all live in harmony, be sympathetic, loving as brothers, tenderhearted, humble,

Resist him and be strong in faith, because you know that your brotherhood all over the world is experiencing the same sort of sufferings.

Dearly beloved, if God has loved us so, we ought to love one another too. No one has ever seen God; yet if we practice loving one another, God remains in union with us, and our love for Him attains perfection in our hearts, read more. By the fact that He has given us a portion of His Spirit we can be sure that we remain in union with Him and He in union with us. We have seen and now testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Saviour of the world. Whoever owns that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in union with him and he in union with God. So we know by experience and trust the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever continues to love continues in union with God and God in union with him. Our love attains perfection through our having perfect confidence about the day of judgment, because here in this world we are living as He did. There is no fear in love, and perfect love drives out fear, because fear pertains to punishment, and no one who is subject to fear has attained perfection in love. We love, because He loved us first. If anyone says, "I love God," and yet habitually hates his brother, he is a liar; for whoever does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. This is the command that we get from Him, that whoever loves God loves his brother too.

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