love relationships

¹If I were to speak in the language of men, or of Angels, yet not have charity, I would be like a clanging bell or a crashing cymbal. ²And if I have prophecy, and learn every mystery, and obtain all knowledge, and possess all faith, so that I could move mountains, yet not have charity, then I am nothing. ³And if I distribute all my goods in order to feed the poor, and if I hand over my body to be burned, yet not have charity, it offers me nothing. ⁴Charity is patient, is kind. Charity does not envy, does not act wrongly, is not inflated. ⁵Charity is not ambitious, does not seek for itself, is not provoked to anger, devises no evil. ⁶Charity does not rejoice over iniquity, but rejoices in truth.

¹¹For I know the thoughts that I think over you, says the Lord: thoughts of peace and not of affliction, so that I may give you patience and an end.

²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.

¹⁶And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love. And he who abides in love, abides in God, and God in him.

³⁴I give you a new commandment: Love one another. Just as I have loved you, so also must you love one another. ³⁵By this, all shall recognize that you are my disciples: if you will have love for one another.”

²²But the fruit of the Spirit is charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, forbearance, ²³meekness, faith, modesty, abstinence, chastity. There is no law against such things.

¹⁹Or do you not know that your bodies are the Temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? ²⁰For you have been bought at a great price. Glorify and carry God in your body.

³⁷Jesus said to him: “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God from all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸This is the greatest and first commandment. ³⁹But the second is similar to it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰On these two commandments the entire law depends, and also the prophets.”

¹And so, I beg you, brothers, by the mercy of God, that you offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God, with the subservience of your mind. ²And do not choose to be conformed to this age, but instead choose to be reformed in the newness of your mind, so that you may demonstrate what is the will of God: what is good, and what is well-pleasing, and what is perfect.

⁹And so, let us not be deficient in doing good. For in due time, we shall reap without fail.

³¹But the second is similar to it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

⁸You should owe nothing to anyone, except so as to love one another. For whoever loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. ⁹For example: You shall not commit adultery. You shall not kill. You shall not steal. You shall not speak false testimony. You shall not covet. And if there is any other commandment, it is summed up in this word: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ¹⁰The love of neighbor does no harm. Therefore, love is the plenitude of the law.

⁴³You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and you shall have hatred for your enemy.’ ⁴⁴But I say to you: Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. And pray for those who persecute and slander you. ⁴⁵In this way, you shall be sons of your Father, who is in heaven. He causes his sun to rise upon the good and the bad, and he causes it to rain upon the just and the unjust. ⁴⁶For if you love those who love you, what reward will you have? Do not even tax collectors behave this way? ⁴⁷And if you greet only your brothers, what more have you done? Do not even the pagans behave this way? ⁴⁸Therefore, be perfect, even as your heavenly Father is perfect.”