Circumcise Your Heart

¹² “And now, Israel, ^(A)what does the Lord your God require of you, but ^(B)to fear the Lord your God, ^(C)to walk in all his ways, ^(D)to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul,

³⁷ And he said to him, ^(A)“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸ This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹ And ^(B)a second is like it: ^(C)You shall love your neighbor as yourself. ^40 (D)On these two commandments depend ^(E)all the Law and the Prophets.”

^34 (A)A new commandment ^(B)I give to you, ^(C)that you love one another: ^(D)just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. ^35 (E)By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

^21 (A)Whoever has my commandments and ^(B)keeps them, he it is who loves me. And ^(C)he who loves me ^(D)will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and ^(E)manifest myself to him.” ^22 (F)Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it ^(G)that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” ²³ Jesus answered him, ^(H)“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and ^(I)we will come to him and ^(J)make our home with him. ²⁴ Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And ^(K)the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me.

Marks of the True Christian

^9 (A)Let love be genuine. ^(B)Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. ^10 (C)Love one another with brotherly affection. ^(D)Outdo one another in showing honor.

¹⁴ We know that ^(A)we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

God Is Love

⁷ Beloved, ^(A)let us love one another, for love is from God, and ^(B)whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. ^8 (C)Anyone who does not love does not know God, because ^(D)God is love. ⁹ In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that ^(E)God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. ¹⁰ In this is love, ^(F)not that we have loved God ^(G)but that he loved us and sent his Son to be ^(H)the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. ^12 (I)No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and ^(J)his love is perfected in us.

^13 (K)By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. ¹⁴ And ^(L)we have seen and testify that ^(M)the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of ^(N)the world. ^15 (O)Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ So ^(P)we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. ^(Q)God is love, and ^(R)whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. ¹⁷ By this ^(S)is love perfected with us, so that ^(T)we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because ^(U)as he is so also are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love, but ^(V)perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not ^(W)been perfected in love. ^19 (X)We love because he first loved us. ^20 (Y)If anyone says, “I love God,” and ^(Z)hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot^[a] love God ^(AA)whom he has not seen. ²¹ And ^(AB)this commandment we have from him: ^(AC)whoever loves God must also love his brother.