13 If I speak in the tongues^[a](A) of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ² If I have the gift of prophecy^(B) and can fathom all mysteries^(C) and all knowledge,^(D) and if I have a faith^(E) that can move mountains,^(F) but do not have love, I am nothing. ³ If I give all I possess to the poor^(G) and give over my body to hardship that I may boast,^[b](H) but do not have love, I gain nothing.

⁴ Love is patient,^(I) love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.^{(J) 5} It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking,^(K) it is not easily angered,^(L) it keeps no record of wrongs.^{(M) 6} Love does not delight in evil^(N) but rejoices with the truth.^{(O) 7} It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.^(P)

⁸ Love never fails. But where there are prophecies,^(Q) they will cease; where there are tongues,^(R) they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹ For we know in part^(S) and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰ but when completeness comes,^(T) what is in part disappears. ¹¹ When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood^(U) behind me. ¹² For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror;^(V) then we shall see face to face.^(W) Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.^(X)

¹³ And now these three remain: faith, hope and love.^(Y) But the greatest of these is love.^(Z)

On Denying the Incarnation

4 Dear friends,^(A) do not believe every spirit,^(B) but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world.^{(C) 2} This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh^(D) is from God,^{(E) 3} but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist,^(F) which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.^(G)

⁴ You, dear children,^(H) are from God and have overcome them,^(I) because the one who is in you^(J) is greater than the one who is in the world.^{(K) 5} They are from the world^(L) and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. ⁶ We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us.^(M) This is how we recognize the Spirit^[a] of truth^(N) and the spirit of falsehood.^(O)

God’s Love and Ours

⁷ Dear friends, let us love one another,^(P) for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God^(Q) and knows God.^{(R) 8} Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.^{(S) 9} This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son^(T) into the world that we might live through him.^{(U) 10} This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us^(V) and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.^{(W) 11} Dear friends,^(X) since God so loved us,^(Y) we also ought to love one another.^{(Z) 12} No one has ever seen God;^(AA) but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.^(AB)

¹³ This is how we know^(AC) that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit.^{(AD) 14} And we have seen and testify^(AE) that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world.^{(AF) 15} If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God,^(AG) God lives in them and they in God.^{(AH) 16} And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.

God is love.^(AI) Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them.^{(AJ) 17} This is how love is made complete^(AK) among us so that we will have confidence^(AL) on the day of judgment:^(AM) In this world we are like Jesus. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear,^(AN) because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

¹⁹ We love because he first loved us.^{(AO) 20} Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister^(AP) is a liar.^(AQ) For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen,^(AR) cannot love God, whom they have not seen.^{(AS) 21} And he has given us this command:^(AT) Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.^(AU)

Awaiting the New Body

5 For we know that if the earthly^(A) tent^(B) we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, an eternal house in heaven, not built by human hands. ² Meanwhile we groan,^(C) longing to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,^{(D) 3} because when we are clothed, we will not be found naked. ⁴ For while we are in this tent, we groan^(E) and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed instead with our heavenly dwelling,^(F) so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. ⁵ Now the one who has fashioned us for this very purpose is God, who has given us the Spirit as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come.^(G)

⁶ Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. ⁷ For we live by faith, not by sight.^{(H) 8} We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.^{(I) 9} So we make it our goal to please him,^(J) whether we are at home in the body or away from it. ¹⁰ For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each of us may receive what is due us^(K) for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

The Ministry of Reconciliation

¹¹ Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord,^(L) we try to persuade others. What we are is plain to God, and I hope it is also plain to your conscience.^{(M) 12} We are not trying to commend ourselves to you again,^(N) but are giving you an opportunity to take pride in us,^(O) so that you can answer those who take pride in what is seen rather than in what is in the heart. ¹³ If we are “out of our mind,”^(P) as some say, it is for God; if we are in our right mind, it is for you. ¹⁴ For Christ’s love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died.^{(Q) 15} And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves^(R) but for him who died for them^(S) and was raised again.

¹⁶ So from now on we regard no one from a worldly^(T) point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. ¹⁷ Therefore, if anyone is in Christ,^(U) the new creation^(V) has come:^[a] The old has gone, the new is here!^{(W) 18} All this is from God,^(X) who reconciled us to himself through Christ^(Y) and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: ¹⁹ that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them.^(Z) And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. ²⁰ We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors,^(AA) as though God were making his appeal through us.^(AB) We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God.^{(AC) 21} God made him who had no sin^(AD) to be sin^[b] for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.^(AE)