⁷ Dear friends,^(A) I am not writing you a new command but an old one, which you have had since the beginning.^(B) This old command is the message you have heard.

¹⁸ “‘Do not seek revenge^(A) or bear a grudge^(B) against anyone among your people,^(C) but love your neighbor^(D) as yourself.^(E) I am the Lord.

More on Love and Hatred

¹¹ For this is the message you heard^(A) from the beginning:^(B) We should love one another.^(C)

²⁹ “The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.^{[a] 30} Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’^{[b](A) 31} The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^[c](B) There is no commandment greater than these.”

³² “Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him.^{(C) 33} To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”^(D)

³⁴ When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.”^(E) And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.^(F)

⁵ And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning.^(A) I ask that we love one another. ⁶ And this is love:^(B) that we walk in obedience to his commands.^(C) As you have heard from the beginning,^(D) his command is that you walk in love.

Life by the Spirit

¹³ You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free.^(A) But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh^[a];^(B) rather, serve one another^(C) humbly in love. ¹⁴ For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^[b](D)

Love Fulfills the Law

⁸ Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for whoever loves others has fulfilled the law.^{(A) 9} The commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not covet,”^[a](B) and whatever other command there may be, are summed up^(C) in this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”^{[b](D) 10} Love does no harm to a neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.^(E)

³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’^{[a](A) 38} This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’^{[b](B) 40} All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”^(C)

²³ And this is his command: to believe^(A) in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,^(B) and to love one another as he commanded us.^(C)