Knowing God Through Love^(A)

^7 (B)Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who ^(C)loves is born of God and knows God.

⁸ He who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

Obedience by Faith

^20 (A)If someone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, ^[a]how can he love God ^(B)whom he has not seen? ²¹ And ^(C)this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Obedience by Faith

5 Whoever believes that ^(D)Jesus is the Christ is ^(E)born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him.

The Enduring Word

²² Since you ^(A)have purified your souls in obeying the truth ^[a]through the Spirit in ^[b]sincere ^(B)love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart,

^10 (A)He who loves his brother abides in the light, and ^(B)there is no cause for stumbling in him.

^29 (A)If you know that He is righteous, you know that ^(B)everyone who practices righteousness is born of Him.

A Brotherly and Orderly Life

⁹ But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for ^(A)you yourselves are taught by God ^(B)to love one another; ¹⁰ and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia. But we urge you, brethren, ^(C)that you increase more and more;

The Imperative of Love^(A)

¹⁰ In this the children of God and the children of the devil are manifest: Whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is he who does not love his brother. ¹¹ For this is the message that you heard from the beginning, ^(B)that we should love one another, ¹² not as ^(C)Cain who was of the wicked one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s righteous.

¹³ Do not marvel, my brethren, if ^(D)the world hates you. ¹⁴ We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love ^[a]his brother abides in death. ^15 (E)Whoever hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that ^(F)no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.

The Outworking of Love

^16 (G)By this we know love, ^(H)because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. ¹⁷ But ^(I)whoever has this world’s goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his heart from him, how does the love of God abide in him?

¹⁸ My little children, ^(J)let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth. ¹⁹ And by this we ^[b]know ^(K)that we are of the truth, and shall ^[c]assure our hearts before Him. ^20 (L)For if our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and knows all things. ²¹ Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, ^(M)we have confidence toward God. ²² And ^(N)whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments ^(O)and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. ²³ And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ ^(P)and love one another, as He gave ^[d]us commandment.

⁷ For ^(A)God has not given us a spirit of fear, ^(B)but of power and of love and of a sound mind.