Loving One Another

⁷ Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.

⁸ But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.

²⁰ If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer,^[a] that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? ²¹ And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.^[b]

Faith in the Son of God

5 Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ^[c] has become a child of God. And everyone who loves the Father loves his children, too.

²² You were cleansed from your sins when you obeyed the truth, so now you must show sincere love to each other as brothers and sisters.^[a] Love each other deeply with all your heart.^[b]

²⁹ Since we know that Christ is righteous, we also know that all who do what is right are God’s children.

¹⁰ Anyone who loves a fellow believer^[a] is living in the light and does not cause others to stumble.

¹⁰ So now we can tell who are children of God and who are children of the devil. Anyone who does not live righteously and does not love other believers^[a] does not belong to God.

Love One Another

¹¹ This is the message you have heard from the beginning: We should love one another. ¹² We must not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and killed his brother. And why did he kill him? Because Cain had been doing what was evil, and his brother had been doing what was righteous. ¹³ So don’t be surprised, dear brothers and sisters,^[b] if the world hates you.

¹⁴ If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers,^[c] it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. ¹⁵ Anyone who hates another brother or sister^[d] is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them.

¹⁶ We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister^[e] in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?

¹⁸ Dear children, let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. ¹⁹ Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God. ²⁰ Even if we feel guilty, God is greater than our feelings, and he knows everything.

²¹ Dear friends, if we don’t feel guilty, we can come to God with bold confidence. ²² And we will receive from him whatever we ask because we obey him and do the things that please him.

²³ And this is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us.

⁹ But we don’t need to write to you about the importance of loving each other,^[a] for God himself has taught you to love one another. ¹⁰ Indeed, you already show your love for all the believers^[b] throughout Macedonia. Even so, dear brothers and sisters, we urge you to love them even more.

²² But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,

¹² No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.