Laws of Sexual Morality

18 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “Speak to the children of Israel, and say to them: ^(A)‘I am the Lord your God. ^3 (B)According to ^[a]the doings of the land of Egypt, where you dwelt, you shall not do; and ^(C)according to the doings of the land of Canaan, where I am bringing you, you shall not do; nor shall you walk in their ^[b]ordinances. ^4 (D)You shall observe My judgments and keep My ordinances, to walk in them: I am the Lord your God. ⁵ You shall therefore keep My statutes and My judgments, which if a man does, he shall live by them: I am the Lord.

Greeting the Elect Lady

¹ The Elder,

To the ^[a]elect lady and her children, whom I love in truth, and not only I, but also all those who have known ^(A)the truth, ² because of the truth which abides in us and will be with us forever:

^3 (B)Grace, mercy, and peace will be with ^[b]you from God the Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

Walk in Christ’s Commandments

⁴ I ^(C)rejoiced greatly that I have found some of your children walking in truth, as we received commandment from the Father. ⁵ And now I plead with you, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment to you, but that which we have had from the beginning: ^(D)that we love one another. ^6 (E)This is love, that we walk according to His commandments. This is the commandment, that ^(F)as you have heard from the beginning, you should walk in it.

The Scribes: Which Is the First Commandment of All?^(A)

^34 (B)But when the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. ³⁵ Then one of them, ^(C)a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

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