³⁷ Jesus said to him, ^(A)“‘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.

^4 (A)“Hear, O Israel: ^[a]The Lord our God, the Lord is one! ^5 (B)You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, ^(C)with all your soul, and with all your strength.

⁶ “And ^(D)these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. ^7 (E)You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ^8 (F)You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ^9 (G)You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

¹⁵ “See, ^(A)I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, ¹⁶ in that I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways, and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, that you may live and multiply; and the Lord your God will bless you in the land which you go to possess. ¹⁷ But if your heart turns away so that you do not hear, and are drawn away, and worship other gods and serve them, ^18 (B)I announce to you today that you shall surely perish; you shall not prolong your days in the land which you cross over the Jordan to go in and possess. ^19 (C)I call heaven and earth as witnesses today against you, that ^(D)I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live; ²⁰ that you may love the Lord your God, that you may obey His voice, and that you may cling to Him, for He is your ^(E)life and the length of your days; and that you may dwell in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

Sonship Through the Spirit

^12 (A)Therefore, brethren, we are debtors—not to the flesh, to live according to the flesh. ¹³ For ^(B)if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if by the Spirit you ^(C)put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. ¹⁴ For ^(D)as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. ¹⁵ For ^(E)you did not receive the spirit of bondage again ^(F)to fear, but you received the ^(G)Spirit of adoption by whom we cry out, ^(H)“Abba,^[a] Father.” ^16 (I)The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, ¹⁷ and if children, then ^(J)heirs—heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, ^(K)if indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.

The Way of the Righteous and the End of the Ungodly

The Blessedness of Dwelling in the House of God

To the Chief Musician. ^(A)On^[a] an instrument of Gath. A Psalm of the sons of Korah.

מ MEM

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. ^9 (D)In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten ^(E)Son into the world, that we might live through Him. ¹⁰ In this is love, ^(F)not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son ^(G)to be the propitiation for our sins. ¹¹ Beloved, ^(H)if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.

Seeing God Through Love

^12 (I)No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us. ^13 (J)By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. ¹⁴ And ^(K)we have seen and testify that ^(L)the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. ^15 (M)Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. ¹⁶ And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and ^(N)he who abides in love abides in God, and God ^(O)in him.

The Consummation of Love

¹⁷ Love has been perfected among us in this: that ^(P)we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. ^19 (Q)We love ^[a]Him because He first loved us.

Obedience by Faith

^20 (R)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, ^[b]how can he love God ^(S)whom he has not seen? ²¹ And ^(T)this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.

Jesus Promises Another Helper

^15 (A)“If you love Me, ^[a]keep My commandments. ¹⁶ And I will pray the Father, and ^(B)He will give you another ^[b]Helper, that He may abide with you forever— ^17 (C)the Spirit of truth, ^(D)whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you ^(E)and will be in you. ^18 (F)I will not leave you orphans; ^(G)I will come to you.

Indwelling of the Father and the Son

¹⁹ “A little while longer and the world will see Me no more, but ^(H)you will see Me. ^(I)Because I live, you will live also. ²⁰ At that day you will know that ^(J)I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you. ^21 (K)He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and ^[c]manifest Myself to him.”