Love Your Enemies^(A)

⁴³ “You have heard that it was said, ^(B)‘You shall love your neighbor ^(C)and hate your enemy.’ ^44 [a]But I say to you, ^(D)love your enemies, bless those who curse you, ^(E)do good to those who hate you, and pray ^(F)for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, ⁴⁵ that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for ^(G)He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust.

^16 (A)For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten ^(B)Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

⁸ But ^(A)God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

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.

^19 (A)We love ^[a]Him because He first loved us.