RushwaveChapter 3: Scriptures Referencing Christian Love
from Church Vision, book 3 in the series The Christian Faith
Jesus’ command to love one another is repeated not only by Jesus Himself, but also by the apostles He commissioned. They emphasize love over and over again in their letters to the churches, and it is the underying theme. Consider just some of these scriptures, and this list is by no means exhaustive.
- “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” John 15:12
- “These things I command you, that you love one another.” John 15:17
- “Owe no one anything except to love one another …” Romans 13:8
- “But now faith, hope love, abide these three; but the greatest of these is love. Pursue love” 1 Corinthians 13:13-14:1
- “And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love to one another, and to all people, just as we also do for you” 1 Thessalonians 3:12
- “I bow my knees [and pray] that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend ... the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge …” Ephesians 3:14-19
- “ you yourselves are taught by God to love one another … But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more” 1 Thessalonians 4:9-10
- “fervently love one another with a pure heart …” 1 Peter 1:22
- “Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another …” 1 Peter 4:8
- “For this is the message which you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another,” 1 John 3:11
- “This is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He gave us commandment.” 1 John 3:23
- “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” 1 John 4:7-8
- “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us … Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.” 1 John 4:10-11
- “Now I ask you … not as though I were writing to you a new commandment, but the one which we have had from the beginning: that we love one another.” 2 John 5
These scriptures make it clear that love is to be the fundamental, distinctive characteristic of the church, and it is to be the characteristic of the church because it is the character of God. God is love.
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