Selected New Testament verses concerning Love
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you! Pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust. And so, if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder.’ ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ‘You shall not steal.’ ‘You shall not bear false witness.’ ‘Honor your father and mother;’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. The second is likewise, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Many will stumble and will betray and hate each other. Many false prophets will arise and they will lead many astray. Because wickedness will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
As you would like others to do to you, do the same to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them! If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same! If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive [back], what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back. Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for He is kind [even] to the ungrateful and evil.
“A certain lender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Then, which of them will love him the most?” Simon answered, “The one to whom he forgave the most I suppose.” Jesus said to him, “You have judged correctly.”
Turning to the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave Me no water for my feet; but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss, but since the time I came in, she has not ceased kissing My feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven because she has loved much. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.” Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other; or else he will be attached to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Indeed, God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
This is the judgment: that the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who practices evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light, for fear that his works would be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his works may be revealed as done in God.”
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to Me. Yet, you will not come to Me to have life. I do not receive glory from men, but I know you, that you do not have God’s love in yourselves. I have come in my Father’s Name, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him! How can you believe, since you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Therefore, Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love Me, for I issue forth [from God] and have come from God. Indeed, I have not come of Myself, but He has sent me. ”
“I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. And there will be one flock one Shepherd. Therefore, the Father loves me, because I lay down My life, so that I may take it again. No one takes My life away from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”
Isaias (Isaiah) said these things when He saw His glory and spoke of Him. However, even many among the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess it [openly], so that they would not be put out of the synagogue, for they loved human praise more than God’s praise.
“This is how everyone will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”
“If you love Me, keep My commandments!”
“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, that person is someone who loves Me. Whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love and reveal Myself to such a person.”
Jesus answered him, “The one who loves me will keep my word; My Father will love and We shall come to him and make a home in him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word which you hear is not Mine, but it belongs to the Father who sent Me. I have said these things to you while still living with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit which the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and remind you of all that I said to you.”
“In this is My Father glorified: that you bear much fruit; and [this is how] you will be My disciples. Even as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you! Remain in My love! If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. I have told you these things so that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: that you love one another, even as I have loved you. No one has a greater love than this: that someone would lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you. I no longer call you servants because the servant does not know what his lord is doing. Instead, I have called you friends, because everything that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
“Father, I desire that those whom you have given Me would be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which you have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I knew You; and these have known that You have sent Me. I have made your Name known to them, and I will [continue to] make it known; so that the love with which you loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, one will hardly die for someone righteous, but perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die. But God entrusts His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Indeed, I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Let your love be without hypocrisy. Reject with horror what is evil. Cling to what is good. In love for the brethren, be tenderly affectionate with one another; place the honor of others above your own. Do not fall back in zeal; be fervent in the spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in troubles, persevere in prayer; contribute to the needs of the saints; look for opportunities to be hospitable. Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse! Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep! Be of the same mind one toward another. Do not set your mind on exalted things, but associate with the humble. Do not think that you are wiser than you really are. Repay no one evil for evil. Show respect for what is honorable in the sight of all. If it is possible, as much as is in your power, be at peace with all people.
Do not owe anything to anyone, except to love one another; for whoever loves the other has fulfilled the law. Indeed, these commandments (“You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are,) are all summed up in this very saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does not harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
Knowledge makes arrogant, but love builds up.
If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and have all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but if I do not have love; I am nothing. If I give out all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient and is kind; love does not envy. Love does not brag, it is not proud, it does not behave inappropriately, it is not self-oriented. [Love] does not take offence and does not keep track of evil, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. [Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
But now, faith, hope, and love remain: these three, and the greatest of these is love.
Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong! Let all that you do be done in love.
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her in order to sanctify her, having purified her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the Church to Himself in glory, without any spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and flawless. In the same way, a husband should love his wife as his [own] body. He who loves his own wife loves himself!
Above all things, be committed to your mutual love because love covers a multitude of sins.
Behold, how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called God’s children! For this reason, the world does not understand us, because it did not understand Him.
We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. Whoever does not love his brother [or sister] remains in death. Whoever hates his brother [or sister] is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not remain in a murderer. This is how we know what love is: that He laid down His life for us. We too should lay down our lives for the brethren. But if someone is well-off in worldly possessions and sees one of the brethren in need and yet refuses to help, how does the love of God remain in such a person? My little children, let us not love only in word or speech, but in deed and truth.
Beloved, let us love one another because love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. This is how God’s love was revealed in us: that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also should love one another.
We know and we believed in the love which God has for us: God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. In this, love has been made perfect among us, so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because in this world, we are just as He is. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear is connected with punishment. But the one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love Him, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother [or sister], such a person is a liar! If someone does not love the brethren who can be seen, how can such a person [claim to] love God whom he has not seen? Indeed, this commandment we have received from Him: that the one who loves God should also love his brethren.
As many as I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent! Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and have supper with him, and he with Me.
Bible verses from the The EOB (Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible).
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you! Pray for those who mistreat you and persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father who is in heaven. For He makes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and He sends rain on the just and the unjust. And so, if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? If you only greet your friends, what more do you do than others? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? Therefore, be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Gospel of Saint Matthew 5:43-48
Jesus replied, “‘You shall not murder.’ ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ ‘You shall not steal.’ ‘You shall not bear false witness.’ ‘Honor your father and mother;’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
Gospel of Saint Matthew 19:43-48
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. The second is likewise, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”
Gospel of Saint Matthew 22:36-40
Many will stumble and will betray and hate each other. Many false prophets will arise and they will lead many astray. Because wickedness will be multiplied, the love of many will grow cold. But the one who endures to the end will be saved. This Good News of the Kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.
Gospel of Saint Matthew 24:10-14
As you would like others to do to you, do the same to them. If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them! If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same! If you lend to those from whom you hope to receive [back], what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to receive back as much. But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing back. Then your reward will be great and you will be children of the Most High, for He is kind [even] to the ungrateful and evil.
Gospel of Saint Luke 6:31-35
“A certain lender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he forgave them both. Then, which of them will love him the most?” Simon answered, “The one to whom he forgave the most I suppose.” Jesus said to him, “You have judged correctly.”
Gospel of Saint Luke 7:41-43
Turning to the woman, He said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I entered into your house, and you gave Me no water for my feet; but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave Me no kiss, but since the time I came in, she has not ceased kissing My feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed My feet with perfume. Therefore, I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven because she has loved much. But the one to whom little is forgiven loves little.” Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” Those who sat at the table with Him began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?” Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you. Go in peace.”
Gospel of Saint Luke 7:44-50
“No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate one and love the other; or else he will be attached to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.”
Gospel of Saint Luke 16:13
Indeed, God so loved the world that He gave His only-begotten Son, so that everyone who believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life.
Gospel of Saint John 3:16
This is the judgment: that the Light has come into the world, and people have loved the darkness rather than the Light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone who practices evil hates the Light and does not come to the Light, for fear that his works would be exposed. But whoever practices the truth comes to the Light, so that his works may be revealed as done in God.”
Gospel of Saint John 3:19-21
You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life; and it is they that bear witness to Me. Yet, you will not come to Me to have life. I do not receive glory from men, but I know you, that you do not have God’s love in yourselves. I have come in my Father’s Name, and you do not receive Me. If another comes in his own name, you will receive him! How can you believe, since you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?
Gospel of Saint John 5:39-44
Therefore, Jesus said to them, “If God were your father, you would love Me, for I issue forth [from God] and have come from God. Indeed, I have not come of Myself, but He has sent me. ”
Gospel of Saint John 8:42
“I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep, which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. And there will be one flock one Shepherd. Therefore, the Father loves me, because I lay down My life, so that I may take it again. No one takes My life away from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.”
Gospel of Saint John 10:15-18
Isaias (Isaiah) said these things when He saw His glory and spoke of Him. However, even many among the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees, they did not confess it [openly], so that they would not be put out of the synagogue, for they loved human praise more than God’s praise.
Gospel of Saint John 12:41-43
“This is how everyone will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.”
Gospel of Saint John 13:35
“If you love Me, keep My commandments!”
Gospel of Saint John 14:15
“Whoever has My commandments and keeps them, that person is someone who loves Me. Whoever loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love and reveal Myself to such a person.”
Gospel of Saint John 14:21
Jesus answered him, “The one who loves me will keep my word; My Father will love and We shall come to him and make a home in him. Whoever does not love Me does not keep My words. The word which you hear is not Mine, but it belongs to the Father who sent Me. I have said these things to you while still living with you. But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit which the Father will send in My Name, will teach you all things and remind you of all that I said to you.”
Gospel of Saint John 14:23-26
“In this is My Father glorified: that you bear much fruit; and [this is how] you will be My disciples. Even as the Father has loved Me, I also have loved you! Remain in My love! If you keep My commandments, you will remain in My love, even as I have kept My Father’s commandments and remain in His love. I have told you these things so that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be complete. This is my commandment: that you love one another, even as I have loved you. No one has a greater love than this: that someone would lay down his life for his friends. You are My friends, if you do whatever I command you. I no longer call you servants because the servant does not know what his lord is doing. Instead, I have called you friends, because everything that I heard from my Father I have made known to you.”
Gospel of Saint John 15:8-15
“Father, I desire that those whom you have given Me would be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which you have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world. Righteous Father, the world has not known You, but I knew You; and these have known that You have sent Me. I have made your Name known to them, and I will [continue to] make it known; so that the love with which you loved Me may be in them, and I in them.”
Gospel of Saint John 17:24-26
Not only this, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces perseverance; and perseverance, character; and character, hope. Hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time, Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, one will hardly die for someone righteous, but perhaps for a righteous person someone would even dare to die. But God entrusts His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans 5:3-8
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Could oppression, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Even as it is written: For Your sake we are killed all day long. We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Indeed, I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans 8:35-39
Let your love be without hypocrisy. Reject with horror what is evil. Cling to what is good. In love for the brethren, be tenderly affectionate with one another; place the honor of others above your own. Do not fall back in zeal; be fervent in the spirit, serving the Lord. Rejoice in hope, endure in troubles, persevere in prayer; contribute to the needs of the saints; look for opportunities to be hospitable. Bless those who persecute you; bless, and do not curse! Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep! Be of the same mind one toward another. Do not set your mind on exalted things, but associate with the humble. Do not think that you are wiser than you really are. Repay no one evil for evil. Show respect for what is honorable in the sight of all. If it is possible, as much as is in your power, be at peace with all people.
Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans 12:9-18
Do not owe anything to anyone, except to love one another; for whoever loves the other has fulfilled the law. Indeed, these commandments (“You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are,) are all summed up in this very saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does not harm a neighbor. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law.
Epistle of Saint Paul to the Romans 13:8-10
Knowledge makes arrogant, but love builds up.
First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 8:1
If I speak with the tongues of men and angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and have all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to move mountains, but if I do not have love; I am nothing. If I give out all my goods to feed the poor, and give my body to be burned but do not have love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient and is kind; love does not envy. Love does not brag, it is not proud, it does not behave inappropriately, it is not self-oriented. [Love] does not take offence and does not keep track of evil, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. [Love] bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails.
First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 13:1-8
But now, faith, hope, and love remain: these three, and the greatest of these is love.
First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 13:13
Watch! Stand firm in the faith! Be courageous! Be strong! Let all that you do be done in love.
First Epistle of Saint Paul to the Corinthians 16:13-14
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself up for her in order to sanctify her, having purified her by the washing of water with the word, so that he might present the Church to Himself in glory, without any spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but holy and flawless. In the same way, a husband should love his wife as his [own] body. He who loves his own wife loves himself!
Epistle of Saint Paul to the Ephesians 5:25-28
Above all things, be committed to your mutual love because love covers a multitude of sins.
First Epistle of Saint Peter 4:8
Behold, how great a love the Father has bestowed upon us, that we should be called God’s children! For this reason, the world does not understand us, because it did not understand Him.
First Epistle of Saint John 3:1
We know that we have passed out of death into life because we love the brethren. Whoever does not love his brother [or sister] remains in death. Whoever hates his brother [or sister] is a murderer, and you know that eternal life does not remain in a murderer. This is how we know what love is: that He laid down His life for us. We too should lay down our lives for the brethren. But if someone is well-off in worldly possessions and sees one of the brethren in need and yet refuses to help, how does the love of God remain in such a person? My little children, let us not love only in word or speech, but in deed and truth.
First Epistle of Saint John 3:14-18
Beloved, let us love one another because love is from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love. This is how God’s love was revealed in us: that God sent His only-begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God loved us in this way, we also should love one another.
First Epistle of Saint John 4:7-11
We know and we believed in the love which God has for us: God is love, and whoever remains in love remains in God, and God remains in him. In this, love has been made perfect among us, so that we may have boldness in the day of judgment, because in this world, we are just as He is. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because fear is connected with punishment. But the one who fears is not yet perfect in love. We love Him, because He first loved us. If someone says, “I love God,” and yet hates his brother [or sister], such a person is a liar! If someone does not love the brethren who can be seen, how can such a person [claim to] love God whom he has not seen? Indeed, this commandment we have received from Him: that the one who loves God should also love his brethren.
First Epistle of Saint John 4:16-21
As many as I love, I reprove and discipline. Therefore, be zealous and repent! Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and have supper with him, and he with Me.
Book of Revelations 3:19-20
Bible verses from the The EOB (Eastern / Greek Orthodox Bible).
