I have had great joy and encouragement because of your love, for the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you, brother.

But whoever obeys his word, truly in this person the love of God has been perfected. By this we know that we are in him.

Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him,

No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God resides in us, and his love is perfected in us.

For this is the love of God: that we keep his commandments. And his commandments do not weigh us down,

Grace, mercy, and peace will be with us from God the Father and from Jesus Christ the Son of the Father, in truth and love.

And we have come to know and to believe the love that God has in us. God is love, and the one who resides in love resides in God, and God resides in him.

But as you excel in everything – in faith, in speech, in knowledge, and in all eagerness and in the love from us that is in you – make sure that you excel in this act of kindness too.

From him the whole body grows, fitted and held together through every supporting ligament. As each one does its part, the body grows in love.

We ought to thank God always for you, brothers and sisters, and rightly so, because your faith flourishes more and more and the love of each one of you all for one another is ever greater.

But whoever has the world’s possessions and sees his fellow Christian in need and shuts off his compassion against him, how can the love of God reside in such a person?

Dear friends, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been fathered by God and knows God.

By this the love of God is revealed in us: that God has sent his one and only Son into the world so that we may live through him.

In this is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins.

By this love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment, because just as Jesus is, so also are we in this world.

(Now this is love: that we walk according to his commandments.) This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; thus you should walk in it.