Scriptures about Loving Others
The Bible–especially the New Testament–has a lot to say about loving others. It tells us just what love is suppose to look like in 1 Corinthians 13 and Romans 12.
To get the most out of this Scripture series, I encourage you to look up the verses and read them in context. I have shared here the specific Bible verses about loving others, but to really understand them, it is important to read why they were being shared and what else is being said.
To read the full chapter online, you can look up the chapter in Bible Gateway. Just type in “1 Corinthians 13” and the whole chapter will show for you to read. You can even select the translation that you want to read it in. I am using New American Standard Version unless otherwise noted. I also like New King James Version, The Passion Translation, and the New International Version. Some are easier to understand than others.
You can get your own New American Standard Bible here. This is an affiliate link. If you click the link and make a purchase, I may receive compensation. Your price always stays the same, though.
Bible Verses about Loving Each Other
John 15:12-13
This is My commandment, that you love one another, just as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that a person will lay down his life for his friends.
I’m not sure why I’m starting off with this verse because it’s a difficult one. We are supposed to love others the same way that Christ loves us. He gave His life for us and He tells us that this is the greatest love. I have to trust that when God gives us a command, He also enables us–gives us the grace–to do it.
1 Corinthians 16:14:
All that you do must be done in love.
I realize that sometimes I do things just to keep the peace, or to get my way, or to feel better about myself. The Bible says to do everything in love. Ouch.
Romans 13:8
Owe nothing to anyone except to love one another; for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the Law.
Sometimes we can feel like God has some big list of things we are supposed to do or not do. A big list of rules. God’s laws. But loving God and others fulfills His law. That’s it.
Matthew 5:33-34
You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you,…
Matthew 5:34 is a hard verse, isn’t it?! I have a hard enough time loving well for the people I care about. But God’s way is for us to even love our enemies.
1 Corinthians 13:1-8a
If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of 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 all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.
Love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. It does not act disgracefully, it does not seek its own benefit; it is not provoked, does not keep an account of a wrong suffered, it does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; it keeps every confidence, it believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
Love never fails.
This verse used to be so difficult for me because I thought it was a list of everything I had to do. It was just to hard. But then I learned that God loves me like this. This is a picture of His love for me. When I receive His love for me, He gives me His love to love others with. I don’t have to work hard at it–I just have to surrender to His love and love others with His love. It’s a mystery, I know, but one that is worth pursuing.
Ephesians 5:25, 33b
…husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church… In the same way husbands should love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself…
Colossians 3:14
In addition to all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity.
To me this verse says that love is a choice. “Put on love”. And that unity–harmony–is a sign that love is there. So if we have a unity problem, we have a love problem.
Ephesians 4:2-3
…with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, being diligent to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
1 John 4:11-12
Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God remains in us, and His love is perfected in us.
Love is perfected in us by loving.
1 John 4:7-8
Beloved, let’s love one another; for love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Romans 12:10
Be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor…
Some of these I just have to ponder–like Romans 12:10. It’s big. Just think how beautiful our families, our communities, our countries, our world would be if we all loved like this. The whole book of Romans 12 shows us a powerful way to love others.
1 Peter 2:17
Honor all people, love the brotherhood, fear God, honor the king.
Mark 12:31a
The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.
1 Peter 4:8
Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins.
Luke 6:27
But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you…
1 Peter 1:22b
…love one another deeply, from the heart.
John 13:34
I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are My disciples: if you have love for one another.
Leviticus 19:18
You shall not take vengeance, nor hold any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord.
I love when I read things in the Old Testament that confirm things taught in the New Testament. The Bible says that God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He doesn’t change. He tells us to love others in both the Old Testament and the New Testament.
Luke 10:27
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
Deuteronomy 10:18-19
He (God) executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and shows His love for the stranger by giving him food and clothing. So show your love for the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
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