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20 Reasons to Love One Another

Okay, so this isn’t so much 20 reasons to love one another as it is 20 times we’re told emphatically that we are to love one another. Really, we should only need one reason: God tells us to!

The Bible actually has a lot more than 20 instances of this kind of command or commendation, because God is not exactly shy about this. God really wants us to know this is how we are to live. We are to be known by our love for one another and for others. Consider these 20 examples.

7 Commands & Commendations in the Old Testament

  1. “…but you must love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
  2. “…you must love the foreigner as yourself, because you were foreigners…” (Leviticus 19:34).
  3. “A friend loves at all times, and a relative is born to help in adversity” (Proverbs 17:17).
  4. “Hatred stirs up dissension, but love covers all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12).
  5. “Learn to do what is right. Promote justice. Give the oppressed reason to celebrate. Take up the cause of the orphan. Defend the rights of the widow” (Isaiah 1:17).
  6. “Do not plan evil in your hearts against one another. Do not favor a false oath—these are all things that I hate” (Zechariah 8:17).
  7. “…carry out justice, to love faithfulness, and to live obediently before your God” (Micah 6:8)

13 Commands & Commendations in the New Testament

  1. “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39; Mark 12:31–33; Luke 10:25–28).
  2. “I give you a new commandment—to love one another…” (John 13:34).
  3. “My commandment is this—to love one another just as I have loved you” (John 15:12; see also John 13:35; 15:17).
  4. “For this is the gospel message that you have heard from the beginning: that we should love one another…” (1 John 3:11; see also 2 John 1:5).
  5. “We have come to know love by this: that Jesus laid down his life for us; thus we ought to lay down our lives for our fellow Christians.” (1 John 3:16)
  6. “Dear friends, if God so loved us, then we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:11; see also 1 John 4:7).
  7. “Be devoted to one another with mutual love, showing eagerness in honoring one another” (Romans 12:10).
  8. “Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law” (Romans 13:8).
  9. “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal” (1 Corinthians 13:1; see also 13:2–13).
  10. “Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice, set things right, be encouraged, agree with one another, live in peace…” (2 Corinthians 13:11).
  11. “…do not use your freedom as an opportunity to indulge your flesh, but through love serve one another. (Galatians 5:13; see also Hebrews 10:24).
  12. “And may the Lord cause you to increase and abound in love for one another and for all…” (1 Thessalonians 3:12; see also 4:9).
  13. “Above all keep your love for one another fervent, because love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8; see also Ephesians 4:2; James 5:20; 1 Peter 1:22)

No Greater Command

There is no greater command or criteria offered to prove the authenticity of our faith than this. Our love for God is demonstrated in our love for others. We need to keep a close eye on our doctrine, without question; but we also need to watch our lives closely as well (1 Timothy 4:16). If we can say all the right words and teach all the right truths. But if we slander, gossip, malign, and defame one another, do we really believe what we say we do? If we view people not like us with disdain or look on the suffering of others with indifference, should we not be concerned?

And at the same time, we need to recognize that these commands cannot be fulfilled alone. We are called into community. Saved into it. And we need to embrace that. Because that unity, that togetherness, for all of the mess that comes with it, is exactly what we need. And it’s what this world needs too.

Don’t ignore these words of Scripture, no matter how familiar they are. Embrace them. Feel the conviction they bring where you might fall short of God’s intention. Reject voices that tempt you toward a practical hatred of others—those who use fear to manipulate and control you. Believe what God says is true. Because it is—when we believe it, it just might change the world.


Originally posted July 24, 2013. Updated for style and formatting March 10, 2024. Photo by Derick McKinney on Unsplash.

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