If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if
The commandments to love God and neighbor are found in the law of Moses. They are not commandments for God’s people. They are the commandments “written on men’s hearts” and given “by nature” itself. (Romans 2:14-15) They are the commandments given by God in His Words to man “from the beginning.” (I John 2:7) In the new covenant Church of Christ, however, there
After the love of God, the greatest commandment is the love of one’s neighbor. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength. This is the first and great commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the law
The first and greatest commandment of God is that His creatures should love Him. Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God, the Lord is one; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. (Mark 12:29-30, Matthew 22:37, Luke 10:27, Deuteronomy 6:4-5) This is
According to the Christian faith “the greatest virtue is love” (I Corinthians 13:13) Love is the “fulfilling of the law” of God. (Romans 13:10) For God Himself is Love. Beloved, let us love one another; for love is of God, and he who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God; for God
God’s gift of eternal life in Christ and the Holy Spirit is the Kingdom of God. Jesus has brought the Kingdom of God to the world through the Spirit in the Church. Spiritual life is life—already now—in the Kingdom of God. Fear not, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give alms;
The spiritual life of the Church is given to men in the sacraments. The sacraments are called the holy mysteries, and the entire life of the Church is considered to be mystical and sacramental. The new life in Christ, the genuine life of God, is given to man in baptism, the new birth and new creation of man in Christ by the Spirit
The new and abundant life given by God to man through Christ and the Holy Spirit in creation and redemption is the life of the Christian Church. The life of the Church is the life originally willed for man and his world by God. It is the life of God Himself originally given in creation. It is the spiritual life. One should not
In the scriptures and in the spiritual tradition of the Church, the expression “the world” has two different meanings. In the first, “the world” is the expression of all of God’s creation. As such it is the product of God’s goodness and the object of His love. According to the scriptures, God creates the world and all that is in it. He creates
The scriptures and the lives of God’s saints bear witness to the existence of the devil. The devil is a fallen bodiless spirit, an angel created by God for His service and praise. Together with the devil, are his hosts of wicked angelic powers who have rebelled against the goodness of God and seek to pervert and destroy God’s good creation. How are
