Love is greatest

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Love is First! Or, Love Controls Faith
Love is the Greatest, even greater than faith!
Righteousness/Justification
The following passages tell us that God uses several gifts of grace to save us.
First, God’s love sent Jesus Christ into the world. (He lived, died, rose and ascended into Heaven. These passages are not listed.)
Second, He gave us new hearts.
Third, He pours His love into our new hearts. He gave us a new commandment, love.
Fourth, His love must be believed. In other words, love must be heard by faith. We must believe Jesus Christ was God’s love sent into the world. Or, His love must believe. St. Paul clearly teaches: love believes all things.
Fifth, love is greater than faith. In fact, faith without love is nothing. God’s love poured into our heart believes all things.
Sixth, it is love and faith that make us right with God.
Here are the some of the passages.
St.** John 3: 16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him might not perish but might have eternal life. (We must believe God’s love.)**
St. John 5: 24 Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever hears my word and believes in the one who sent me has eternal life and will not come to condemnation, but has passed from death to life.
St.** John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things came to be through him, and without him nothing came to be. What came to be 4 through him was life, and this life was the light of the human race; 5 the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it. **
I John 4: 8 Whoever is without love does not know God, for God is love. 9 In this way the love of God was revealed to us: God sent his only Son into the world so that we might have life through him. (We receive life through God’s love—JESUS)
**St. John 17: 3 **And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent. (We know Him when He is poured into our new hearts.)
 
**St. John 16: 27 **For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. [Love is first, and believe is second.]

Romans 5: 3 Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, 4 and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Ezekiel 36: 26 I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. 27 I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees.
Ephesians 3: 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
**Ephesians 3: 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God (KJV). **

**Romans 7: 22 For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, 23 but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. **
Romans 7: 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (KJV).
Romans 10: 17 Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the Word of Christ (Christ’s Word). (We hear LOVE or God’s loving word sent into the world.)
**St. Matthew 22: 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

I Corinthians 13: 13 So faith, hope, love remain, these three; ****but the greatest of these is love.
I Corinthians 13: 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.**
 
**St. John 16: 27 **For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God. [Love is first, and believe is second.]

Romans 5: 3 Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, 4 and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.
Ezekiel 36: 26 I will give you a new heart and place a new spirit within you, taking from your bodies your stony hearts and giving you natural hearts. 27 I will put my spirit within you and make you live by my statutes, careful to observe my decrees.
Ephesians 3: 14 For this reason I kneel before the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self, 17 and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love, 18 may have strength to comprehend with all the holy ones what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
**Ephesians 3: 16 That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 May be able to comprehend with all saints what [is] the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; 19 and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God (KJV). **

**Romans 7: 22 For I take delight in the law of God, in my inner self, 23 but I see in my members another principle at war with the law of my mind, taking me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. **
Romans 7: 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members (KJV).
Romans 10: 17 Thus faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the Word of Christ (Christ’s Word). (We hear LOVE or God’s loving word sent into the world.)
**St. Matthew 22: 36 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?” 37 He said to him, “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the greatest and the first commandment. 39 The second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 The whole law and the prophets depend on these two commandments.”

I Corinthians 13: 13 So faith, hope, love remain, these three; ****but the greatest of these is love.
I Corinthians 13: 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.**
 
Ephesians 4: 24 and put on the new self, created in God’s way in righteousness and holiness of truth.

Ephesians 6: 10 Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. 11 Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. 13 Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. 14 So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, 15 and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all (the) flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit.

I Thessalonians 5: 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation.

Galatians 5: 6…but only faith “energeo” through LOVE.

II Corinthians 6: 3 We cause no one to stumble in anything, in order that no fault may be found with our ministry; 4 on the contrary, in everything we commend ourselves as ministers of God, through much endurance, in afflictions, hardships, constraints, 5 beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, vigils, fasts; 6 by purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, in a holy spirit, in unfeigned love, 7 in truthful speech, in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness at the right and at the left; 8 through glory and dishonor, insult and praise.

Job 29: 14 I wore my honesty like a garment; justice was my robe and my turban.

**Job 29: I **put on righteousness, and it clothed me: my judgment [was] as a robe and a diadem (KJV).

Isaiah 59: 17 He put on justice as his breastplate, salvation, as the helmet on his head; He clothed himself with garments of vengeance, wrapped himself in a mantle of zeal.

Galatians 3: 27 For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ.

**Galatians 3: 27 **For as many of you as have been baptized into Christ have put on Christ.

Ephesians 6: 11 Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil.

Romans 13: 10 Love does no evil to the neighbor; hence, love is the fulfillment of the law. 11 And do this because you know the time; it is the hour now for you to awake from sleep. For our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed; 12 the night is advanced, the day is at hand. Let us then throw off the works of darkness (and) put on the armor of light; 13 let us conduct ourselves properly as in the day, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in promiscuity and licentiousness, not in rivalry and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the desires of the flesh.

I Corinthians 15: 53 For that which is corruptible must clothe itself with incorruptibility, and that which is mortal must clothe itself with immortality.

I Corinthians 15: **53 **For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality (KJV).

Colossians 3: 9 Stop lying to one another, since you have taken off the old self with its practices 10 and have put on the new self, which is being renewed, for knowledge, in the image of its creator. 11 Here there is not Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free; but Christ is all and in all. 12 Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, heartfelt compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, 13 bearing with one another and forgiving one another, if one has a grievance against another; as the Lord has forgiven you, so must you also do. 14 And over all these put on love, that is, the bond of perfection.

Col 3: 9 Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; 10 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal [must] put on immortality. 11 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond [nor] free: but Christ [is] all, and in all. 12 Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond [nor] free: but Christ [is] all, and in all. 13 Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also [do] ye. And above all these things [put on] charity, which is the bond of perfectness. (KJV).
 
These passages show that love and faith make us righteous.

Ephesians 6: 10 Finally, draw your strength from the Lord and from his mighty power. 11 Put on the armor of God so that you may be able to stand firm against the tactics of the devil. 12 For our struggle is not with flesh and blood but with the principalities, with the powers, with the world rulers of this present darkness, with the evil spirits in the heavens. 13 Therefore, put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. 14 So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, 15 and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace. 16 In all circumstances, hold faith as a shield, to quench all (the) flaming arrows of the evil one. 17 And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 18 With all prayer and supplication, pray at every opportunity in the Spirit.

I Thessalonians 5: 8 But since we are of the day, let us be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love and the helmet that is hope for salvation.

These passages show that love rules fatih. Also His love is poured into our hearts. Also, that faith without love is nothing.
**St. John 16: 27 **For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God.

Romans 5: 3 Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, 4 and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us.
**
I Corinthians 13: 13 So faith, hope, love remain, these three; ****but the greatest of these is love.
I Corinthians 13: 2 And if I have the gift of prophecy, and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.**
 
ENCYCLICAL LETTER
DEUS CARITAS EST (Latin for “GOD IS LOVE”)
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF
BENEDICT XVI
Given in Rome, at Saint Peter’s, on 25 December, the Solemnity of the Nativity of the Lord, in the year 2005, the first of my Pontificate.
–In acknowledging the centrality of love, Christian faith has retained the core of Israel’s faith, while at the same time giving it new depth and breadth

–**In a world where the name of God is sometimes associated with vengeance or even a duty of hatred and violence, this message is both timely and significant. For this reason, I wish in my first Encyclical to speak of the love which God lavishes upon us and which we in turn must share with others. **

–The entire activity of the Church is an expression of a love that seeks the integral good of man…Love is therefore the service that the Church carries out*

etc

etc

etc

vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/encyclicals/documents/hf_ben-xvi_enc_20051225_deus-caritas-est_en.html
 
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