Instead, be kind and tender-hearted to one another, and forgive one another, as God has forgiven you through Christ.

I am the LORD who brought you out of Egypt so that I could be your God. You must be holy, because I am holy.

so that you may become the children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to shine on bad and good people alike, and gives rain to those who do good and to those who do evil.

You must be perfect---just as your Father in heaven is perfect.

No! Love your enemies and do good to them; lend and expect nothing back. You will then have a great reward, and you will be children of the Most High God. For he is good to the ungrateful and the wicked.

Be merciful just as your Father is merciful.

Instead, be holy in all that you do, just as God who called you is holy.

The scripture says, "Be holy because I am holy."

Dear friends, if this is how God loved us, then we should love one another.

"Israel, you are my dearest child, the one I love best. Whenever I mention your name, I think of you with love. My heart goes out to you; I will be merciful.

The people of Israel will become like the sand of the sea, more than can be counted or measured. Now God says to them, "You are not my people," but the day is coming when he will say to them, "You are the children of the living God!"

Some, however, did receive him and believed in him; so he gave them the right to become God's children.

You are the people of God; he loved you and chose you for his own. So then, you must clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience.

See how much the Father has loved us! His love is so great that we are called God's children---and so, in fact, we are. This is why the world does not know us: it has not known God.

My dear friends, we are now God's children, but it is not yet clear what we shall become. But we know that when Christ appears, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he really is.