BIBLICAL NEW TESTAMENT READINGS FOR A WEDDING CEREMONY: EXAMPLES
(BY A GUEST)
1. COLOSSIANS 3:12-14
Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, lowliness, meekness, and patience, forbearing one another, and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you must also forgive. And above all these put on love, which binds everything together in perfect harmony.
(TRADITIONAL ROMANTIC - BY A GUEST)
2. 1 CORINTHIANS 13
Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal.
And though I have the gift of prophecy, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith so that I could move mountains, and have not love, I am nothing.
And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing.
Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up,
Doth not behave itself unseemly; seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil;
Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth;
Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.
Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away.
For we know in part, and we prophecy in part.
But when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away.
When I was a child I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.
For now we see through a glass darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then I shall know even as also I am known.
And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three, but the greatest of these is love.
(MODERN ROMANTIC - BY A GUEST)
3. 1 CORINTHIANS 13 (modern)
If I have the gift of prophecy, and can fathom all mysteries and knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all that I possess to the poor, and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not selfish. It is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil, but rejoices with the truth. Love protects all things, has faith in all things, hopes for all things, endures all things.
The gifts of prophecy will in time fail; and knowledge too will vanish away. But love does not come to an end. Know you, then, that there are three things that last: Faith, Hope and Love. And the greatest of these is Love. [reader repeats]: And the greatest of these is Love.
(BY A GUEST)
4. MATTHEW 19:3-6
Some Pharisees came up to him and said, to test him, "May a man divorce his wife for any reason whatever? He replied, "Have you not read that at the beginning the Creator made them male and female and declared, 'For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife, and the two shall become as one'? Thus they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore, let no man separate what God has joined."
(BY A GUEST)
5. MATTHEW 22:35-40
Then one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question, testing him, and saying, "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?" Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
(BY A GUEST)
6. MARK 10:6-9
"But from the beginning of the creation, God 'made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh' ; so then they are no longer two, but one flesh. Therefore, what God has joined together, let not man separate."
(BY A GUEST)
7. JOHN 2:1-11
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and his disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to him, "They have no wine." Jesus said to her, "Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come." His mother said to the servants, "Whatever he says to you, do it." Now there were set there six waterpots of stone, according to the manner of purification of the Jews, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, "Fill the waterpots with water." And they filled them up to the brim. And he said to them, "Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast." And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that was made wine, and did not know where it came from (but the servants who had drawn the water knew), the master of the feast called the bridegroom. And he said to him, "Every man at the beginning sets out the good wine, and when the guests have well drunk, then the inferior. You have kept the good wine until now!" This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested glory; and his disciples believed in Him.
(BY A GUEST)
8. JOHN 15:9-17
As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.
(BY A GUEST)
9. EPHESIANS 4:31-5:2
Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling aroma.
(BY A GUEST)
10. EPHESIANS 5:25,28
Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her...
So husbands ought to love their own wives as their own bodies; he who loves his wife loves himself.
(BY A GUEST)
11. COLOSSIANS 3:12-17
Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do. But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.
(BY A GUEST)
12. 1 JOHN 4:7-16
Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the compensation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and his love has been perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in Him, and He in us, because he has given us of His spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent the Son as Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
BIBLICAL READINGS: FROM AROUND THE WEB