Studies
on love (Part II)
In
the last issue we saw that love is the product of our walk by the new
nature i.e. it is produced as we put on and utilize all the things that
the Word of God says that we are and we can do. In that issue we also
examined some of what I Corinthians 13 says about love. Today, we will
continue with the consideration of some more passages of the Word of God
on the same topic, that will help us to appreciate the importance of
love better.
1. Love: the
new commandment
To start this second part
on love, we will go to the gospel of John. What we will read happened in
the night of the arrest of Jesus Christ. During that night, Jesus gave
many instructions to the disciples and a large portion of the gospel of
John is exactly devoted to it (John 13-17). Among the things that Jesus
told the disciples that night was also something that he characterised
as a new commandment. John 13:34 tells us:
John 13:34
"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as
I have loved you, that you also love one another."
The
new commandment that Jesus gave was to love one another. The great
importance that he gave to this commandment is showed by the fact that
he repeated it two more times the same night. John 15:12-17 tells us:
John 15:12-17
"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"
Jesus
Christ commands us to love one another, and in fact to love one another
as much as he loved us. But how much he loved us? Ephesians 5:2 tells
us:
Ephesians 5:2
"And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us AND [as a result of
his love] given himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a
sweet smelling aroma."
Jesus
Christ loved us so much that he gave his life for us. It is with such
kind of love that he also commands us to love one another. "Love
one another AS I have loved you", he said. He characterised love
for one another as a COMMAND, as something that should necessarily be
done. I Peter 1:22 also tells us:
I Peter 1:22
"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the spirit in sincere love of the brethren, LOVE ONE ANOTHER FERVENTLY
WITH A PURE HEART"
Moreover: I Peter 4:8
"And ABOVE ALL THINGS HAVE FERVENT LOVE FOR ONE ANOTHER"
Above
all things we are to love one another. And in fact to love one another
fervently. So fervently as Jesus loved us.
2. Love: the
fulfillment of the law
In John 13:34 we saw that
Jesus characterized love for one another as a new commandment. This may
have made some of us to wonder why he characterized it as such. Was it
because it was commanded for first time? Obviously not for it is
contained in the book of Leviticus that was written hundreds of years
earlier. Really, Leviticus 19:18 tells us:
Leviticus 19:18
"you shall love your neighbor as yourself"
Literally
speaking therefore, the commandment that Jesus gave was not a new
commandment. Why therefore he called it new? The simple reason is that
though love was a commandment of the law, till then it was not possible
to be kept. Really, love being a product of the new nature, it needs the
new nature to be produced, and till that day, the new nature was not
available. Thus though people were commanded to love one another they
couldn't actually keep this commandment. However, from the day of
Pentecost onwards people can freely receive the new nature by confessing
with their mouth the Lord Jesus and believing in their heart that God
raised him from the dead, and thus they can love. That's why Jesus
called love for one another a new commandment. It was not new because it
was commanded for first time but because soon (from the day of
Pentecost) it would become possible to be kept.
In fact, the commandment to love one
another was not the only commandment of the law that it was impossible
to be kept, because people lacked the new nature. Romans 8:3
characterise the whole law as "weak through the flesh [the old
nature]". The problem with the law was not that it was bad. In
contrast, Romans 6:12 tells us that it was "holy and just and
good". However, there was no way to be kept and the reason was that
the new nature was not available. As Romans 6:4 says: "the law is
spiritual" but its subjects were "carnal, under sin".
Thus people couldn't keep the law. However, from the day that the new
nature was made available, one can love and by this he automatically
fulfills all the law. Indeed, Romans 13:8-10 tells us:
Romans 13:8-10
"Owe no one anything, except to love one another, FOR HE WHO LOVES
ANOTHER HAS FULFILLED THE LAW. For the commandments, "You
shall not commit adultery," "You shall not murder," You
shall not steal," You shall not bear false witness," You shall
not covet," and if there is any other commandment are ALL summed
up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbour as
yourself" Love does not harm to a neighbour; therefore love
is the fulfillment of the law."
Also: Galatians 5:13-14
"For you brethren, have been called to liberty; only do not use
liberty as an opportunity, but through love serve one another. FOR ALL
THE LAW IS FULFILLED IN ONE WORD, EVEN IN THIS: "YOU SHALL LOVE
YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF"
Jesus
Christ by his sacrifice, ended the administration of the law, opening at
the same time a new administration, the administration of grace1.
However, many of the things that the law said continue to be valid in
the present administration as well. For example, the commandments that
we should not steal or commit adultery, or murder, or lie are also
commandments of our administration2.
Now, according to the above passage to fulfill any commandment of the
law, which may also be commandment of our administration, what is needed
is nothing else but LOVE. As the passage says: LOVE is the fulfillment
of the law and all the commandments are all summed up in the commandment
to love one another as ourselves. We don't have to focus our minds on a
list of do and don'ts like, "I should not steal, I should not
murder, I should not commit adultery, I should not lie etc...." but
we love and all these are not going to happen. For when we love we will
neither lie, nor steal, nor murder etc. We don't start pointing out the
negative (I should not do...) but we love and the negative will be
eliminated. As Galatians 5:16 says: "Walk by the spirit [the new
nature] and [as a result] you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh
[the old nature]". When you walk in love, you walk by the spirit,
the new nature, and as a result you will not fulfill the lust of the old
nature i.e. you will not steal, murder, commit adultery or do anything
else that is a product of this nature.
3. Love:
necessary to know God
Another passage that
shows us the importance and the necessity of love is I John 4:7-8. There
it says:
I John 4:7-8
"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"
As
the passage says: "he who does not love does not know God".
Truly, God gave us the Scripture to know Him since there He reveals
Himself. Nevertheless, as it is clear this cannot be done by head
knowledge alone. It also needs LOVE. Even if someone has full head
knowledge of the Scripture, he will not know God if this knowledge is
not accompanied with love. As I Corinthians 13:1-3 tells us:
I Corinthians 13:1-3
"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not
love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I
have prophecy, and understand [Greek: "know"] all mysteries
and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove
mountains, but 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,
but have not love, it profits me nothing."
This
passage does not say that prophecy, the great faith, the speaking in
tongues etc. are bad or that the speaking in tongues and the other
operations of the spirit (see I Corinthians 12:8-10) are not in
existence now and should not be done. What the passage says is that if I
do all these without love I'm nothing. It doesn't profit. Even if I have
rightly divided all the Bible and I'm a monster of knowledge, a
"concordance", I'm nothing if I don't love. Even if I spent
all my life and money for God, I'm nothing, if I don't love. Even if I
have given my body to be burned, i.e. even if I'm so much committed to
God, I'm nothing if I don't love. For if I don't love I'm still ignorant
of God, who is love. People that know less and love more will know God
better than I. As I Corinthians 8:1-3 says:
I Corinthians 8:1-3
"Now concerning things offered to idols: we know that we all have
knowledge. Knowledge puffs up, but loves edifies. And if
anyone thinks that he knows anything, he knows nothing yet as he ought
to know. But if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him."
The
knowledge is not bad. However, when it is not accompanied with love, it
will not result to a knowledge of God but rather to a puffing up.
Moreover, the same passage in combination with I John 4:20-21 makes
clear that the argument goes also the other way round i.e. if we don't
love one another not only we will not know God but also we will not be
known by Him.
I Corinthians 8:3
"if anyone loves God, this one is known by Him"
I John 4:20-21
"If someone says, "I love God," and hates his brother, he
is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen,
how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have
from him: that he who loves God must love his
brother also"
We
cannot say that we love God when we don't love one another. In other
words, love for one another is a prerequisite to love God. Since now
love towards God is a prerequisite to be known by Him and since it first
requires love for one another we can easily conclude that love for one
another is a prerequisite to be known by God. Therefore, what does it
take both to know and to be known by God? The answer is LOVE.
4. Love: not
by words
We saw previously that
Jesus Christ loved us, and he showed it by giving himself for us. From
this it is evident that love takes action, giving. You may give the
Word, you may give encouragement, part of your time, money etc. but the
thing is that love is ready to give and to really support when it is
needed. I John 3:16-17 tells us:
I John 3:16-17
"By this we know love, because he laid down his life for us. And we
also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoever
has this world's goods, and sees his brother in need, and shuts up his
bowels of compassion from him, how does the love of God abide in
him?"
(NKJV-KJV)
Jesus
showed His love for us BY GIVING his life for us. We know by this that
he loves us. Similarly we should also love one another and show our love
by the corresponding acts when it is needed. For really for what love we
could speak if we see a fellow member of the body, a brother or sister
in Christ, to be in need and we are indifferent, when we know that we
can help? Obviously this does not constitute love. Love is not a
theoretic concept but something that has to be manifested in acts. As I
John 3:18 says:
I John 3:18
"My little children, let us not love in word or in a tongue, but in
deed and in truth."
Our
love is not to be in words but in deed and in truth. It is not to be in
theory but in practice. It is not to be like in James 2:15-16:
James 2:15-16
"If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and
one of you says to them, "Depart in peace, be warmed and
filled," but you do not give to them the things which are needed
for the body, what does it profit?"
It
is so easy to love in words, to know all the "theory" about
love. To say "God bless you." No it is not bad. But it has to
be accompanied by the necessary actions when it is needed. As Galatians
5:13 tells us we ought to SERVE one another through love. We are not to
be indifferent to one another, and run away when a fellow member of the
body needs our support.
Having said all these, some people
may ask, how can we know whether someone genuinely needs our support,
and how can we know whether someone whose needs we don't know exactly or
at all, needs us? The answer is through God's spirit. God has put His
spirit in us, so that He can tell us what to do, if to do, when to do,
how to do. As Philippians 2:13 says:
Philippians 2:13
"for it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good
pleasure"
God
has put His spirit in us and works through it. We have therefore to
listen to the promptings of God's spirit and to leave it to work in us.
Love does not mean I do whatever comes in my head, because I may
esteem it as beneficial. What love means is that I'm ready, available,
to do through love whatever the spirit of God in me prompts me to do,
for whoever he prompts me. Thus, I don't give to the whoever comes in my
way and asks money, for he may not actually need it. Instead I give to
that man or for that purpose that God tells me. God knows who has a
genuine need and who hasn't. He knows who needs support and who doesn't.
He knows how to utilise our love with the best way for His interests.
5. Love: it
should be honest
Though from the previous
part and generally from the discussion that we have done by now it
should already be clear that love cannot be but only honest, based on a
genuine interest and concern for the fellow members of the body, let's
also go to Romans 12:9 to see it better. There we read:
Romans 12:9
"Let love be without hypocrisy"
The
phrase "without hypocrisy" is one word in the Greek: the
adjective "anupokritos" that is composed of the word
"an" a prefix that gives to a word a negative meaning,
and the noun "hupokrisia" from which the English derive
the word "hypocrisy". "hypocrisia"
means to pretend to have a quality that you don't actually have or to be
something that you aren't. For example, II Corinthians 11:13-15 tells us
that Satan "TRANSFORMS himself into an angel of light" and his
servants "TRANSFORM themselves into the ministers of
righteousness". This transformation of Satan and his servants to
something that they aren't is called hypocrisy3.
Returning now to Romans 12:9, it
asks us to not pretend that we love having probably in mind something
else, but to honestly love. Only honest love is real love. The same is
also said in I Peter 1:22
I Peter 1:22
"Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through
the spirit in SINCERE [anupokritos] LOVE of the brethren, love one
another fervently WITH A PURE HEART"
Our
love is to come from a pure heart, to be sincere and true. To be not in
word but in truth and in deed. To be fervent.
May therefore we grow in our love
towards one another and in our appreciation that we all belong to one
and the same body, the body of Christ, and to one and the same family,
the family of God and we are brothers to each other. May we put love
above everything else for love "is the bond of perfection" (Collosians
3:14). May, we overlook the weaknesses that each one of us has and love
one another out of a pure heart, honestly and without hypocrisy.
Tassos Kioulachoglou
Footnotes
1. For more on this see: The
Journal of Biblical Accuracy, Vol.1, Iss.8, August 1996 (press
here to return where you stopped).
2. See for example
Galatians 5:19-23 Colossians 3:5-14 and Ephesians 4:17-32 (press
here to return where you stopped).
3. A classical cast of
people that Jesus characterized as hypocrites were the scribes and the
Pharisees. See Matthew 23:13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29 (press
here to return where you stopped).
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