What is Love?
Love is the sum of all virtues as we see in Colossians3:14 God is described in His Word as being Love (I John 4:8) Those that are conformed to His image are made like Him regarding His character. Christ said that all will know His followers by how they Love each other – as He has Loved them. (John 13:35) This one key evidence far exceeds any mere doctrinal matter as living out the faith is more important than details of theory. The key principle of understanding God’s Word is this: freedom & responsibility are bound together in a balanced relationship based on Love; as such is the warp and weave of His Truth. Biblical balance is based on acknowledging both sides of this core Truth - His Love is freely given to us - and the gift includes the responsibility to respond to His Love. Grave error happens when either freedom or responsibility are given too much weight over the other. Both are counter-balancing concepts that MUST be kept in perspective.
As Steve Camp spells out clearly in his song “Love’s not a felling”, it is not “…something that we can lose or throw away- Lord give us the courage to live it everyday.” Love engenders certain emotions- but the affections that follow are the product of caring for someone’s well being above one’s own interests. People love (I’m using the term very loosely here) John 3:16. While this verse does clearly tell us of God’s love for us – far too many have abused this cozy little verse as the end all and be all of salvation. Keith Green lamented how people often heard the same trite handful of Bible passages, grotesquely lacking the depth, width and height of what God has to say to us in His Word. In that context he mentioned John 3:16 and asked “what about FIRST John 3:16?” (emphasis added) “This is how we know what Love is that Christ died for us- so we should also lay down our lives for each other.”
Thus we see that Love brings pain- Christ’s passion on the cross was an incomprehensible demonstration of His Love for us and, likewise, His abject disgust for sin. Actually, the word passion is from the Latin word for “pain”. And He gives us the joy to withstand the weight of the pain that we all experience from living out His Love in this sin polluted world.
Love is the absolute standard by which all will be judged. When asked “what is the Greatest Commandment?” Christ replied: “you shall Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind with all your soul and all your strength, and the second is like it – you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Matthew 19:19, 22:37-39, Mark 12:29-30 & Luke 10:27 Often people mistake to think that for believers, the Greatest Commandment is the absolute standard – I too held this view – until a gentleman pointed out to me that Christ actually raised the standard – AS I HAVE LOVED YOU - so shall you Love one another. And Christ further shows that His Love vastly exceeds human comprehension in that He died for His enemies. We see this in Matthew 5:44 as well as Romans 5:8.
Thus we see that in Love the power to be made children of God is made good. “Love your enemies that you may BE sons of your Father in heaven” referenced above. People think that we are saved by faith – and indeed we are – but not by faith alone –nor by “works” rather by faith that expresses itself through Love as we see in Galatians 5:6 see also I John 3:18.