What is Love?

I originally wrote this article a couple of years ago. Although it is such an important subject, especially for Christians, I hesitate to post it again. Why? It is because the more I read about love in the New Testament, the more I realize that I do not have it down pat in my own life. No matter how I try to love others in the biblical format, I just do not love the way Jesus loves us. And that is what He is asking from us. This is something I am working hard on. I have failed to love others over the years. Over and over, Jesus tells us that we are to love one another. There is not enough room on this page to fully cover the subject. Do the research and see how many times the word love appears in the Bible.

Without God, there would not be love. The Bible has a lot to tell us about love and its relationship with God. Love actually comes from God. God is love. 1 John 4:7-12 says, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent His only Son into the world, so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we have loved God that He has loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God: if we love one another, God abides in us and His love is perfected in us." (ESV). That makes it clear that God is love. If we love God then we must also love others.

How much does God love us? As John 3:16 says, "For God so loved the world. that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." That is powerful love. We did not love Him first, but He loves us. We did not deserve that love. God does not love us because we are beautiful, smart, artistic, or talented.

The Apostle John has a lot to say about love. Some people even call him the love apostle. In 1 John 4:13-20, he states, "By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because he has given us His Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent His Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as He is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because He first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him; whoever loves God must love his brother."

Jesus also had a lot to say about love. Remember to the Jews in Jesus' day the Law and the Commandments were vital to their worship of God. In Matthew 22, when the lawyer asked Jesus which of the commandments was the greatest in the Law, Jesus replied in verses 37-40, "And He said to him, 'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.'" The Ten Commandments as we know them have now been condensed into two commandments and there are both about love. First we are to love God and then we are to love others. Not only are we to love them but we are to love them as you love yourself.  Interestingly, this is not a suggestion or request for us. It is a commandment!

This above tells us where love comes from (from God) but still does not tell us what love is exactly. Did the Bible give us a guideline how we are to love our neighbor as ourselves? The answer is yes. God's standard about love can be found in 1 Corinthians 13. Let me warn you ahead of time that God's style of love is not easy. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a states, "Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends." I don't know about you but those are pretty tough standards to keep even with those who love you most. More than that though, is that God expects us to love pour neighbors in the same manner. Talk about something hard to do. One more thing to think about - in Matthew 5:44, Jesus says, "But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you."

Let's all admit that in our nature, this type is impossible. This type of love can only come from God. Only God can place this type of love within us. We just are not capable of producing this type of love without God. This even means we must love the unlovable. We must love those who hate us, revile us, call us names, harm us, etc. This also means that you have to love your exes, abusive partners, and whoever else is impossible to love. I suspect that we all have failed to love others as God expects to. We need to ask God to help us learn to love others like He expects us to love them.