Biblical Love
What is Biblical love?
part 2
Most, especially Christians, like to claim that they are loving individuals. If, however, you ask people to define what they mean by love you will get responses that vary from “love is dying for a friend” to “love is a warm puppy.” It is understandable that the world would be confused about what constitutes love but should Christians be? Is there a standard to which all claims regarding love can be verified? Not to put too fine an edge on my answer but, yes, absolutely there is a standard. If someone, especially a Christian, wants to claim that he is truly a loving person, there are certain benchmarks that must be met. Let’s take a look at what the Bible lays out as the tell-tale signs of a loving heart.
1. For Love to be Biblical it must be indiscriminate.
part 2
Most, especially Christians, like to claim that they are loving individuals. If, however, you ask people to define what they mean by love you will get responses that vary from “love is dying for a friend” to “love is a warm puppy.” It is understandable that the world would be confused about what constitutes love but should Christians be? Is there a standard to which all claims regarding love can be verified? Not to put too fine an edge on my answer but, yes, absolutely there is a standard. If someone, especially a Christian, wants to claim that he is truly a loving person, there are certain benchmarks that must be met. Let’s take a look at what the Bible lays out as the tell-tale signs of a loving heart.
1. For Love to be Biblical it must be indiscriminate.
“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.’ “But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? “And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect. (Matthew 5:43-47)
A love that is pure, or perfect, is a love that is like God’s love, it must love its enemies. The validation of love occurs when it truly loves those who are categorized as its enemies. It is interesting to note that it is only in this life that we will be able to “prove” our love in this way. When we arrive in heaven there will be no enemies to love, only those who love us in return. When we are in eternity we will be in God’s presence surrounded by love, with no opportunity to manifest the depth of our love by loving our enemies face to face. Thinking about this puts a new perspective on loving our enemies now doesn’t it? Someone who claims to love and yet hates his enemies does not love with a biblical love. Such love is at best a self-serving emotion and action.
2. Biblical love is an evidence of a deeper relationship.
True love, a love that can love even its enemies, is only possible when there is a deeper relationship. A person’s resolve to love an enemy comes from a deeper love which wants to please the one who loves him, namely God. A person who loves Biblically knows that he was first loved by God when he was an enemy of God.
"We love, because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19, NASB)
“Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was manifested in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so 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 propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has beheld God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us." (1 John 4:7-12, NASB emphasis mine)
"“But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. “For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? “And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? “Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." (Matthew 5:44-48, NASB emphasis mine)
When we love as God does, when we love the unlovable, we give evidence that we are in fact God’s children and that we have passed from death to life.
3. Biblical love is mandatory.
For this reason true love, loves because it is compelled to do so it really is no longer an option. When God loved us, he shed the love of Christ abroad in our heart.
"and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us." (Romans 5:5, NASB)
"For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf." (2 Corinthians 5:14-15, NASB)
Next time… How does Biblical love manifest itself in the Body of Christ?
New American Standard Bible . 1986; La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation.
