God is love (1 John 4:16). This is primary. Because He is love, He loves. God’s action comes out of His character. His nature is love; His action is love.
The most famous text of His action is in the third chapter of the Gospel of John: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believers in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The whole chapter is good—in fact, the whole book is great.
There is another great paragraph in the Bible that expresses this loving action of God. It is found in the fifth chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. This is another good chapter in another great book. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Not only is love the character of God and the action of God: it is the character of the Christian and the action of the Christian. God has more than one characteristic, as does the Christian, but love is the basic means of identifying both God and His followers. There are “gods” in this world whose followers do not claim that their “god” loves. They laugh when that is suggested.
In the third and fourth chapters of 1 John, there are a few sentences that make love a required characteristic of the Christian. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” “We love because He first loved us.” “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Back in the Gospel of John chapter 13, we have a statement from Jesus that confirms that love is an evidence of following Him. “A new commandment I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are My disciples if you love one another.”
Today, love does not have a clear definition. Because it is a good word, it is used for everything from sex (free love) to taste (“I love ice cream.”). If we are going to use the word in a biblical sense (as we have been doing), then we need to seek a biblical definition. This definition will give the word the precision that is necessary.
You are probably familiar with 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter that defines love. “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 self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
With this as a start, we can begin to identify followers of God without the doubtful benefit of denominational labels.
The most famous text of His action is in the third chapter of the Gospel of John: “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believers in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The whole chapter is good—in fact, the whole book is great.
There is another great paragraph in the Bible that expresses this loving action of God. It is found in the fifth chapter of the Apostle Paul’s letter to the Romans. This is another good chapter in another great book. “You see, at just the right time, when we were still powerless, Christ died for the ungodly. Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Not only is love the character of God and the action of God: it is the character of the Christian and the action of the Christian. God has more than one characteristic, as does the Christian, but love is the basic means of identifying both God and His followers. There are “gods” in this world whose followers do not claim that their “god” loves. They laugh when that is suggested.
In the third and fourth chapters of 1 John, there are a few sentences that make love a required characteristic of the Christian. “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” “We love because He first loved us.” “If anyone says, ‘I love God’ yet hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. And He has given us this command: whoever loves God must also love his brother.”
Back in the Gospel of John chapter 13, we have a statement from Jesus that confirms that love is an evidence of following Him. “A new commandment I give you: love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. All men will know that you are My disciples if you love one another.”
Today, love does not have a clear definition. Because it is a good word, it is used for everything from sex (free love) to taste (“I love ice cream.”). If we are going to use the word in a biblical sense (as we have been doing), then we need to seek a biblical definition. This definition will give the word the precision that is necessary.
You are probably familiar with 1 Corinthians 13, the chapter that defines love. “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 self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”
With this as a start, we can begin to identify followers of God without the doubtful benefit of denominational labels.
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