love part 1

Bible Study Love Love in the Bible, as in our everyday usage, can be directed from person to person or from a person to things. When directed toward things, love means enjoying or taking pleasure in those things. Love towards persons is more complex. As with things, loving persons may mean simply enjoying them and taking pleasure in their personalities, looks, achievements, etc. But there is another aspect of interpersonal love that is very important in the Bible. There is the aspect of love for persons who are not attractive or virtuous or productive. In this case, love is not a delight in what a person is, but a deeply felt commitment to helping him be what he ought to be. As we will see, the love for things and both dimensions of the love for persons are richly illustrated in the Bible Love in the Old Testament Jesus said that the greatest commandment in the Old Testament was, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind” (Matthew 22:36ff; Deuteronomy 6:5). The second commandment was, “Love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39; Leviticus 19:18). Then he said, “On these two commandments hang all the law and prophets” (Matthew 22:40). This must mean that if a person understood and obeyed these two commandments, he would understand and fulfill what the whole Old Testament was trying to teach. Everything in the Old Testament, when properly understood, aims basically to transform men and women into people who fervently love God and their neighbor. God’s Love above all in the Old Testament, God’s love for his own glory involves him in an eternal commitment to the people of Israel. The reason this is so is that an essential aspect of God’s glory is his sovereign freedom in choosing to bless the undeserving. Having freely chosen to establish a covenant with Israel, God glorifies himself in maintaining a loving commitment to this people. The relationship between God’s love and his election of Israel is seen in the following texts.At other times, God’s love to his people is likened to a father for a son or a mother to her child: “I will make them walk by brooks of water, in a straight path in which they shall not stumble; for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my first-born” (Jeremiah 31:9, 20). “Can a woman forget her suckling child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you” (Isaiah 49:15; 66:13).In these texts, God’s love is not directed equally toward all. In its full saving effect, the love of God is enjoyed only by “those who hope in his steadfast love.” This does not mean that God’s love is no longer free and unmerited. For on the one hand, the very disposition to fear ) and on the other hand, the appeal of the saint who hopes in God is not to his own merit, but to God’s faithfulness to the lowly who have no strength and can only trust in mercy (Psalm 143:2, 8, 11). Therefore, as in the New Testament (John 14:21, 23; 16:27), the full enjoyment of God’s love is conditional upon an attitude appropriate for receiving it, namely, a humble reliance upon God’s mercy: “Trust in the Lord and he will act” (Psalm 37:5). Man’s Love for Man If love among men is to reflect God’s love, it will have to include the love of enemies, at least to some degree. For God’s love to Israel was free, unmerited and slow to anger, forgiving many sins that created enmity between him and his people (Exodus 34:6, 7). And his mercy extended beyond the bounds of Israel (Genesis 12:2, 3; 18:18; Jonah 4:2). Therefore, we find instructions to love the enemy. “If you meet your enemy’s ox or ass going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the ass of one who hates you lying under its burden, you shall not leave him with it, you shall help him lift it up” (Exodus 23:4, 5). “Do not rejoice when your enemy falls” (Proverbs 24:17). “If your enemy is hungry, give him bread to eat” (Proverbs 25:21). See also Proverbs 24:29; 1 Kings 3:10; Job 31:29, 30; 2 Kings 6:21-23. Besides these more religious dimensions of love, the Old Testament is rich with illustrations and instructions for love between father and son (Genesis 22:2; 37:3; Proverbs 13:24), mother and son (Genesis 25:28), wife and husband (Judges 14:16; Ecclesiastes 9:9; Genesis 24:67; 29:18, 30, 32; Proverbs 5:19), lovers (1 Samuel 18:20; 2 Samuel 13:1), slaves and masters (Exodus 21:5; Deuteronomy 15:16), the king and his subjects (1 Samuel 18:22), a people and their hero (1 Samuel 18:28), friends (1 Samuel 18:1; 20:17; Proverbs 17:17; 27:6), daughter-in-law and mother-in-law (Ruth 4:15). Especially worthy of note is the Song of Solomon, which expresses the wholesome delight in the sexual fulfillment of love between a man and a woman. Love in the New Testament What makes the New Testament new is the appearance of the Son of God on the scene of human history. In Jesus Christ we see as never before a revelation of God. As he said, “If you have seen me, you have seen the Father” (John 14:9; cf. Colossians 2:9; Hebrews 1:3). For in a real sense, Jesus was God. (John 1:1; 20:28). But the coming of Christ not only brings about the revelation of God. By his death and resurrection Christ also brings about the salvation of men (Romans 5:6-11). This salvation includes forgiveness of sins (Ephesians 1:7), access to God (Ephesians 2:18), the hope of eternal life (John 3:16), and a new heart which is inclined to do good deeds (Ephesians 2:10; Titus 2:14). Therefore, when dealing with love, we must try to relate everything to Jesus Christ and his life, death and resurrection. In the life and death of Christ we see in a new way what God’s love is and what man’s love for God and for others should be. And through faith, the Spirit of Christ, living in us enables us to follow his example. This love within the Trinity itself is important for Christians for two reasons: First, the costly beauty of the incarnation and death of Christ cannot be understood without it. Second, it is the very love of the Father for the Son which the Father pours into the hearts of believers (John 17:26). The ultimate hope of the Christian is to see the glory of God in Christ (John 17:5), to be with him (John 14:24) and to delight in him as much as his Father does (John 17:26) Man’s Love for Things On the one hand, the New Testament teaches that the things God has created are good and should be enjoyed with thanksgiving (1 Timothy 4:3; 6:17). But on the other hand, it warns against loving them in such a way that our affections are drawn away from God. The great danger is that the love of money (Matthew 6:24; Luke 16:14; 1 Timothy 6:10; 2 Timothy 3:2; 2 Peter 2:15) and earthly pleasures (2 Timothy 3:4) and human acclaim (Matthew 6:5; 23:6; Luke 11:43; 3 John 9) will steal our hearts from God and make us insensitive to his higher purposes for us. John says, “If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 2:15-17). And James echoes this: “Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity toward God” (James 4:4; cf. 2 Timothy 4:10)? The “world” is not any particular class of objects or people. It is anything which lays a claim on our affections to be loved other than for Jesus’ sake. Saint Augustine offered a prayer that catches the New Testament spirit on this issue: “He loves thee too little who loves anything together with thee which he loves not for thy sake