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What is “LOVE” ~
and (why) do we Love ?
The command to love others is based on how GOD has loved us.
Since [ believers ] have been the recipients of love, they must love.
Since CHRIST has laid down his life for us, we must be willing
to lay down our lives for our brothers ( 1 John 3:16 ).
GOD is love and has demonstrated that love in everything that HE does.
Paul compares faith, hope, and love, and concludes that "the greatest of these is love"
( 1 Cor 13:13 ).
"GOD Is Love." Agape [ajgavph], the love theme of the Bible, can only be defined by the nature of GOD.
John affirms that "GOD is love" ( 1 John 4:8 ).
{ AGAPE` ~ GOD'S divine Love. Selfless, Sacrificial and Unconditional love. }
GOD does not merely love; HE is love.
Everything that GOD does flows from HIS love.
John emphasizes repeatedly that GOD the FATHER loves the SON
( John 5:20 ; John 17:23 John 17:26 )
and that the SON loves the FATHER ( John 14:31 ).
Because the FATHER loves the SON, HE made HIS will known to him.
JESUS in turn demonstrated HIS love to the FATHER through HIS submission and obedience.
The theme of the entire Bible is the self-revelation of the GOD of love.
In the garden of Eden, GOD commanded that "you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for when you eat of it you will surely die" ( Gen 2:17 ).
We are not prepared, then, when GOD (looks) for Adam after his sin,
calling out --
"Where are you?"
GOD [seeks] Adam, not to put him to death,
but to re-establish a relationship with him.
GOD, will not allow sin to stand between HIM and HIS creature.
HE personally bridges the gap.
( Here is our first hint of a great redemption…)
( GOD hates sin.) GOD hates sin because it is the very antithesis of HIS nature.
The psalmist describes GOD’S hatred of sin this way: “For You are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness; no evil dwells with You” (Psalm 5:4).
GOD hates sin because HE is holy;
holiness is the most exalted of all HIS attributes (Isaiah 6:3; Revelation 6:8).
HIS holiness totally saturates HIS being.
HIS holiness epitomizes HIS moral perfection and HIS absolute freedom
from blemish of any kind (Psalm 89:35; 92:15; Romans 9:14).
Many people in JESUS' day believed that a neighbor was a fellow Israelite.
When asked to define "neighbor, " however, JESUS cited the parable of the good Samaritan a person who knowingly crossed traditional boundaries to help a wounded Jew
( Luke 10:29-37 ). A neighbor is anyone who is in need.
JESUS also told his disciples that a "neighbor" might even be someone who hates them, curses them, or mistreats them.
Yet they must love even enemies ( Luke 6:27-36 ) as a witness and a testimony. Genesis 22 presents a classic struggle: the conflicting pulls of love.
Abraham love’s Isaac, the son of his old age, the child of GOD’S promise.
But GOD tests his love. For the sake of the love of GOD,
Abraham is willing to sacrifice the son he loves.
His response is to a greater love.
Jesus (describes) this conflict as hating father and mother in order to
love and follow GOD ( Luke 14:26 ). This (certainly) is not a 'suggestion' to 'hate' Mother/Father, rather, it illustrates that we must be willing to love GOD and JESUS, over and above our own selves, lives and parents.
Mark 7:10
For Moses said, Honour thy father and thy mother; and, Whoso curseth father or mother, let him die the death:
The Old Testament charge was to "love your neighbor as yourself" ( Lev 19:18 ).
But JESUS gave his disciples a new command with a radically different motive:
"Love each other as I have loved you" ( John 15:12 ).
Paul affirms that "the entire law is summed up in a single command:
Love your neighbor as yourself'" ( Gal 5:14 ).
James sees the command to love one another as a "royal law" ( 2:8 ).
JESUS [ is ] our Love !!!
Romans 5:8
“But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners,
Christ died for us.” 1 John Chapter 4
7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.
8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
9 In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.
10 Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins.
11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.
12 No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.
As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.
10If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.
11These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.
12This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.
13Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.
17These things I command you, that ye love one another.
Psalms 42:8
“Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime,
and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.” He First Loved Us -
The reason we will love others best when we love GOD most is that love in its truest, purest form only comes from GOD, because GOD is love (1 John 4:7–8).
( Love is a fundamental part of HIS nature. )
We are only able to love HIM or anyone else because HE first loved us (1 John 4:19).
We are only able to give freely to others what we have received freely from HIM.