"Beloved, let us love one
another:for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. 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. Herein is love, not that we
loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for
our sins" (1 John 4:7-10).
First among the fruit of the
Spirit listed in Galatians 5 is love. A definition of love is not given
in Scripture, and any definitions given in secular dictionaries will be found
to be very inadequate. But while we may not be able adequately to define love,
Scripture gives us some of the characteristics and manifestations of love.
First of all, the text quoted above indicates that "love is of God"
and "God is love." This is the divine nature, the very nature of God.
And this love has been manifested toward us in God’s sending His only begotten
Son into the world to be the propitiation for our sins. Thus this love has a
self-sacrificial quality in it. God, in His love, gave His Son; Christ, in His
love, gave Himself. "Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for
us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling savor" (Eph.
5:2). "Christ also loved the Church, and gave Himself for it" (Eph.
5:25).
This love is not dependent on
any quality or response found in the object of the love. This love is above all
circumstances. It is far different from the "love" so manifest in
this world which ebbs and flows according to the behavior of the object loved.
As another has expressed it:"The love’ here has no source in the
creature; it ‘is of God’; and if God were not the spring and power, not a soul
could be saved!, nor a saint walk in His love. For love knows how to bring out
all the resources of grace where man lies in utter ruin. See it in Christ who
died for our sins, and lives to be Advocate with the Father. What love in both
ways!"
This same love is part of the
new nature given to all who are born of God. Thus we are exhorted to "love
one another." Again, let us emphasize, this love of which we speak is
independent of the love of others toward us. Remember the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ, "If ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not
even the publicans the same?" (Matt. 5:46). Again quoting another:
"The great principle laid down here is that after we have been born of God
and are partakers of the divine nature, we will not wait for people to love us,
to behave themselves in a way satisfactory to us, but however they behave
themselves we will go on loving them just the same. That is divine love manifested
through the new nature.”
Let us now consider some of the
specific characteristics of love. For this we turn to the ‘love" chapter,
1 Corinthians 13. (In quoting from this chapter we will read "love"
in place of the word "charity.")
"Though I speak with the
tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as sounding brass,
or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand
all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could
remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing." The greatest spiritual
gifts are worth nothing if manifested apart from love. If I am displaying my
gift in a way to gain for myself the glory and acclaim of men, there is no love
in it, only selfishness. Love would lead me to use my gift to help others
achieve God’s highest purposes and blessings for them, whatever the cost to me.
"And though I bestow all my
goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not
love, it profiteth me nothing." You may ask, "But how could anyone do
these things apart from love?" The answer is that one might do such things
out of selfishness, expecting something in return, such as the praise of men,
the favor or mercy of God, or the like.
"Love suffereth long"
or literally, "Love has a long temper." It counts to ten (or a
thousand), so to speak. Love shows self-restraint in not hastily retaliating in
the face of provocation. "The Lord … is longsuffering to usward, not
willing that any should perish" (2 Peter 3:9).
"[Love] is kind."
"Be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven you" (Eph. 4:32). "He [God] is
kind unto the unthankful and to the evil" (Luke 6:35).
"Love envieth not" or
really, "Love is never jealous." Do we not often become unhappy when
others are preferred before us? This is selfishness. Love delights to see our
brother or neighbor or colleague honored and esteemed. "Rejoice with them
that do rejoice" (Rom. 12:15).
"Love vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up." Love does not boast, or brag, or in any way draw
attention to itself. Neither does it become puffed up in pride of self and its
abilities, accomplishments, genealogy, or offspring.
"[Love] doth not behave
itself unseemly," that is, in an unbecoming or shameful manner. And not
only must we guard against behaving in a shameful manner, but let us remember
that "it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of
them in secret" (Eph. 5:12).
"[Love] seeketh not her own."
What is it that occupies our attention and energies the most:seeking to
promote our own interests, reputation, wealth, or honor, or that of the Lord
and of our fellow men? "Look not every man on his own things, but every
man also on the things of others" (Phil. 2:4).
"[Love] is not easily
provoked" or stimulated to anger. We read, "Be ye angry, and sin
not" (Eph. 4:26). The next time you find yourself angry toward someone,
ask yourself whether your anger is solely due to that person’s sin against God,
or whether it may be because that person, in sinning, has offended or slighted you.
"[Love] thinketh no
evil," that is, "love does not reckon up or calculatingly consider
the evil done to it (something more than refraining from imputing
motives)" (W. E. Vine). This characteristic of love goes hand in hand with
the preceding characteristic. We may perhaps be able to control our anger, but
if we reckon up the evil done to us and hold in our hearts a grudge or some
bitterness and resentment toward the evildoer, this again is selfishness and
not love. We will never be able to help that person see and judge his sin as
long as we are in such a state ourselves. How easy it is to respond to the sin
or evil of another by committing a sin ourselves. This is sometimes the most
difficult type of sin for a Christian to recognize and judge since he is so
intent on concentrating on the sin committed by the other person.
"[Love] rejoiceth not in
iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth." How little do we realize the
perverse pleasure we sometimes receive from seeing our brother or our neighbor
fall into sin. It may be that a brother or a sister has once rebuked you for a
fault or a sin in your life. Unless you have taken this rebuke in a spirit of
love, there will be a tendency for you to gloat, inwardly at least, if you
learn of that other brother or sister committing a sin.
"[Love] beareth all things,
believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things."
"Beareth" here means "to hold out against something which
threatens," and "endureth" means "to bear up courageously
and patiently under a trial." Again, it is self-love, or the opposite of
the divine love of which we are speaking, which leads us to give in to the
enemy of our souls or to break down under a severe trial. Love believes and
hopes all things, that is, love is not prone to be suspicious, but rather
credits people with the best possible motives. How prone we are, on the
contrary, to make snap judgments of people and their actions. Sometimes it
almost seems as if we prefer to believe and hope the worst about people.
May our hearts be challenged as
we study from Scripture what "love"—that divine love which is God’s
very nature—is, and what its characteristics are. Does love characterize our
behavior toward God and toward our fellow men? Or are we living for self,
seeking our own things? "For all seek their own, not the things which are
Jesus Christ’s" (Phil. 2:21).