No. 759
“But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” (1 Cor. 13:13, ASV)
St. Paul’s great discourse on love (1 Cor. 13) stands next to our Lord’s marvelous Sermon on the Mount, teaching the same lesson, although from a different standpoint. The word “love” in this lesson is from the Greek agape, signifying love in its strongest, purest and most disinterested form. Mistranslated “charity” in the King James Version, agape means love that practices goodness for the love of it; such love is a refreshing and uplifting thing for all who come into contact with it.
Why is this character quality of love so prominently featured in the Word of God? It is because it is the first thing, the most important thing, the principal thing. As the Apostle states, “Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Rom. 13:10) Indeed, the sacrificial love described by Paul goes even beyond the requirements of the perfect law.
Love is not put first because God arbitrarily placed it so; it is not because He exercised His power of fiat and declared that it should be first. It is because no other character quality is as beautiful, as productive of happiness and joy, and as great a blessing upon those who receive it. Love is the very essence of God’s character – He is the personification of love and sympathy. “God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16) While God is all-wise, all-just, and all-powerful, we do not say that God is wisdom, or that God is justice, or that God is power, but that God is love. He uses His great wisdom, justice, and power only in fullest harmony with His glorious attribute of love.
THE PROOF OF GOD’S LOVE
Christians generally accept the Bible statement that God is love, and they also accept its teaching that He is wise, just, and powerful. Our conception of the great Creator of the universe acknowledges nothing short of perfection in each of these four attributes. But what visible proofs do we have of the attribute of love which the Bible ascribes to Him?
Creation everywhere speaks of God’s power and wisdom. We look at distant worlds and note the harmony and beauty of the entire arrangement; “Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language, where their voice is not heard.” (Psa. 19:2-3) The mountains and oceans of earth repeat the same story of God’s wisdom and power. If we look at the animal creation, from the insect with its wisdom and skill all the way up to man, even in his fallen condition, we are forced to admit the wisdom and power that made us.
As to His justice, God designed one very impressive illustration for us and for all His intelligent creatures, an illustration that will last for all eternity. This illustration is found in mankind itself. The aches and pains and sorrows associated with the great enemy death, which as a great monster swallows up the human race, speak to us of God’s justice, for we realize that we are sinners and recognize the justice of His law which declares the just wages of sin to be death. (Rom. 6:23)
We recognize that the law condemning us is holy, just and good and that our penalty is deserved, that the fault is with us, and that “just and right is he.” (Deut. 32:4) We wait for God’s favor, hoping for forgiveness, hoping that He will excuse our sin and receive us back into fellowship. We see that God’s justice was so great, so perfect, and so unalterable, that even He could not violate His own just law. To clear the guilty, He must provide a ransom – a corresponding price. If the justice of the Almighty had not been equaled by His wisdom, man’s situation would have been sad and hopeless, but wisdom foresaw the need and a Redeemer was provided, a Redeemer who gave Himself a ransom for all, so that all will go free.
Thus we have abundant proof that God’s justice, wisdom, and power are complete, but what are the proofs of God’s love? Surely if God is all love and His wisdom, power, and justice are small in comparison to His love, we should be able to give many proofs of it, many more than the few we have just given of His wisdom, power, and justice.
Some might consider rain, sunshine, warmth, cooling breezes, life, health, and strength as proofs of the love of God to mankind, but these are not proofs. He sends His rain upon the just and upon the unjust and causes the sun to shine upon the evil and the good. Life, health, and strength are found in our race in only a modified and limited sense. Even then, they are inapplicable as proofs of God’s love because the wicked are just as likely as the good to enjoy robust health. Day after day, year after year, century after century, natural disasters manifest power but do not speak of God’s love. Epidemics, pandemics, and innumerable diseases of all kinds also surely do not prove God’s love.
What all these things do prove is that God’s love does not override and overthrow His justice. The mind is surely blind which sees in God’s past and present dealings a God wholly of love and devoid of justice. Lame indeed is the world’s hope if it depends upon God’s love to overthrow His just sentence against the human race, and thus release it from condemnation and death.
But if there is no proof of God’s love, man’s case is truly hopeless. Justice could never clear those it had condemned as unworthy of life, nor could it grant them another trial as though its present sentence were unjust. Thank God there is one proof of God’s love, and it is overwhelmingly convincing to anyone with an ear to hear. That proof is Jesus. The fact that God sent His only begotten Son, that with so great a price God “redeemed us,” that He “bought” us, is proof of His love, beyond all question. Here we have the proof that was in the Apostle’s mind when he wrote that God is love, for he further declared, “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation [satisfaction] for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)
Though the Bible repeats over and over again that God is love and promises that He will prove it in due time, only those who accept the Ransom as the expression of His love and the central feature of the plan of salvation can see any proof of God’s love. The more clearly we grasp the plan centered in the Cross and the Ransom, the more truly we see the only manifestation or proof of God’s love yet given to the world.
By faith we see proofs of His love and care where others see just the opposite; we walk by faith and not by sight. By our faith we are enabled often to see love, care, and providential blessing in adversity, tribulation, opposition, and persecutions, and to realize the truthfulness of God’s assurance that all things good and bad are being overruled for good to us. (Rom. 8:28) Hence we see by faith in God’s promises what has only been demonstrated by the gift of His Son to be our ransom price and in due time our deliverer.
The next age will demonstrate the love of God as fully and clearly as the past has demonstrated His other attributes, but as yet His love is entirely a subject for faith. That faith is instructed out of God’s Word; its foundation is the Bible’s explanation of present circumstances, namely, that all disasters and calamities, as well as the ravages of death and disease, are all parts of the penalty on our race as a result of the disobedience of our first representative in Eden. This faith also looks with confidence and hope to the future promised by the Bible, to the promised “times of restitution” secured by the Ransom. (Acts 3:21)
To appreciate the love of God, faith must grasp that the penalty was just. It must also grasp the assurance that the Ransom given by our Lord fully met the obligations of all sinners, and that consequently the curse will be removed and the entire race will be blessed in due time. On the other hand, the mind which draws the inference that God’s love overbalances His justice, and concludes that He could not, in the exercise of His justice, blot out the willful sinner because His love would prohibit it, is in even a worse condition. Anyone believing this is more blinded than those who believe God unjustly inflicts calamities upon those innocent of any fault – that man never was perfect, never was tried, and never fell, but was created imperfect and then cursed and subjected to evil, that he might develop (evolve) greater perfection than God was able to give him when He created him.
Both of these theories are weak and foundationless and are contradicted by both facts and God’s Word, which furnish the only reasonable explanation and the strongest imaginable grounds for faith and love. Thus seen, God is love, God is just, God is wise, God is powerful. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33)
Since love is the mainspring of all God’s works, being God-like requires having love as the dominating quality of one’s character and life. Love will continue to all eternity, and only those who become the active embodiment of this gracious quality of character will live eternally, hence the paramount importance of its development in every life. This noble quality of Christian character cannot be acquired instantly. It is a growth; and its development is the chief business, the chief concern, of every consecrated child of God.
As pupils in the school of Christ, all the instructions of God’s Word and all His providences in our lives are designed by the Lord to develop our characters and to influence our conduct in harmony with the requirements of love. Righteousness and love and are inseparable.
The Master said to believers, “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another.” (John 13:34) Love is termed “the bond of perfectness” in the child of God. (Col. 3:14) It is no wonder that we are assured: “He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.” (1 John 4:8) Our Lord further declared, “And this is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God . . .” – the God who is love. (John 17:3)
“A MORE EXCELLENT WAY”
When the Apostle Paul said the words in our opening text, he had just been speaking of the various miraculous gifts of the Spirit granted to the early Church. These special gifts were a sign of being begotten to the new nature and anyone who lacked some such special gift would thus manifest to all believers that he had not become a member of the Church of Christ. These supernatural gifts also served to assist the primitive Church in spiritual growth. They did not have the Bible in those days, and if they had possessed it, very few would have been able to read it. Thus, they needed special assistance which the Church afterward did not need, and which later was taken away.
After discussing these various gifts, the Apostle proclaims he will show “a more excellent way.” (1 Cor. 12:31) He then proceeds to point out the super-excellence of the fruit of love. Whoever has the Holy Spirit must have at least a measure of this fruitage, whether it be a little flower containing the fruit-bud, a partly developed fruit, a developed but unripe fruit, or a fully ripened fruit. We are not able to judge one another’s hearts, but God our Father looks upon the heart and sees this fruitage. The Apostle acknowledged that he did not feel able to properly judge even himself; he left judgment to the Lord. He knew that his heart was loyal and that he was endeavoring to be all that the Lord would have him be. Though he was conscious of his inability to always “do the things that he would,” he knew that the Master would accept his loyalty of heart, so he would do his best and leave the rest with God.
Our faith and our hope in the Lord lead us to earnestly endeavor to develop the fruitage of love in all its varied and beautiful phases. Gentleness is a part of love; meekness is a part of love; so also are humility and brotherly-kindness. For each child of God, the question is not: How physically attractive am I? How educated am I? How socially well-connected am I? How many fine sermons have I preached? It is not even: How many have I brought to a knowledge of the Truth? The vital questions are these: How much of the quality of love have I developed? How great is the likeness of my character to that of Christ?
St. Paul points out that this crowning grace of love is essential to make any service acceptable to God. If love is not the motivating power controlling us, the greatest zeal, the finest rhetoric, and the richest eloquence on behalf of truth and righteousness will pass for nothing in God’s estimation, and will bring us no reward from Him. If love is lacking, great ability in expounding the mysteries of God, much study and great knowledge, will be as nothing in winning the approval of the Lord. Even a mountain-moving faith is valueless if the Father looks into the recesses of the heart and sees that love is lacking. The giving of all one’s possessions to feed the poor or to spread the Gospel is powerless to bring us God’s approval if done without love as the moving impulse. Even death as a martyr would not be acceptable unless undergone from love for the Lord and loyalty to His Truth.
Why is this? It is because all these things might be done for selfish motives – to be seen of men, or to feed pride, or to exercise the spirit of combativeness. Love must prompt all our service for God or it will be utterly without value: “If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. “ (1 Cor. 13:1, ASV)
THE SPECTRUM OF LOVE
In a discourse on love, a nineteenth century professor observed that as a beam of light can pass through a prism and come out on the other side broken up into all the colors of the rainbow, “Paul passes this thing, love, through the magnificent prism of his inspired intellect, and it comes out on the other side broken up into its elements.” In a few words the Apostle gives us the “spectrum of love.” Observe its components: (1 Cor. 13:4-7, ASV)
Patience: “Love suffereth long.” Love is tolerant of the weaknesses and imperfections of those who give any evidence of good intentions. It is even patient with those who oppose righteousness and truth, realizing that the whole world is more or less under the influence of the great Adversary and his helpers who blind the minds of the masses. Our Lord Jesus prominently displayed this element of love in His patience with His opponents. Let us heed the Apostle’s words in his Epistle to the Hebrews: “For consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied [in well-doing and patience] and faint in your minds.” (Heb. 12:3)
Kindness: “Love . . . is kind.” Love not only seeks to do good deeds, but it seeks to do them in the kindest possible manner. To the extent we attain this quality of love, our hearts will seek to have our every word, act and motive to be full of kindness. Love is tender, affectionate. It has a real and deep interest in others, especially our brothers and sisters in Christ. We would do well to remember this famous quote: “I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good thing, therefore, that I can do or any kindness I can show to any fellow human being let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.”
Generosity: “Love envieth not.” Envy springs from a perverted nature – from selfishness. Love has no place for it. Love rejoices in the success of every good word and work. It rejoices in the growth in Christian grace and service of all who are activated by the Spirit of God. Love rejoices with those who rejoice.
Humility: “Love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.” Love does not sound a trumpet to announce itself. Its good deeds are not done to be seen of men or to be praised by the brethren, but would be done just the same if no one ever saw or knew but the Lord alone. Love neither boasts of its knowledge nor of its graces, but humbly concedes that every good and perfect gift comes from the Father, and returns praise to Him for every mercy received. Love seeks to keep self in the background.
Courtesy: “Love . . . doth not behave itself unseemly.” The trait of courtesy is so beautiful in the child of God and the secret of genuine courtesy is love. Much pain is caused by the lack of courtesy. Thoughtful consideration for others springs from real love in the heart – love that is cultivated. Pride and selfishness are at the root of most rude and boorish conduct – conduct so common to those who consider themselves superior, whether socially, intellectually, morally or financially. Perfect love, on the other hand, manifests courtesy along with humility.
Courtesy may be defined as love in the little things. One who does things gently, thoughtfully, kindly, and lovingly may be said to be a true gentleman or lady, and a true Christian should thus be a gentleman or lady in the most real and perfect sense. To ignore the little courtesies of life as unnecessary is a serious mistake in a child of God. Who has not realized the potency of a kind greeting, a pleasant smile, a small act of thoughtfulness? Who has not felt pain from the lack of these things?
Unselfishness: “Love . . . seeketh not its own.” Love never seeks to take advantage of others or to promote its own selfish interests exclusively or preeminently. Rather, it goes out to others, and seeks to promote their comfort and happiness. It does not desire to grasp the best of everything for self; it does not seek to have the highest position, the most attention or the highest honors. It instead prefers to honor others and is willing to cheerfully take the lower position. When put into practice, unselfishness has great influence for good in all aspects of life – in the home, among the brethren, everywhere.
Good temperament: “Love . . . is not provoked.” One of the evils abounding today is the propensity to be bad-tempered, argumentative, touchy, and quick to take offense. To the extent this inclination is not fought against but instead cultivated or willingly harbored, it is evidence of a deficiency in the development of the Spirit of God, and a failure to conform to the likeness of Christ, who is to be our pattern. Few faults receive as much leniency and as many excuses justifying its continuance as this one. However much one’s natural disposition might tend in this direction, every true follower of Christ must vigorously oppose the inclination to be irritable, fault-finding, and morose. To fight this tendency of the fallen nature, one must wage good warfare against it in the strength of the Lord. Self-imposed penalties for every outbreak of irritability or bad temper can result in greater watchfulness over the tongue and over unloving impulses. Few traits of character more truly glorify the Lord than an agreeable and loving temperament.
Guilelessness: “Love . . . taketh not account of evil.” Love does not look for faults in others or attribute evil motives to them. It seeks to interpret the actions, words, and manners of others charitably. Being pure and well-intentioned itself, it tries as far as possible to view the words and conduct of others in the same light. It does not harbor animosities and suspicions, nor does it manufacture circumstantial proofs of evil intentions out of trivial matters. “Faults are thick where love is thin” is a wise and true proverb. Love makes every possible allowance for errors in judgment instead of impugning the motives of the heart.
Sincerity: “Love . . . rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth.” Love is saddened when it encounters evil, but it is sympathetic toward all who fall into evil through weakness or who are beset by temptations. In this respect love prompts to an opposite course of action from that of Balaam, “who loved the wages of unrighteousness.” (2 Pet. 2:15) Balaam feared the Lord and as His prophet would not think of doing other than according to the strict letter of the Lord’s command; however, he lacked the spirit of obedience and loyalty, the spirit of love. Thus when Balak, king of Moab, offered him a reward if he would curse Israel, he was willing to conform to the evil proposition in order to secure the reward, but only if the Lord would permit him.
There are some Christians who likewise have respect for the letter of God’s Word because of fear, but who lack the spirit of love. A love for wealth, popularity, ease, etc. makes them willing to engage in practices which come as near to injuring the Lord’s cause as possible without being in open opposition to Him. Some of these “Balaams” are in the ministry. For the sake of salary, prestige, and the friendship of wealthy “Balaks,” they are willing to violate the spirit of the Word. They preach doctrines they do not believe; they wink at unholy practices; they cast various stumbling-blocks before Spiritual Israel, and encourage others to do likewise. Both our Lord and the Apostles mention these “Balaams” as being false teachers in the nominal church. (2 Pet. 2:15; Jude 11; Rev. 2:14)
All who seek to develop the spirit of love in their hearts should seek to have sincere motives as well as honorable conduct. The least inclination to rejoice when another stumbles from a righteous course is to be deplored and overcome. Perfect love does not rejoice in iniquity under any circumstances or conditions. We should only feel sorrow for the fall of another, even if it results in our own gain.
Fortitude: “Love . . . beareth all things . . . endureth all things.” Love is both willing and able to endure reproach, insult, loss, misrepresentation, deprivation, and even death for the cause of God. At the very center of faith is the holy spirit of love – love for the Lord, love for those who are His, and sympathetic love for the world. “For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.” (1 John 5:4) By God’s grace, perfect love can bear up under the most trying circumstances the Lord permits His children to experience. “Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.” (Rom. 8:37)
Trustfulness: “Love . . . believeth all things.” Love is not suspicious, but on the contrary is inclined to have confidence in others so far as possible, and to give them credit for sincerity. It operates on the principle that it is better to be deceived a hundred times than to go through life soured by a distrustful, suspicious mind – it is far better than unjustly accusing or suspecting even one person. The Master spoke of this merciful disposition when He said, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” (Matt. 5:7) The untrusting, unmerciful mind and heart, ready to think evil of others based on a slight or imaginary provocation, gives rise to unmerciful words and conduct toward others.
Hopefulness: “Love . . . hopeth all things.” Love is buoyant, not easily discouraged. Hope is the secret of love’s perseverance. Having learned of God, and having become a partaker of His holiness, it trusts in Him and fearlessly hopes for the fulfilment of His gracious Covenant, no matter how dark the immediate circumstances may be. This hopeful element of love is one of the striking features in the perseverance of God’s Elect, enabling them to endure hardship as good soldiers of Jesus Christ. (2 Tim. 2:3) This hopeful quality prevents love from being easily offended or impeded from doing the work of the Lord. Where others would become discouraged and flee, the spirit of love gives endurance. It holds firmly to the Rock of Ages, and hence cannot drift into despair.
Not only is love the greatest of all the graces but, as we have seen, it is the sum of all the fruits of the Holy Spirit. It is everlasting: “Love never faileth.” (1 Cor. 13:8, ASV) All those who develop this quality to its glorious perfection will have eternal life.
A FALSE VENEER
Although these elements of love are seemingly ordinary virtues, we contend that these fruits as a whole cannot belong to the “natural man” in his current state. He may indeed put on some of the gentleness, some of the humility, some of the courtesy, some of the patience, some of the kindness, but with him these graces are wholly put on; they are not evidence of relationship to God, to which there is only the one door – Christ Jesus.
Moreover, with the Christian a mere outward manifestation of these virtues is not sufficient, either in God’s sight or in his own sight. These rich fruits are produced only by the indwelling spirit of love in his heart. Many of these fruits are recognized by the world as desirable traits and imitated as marks of refinement, often successfully masking hearts and sentiments quite antagonistic to the spirit of love. While even an outward imitation of the elements of love mitigates to some extent the evils, distresses, and conflicts accompanying man’s fallen condition, yet it is only a veneer and often painfully shattered in times of stress and trial.
The time is now very near when a great and terrible crisis will make manifest to the whole world that much of the politeness and restraint considered normal in society is only skin deep and is not from the heart; it is not the fruitage of the holy spirit of love. The Word of the Lord graphically shows that in that great crisis brother will be against brother and neighbor against neighbor. (Isa. 19:2) In that great “day of vengeance” the masks of formal politeness and decorum will be discarded, and for a short time the world will receive a revelation of its own hideousness and selfishness that will horrify it and help to prepare it for the blessed Kingdom of love to be established by the great Immanuel, the Messiah of God. We already see the signs that this great day has begun.
CULTIVATE LOVE
The Scriptures inform us that unselfish love is foreign to our makeup in our fallen state. This love must be introduced into our nature by the power of God. We must learn of the great love of God, which is the love of Christ, and accept His conditions for our return to Him through His Son. “For the love of Christ constraineth [compels] us; because we thus judge [conclude], that if one died for all, then were all dead.” (2 Cor. 5:14)
The degree of our appreciation of divine love will be the degree of our zeal in conforming our characters to the divine pattern. Let us, dear brothers and sisters, more and more cultivate love, remembering that whatever else we may attain in life will be in vain without this crowning grace. We each should pray every morning for the Lord to bless us in the cultivation of love throughout the day – in thought, in word, and in deed. Every evening we should review the events of the day at the throne of Heavenly grace and remember to report to the Lord our success or failure. Only He who reads the heart is competent to judge who has and who has not this quality of love well developed in his character.
(Based on Reprints 880, 2202, and 5668.)
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