Christians Love
At the heart of Christian teaching lies the Great Commandment, a profound principle that captures the essence of our faith. When Jesus was asked about the greatest commandment in Matthew 22:34-40, his response was both simple and profound, anchoring everything in love. He said, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: Love your neighbor as yourself. The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”
Most of the greatest lovers in human history have been Christians. Their motivation to love God led them to love people in extravagantly selfless ways. Without Christian love, the world would not be completely devoid of love because the prevenient grace of God and the imprint of his image on our hearts lead us to love, but without Christian love, our world would be a much more divided, selfish, and angry place. Loving God with everything we have is directly connected to loving our neighbors as ourselves. These aren’t two separate commands, but two parts of the same whole. They’re inseparable, reflecting the full nature of love as God intends.
It’s important to realize that the love Jesus commands goes beyond feelings. Today, we often think of love as an emotion, something we feel deeply, but biblical love, especially the kind Jesus talks about, is active and intentional. It’s about actions and choices, not only feelings.
Jesus gives a powerful example of this active love in John 13:14-15 when he washes his disciples’ feet then he tells them to follow his example, to wash each others’ feet. This act of service and humility shows love as an action.
If you love me, obey my commandments.
The love Jesus commands shows itself in obedience and service, reflecting our commitment to God through how we treat others.
When Jesus gave the great commandment, he was responding to a question the Pharisees asked him about which of Moses’ commandments was most important. Jesus’ answer to the Pharisees is brilliant in its simplicity and depth. By summarizing the law and the prophets with these two commandments, Jesus captures the entirety of Old Testament teachings. The many laws given to the Israelites were meant to guide them in living a life of love toward God and others. Jesus distills these complex laws into a call for relational love – love that is both vertical (toward God) and horizontal (toward people).
To love God with all our being means committing every aspect of our lives to him. It means prioritizing our relationship with him above all else, allowing his love to transform us from within. This transformation naturally flows outward in the form of loving others. When we truly love God, we begin to see others through his eyes, leading us to act with compassion, kindness, and generosity.
C. S. Lewis famously talked about the four types of love in the Greek New Testament: storge (family love), philia (friendship), eros (romantic love), and agape (unconditional love). Agape love, the most mature and selfless form, is what Jesus embodies and commands. This love isn’t contingent on the worthiness of its recipient, but is given freely and unconditionally.
Agape love is generous. It seeks the good of others without expecting anything in return. It mirrors the love God has for us, a love that gave his only Son for our redemption. This generous love is the hallmark of true Christian living. It’s the love that Jesus modeled throughout his ministry and, ultimately, on the cross.
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?
Genuine love for God will inevitably result in love for others. Our interactions with people become the proving ground of our professed love for God. When we engage in acts of kindness, forgiveness, and service, we’re not just loving those around us; we’re honoring God. Each act of love towards others reflects our devotion to God. It’s through these actions that the world sees the reality of God’s love manifested in us.
Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.
If we could perfectly obey the Great Commandment, we’d naturally fulfill all other commands that are beneficial for a healthy and united life. Our love for God would be reflected in our love for others, encompassing every moral directive given by God.
There are some laws in the Old Covenant that God made with Israel that do not have a direct correlation with loving others. In the Old Covenant, established between God and Israel, there are numerous laws that go beyond the straightforward principle of loving others. These laws encompass a wide array of directives, including ceremonial, dietary, and ritualistic regulations that were specific to the cultural and religious context of ancient Israel. For instance, laws concerning animal sacrifices, the observance of specific festivals, and restrictions on certain foods were primarily designed to set Israel apart as a holy nation and to guide their worship practices. While these laws served important functions within their covenant relationship with God, they do not directly correlate with the ethical command to love others. Instead they focus on maintaining purity, religious identity, and obedience to God’s covenantal requirements, but it can easily be argued that it was in the best interest of the Jewish people to live this countercultural lifestyle. By living differently than the nations around them, they separated themselves from the tempting secular customs of those cultures. By obeying those commands, they loved their neighbors by leading them away from the pagan practices of the world and toward the holy traditions of the Jewish people.
The Great Commandment calls us to a life of active, generous love. It reminds us that our relationship with God is deeply interconnected with our relationship with others. We can’t claim to love God while neglecting to love those made in his image. In loving others, we fulfill the law and the prophets, and we demonstrate the transformative power of God’s love in our lives. Let’s strive to embody God’s love daily, knowing that in doing so, we are fulfilling the greatest commandment given by our Lord. This is the essence of our faith and the path to true Christian maturity.
