The Greatest of these is Love

                                              The Greatest of these is Love

We see all throughout the Scriptures the importance of love. We can go to church every Sunday, be in the choir, have a great name of being a “Christian” person but if we do not love, we are not walking in the truth.  We are going to take time to really research what the word love means, and why it is so important in knowing and being obedient to Jesus. 

In the English language the word love is used as a whole for many different emotions and feelings, that is why we are going to look at the etomology of the word love and where it roots from.  The word love stems from the Proto-Indo-European root *leubh-, meaning "to care, desire, or love". Over thousands of years, this ancient root branched into various languages, eventually evolving into the Old English lufu before taking its modern English form. In the Greek language there are six primary words of the word love, each describing a different emotion. This is the most important way to understand what the word means in a whole and how the English language has watered it down in many ways. 

Agápe (Αγάπη): Unconditional, selfless, and charitable love. It represents an all-encompassing, altruistic devotion, often associated with spiritual or universal goodwill.

Éros (Έρως): Passionate, romantic, and physical love. Named after the Greek god of fertility, it represents desire, falling in love, and intense infatuation.

Philía (Φιλία): Deep, affectionate friendship. This represents a loyal, platonic bond built on mutual respect, shared interests, and deep camaraderie (often referred to as "brotherly love").

Storgē (Στοργή): Familial love and affection. This is the natural, protective love between parents and children, or deep bonds formed by familiarity and dependency.

Philautía (Φιλαυτία): Self-love. The Greeks recognized that to love others properly, one must first have a healthy love for oneself, though it can also carry negative connotations if it devolves into selfishness.

Xenía (Ξενία): Hospitality and love for strangers. A deeply rooted cultural concept in ancient Greece, it represents the generosity and courteous treatment of guests and travelers

The most important definition in the word love is agape. Agape is unconditional love and that word in the original Greek writings of the New Testament is used over 100 times. We today as a people get confused by the emotions of the word love, for some of us we are in lust aka eros and think that we are in agape but are not. We soon find that we are not unconditionally loved by another once they fall out of eros with us. We also find ourselves not unconditionally loving others once we have found ourselves turning our backs on those we say with our tongue we loved. Love is an action word just as the word faith is. We will learn more about that later on in this study. For now, let us look at some scriptures with the original Greek word Agape used. 

John 3:16

Romans 5:8

1 John 4:8-10

Matthew 22:37-39

Matthew 5:44

These are just a few examples of some scripture where agape is used, now let me ask you this, do you unconditional love or is your love conditional? It is important to seek out the condition of our hearts, so that we can grow in the Lord and be renewed by His Word. The last verse I mentioned above in Matthew 5:44, the verse says to agape our enemies. To love our enemies unconditionally, now tell me who can do that? The person who hurt you, hurt your child, broke your heart, stole from you, took away something dear to you. God says to unconditionally love them!!!!!!! How? But there is so much hurt and anger. There is so much resentment and unforgiveness, how is that possible? It is not possible from us in the human stance, we have to be walking in Jesus to be able to do such a task. Jesus helps us to let go and to forgive, He helps us to see them in His light and not our earthly sight. Following Jesus is not for the weak of heart, you have to want to serve Him despite every emotion you have that is of this realm. Kill the flesh, and put on Jesus everyday. Then and only then can we agape our enemies, and to be honest agape at all. 

“We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, “I know him,” but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God  is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him: Whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.” 1 John 2:1-6. In Matthew 22:37-40;  “Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” What is the Law and the Prophets? The Law is the Ten Commandments, and the Prophets are those whom God used to give warning and spread His Word. 

The Ten Commandments:

You shall have no other gods before me: Worship only the one true God and put nothing else above Him.

You shall not make idols: Do not worship physical representations or images of false gods.

You shall not take the Lord’s name in vain: Treat God's name and character with reverence and respect.

Remember to keep the Sabbath holy: Set aside a day each week for rest, reflection, and honoring God.

Honor your father and mother: Respect and care for your parents to ensure a long and prosperous life.

You shall not murder: Do not take the life of another human being.

You shall not commit adultery: Remain faithful to your spouse and do not engage in sexual immorality.

You shall not steal: Do not take anything that belongs to someone else.

You shall not bear false witness: Do not lie or give false testimony against your neighbor.

You shall not covet: Do not harbor envious desires for another person's possessions or life. 

These were given to mankind so that they could be shown what sin was, and that because it was impossible to keep them, they needed help to do so from a Savior. The law summed up is exactly what Jesus says it is, Love God above all else, Love others  as yourself. With Jesus it is possible to do this, and do it with great joy. 

How does the Bible describe love, agape? In 1 Corinthian chapter 13 we are given an example of the importance of love and what it truly means to love. 

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.  If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud.  It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.  Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.  It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away.  For we know in part and we prophesy in part,  but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me. For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

We can speak in tongues, prophesied, have knowledge, know mysteries, give to the poor, and be martyred all without love. Now that is a scary thing to think about. What Paul is saying is that without agape, a selfless love, all these deeds mean nothing. In that, we need to ask ourselves and search our hearts asking what is the motive behind every action we do? If it isn't agape then it is something else and it is meaningless. 

In 1 John chapter 2  The Word says, “Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates a brother or sister is still in the darkness.  Anyone who loves their brother and sister lives in the light, and there is nothing in them to make them stumble.  But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” It is important that we continuously check our heart conditions, so that we are not deceiving ourselves by saying we know God and truly do not because we have hatred within our hearts.  1 John 3:11, “ For this is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another.” There is fruit of this world and there is fruit of the Spirit, If we have the Spirit of God we are living out the fruits of the Spirit, if we do not then we are still of this world. What are the fruits of the Spirit? In Galatians chapter 5 it tells us, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law.” The first fruit is love, without love we have nothing. With all that being said it is important to test ourselves, to always search ourselves so that we are not deceiving ourselves. As the Word says, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!” 2 Corinthians 13:5. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire.  For this very reason, make every effort to supplement your faith with virtue, and virtue with knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with steadfastness, and steadfastness with godliness,  and godliness with brotherly affection, and brotherly affection with love.  For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins.” 2 Peter 1:3-9. “Be angry and do not sin; when you are on your beds, search your hearts and be silent.” Psalm 4:4. We as humans have so many different emotions and when we allow those emotions to control us in the flesh we end up sinning in the long run. We can be angry, and it is not a sin. It is only what we do in our anger that can become a sin. Therefore, it is important to search our hearts as we lay in our beds and ponder why we are angry, and ask the Lord to help us not let the anger become a callus in our hearts as well as to help us forgive. There are so many scriptures that help guide us and teach us. “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the servant of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.” 2 Timothy 3:16-17. 

I am going to end this study with some verses of God's love for us. The moment I realized God's love for me was the moment I fell in love with Him. I hope and pray that  all humanity comes to know the depth of the love of The One True God. We all crave to be loved, and love is the one thing that will never fail. 

1 John 4:16: "And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them."

1 John 4:19: "We love because he first loved us."

Jeremiah 31:3: "The Lord appeared to us in the past, saying: 'I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

 Ephesians 2:4-5 – “But God is so rich in mercy, and he loved us so much, that even though we were dead because of our sins, he gave us life when he raised Christ from the dead. (It is only by God's grace that you have been saved!)”

Psalm 86:15 – “But you, O Lord, are a God of compassion and mercy, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love and faithfulness.”

John 3:16 – “For God loved the world so much that he gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.”

Romans 5:8 – “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.”

Psalm 147:3 – “He heals the brokenhearted and bandages their wounds.”

Psalm 103:8 – “The LORD is compassionate and merciful, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.”

1 John 4:19 – “We love each other because he loved us first.”

Isaiah 53:5 – “But he was pierced for our rebellion, crushed for our sins. He was beaten so we could be whole. He was whipped so we could be healed.”

Psalm 103:13 – “The LORD is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him.”

Lamentations 3:22-23 – “The faithful love of the LORD never ends! His mercies never cease. Great is his faithfulness; his mercies begin afresh each morning.”

1 Peter 5:6-7 – “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.”

 1 John 3:1 – “See how very much our Father loves us, for he calls us his children, and that is what we are! But the people who belong to this world don't recognize that we are God's children because they don't know him.”

1 John 4:10 – “This is real love--not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.”

 Job 34:19 – “He doesn't care how great a person may be, and he pays no more attention to the rich than to the poor. He made them all.”

 Zephaniah 3:17 – “For the LORD your God is living among you. He is a mighty savior. He will take delight in you with gladness. With his love, he will calm all your fears. He will rejoice over you with joyful songs."

When I sit and think about the Agape of God, I can’t help but imagine the entire picture of what He did and it floods me with emotions of awe and gratitude. Think about it, God of all creation, The God of all beings seen and unseen. Made a way for us to be rescued from the grips of death. When the nachash, the serpent of old, the upright bright and shining one, came to Eve and twisted The Words God had spoken and Eve fell for the tricks of the evil one. When that happened death entered the world, not because God said so but because when she ate of the tree of Good and Evil she was changed into a mortal fleshy filled with blood being. We then became in a sinful state, despite how “good” we tried to be, death was coming for us all. The only way for us to return to our original state, the state God originally created us in, was if God's blood was shed and God died. But, God can not die and the only way for God to have blood was to be born into the realm of humans where blood existed. Therefore, the Word became flesh. There was reason for every detail, the virgin birth, the sinless life, the death in the cross, the resurrection. Everything was for a reason and a purpose. God could have just left us to die, but instead He sent His son, the Word of God to leave the heavenly realms and to come to this sin filled place we call earth and live as we live, and to die for us to have life. Even Jesus himself says, “ Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”

At any moment He could have said He did not want to save us, He could have called on His Kingdom, but He chose to be obedient to the Fathers plan of redemption and salvation for His creation. “: "He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, so that we might die to sins and live for righteousness; by his wounds you have been healed." 1 Peter 2:24

He took on everyone's sins when he died on the cross, and when the Father raised Him from the dead it was proof that His sacrifice was in fact sufficient to rescue from death. Now that is love, and love is action. 

Isaiah 52:13-53

See, my servant will act wisely^, he will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. Just as there were many who were appalled at him his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any human being and his form marred beyond human likeness— so he will sprinkle many nations, and kings will shut their mouths because of him. For what they were not told, they will see, and what they have not heard, they will understand.

Who has believed our message and to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed? He grew up before him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by mankind, a man of suffering, and familiar with pain. Like one from whom people hide their faces he was despised, and we held him in low esteem. Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed. We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. He was oppressed and afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; he was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so he did not open his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away. Yet who of his generation protested? For he was cut off from the land of the living; for the transgression of my people he was punished.He was assigned a grave with the wicked, and with the rich in his death,though he had done no violence,nor was any deceit in his mouth.Yet it was the Lord’s will to crush him and cause him to suffer,and though the Lord makes his life an offering for sin,he will see his offspring and prolong his days, and the will of the Lord will prosper in his hand. After he has suffered,he will see the light of life and be satisfied, by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many, and he will bear their iniquities. Therefore I will give him a portion among the great, and he will divide the spoils with the strong,because he poured out his life unto death, and was numbered with the transgressors. For he bore the sin of many, and made intercession for the transgressors.

To be loved by God and given a choice to have a new life and salvation, there are no words to express the gratitude that brings all we can do is give Him our lives and hearts and be obedient to His Word. The Greatest two commands are this. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind". He noted a second, equally important command: "Love your neighbor as yourself.