The Greatest Of These Is Love
If I were asked what is the one thing that underpins the whole of the Christian faith, I believe it is LOVE. It begins with God’s love, which is what the Gospel is about, as encapsulated so magnificently in John 3:16. And this love in Christianity is manifested in the shape of the Cross – the vertical representing the agape love of God the Father for mankind, and in turn, the horizontal that links up all true children of God in philadelphon (brotherly love) – as "sons of one Father, brothers one and all".
In Matthew 22: 35-40, an expert in Jewish law put a question to Christ: which is the great (chief or principal) commandment of all? The answer lies in Deuteronomy (6:5, 10:12, 30:6) and the questioner doubtless wanted to test whether He truly knew the Scriptures. Would He fail the test by trying to single out one of the ‘Ten Commandments’? Our Lord was "smack-on" with the answer: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." But Christ did not stop there – He went on: "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (i.e. teachings in the Jewish scriptures which make up our Old Testament).
But what is Love? Try and define it yourself, if you can. I tried the dictionaries and I am simply not satisfied with any of their feeble attempts. Oh no, I am not so conceited as to think I am smarter than the learned dictionary compilers. The truth of the matter is that it is very, very difficult to capture the true essence of Love in just one or two lines (as a dictionary definition should), and there are simply no synonyms up to the mark. If we’re talking about God’s love, then we should take the cue from the song, "The love of God is greater far than pen or tongue can ever tell."
There would indeed be a vacuum in God’s Word on the description of Christian love but for the famous 1 Corinthians 13, often called "the Love Chapter" (in the KJV, substitute the word "charity" with "love"). Running so beautifully over 6 verses, we are told what Love is (longsuffering or patient, kind, delights in truth, enduring all difficulties and triumphant over all circumstances, confident and ever full of hope) and what it is not (envious, boastful, "one-up-on-you!", swell-headed, behaving improperly, self-seeking, short-fused and temperamental, delighting in wrongful things). Best of all, Love never "runs out" of itself ("never faileth" – v.8). And of the three abiding virtues of faith, hope and love, "the greatest of these is love" (v.13). Without this kind of true love in our living, all our gifts and all our service count for absolutely nothing (vv. 1-3)!
There is much more to say on this topic, but let me just round off by asking: How do you and I measure up to the standards of Love as described in 1 Corinthians 13? How much of Love is evident in our attitude, words, actions, motives – in our obedience to the Lord’s commands? "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14;15.) Amen.
Elder Phua Chor Kok
In Matthew 22: 35-40, an expert in Jewish law put a question to Christ: which is the great (chief or principal) commandment of all? The answer lies in Deuteronomy (6:5, 10:12, 30:6) and the questioner doubtless wanted to test whether He truly knew the Scriptures. Would He fail the test by trying to single out one of the ‘Ten Commandments’? Our Lord was "smack-on" with the answer: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment." But Christ did not stop there – He went on: "And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (i.e. teachings in the Jewish scriptures which make up our Old Testament).
But what is Love? Try and define it yourself, if you can. I tried the dictionaries and I am simply not satisfied with any of their feeble attempts. Oh no, I am not so conceited as to think I am smarter than the learned dictionary compilers. The truth of the matter is that it is very, very difficult to capture the true essence of Love in just one or two lines (as a dictionary definition should), and there are simply no synonyms up to the mark. If we’re talking about God’s love, then we should take the cue from the song, "The love of God is greater far than pen or tongue can ever tell."
There would indeed be a vacuum in God’s Word on the description of Christian love but for the famous 1 Corinthians 13, often called "the Love Chapter" (in the KJV, substitute the word "charity" with "love"). Running so beautifully over 6 verses, we are told what Love is (longsuffering or patient, kind, delights in truth, enduring all difficulties and triumphant over all circumstances, confident and ever full of hope) and what it is not (envious, boastful, "one-up-on-you!", swell-headed, behaving improperly, self-seeking, short-fused and temperamental, delighting in wrongful things). Best of all, Love never "runs out" of itself ("never faileth" – v.8). And of the three abiding virtues of faith, hope and love, "the greatest of these is love" (v.13). Without this kind of true love in our living, all our gifts and all our service count for absolutely nothing (vv. 1-3)!
There is much more to say on this topic, but let me just round off by asking: How do you and I measure up to the standards of Love as described in 1 Corinthians 13? How much of Love is evident in our attitude, words, actions, motives – in our obedience to the Lord’s commands? "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:35). "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14;15.) Amen.
Elder Phua Chor Kok
Labels: Articles
posted by Moriah Bible-Presbyterian Church @ 08:00
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