In this lesson, students learn about loving.
Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love...
Love is the first in a list of nine fruits of the Spirit: “Love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” We may not be able to say exactly why each of these gifts occupies the place it does here, but it does seem clear why love is placed first.
The Scriptures teach love as the first and highest of virtues. It is an attribute of God; He is love. (1 John 4:16) It was God the Father’s love that moved Him to send His only-begotten Son to save a world of sinners. (John 3:16) Jesus identifies love toward God and one’s neighbor as the essence of all the commandments. (Matthew 22:37-40)
When God created Adam and Eve in His own image it was with the capacity to love God and to love each other. Sin destroyed that capacity and instead brought enmity toward God and hatred, envy, resentment, and strife into human relationships.
But through the Gospel of the redeeming work of Christ the Holy Spirit restores in man that capacity to love. By the Spirit’s gracious working in us we have a new nature by which we love God and one another.
The love that is the fruit of the Spirit is spoken of here with the same Greek word that the Bible uses for God’s love toward us. It is agape, which has been defined as a love of understanding with a corresponding purpose. That God “so loved the world” means that He fully understood the sinful condition of mankind and devised a plan to rescue them.
This definition of the love that the Spirit works in us is helpful to understanding Jesus’ command that we love even our enemies. They may be mean and hateful people—we understand that about them—yet we do not want anything bad to happen to them; we want them to repent of their sins and be forgiven. When they sin against us, instead of retaliating we pray for them and respond with acts of kindness.
Do you find yourself lacking in love toward God, your spouse, your children, your parents, your co-workers, our neighbors? Look to the Spirit to give you the good fruits of love. As we grow in the Word the Spirit more and more reveals to our hearts the love of God in Christ. With that love He comforts us with forgiveness for our lack of love, and He brings forth from us the good fruits of love, to the glory of God and the blessing of people in our lives.
2 Corinthians 13:14ESV The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.
The second parting gift that the Triune God bestows in the Apostolic Blessing is the love of God. You might be thinking to yourself, “If grace is God’s undeserved love, then what’s the difference between the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God?” That’s a fair question. The two concepts are indeed closely related, but while the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ emphasizes the undeserved nature of God’s love, the love of God the Father emphasizes the sacrificial nature of God’s love.
The way God the Father shows love is so radically different from the way in which humans usually show love. We sinners often go to extreme lengths to avoid self-sacrificial love. How often do you find yourself going to great lengths just to escape performing extra favors for family or friends. It’s humankind’s sinful nature to avoid self-sacrifice at all costs. How unlike the holy, sacrificial love of God the Father!
When it came time for God the Father to sacrifice His own beloved Son Jesus Christ as a substitute for the world, He didn’t hesitate. That’s the sacrificial love of God given to sinners like you and me. John 3:16 "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.
Remember that the next time your sinful nature tempts you to go out of your way to avoid helping someone in need. God the Father sacrificed the most precious person in the world for your sake. For Jesus’ sake, you can sacrifice your own comforts and your own conveniences in your love toward your neighbor. That’s how forgiven sinners like me and you respond to the Triune God’s gift of love!
Glory to the King of angels,
Glory to the Church’s King,
Glory to the King of nations;
Heav'n and earth, your praises bring!
Glory, glory To the King of glory sing!
(Lutheran Service Book, 506:3)
Devotion
I John 4:19
We love because he first loved us.
This is really the complete message of God. He loved us so much that He sent His son to die for us. We now know that love because we have been rescued from sin and death.
It is common to exchange gifts with those who give to us. I have a friend who doesn't like to give presents at Christmas because he had a bad experience with giving a present to his brother. God could say the same thing about our attempts to give back to Him. But His love for us is not just that He gave us eternal life, it is also that He loves the ragged gifts we give to Him.
So now look at the text. We love because He first loved us. In the King James version, it says we love HIM. But the text says we love. So not just Him, but we love everyone. It is easy to distinguish yourself in this world of lovelessness by showing love. We first of all can show that love by telling others about His love for them.
We should make it our goal always to show the love we have been given by giving it to others. In viewing God, we should always remember that He tells us, "God is love." It doesn't say God loves, it tells us that everything about Him is love. So when we consider His relation with us and the world, remember that He manages everything to show His love to us.
31 So, when [Judas] had gone out, Jesus said, “Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. 32 “If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. 33 “Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. 34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” (NKJVTM)
Here love is agape
7 Dear friends, let us love one another, because love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 The one who does not love has not known God, because God is love. 9 This is how God’s love for us was revealed: God has sent his only-begotten Son into the world so that we may live through him. 10 This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, if God loved us so much, we also should love one another.
12 No one has ever seen God. If we love one another, God remains in us and his love has been brought to its goal in us. 13 This is how we know that we remain in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 We have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him and he in God. 16 We also have come to know and trust the love that God has for us.
God is love. Whoever remains in love remains in God and God in him. 17 In this way his love has been brought to its goal among us, so that we may have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are just like Jesus.[c] 18 There is no fear in love, but complete love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who continues to be afraid has not been brought to the goal in love.
19 We love[d] because he first loved us. 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For how can anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen,[e] love God, whom he has not seen? 21 This then is the command we have from him: The one who loves God should also love his brother.
1 John 4:17 Literally that one
1 John 4:19 A few witnesses to the text add God or him.
1 John 4:20 A few witnesses to the text read For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God.
Here also, love is agape.
15 When they had eaten breakfast, Jesus asked Simon Peter, “Simon, son of John, do you love[a] me more than these?”
“Yes, Lord,” he said, “you know that I care about[b] you.”
Jesus told him, “Feed my lambs.”
16 A second time Jesus asked him, “Simon, son of John, do you love[a] me?”
He said, “Yes, Lord, you know that I care about[b] you.”
Jesus told him, “Be a shepherd for my sheep.”
17 He asked him the third time, “Simon, son of John, do you care about[b] me?”
Peter was grieved because Jesus asked him the third time, “Do you care about[b] me?” He answered, “Lord, you know all things. You know that I care about[b] you.”
“Feed my sheep,” Jesus said.
Footnotes
John 21:15 Greek agapao
John 21:15 In verses 15-17, the uses of the Greek phileo are translated care about to distinguish from the uses of the Greek agapao, which are translated love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EBEm7aOXU4
https://live.bible.is/bible/EN1ESV/1JN/4 Start at 0:56
Questions.
godly love agape Romans 5:8 God demonstrates his love in this sacrificial love
brotherly love phileo Matthew 10:37 Loving Father or mother more than me is not worthy of me. transactional love
undeserved love chariti Ephesians 2:8-9 by grace are you saved
chen grace or favor in the old testament Gen. 6:8
śə·nū·’āh unloved Gen 29:31 Jacob unloved Leah
aheb Gen 29:30 Jacob loved rachel
wə·ra·ḥūm merciful Nehemiah 9:17
ḥan·nūn gracious Nehemiah 9:17
checed Isaiah 54:10 steadfast love
Agape among us Journal of Theology
Jesus giving the Farewell Discourse to his eleven remaining disciples, from the Maesta by Duccio, 1308–1311.