The Epistemology of Love

Epistemology is the study of how we know something. The apostle John understood the epistemology of love very well. So well, in fact, that he has sometimes been called “the apostle of love.” In his letter to the Church, he has a lot to say about love as a way of knowing.

• “But whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in Him” (1 John 2:5). This is God’s work of love being brought to maturity and completeness in us. We see it at work when we keep His word, His commandment, which is to love one another. And by this love, we know that we are in God (and that God is in us), because love is the work of God in us.
• “We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death” (1 John 3:14). Here again is the love of God being perfected in us and revealed through love for each other. And by this love we know that we have passed from death to life.
• “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren” (1 John 3:16). Here is how we know love itself — the Lord Jesus Christ laid down His life for us (even while we were yet in our sins and rebellion against God), and we manifest that love to each other in the same way, by laying down our lives for each other.
• “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love” (1 John 4:7-8). Those who love are born of God, because it is God’s love that is being demonstrated through them. And by that love, they know God — for God is love.
• “Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves Him who begot also loves him who is begotten of Him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments” (1 John 5:1-2). All who believe on the Lord Jesus Christ are born of God, and we can know that He is in us because of love for all those who belong to God. And here is how we can know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandment. Love comes from God, and when we look to Him, He will work in us by that love. His commandment is that we love one another (1 John 3:21). Indeed, all His commandments are fulfilled through love. Paul said, “He who loves another has fulfilled the law … For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Romans 13:8, 10).

Delivering Us to Love

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith. (Galatians 3:24 ESV)

In Galatians 3:24, Paul tells us that the Law of Moses was a paidagogos. The KJV translates this a “schoolmaster,” and the NKJV has it as “tutor,” but I think those give too big a role to the word. Young’s Literal Translation says, “child-conductor,” and the ESV and LEB say “guardian,” which I think gives us a more accurate idea. The Law, in Paul’s mind, was not so much about instruction as it was about keeping the people of Israel out of trouble until the Messiah. “So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified by faith,” Paul says.

The Law governed behavior, but God was always looking beyond behavior to the heart. The Law required circumcision of the flesh, but what God desired more than that was “circumcision of the heart.”

Therefore circumcise the foreskin of your heart, and be stiff-necked no longer. (Deuteronomy 10:16)

And the LORD your God will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants, to love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, that you may live. (Deuteronomy 30:6)

Circumcise yourselves to the LORD, and take away the foreskins of your hearts. (Jeremiah 4:4)

However, the Law could never produce that in us. Yet, what the Law could not do, the Lord Jesus has done in us Himself:

In Him you were also circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of the sins of the flesh, by the circumcision of Christ, buried with Him in baptism, in which you also were raised with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Colossians 2:11-12)

So, what God has always been looking at is the heart. And what He has always been looking for is love — love for God and love for each other. That is what the Law and the Prophets were always pointing us to. Or as Jesus put it, loving God with everything in us and our neighbor as ourselves — all the Law and the Prophets hang on that (Matthew 22:35-40). So when we love, we fulfill what the Law and the Prophets were always calling us to.

In Ezekiel 36:26-27, God promised Israel, “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them.” I believe that is what God has now done for every believer in Jesus Christ. He has given us the Holy Spirit, who works in us and causes us to walk in His statutes, and to keep His judgments. How does the Spirit do this? By the fruit of the Spirit — love! And as Paul declares, “Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10). So the case is not that the Law no longer has significance for us but rather that it is fulfilled in us by the Spirit of God, through the fruit of love.

By the way, I believe that every Gentile believer is “grafted into” the “olive tree” that is Israel (see Romans 11:13-24), so that we receive the Messiah that was promised to Israel, the Spirit that was promised to Israel (for example, in Ezekiel 36:26-27), and the salvation that was promised to Israel. But that is a post for another day.

Love God. Love People. Don’t Hold Back.

Someone asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus answered, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:36-40).

Allow me to offer this paraphrase:

Love God. Love People. Don’t hold back.

Love, Law and Faith

The apostle Paul has some interesting things to say about the relationship between love, law and faith. We find these relationships in his letter to the Jesus believers in Galatia.

All the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14)

Someone asked Jesus which was the greatest commandment. He answered,

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.

Love fulfills the law God gave through Moses to Israel. God intended for that law to instruct the people of Israel in how they should live. But it could never produce in them what it instructed — it was never meant to. That is why God promised to cut a new covenant with His people:

“Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah … I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people. (Jeremiah 31:31, 33)

I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

These two prophecies speak of the same reality. God promised a new heart and a new spirit — His own Spirit — to produce in us what the law of Moses never could. This is fulfilled in the gospel of Jesus the Messiah, who by His faithfulness is the mediator of the new and better covenant, which is cut with His own blood (Hebrews 8:6; Luke 22:20). At Pentecost, just as He promised, God gave us His Spirit, who dwells in us to produce the faithful character of Jesus in us. Paul speaks of it as the “fruit of the Spirit.”

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23)

Love fulfills the law, but the law could not produce that love in us. Only God can.

What matters now, Paul says, is “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6) and walking in the Spirit (Galatians 5:16). The Greek word for “work” is energeo, which is where we get the word “energy.” We might say that faith is energized through love. The word “walk” speaks of a consistent manner of living. Walking in the Spirit is continually yielding to the Holy Spirit and letting Him do His work in us.

If you find that your faith is weak, check how your love is doing. If your love is weak, check how you are doing in your daily walk with God. God is love, and when we yield to His Spirit, we are yielding to the Spirit of Love. As we do, His love will become strong in us and our faith will become powerful and effective.
Faith works through love, and love fulfills the law.

Love and Obedience

Yesterday, in a discussion on Facebook, someone asked about obedience in the Christian life — what it is, whether it’s a list of rules, or if it’s the same for everyone, or whether it’s a heavy burden or a light one. Here is my response:

I don’t actually think much in terms of obedience. I think more in terms of loving God and loving others and letting the love of God work through me. It’s been said that we become like what we behold. As I get older, I find that my desire is to behold God more. In that, I discover that godly things flow out of my life, not as a matter of obedience or discipline or discipleship, but more naturally than that.

A few years ago I heard Mike Bickle speak (he is the founder of International House of Prayer, in Kansas City, MO). He was talking about his earlier days when he was a dean (or some such) at some sort of ministry or Bible school. He said that sometimes students would come in who were struggling with some sin in their life. The harder they tried, the more difficult it got and the more they failed. The answer he would give them was very simple:

“Don’t try harder. Love God more.”

Love works in a very different way. It doesn’t think of obedience as obedience, or of sacrifice as sacrifice. It is focused simply on the Beloved. And that is a life-changing thing.

Jesus, the Law and the Prophets

The other day I ran a brief search on “law” and “prophets” in the New Testament for an overview of how they relate to Jesus. Used together, “law” and “prophets” indicates the totality of the Hebrew Scriptures. So here is a short rundown on how the New Testament understands the relationship between Jesus and the Old Testament.

The Kingdom of God Fulfills the Law and the Prophets

Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come. (Matthew 11:11-14)

The law and the prophets were until John. Since that time the kingdom of God has been preached, and everyone is pressing into it. (Luke 16:16)

The Law and the Prophets led up to the days of John the Baptist, who came in the spirit and power of Elijah. He was the forerunner who prepared the way for Messiah, preaching a baptism of repentance. Jesus, after He was baptized by John and tested in the wilderness, began His ministry preaching the “gospel of the kingdom of God,” saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:14-15). Since that time, the kingdom of God has been forcefully advancing, and people have been pressing into it, forcefully laying hold of it by faith.

Jesus the Messiah Fulfills the Law and the Prophets

In the Sermon on the Mount (which I call The Sermon of Heaven on Earth), Jesus said, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). Jesus does not set aside the Law and the Prophets; He is the promised King and Messiah who assures us that everything God promised in the Law and the Prophets will be fulfilled. This is the certainty of heaven on earth.

Then He said to them, “These are the words which I spoke to you while I was still with you, that all things must be fulfilled which were written in the Law of Moses and the Prophets and the Psalms concerning Me.” And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. (Luke 24:44-47)

Philip found Nathanael and said to him, “We have found Him of whom Moses in the law, and also the prophets, wrote — Jesus of Nazareth, the son of Joseph.” (John 1:45)

The disciples, sent out as apostles, testified of this throughout the world, making disciples of all nations, teaching them about King Jesus, the one who possesses all authority in heaven and on earth, and baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit (Matthew 28:18-20). They were not setting aside the Law and the Prophets but testifying of its fulfillment.

In the book of Acts, for example, we discover Paul’s modus operandi, when he announced the good news in the synagogue at Antioch: “And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, ‘Men and brethren, if you have any word of exhortation for the people, say on’” (Acts 13:15). Being invited to teach on the Law and the Prophets, Paul stood up and began preaching how Jesus is the fulfillment of the Hebrew Scriptures and what God was doing through Israel (Acts 13:16-41). Many devout Jews, as well as Gentile proselytes to the Hebrew faith, believed the good news he brought (vv. 42-44).

On another occasion, when Paul was accused of profaning the temple and stirring up sedition among the Jews, he made his case before the Roman procurator, Felix. He denied the charges and said, “But this I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the God of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets” (Acts 24:14). His preaching was not an incitement to insurrection among the Jews but a call for them to believe the Torah and the Hebrew Prophets concerning Messiah.

At the end of the book of Acts, we find Paul at Rome and under house arrest, doing what he had always done: preaching about Jesus and how the Law and the Prophets and the kingdom of God, all come together in Him. “So when they had appointed him a day, many came to him at his lodging, to whom he explained and solemnly testified of the kingdom of God, persuading them concerning Jesus from both the Law of Moses and the Prophets, from morning till evening” (Acts 28:23).

Then, in his letter to the believers at Rome, Paul demonstrates how the righteousness of God is revealed apart from the Law, through faith in the Messiah, Jesus — and the Law and the Prophets testify to this! “But now the righteousness of God apart from the law is revealed, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe” (Romans 3:21-22).

The Commandment of Love Fulfills the Law and the Prophets

The Law and the Prophets are fulfilled in King Jesus the Messiah, and in the commandment He brings, which is to love one another. For example, in the Sermon on the Mount, He said, “Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). There is a story told of Rabbi Hillel (b. about 110 BC d. about AD 10), who said something very similar. When a scoffer came and asked the rabbi to teach him the Torah while standing on one foot, he answered, “That which is hateful to you, do not do to your fellow. That is the whole Torah; the rest is the explanation; go and learn.”

One day a Pharisee who was particularly skilled in the Law of Moses came to test Jesus: “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets” (Matthew 22:37-40).

On the night of the Last Supper, as He was preparing the disciples for what was about to happen, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another” (John 13:34-35). “This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you” (John 15:12).

A new time had come, the time of God’s kingdom. A new covenant had come, instituted in the blood of Jesus (Luke 22:20). And with it, a new commandment — the commandment that fulfills all the Law: “Love one another ...” It is a commandment based on Jesus and His love, “… as I have loved you.” The apostles write of this commandment in their letters:

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14)

And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. Now he who keeps His commandments abides in Him, and He in him. And by this we know that He abides in us, by the Spirit whom He has given us. (1 John 3:23-24)

The commandment that fulfills the Law and the Prophets is now possible for us because of Jesus, who fulfills the Law and the Prophets on our behalf. He has sent the Holy Spirit — baptized us with the Spirit — the same Spirit by whom He was anointed with power (Acts 10:38). Paul writes about the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us: love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, gentleness, meekness, faithfulness, self-control — in other words, the character of Jesus — something the Law of Moses could never produce in us (Galatians 5:22-23).

Everything God was doing with Old Testament Israel through the Law and the Prophets is fulfilled in the kingdom of God now present in the world, and in its king, Jesus the Messiah, and through His commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you.

The Disciple Jesus Loves

Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. (John 13:23)

Who is the disciple Jesus loves? The gospel of John mentions him five times, and in all five places appears to be referring to John himself. He received from Jesus a deep understanding of the love God had for him. So deep was this revelation that John has often been called the “apostle of love,” and the theme of love permeates his writings.

Do not suppose, though, that there is only one disciple Jesus loves. There is another, and when you realize who it is, you will lean your head on Jesus’ breast.

Torrents of God’s Redeeming Love

On the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” But this He spoke concerning the Spirit, whom those believing in Him would receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified. (John 7:37-39 NKJV)

This was the last and greatest day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The priests were celebrating the water-drawing ritual, making procession from the pool of Siloam with jars of water to pour out at the base of the alter in the temple. As they went, they sang from Isaiah 12:3, “Therefore with joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.” The word for “salvation” in that verse is yeshuah.

Now here was Jesus — Yeshua is how you say His name in Hebrew; it means “Yahweh saves.” Standing in their midst, He “cried out.” He was making a declaration, an important announcement for all to hear. “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me [Yeshua] and drink.” It was an invitation to come and drink from the true well of salvation, the one God had promised long ago.

Then He added: “He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” This is not a direct quote; no verse in the Old Testament comes out and states it in just that way. It is an allusion to things spoken of in the Prophets. Readings for the Feast of Tabernacles included passages from Zechariah and Ezekiel. Zechariah 14:8 spoke of a time when “living waters” would flow from Jerusalem.” Ezekiel 47 spoke of the “day of the LORD” and of water flowing out from the temple, first as a trickle and then becoming a mighty river, a river of living water, bringing life and healing wherever it flows. It is also in Ezekiel that God promised, “I will put My Spirit within you” (Ezekiel 36:27; 37:14). Anyone familiar with the water ceremony and the Scriptures that accompanied it would have understood the dramatic import of Jesus’ words.

The word translated “heart” in Jesus’ declaration is not the usual word, kardia, but koilia, which refers to the abdominal cavity. It is sometimes used of the belly and at other times of the womb. The HCSB has it as, “from deep within.” The NASB says, “innermost being” and The Message, “out of the depths.” It is the place in us where the spirit dwells, where God promised He would put His Spirit. This is what Jesus was talking about, the Holy Spirit in us.

The revelation He was bringing is that the new temple, where God would dwell by His Spirit, would not be a building made with hands, but would be found in whoever believes in Jesus the Messiah. The old temple was about to pass away. The sacrifices offered there would soon be made obsolete by the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. The temple itself, as well as the city of Jerusalem, would be totally destroyed within a generation, as Jesus prophesied in Matthew 24. But the new temple would come when Jesus was glorified. After His death on the cross, after His resurrection from the dead, and ten days after He ascended to heaven, the disciples waited in Jerusalem, during the Feast of Pentecost, for the “promise of the Father” (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4). God poured out the Holy Spirit on His people then and there.

Now all who believe in Jesus receive the Holy Spirit. We have become the temple of God, living water coursing from our innermost being like mighty rivers, bringing life and healing to the nations. Our part is to be filled with the Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). This is not something we do for ourselves but something He does in us; we simply yield ourselves to Him. The rivers that flow out from deep within us are the overflow of being filled with Him. They come forth as the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23) and the miracles and manifestations of the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:7-10). They are the torrents of God’s redeeming love, and through them, we minister the gospel of King Jesus the Messiah that gives life and heals the world.

The Gospel of Fervent Love

Since you have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit in sincere love of the brethren, love one another fervently with a pure heart, having been born again, not of corruptible seed but incorruptible, through the word of God which lives and abides forever, because

“All flesh is as grass,
And all the glory of man as the flower of the grass.
The grass withers,
And its flower falls away,
But the word of the Lord endures forever.”

Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you. (1Peter 1:22-25)

“Obeying the truth” is believing the truth about Jesus the Messiah and living according to it. It has a purifying, or consecrating, effect on the soul. James said, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves” (James 1:22). This leads to “pure and undefiled religion before God … to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1:27). In other words, believing and doing the truth about Jesus prepares us to love.

This is real, true love Peter is talking about. The Greek word for “sincere” is anypokritos, which is made up a two parts: a or an, which means “not,” and hypocritos, which means “actor” and is where we get our word “hypocrite.” It is not pretending to love, wearing it as a mask or disguise, or reading lines as actors. As the apostle John tells us, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1John 3:18).

Our love must be authentic but it must also be fervent. The Greek word for “fervent” is ektenos, from two words: ek, “out,” and teino, “to stretch.” It is “a constant concern to be of service, exacting and untiring zeal, urgent affection, and even lavish gift-giving” (Spicq, Theological Lexicon of the New Testament). It is fervent because it comes from the heart. It is not a mere outward conformity but reveals an inward transformation.

As these believers were living in exile, it became all the more important for them to love each other with an intense devotion that reveals the new birth we have together in Jesus. Indeed, this new birth, and the inward transformation it brings, enables such love. That is because the new birth does not come from the seed of fallen humanity, which is subject to death and corruption, but by the seed of the Word of God, the Word of Life that endures forever.

At this point, Peter quotes Isaiah 40:6-8, also written to exiles, about the brevity of human life in contrast to the eternality of the divine word. It is a messianic passage about God setting things right in the world and it is fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. Indeed, Peter takes the good news of Jesus the Messiah to be the enduring word Isaiah described: “Now this is the word which by the gospel was preached to you.”

There are two different Greek words for “word” used in this passage. The first is logos, which is the Word of God in general principle. The second is rhema, which is the Word of God acutely articulated, for example, through preaching. What was foretold by Isaiah in prophecy now finds acute fulfillment in the message of the gospel.

The gospel is what Peter has been talking about all along in chapter 1: The abundant mercy of God revealed in Jesus the Messiah, through the new birth, a living hope, and an incorruptible inheritance because of the resurrection of Jesus from the dead and faith in Him. It is the gospel of fervent love — God’s love for us resulting in our love for each other.

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Keeping the Faith When Things Get Tough
Peter’s Letter to Jesus Believers Scattered Everywhere
Bite-Sized Studies Through First Peter
by Jeff Doles

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Available in paperback and Kindle (Amazon), epub (Google and iTunes) and PDF.

The Kingdom Where Love Fulfills All

When the Pharisees heard that He had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, “Teacher which is the greatest commandment in the law?”

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 22:37-40)

The Pharisees and Sadducees had both made a run at trapping Jesus in His words — and failed. Now came an expert in the Law of Moses, not to ensnare him, as the others had done, but to examine his teaching. Mark’s Gospel refers to him as a scribe: “Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, “Which is the first commandment of all?” (Mark 12:28). It was common for Jews to discuss which were the weightier matters of the law.

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind,” Jesus answered. “This is the first and great commandment.” This was first, not in order of time, but of importance.

“And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” If the most important commandment is about loving God, then the second must be about loving man, who was created in the image and likeness of God. The second commandment is not separate from the first, but hangs on the first. One cannot keep the first without also keeping the second. John said that whoever loves God must also love his brother (1 John 4:20).

Then Jesus concluded with the importance of these two commandments: “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” That is, everything in the Law and the Prophets — all of the Old Testament — is about these two things.

Remember that the Ten Commandments were given on two tables of stone (Exodus 31:18). Most commentators believe that the first tablet spoke of our obligation toward God, the second of our obligation toward others. When we love God we will have no other gods before us, we will not try to fashion Him according to our own ideas, we will not speak His name in vanity, idleness or arrogance, and we will honor that which He has set apart unto Himself. When we love our neighbor as ourselves, we will give proper honor to those who have fathered and mothered us, we will not take their lives into our own hands, we will not violate their marriage covenants, we will not take from them what is rightfully theirs, we will not lie against them, and we will not crave for ourselves that which belongs exclusively to them. All the Law is about loving God, and loving all others as ourselves. As Paul notes, following in the footsteps of Jesus, “Love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).

It is not just the Law that hangs on these two great commandments but the Prophets also. Both the Law and the Prophets are all about the kingdom of heaven — the rule and reign of God in the affairs of men. These are the two commandments of the kingdom of Heaven on Earth. Everything else depends on and is understood by them.

Think back to the rich young man who came to Jesus seeking eternal life. Jesus asked if he knew the commandments, then named some of them, particularly the ones from the second tablet, the ones about loving one’s neighbor as oneself. “I have kept all of these from my youth,” the young man answered. We already know that he really had not learned to keep the first tablet, to love the Lord his God with all his heart, soul and mind; he loved his possessions to much for that. As it turns out, he also did not keep the second tablet either, though he was sure he had. He did not love his neighbor as himself, or else he would have listened to Jesus when He told him to sell what he had and give to the poor. So he missed out on the kingdom.

The lawyer who asked which was the greatest commandment was strongly impressed by Jesus’ answer. “Well said, Teacher. You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other tan He. And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one’s neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices” (Mark 12:32-33).

Jesus answered, “You are not far from the kingdom of God” (Mark 12:34). The truth of His answer was backed up by the strength of His love.

In the kingdom of Heaven on Earth, the commandment to love fulfills everything else.

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The Kingdom of Heaven on Earth
Keys to the Kingdom of God
in the Gospel of Matthew
by Jeff Doles

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The Leadership of Love

You can't lead the people if you don't love the people.
You can't save the people if you don't serve the people.

— Cornel West, professor, Princeton University

Read this on the side of a Starbucks cup (I had a Skinny Café Latte). It is a truth that is woven into the fabric of the universe. For the worlds were framed by the Word of God, God is love, and love gives and serves (I call this the "algebra of love"). God so loved the world that He gave His only Son (John 3:16); Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life a ransom for many (Mark 10:45).

True leaders love and serve, just as God does.

Boundless Love

The first and most important thing is that we are boundlessly loved by God who blesses us to love Him boundlessly in return.”

— Fr. Thomas Hopko, 2007 commencement address
St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary.
Quote in First Things, December 2007.

Pure bliss!

Fulfilling the Law of God

Therefore, whatever you want men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets. (Matthew 7:12)

Jesus said to him, “'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40)

Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. (Romans 13:8-10)

For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:14)

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you do well. (James 2:8)

Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence toward God. And whatever we ask we receive from Him, because we keep His commandments and do those things that are pleasing in His sight. And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment. (1 John 3:21-23)

If you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, you have been born again by the Spirit of God, and have the Holy Spirit dwelling in you. You are part of the New Covenant prophesied by Jeremiah:

“Behold, the days are coming," says the Lord, "when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah — not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt, My covenant which they broke, though I was a husband to them, says the Lord. But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people." (Jeremiah 31:31-33)

This is a new and better covenant, established on better promises and mediated through the blood of Jesus Christ (Hebrews 8:6; Mark 14:24).

If you know Jesus, you have that going on inside of you. That is why Paul said, “Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh” (Galatians 5:16). Instead, you will be fulfilling all the law of God. But it does require the Holy Spirit working in you:

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man's wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. (1 Corinthians 2:12-14)

Love fulfills the law of God, and the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of love:

For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. (2 Timothy 1:7)

The Lord Jesus declared, “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill” (Matthew 5:17). In Him, we have the new life of the Spirit, so that we can truly walk in love, and so fulfill the law of God.

Healthy, Wealthy and Wise

Beloved, I pray that you may prosper in all things and be in health, just as your soul prospers. (3 John 2)

Here is the heart of God revealed in the prayer of the apostle John. God wants His people to be healthy, wealthy and wise.

HEALTHY. “I pray that you may … be in health.” Jesus came to remove our infirmities and bear our sicknesses (Isaiah 53:4; Matthew 8:16-17), and by His stripes—the penalty He suffered in our place — we are healed (Isaiah 53:5; 1 Peter 2:24). He did that so that we could be in health.

WEALTHY. “I pray that you may prosper in all things.” To prosper is to do well, to have success in whatever you do. In Deuteronomy 28:8, God gives this promise to all those who walk in His ways:

The Lord will command the blessing on you in your storehouses and in all to which you set your hand, and He will bless you in the land which the Lord your God is giving you.

For those who delight in His ways and continually meditate on His Word, He says,

He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither;
And whatever he does shall prosper.

(Psalm 1:3)

Prosperity and wealth are not just about finances and success in material things, but they are included.
 

WISE. “Just as your soul prospers.” This is the true measure of prosperity. You may have a lot of money, and success in many things, but if you miss it here, you have missed it all. Jesus said, “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?” (Mark 8:36). In God’s economy, as you prosper in your soul, that is how you will prosper in life.

In this letter, which the apostle John wrote to his disciple, Gaius, we see what soul prosperity looks like.

For I rejoiced greatly when brethren came and testified of the truth that is in you, just as you walk in the truth. I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth. (3 John 3-4)

Did you spot the key? Prosperity of soul is about walking in truth; that is, walking in the ways of God. It is walking in the wisdom and revelation of the Holy Spirit, as Paul prayed for the believers at Ephesus, “that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give to you the spirit and wisdom of revelation in the knowledge of Him” (Ephesians 1:17). Jesus said, “And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free” (John 8:32).

But John also speaks of another key in his letter.

Beloved, you do faithfully whatever you do for the brethren and for strangers, who have borne witness of your love before the church. (3 John 5-6)

Prosperity of soul is about walking in love. Paul tells us that faith works “through love” (Galatians 5:6). Gaius believed the truth. He was “faithful” to it, or we might say that he was full of faith in it. Because he was full of faith in it, he lived it out, expressing it through love and hospitality. As John wrote in his first letter, “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:1 8).

This may come as a surprise, but God wants you to be healthy, wealth and wise; to walk in His ways, be set free by His truth and experience the flow of His love filling you up and blessing others. That’s why Jesus came.

Children Look at Love

A friend emailed this to me and I couldn’t resist posting it:

A group of professional people posed this question to a group of 4 to 8 year-olds, “What does love mean?” The answers they got were broader and deeper than anyone could have imagined. See what you think:

“When my grandmother got arthritis, she couldn't bend over and paint her toenails anymore. So my grandfather does it for her all the time, even when his hands got arthritis too. That's love.” (Rebecca, age 8)

“When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth.” (Billy, age 4)

“Love is when a girl puts on perfume and a boy puts on shaving cologne and they go out and smell each other.” (Karl, age 5)

“Love is when you go out to eat and give somebody most of your French fries without making them give you any of theirs.” (Chrissy, age 6)

“Love is what makes you smile when you're tired.” (Terri , age 4)

“Love is when my mommy makes coffee for my daddy and she takes a sip before giving it to him, to make sure the taste is OK.” (Danny, age 7)

“Love is when you kiss all the time. Then when you get tired of kissing, you still want to be together and you talk more. My Mommy and Daddy are like that. They look gross when they kiss.” (Emily, age 8)

“Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen.” (Bobby, age 7)

“If you want to learn to love better, you should start with a friend who you hate.” (Nikka, age 6)

“Love is when you tell a guy you like his shirt, then he wears it everyday.” (Noelle, age 7)

“Love is like a little old woman and a little old man who are still friends even after they know each other so well.” (Tommy, age 6)

“During my piano recital, I was on a stage and I was scared. I looked at all the people watching me and saw my daddy waving and smiling. He was the only one doing that. I wasn't scared anymore.” (Cindy, age 8)

“My mommy loves me more than anybody. You don't see anyone else kissing me to sleep at night.” (Clare, age 6)

“Love is when Mommy gives Daddy the best piece of chicken.” (Elaine, age 5)

“Love is when Mommy sees Daddy smelly and sweaty and still says he is handsomer than Brad Pitt.” (Chris, age 7)

“Love is when your puppy licks your face even after you left him alone all day.” (Mary Ann, age 4)

“I know my older sister loves me because she gives me all her old clothes and has to go out and buy new ones.” (Lauren, age 4)

“When you love somebody, your eyelashes go up and down and little stars come out of you.” (Karen, age 7)

“You really shouldn't say 'I love you' unless you mean it. But if you mean it, you should say it a lot. People forget.” (Jessica, age 8)

— Source unknown

My favorite? “Your name is safe in their mouth.”

O Lord, I know that You love me, and that my name is safe in Your mouth. I love You, too, Lord, and Your name is safe in mine.

Moving Mountains By Faith Working Through Love

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love. (Galatians 5:6)

Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)

The effectiveness of your faith will never rise above the level of your love. You might have faith enough to move mountains, but without love, it won’t matter one bit — you will probably be moving the wrong mountains.

Notice that both faith and love come from God:

Peace to the brethren, and love with faith, from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. (Ephesians 6:23)

They come to us in Jesus Christ:

And the grace of our Lord was exceedingly abundant, with faith and love which are in Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 1:14)

Love comes from God, for God is love (1 John 4:8). Trying to do things by faith without love is like trying to do things by faith without God.

Perhaps faith without love might get some things done, but it will not make any lasting contribution or bring positive change that endures. But when love gets involved, God gets involved — and that makes a world of difference.

It’s All About Love

• God is love. (1 John 4:8)
• In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. (Genesis 1:1)
• Therefore, the heavens and the earth must be all about love.

Of course, there is much in the world that does not come from love. That is because of the choice Adam made for us all way back in the Garden of Eden. God had two trees there: The Tree of Life (which is the Tree of Love) and the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. Adam decided that he would rather have an intimate relationship with good and evil than with God, who is love. He failed to eat of the Tree of Love — to receive all the love God had for him. Consequently, he failed to love God, his wife and himself. This failure to walk in love soon led to Cain’s failure to love his brother Abel.

Though love has been obscured in the world because of sin and rebellion against God, who is love, it is still present. The Bible says that the love of God abides and that it endures forever (1 Corinthians 13:13; Psalm 136:1). Not only does it abide and endure, but it thrives and is mightily at work to bring about the fulfillment of all God’s purposes for heaven and earth.

God is love; love gives and serves. “God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). Jesus, the Son of God, is the Tree of Life, given by God that we may once again walk in His love.

God is love, so everything He does will always be about love.

But Have Not God

Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:1-3)

You could possess and exercise all the spiritual manifestations Paul describes in 1 Corinthians 12 (tongues, prophecy, words of wisdom and knowledge, faith, miracles, etc.) but if you do not operate in love, it is all in vain. It has no real, lasting value. It is nothing.

Why?

Because the Bible says that God IS love (1 John 4:8). If we do not have love, we do not have God. If love is not in whatever we do, then God is not in it. Love is inseparable from God; God is inseparable from love.

Many believers at Corinth had become obsessed with their possession and use of spiritual gifts. They thought the gifts were all about them and their exaltation. Lifted up with pride, they departed from the Great Commandment which Jesus taught in Matthew 22:36-40:

• Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind.
• Love your neighbor as yourself.

Without love, we are vain babblers. Without love, there is no benefit. Without love, we are nothing — zero!

But now turn that around and see what happens.

When we speak in love, our words become powerful. When we give ourselves away in love, there is great benefit. When we act in love, our faith becomes very meaningful and the world changes for the better.

The way we turn it all around is by loving God and loving our neighbor, for God IS love. When you enter into intimate fellowship with God, it will be impossible for you to not have love. Then your miracles will be meaningful.

Faith Pleases Love

• Without faith it is impossible to please God. (Hebrews 11:6)
• Faith comes by hearing the Word of God. (Romans 10:17)
• Faith without works is dead. (James 2:17)
• Faith works through love. (Galatians 5:6)
• God is love. (1 John 4:8)

Without faith it is impossible to please God, for God is love, and faith works through love.

The Algebra of Effective Faith

Love never fails. (1 Corinthians 13:8)

Faith works through love (Galatians 5:6). Without love, faith is meaningless — a failure.

Though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)

So let us now speak of faith in terms of love. First Corinthians 13, the “Love Chapter,” will be a very helpful guide. It extols the virtues of love throughout, but since faith works through love, it gives us some powerful insights into the effective, meaningful exercise of faith.

• Faith working through love is patient and kind (v. 4).
• Faith working through love does not envy, does not parade itself, is not puffed up (v. 4).
• Faith working through love does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil (v. 5).
• Faith working through love does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth (v. 6).
• Faith working through love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things (v. 7).
• Faith working through love never fails (v. 8).

Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love. (v. 13)

Love never fails. Faith works through love. Faith working through love never fails.