What Does The Bible Say About Love
Stefan Van der Merwe
Theologians are often in discussion about the central theme of the bible. If I were to ask you what you think is the central theme of the bible, what would you say?
Just a quick search on Google already highlights the main ideas out there like:
- The Display of God’s glory
- God plan of redemption (After the fall of man)
- The covenant(s)
- Jesus himself
- The Kingdom of God
The last two being the most prevalent thoughts out there.
The debate will probably go on and personally I think it is easier to speak about major themes of the bible than trying to single out one of them.
Another major theme of the bible is already given away by the title of this sermon today and it is love.
A few weeks ago we looked at the difference between faith and hope and a couple of other words. Apostle Paul also in the beautiful chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians when he speaks about Love he ends the chapter with the following verse:
“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”
This statement emphasised the importance of love. Just a quick look at the number of occurrences (NIV translation) in the bible of these three words gives us the same picture.
Hope — 191 Occurrences (181 verses)
Faith — 465 Occurrences (434 verses)
Love — 762 Occurrences (665 verses).
In the number of occurrences alone we see here how important the topic is and any major biblical theme should surely be visible from the first pages in Genesis to the last pages in Revelations.
Old Testament
History, as we understand it from the Old Testament, is one that starts with an act of love and it continues throughout the bible.
Creation
The creation of the world and the human beings by God was His first act of love. Thomas Aquinas, the 13th century Philosopher and Theologian wrote the following:
When we say that in Him there is a procession of love, we show that God produced creatures not because He needed them, nor because of any other extrinsic reason, but on account of the love of His own goodness.
(Summa Theologica)
From Israel to the nations
We also see how God chooses Israel among all the other nations, and right from the start when God makes this promise to Abraham He includes a promise of blessing to all nations:
“..all peoples on earth will be blessed through you.” (Gen 12:3)
Yet the LORD set his affection on your ancestors and loved them, and he chose you, their descendants, above all the nations — as it is today. (Deut 10:15)
Freed from Slavery
God’s love for Israel was also very consistent even in the time when they rebelled against Him and they were taken into slavery in Egypt.
Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength. (Deu 4:37)
The prophet Hosea also later wrote about God’s love for Israel and how His love for them also meant release from slavery:
“When Israel was a child, I loved him,
and out of Egypt I called my son. (Hosea 11:1)
The law
After God freed Israel from slavery in Egypt he also gave them the law, and you might ask why did he do that? Does love require the law? In man’s case it sure does, because God knows how man is prone to worshiping false Gods. Let’s read Exodus 20:4–6 (First part of the law). In all of God’s creation, God only created man with the capacity of loving him back.
4 “You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
Obeying and keeping the law was a way in which Israel could “love God back” and show their commitment to Him alone as the One who chose them and is jealous for their love.
God’s love for Israel also meant that He had an extraordinary amount of patience with them even though they often failed to love him back by keeping the law. Let’s read what prophet Nehemiah says in this regard:
“They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and in their rebellion appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love.” (Nehemiah 9:17)
Land promise fulfilled
God not only promised Abraham a great nation but also promised him land where they would live — the promised land and even though it took them a very long time to get there (and a 40 year journey through the desert) God’s love would get them there:
3 It was not by their sword that they won the land,
nor did their arm bring them victory;
it was your right hand, your arm,
and the light of your face, for you loved them. (Psalm 44:3)
Apostasy (abandonment of faith in God — in practice)
The time of the judges brought about great apostasy in Israel. There was political and religious turmoil as the people tried to possess parts of the land that had not yet been fully conquered. The tribes fought among themselves, as well, nearly wiping out the tribes of Manasseh (Judges 12) and Benjamin (20–21). The pattern of behavior in the book of Judges is clear: the people rebelled through idolatry and disbelief, God brought judgment through foreign oppression, God raised up a deliverer — or judge, and the people repented and turned back to God. When the people fell back into sin, the cycle started over again.
At the end of the book of Judges we see the extent of Israel’s apostasy.
“In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.” (Judges 17:6)
During the times of the Judges Israel began to forget what the Lord has done for them. That He was the one that rescued them from Egypt and gave them the beautiful land they live in. That is why the cycle of rebellion and judgement repeats itself in the Judges because although Israel forgot the covenant God made with them God did not forget; and because of His great love for His people, He disciplined His sinful children so that they might return to Him.
In the book of Psalms alone we read in more than 30 different verses about God’s unfailing love for His people.
Kings of Israel
The period of the Kings of Israel and Judah (Northern and Southern Kingdom) was led by both good and bad Kings. Some were evil from the start and led Israel and Judah far from God. Like King Ahab. Let’s read what the bible says about him:
30 Ahab son of Omri did more evil in the eyes of the LORD than any of those before him. 31 He not only considered it trivial to commit the sins of Jeroboam son of Nebat, but he also married Jezebel daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and began to serve Baal and worship him. 32 He set up an altar for Baal in the temple of Baal that he built in Samaria. 33 Ahab also made an Asherah pole and did more to arouse the anger of the LORD, the God of Israel, than did all the kings of Israel before him. (1 Kings 16:30–33)
And then there were the good Kings like King David (although not without sin), and King Hezekiah and Josiah. 2 Kings 23:25 tells us the following about Josiah:
“Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did — with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses.” (2 Kings 23:25)
During this time God sent prophet after prophet who pleaded with the nation to repent and return to the Lord. The more God called, the more Israel rejected Him and rebelled against His love. Turning a deaf ear to God’s prophets, the nation chose to practice idolatry instead.
Eventually God allowed both Israel and Judah to be exiled from the land He gave them, but his compassion and love for them would never cease. The prophet Hosea almost gives us a summary off his feelings for Israel:
“How can I give you up,m Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboyim?
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused. Hosea 11:8
The prophet Isaiah also wrote about God’s feelings for Israel
10 Though the mountains be shaken
and the hills be removed,
yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken
nor my covenant of peace be removed,”
says the LORD, who has compassion on you (Isaiah 54:10)
Eventually Israel was taken over by the Assyrians in 720 BC and Juda fell to the Babylonians in 586 BC and for about 2000 years Israel was left a wanderer on this earth until God started to bring them back to Israel and in 1948 a new State of Israel was declared! God still loves Israel and is not finished with them; and yet, the strongest show of God’s love was still to come with Him sending his Son Jesus Christ to earth.
New Testament
The New Testament overflows with gestures and promises of love from God for mankind, but God’s clearest picture of love towards ALL NATIONS becomes abundantly clear with Him sending his Son to earth with a purpose!
John 3:16 probably being the most pivotal in this regard:
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
God is on a mission to restore fallen mankind and reconcile them to Him because of his great love for his creation.
In last book of the bible Apostle John begins the book with a beautiful doxology that sums up his thankfulness for God:
“To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood, 6 and has made us to be a kingdom and priests to serve his God and Fathers — to him be glory and power for ever and ever! Amen. (Revelations 1:5)
The mission God sent his son to earth on was to die in our place — to take our sins on him and become the sacrificial lamb to make away with sins for once and for all.
Apostle Peter wrote explained it this way:
For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God. He was put to death in the body but made alive in the Spirit. (1 Pe 3:18)
When Jesus ascended into Heaven he also sent his disciples out with the command for them to make followers of Christ from all nations. As representatives of His message of love, he sent them out, to spread the good news of God’s message of love to all mankind.
In the New Testament, Jesus and Paul explain the essence of God’s commandments in two sentences taken from the Old Testament: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength” and “You shall love your neighbour as yourself”. Jesus gave also a “new commandment” to his disciples
“By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:35)
He thus makes love the foundation of the Christian community, and his testimony for excellence.
What God wants for human beings, then, is love — a love that engages — our love must be visible in our actions — love should not merely be in our words but should get to our feet, our hands.
“Dear children,let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18).
For Jesus, this love extends itself, beyond the neighbour and the foreigner, to the enemy (Matthew 5:43–48).
“You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be children of your Father in heaven. He causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 If you love those who love you, what reward will you get? Are not even the tax collectors doing that? (Matthew 5:43–45)
Such love is possible only insofar as each one knows himself forgiven and loved by God.
For his life, death and resurrection, Jesus reveals the universal love of the Father in a concrete and exemplary manner. This love is the unconditional welcome for everyone and the gift of his life for all. It transforms the focus on oneself, on others and on the world. We now have the assurance that
“neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39 neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:39)
