Victory through the Word - Love

These three abide - Faith, Hope and Love

"Eandem in spe et fide quam in amore." The same in hope and faith as in love. Bengel 

Love is the quintessential characteristic of Christianity and those that are mature in the faith (ie. mature believers) must walk in love, for God is love (1 John 4: 8). And to love God with all your heart, understanding, and strength, and to love your neighbour as yourself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices (Mark 12: 33).

Loving God

Deuteronomy 6: 5 - And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might [cf. Deuteronomy 30: 6].

Psalm 91: 14 - Because he has set his love on Me, therefore will I deliver him: I will set him on high, because he has known My name [cf. Psalm 119: 132]

Psalm 145: 20 - The LORD preserves all them that love him: but all the wicked will he destroy.

2 Chronicles 19: 2 - And Jehu the son of Hanani the seer went out to meet him, and said to king Jehoshaphat, Should you help the wicked and love those that hate the LORD? Because of this, the LORD'S anger is upon you.

Exodus 20: 6 - And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments [cf. Deuteronomy 7: 9-10].

1 John 5: 3 - For to love God means to keep his commandments, and his commandments are not oppressive [cf. Matthew 11: 30].

Romans 8: 28 - And we know that all things work together for the good of those that love God and are called according to his purpose [cf. Isaiah 64: 4].

1 Corinthians 8: 3 - But God knows all those who love Him [how encouraging!].

1 John 2: 15 - Do not love the world [i.e. the world’s system as opposed to the natural world or God’s creation] or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him [cf. Revelation 18: 4-13].

Matthew 6: 24 (also in Luke 16: 13) - No one can serve two masters, for he will either hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon [the love of God and love of money are incompatible cf. Hebrews 13: 5, Mark 10: 23; Matthew 6: 21; Ecclesiastes 5: 10-11]

1 Timothy 6: 10 - For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil; some have been led astray from the faith by their craving, and have pierced themselves with many pains.

1 John 5: 1 - Whoever believes that Jesus is the Christ/Messiah is born of God [i.e. a child of God], and everyone who loves the Father, loves His child(ren) [The worship of Jesus by Christians may seem absurd to those of other religions and of none. After all, it is stated here in the Bible that he too is a child of God. However, this practice is not unheard of; to use an old testament example, in 1 Kings 1: 34-35, King David said, "Let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel. Blow the trumpet and say 'Long live King Solomon!...and he shall reign in my place, for I have appointed him to rule over Israel and Judah'. Like the Davidic dynasty, God the Father has appointed the Son to reign in the present dispensation of grace (ie. the Church era; see Philippians 2: 9-11; Ephesians 1: 19-22; 1 Corinthians 15: 24-28), and is glorified not diminished by this].

Revelation 2: 4 - But I have this against you, that you have left your first love [alternatively, you have lost the love you had at first (CJB)].

Matthew 24: 12 - And because iniquity [some translations, lawlessness cf. 1 John 3: 4] shall abound, the love of many will grow cold.

Loving people

Romans 13: 10 - Love does not harm his neighbour. Love therefore is the fulfillment of the law/Torah [see Luke 10: 25-37].

Psalm 119: 165 - Those who love your law have great peace; nothing makes [or causes] them to stumble [cf. 1 Peter 2: 7-8].

1 John 2: 10 - He who loves his brother abides [remains] in the light, and [seeing clearly] there is nothing in him that makes him stumble [cf. ibid. verse 11 & Matthew 6: 22-23].

Leviticus 19: 18 - You shall not take revenge or bear a grudge against any of your people, but you shall love your neighbour as yourself: I am the LORD. [Although we are to love people in general, it is important to read this verse in context. Here God is talking to Israel, who was chosen from among the nations to be His people, and is laying down the law for how God’s people are to treat one another, which is taken up by Jesus in his new commandment to his disciples/followers in John 13: 34-35 cf. Zechariah 8: 16-17, Romans 13: 9; James 2: 8; Luke 10: 25-37]

Leviticus 19: 34 - But the foreigner living among you shall be to you as the native-born, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were foreigners in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God [cf. Deuteronomy 10: 18-19; Isaiah 56: 6-8].

John 13: 34-35 - A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love one for another [clearly this is referring to loving fellow disciples/Christians].

1 Peter 1: 22 - Seeing you have purified your souls in obedience to the [gospel] truth so you have sincere brotherly love, love one another fervently with a pure heart:

1 John 4: 7 - Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.

1 John 4: 12 - No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God remains in us, and his love has been perfected in us [see 1 John 4: 20].

1 John 3: 14 - We know that we have passed from death to [eternal] life, because we love the Christian brethren. Whoever does not remains under [condemnation of] death [being alienated from God cf. Luke 15: 31-32].

1 John 4: 16 - We know and have believed the love which God has [deposited, Romans 5: 5] in us. God is love, and he who abides in love remains in God, and God remains in him. [We remain in God by keeping His commandments (John 15: 10), especially loving one another.] 

Hebrews 10: 24 - And let us consider how to spur one another on to love and good works [cf. Galatians 5: 14-15].

Ephesians 5: 33 (see also  ibid. verse 5) - Nevertheless let each man so love his wife as he loves himself; and the wife is to respect her husband.

Proverbs 15: 17 - Better is a dinner of herbs where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred.

Proverbs 10: 12 - Hatred stirs up strife but love covers all sins [cf. 1 Peter 4: 8; Luke 7: 47; Proverbs 17: 9].

1 John 3: 18 - Little children, let us love not only in word and talk, but also in action and truth [cf. Ephesians 4: 15].

Romans 12: 9 - Let love be genuine, without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good [cf. Amos 5: 15; Proverbs 27: 5-6].

Ecclesiastes 3: 8 - A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.

1 Thessalonians 3: 12 - May the Lord make you to increase and abound in love for one another, and for everyone, even as we do for you:

Matthew 5: 44-45 - (also Luke 6: 35 cf. Exodus 23: 4-5) - But I say to you, Love your enemies, and pray for them who persecute you [cf. 1 Peter 3: 9], that you may [truly] be children of your Father in heaven. For he makes his sun to rise [impartially] on the evil and the good, and sends his rain on the just and the unjust [I have often wondered how God can tolerate the wicked until one day while praying I felt his conviction that I was behaving like the older brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15: 11-32). Then I saw it from his perspective as a Father (Hebrews 12: 9) who still loves all his children/creation regardless (Ezekiel 18: 23; 2 Peter 3: 15). Unforgiveness and hatred of your enemies could give Satan and his agents the “legal right” to afflict you (see Matthew 18: 34-35; 1 Peter 4: 8) which, in my experience, may take the form of constant harassment both spiritually and physically. Remember every trial has a purpose (Luke 22: 31-32; 1 Peter 1: 6-9; James 1: 2-4), and although others might mean it for evil, God allows it for our good in the long run (Genesis 50: 20; Romans 8: 28).]

Proverbs 17: 17 - A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for [times of] adversity.

John 15: 13 - Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down his life for his friends [and how much greater is the love of God, exemplified in Jesus Christ who laid down his life for his enemies!].

God’s kind of love

Romans 5: 8 - But God demonstrated his love for us through Christ dying for us while we were still sinners.

John 3: 16 - For God loved the world by giving his one and only Son, that all who believe in him should not perish, but have eternal life [God never asks us to do what He isn’t prepared to do himself cf. Genesis 22: 1-12].

Ephesians 5: 2 - And walk [live] in love, just as Christ loved us, and gave himself for us as an offering and a sacrifice to God with a sweet-smelling fragrance [we are to reciprocate the sacrificial love of God see Romans 12: 1; cf. Genesis 8: 21].

Psalm 11: 7 - For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteousness; the upright will see his face. [Do we love what God loves? See Isaiah 61: 8; Proverbs 15: 8-9; Psalm 33: 5, 45: 7, 97: 10, 99: 4, 119: 47]

Micah 6: 8 - He has showed you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you, but to act justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God?

Proverbs 3: 12 - For whom the LORD loves he corrects, like a father the son he loves (cf. Hebrews 12: 6; Proverbs 13: 24; Revelation 3: 19).

1 John 2: 5 - But, truly, love for God has been perfected in whoever keeps his word: this is how know we that we are in him.

John 14: 23 - Jesus answered him, Whoever loves me will keep my word. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and live with him [through the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, see ibid. verses 16-20].

Romans 5: 5 - And hope does not disappoint us, because God’s love [love which is from God] is poured out into our hearts  through the Holy Ghost who was given to us.

1 Thessalonians 4: 9 - But concerning brotherly love, you don’t need me to write to you: for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another [when/how would these Gentile believers (see 1 Thessalonians 1: 9), who presumably don’t attend the synagogue, have been taught by God, except by the Holy Spirit (see Colossians 1: 8)?]

2 Timothy 1: 7 - For God did not give us a spirit of fear, but [a spirit] of power, love and self-control.

Galatians 5: 22 - But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering/patience, kindness, goodness, faith/faithfulness...

Romans 11: 28 - As concerning the gospel, they [Israel] are enemies [opposed to the gospel] for your sake [so that you may receive salvation through hearing the gospel see Matthew 4: 12-17, v.25 & 28: 19], but concerning election [being chosen for salvation], they are loved for the fathers’ [patriarchs] sake [God is faithful to his covenant promises].

Jeremiah 31: 3 - The LORD appeared to me long ago, saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness [some translations, mercy] have I drawn you.

Hosea 14: 4 - I will heal their waywardness. I will love them freely, for mine anger is turned away from him [Israel].

Song of Solomon 8: 7 - Many waters cannot quench love, neither can the floods drown it: if a man would give all the wealth of his house for love, he would be utterly scorned.

Galatians 5: 6 - For in Jesus Christ what matters is not whether or not you are circumcised but faith acting in love.

Ephesians 3: 19 - And to know the love of Christ, which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.

Romans 8: 39 - Neither height, nor depth, nor any created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8: 37 - No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.

Philippians 1: 9 - And this I pray, that your love may abound more and more in knowledge and in all discernment,

1 John 4: 18 - There is no fear in love; but perfect [ie. obedient, see 1 John 2: 5] love casts out fear [of judgment, ibid. verse 17], because fear has to do with punishment [some translations, torment]. The one who is fearful has not been made perfect [through obedience] in love.

John 12: 25 - He who loves [is attached to] his life loses it, and he who hates [does not cling to] his life in this world will keep it for eternity [cf. John 10: 17].

Revelation 12: 11 - And they overcame him [Satan] by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives even to death.

1 Thessalonians 5: 8 - But let us who belong to the daylight stay sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love [love is therefore an essential part of our spiritual armour; this breastplate is also described as righteousness in Ephesians 6: 14]; and the hope of salvation for a helmet.

1 Corinthians 13: 4-7 - Love is patient and kind, not jealous, not boastful, not proud, rude or selfish, not easily angered and keeps no record of wrongs [cf. Isaiah 43: 25]. Love takes no pleasure in evil [cf. Ezekiel 18: 23] but delights in the truth. Love never gives up, always trusts, always hopes, always endures.

1 Corinthians 13: 13 - But now abide faith, hope and love - these three. And the greatest of these is love.