76 - Summary of Personal and Impersonal Love

Summary of Personal and Impersonal Love; 1 John 5:2–3

1 John 5:2 ^NASB "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. [3] For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome."

The doctrine of love: summary

1.  Love is one of the most misunderstood concepts in our culture. It is often and usually confused with certain feelings, certain emotions, or with certain sentiments. Some people equate love with sex; other people today never equate love with sex. Others use the word love so much that it becomes trivialised and loses its real meaning. We have to let the Bible define love rather than let our experience define love.

2.  In the New Testament love is for the believer the highest expression of spiritual life. Love summarises the adult spiritual life. Spiritual infants don't love; they have not developed the spiritual character, integrity or virtue necessary for there to be love.

3.   Love is the unique mark of the disciple in the New Testament—not the believer but the disciple. There is a distinction between disciple and a believer in the New Testament; a believer may not be a disciple. A disciple is a student, a person who is putting forth a tremendous amount of effort to fully understand everything that the Word of God teaches. John 13:34, 35.

4.  Jesus said in that commandment that we are to love "even as I have loved you." So the standard for understanding divine love is what Jesus Christ did for us on the cross. This is substantiated by a number of verses in 1 John, e.g. 3:16; 4:9, 10. Love has to be based on something that never changes to have any integrity and value. It is only the character of God that never changes.

5.  Christian love is evidenced by obedience to the Word; it is not evidenced by feeling. John 14:21; 1 John 3:17, 18.

6.  Those who love God love His Word. Love has to do with wanting to know all we can about a person: how they think, what they like, what they dislike, etc., and you want to be able to please them. The only way we can love God and demonstrate and demonstrate a knowledge of who He is and His value system so that we can live in a way that pleases Him is to know how He thinks. To know how He thinks we have to know His Word, and the only way we are going to know His Word is by being involved in a consistent, dedicated systematic study of the Word of God, making it a priority in life over and above every other priority in life. To love His Word means having to learn His Word.

7.  As we learn God's Word and apply His Word in our life our love for God grows and strengthens. John 14:23; 15:10; 1 John 2:5; 4:12, 16.

8.  Love, therefore, represents the believer who has advanced to spiritual adulthood because he is abiding with God. It is only in that state of abiding, when we are filled with the Spirit and walking by the Spirit, that that love that the Spirit alone produces in us is manifested.

9.  Love for God develops from our knowledge of Bible doctrine, and in no other way. It is the fruit of the Spirit and is the unique distinguishing mark of the disciple, it is not something that can be naturally generated.

10.  Love for God, then, motivates love for other believers and that is why John can say that if someone says they love God and hates his brother is a liar. There is an intricate and intimate relationship between loving God and loving other believers.

11.  Impersonal love for other believers is the evidence that we truly love God. So that becomes a barometer for spiritual adulthood.

In 1 John 5:3a John says, "For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments…" Then there is a break so that "and His commandments are not burdensome" should go with the next verse. Verse 4 begins, "For whatever is born of God overcomes the world…" The English word "For" is the Greek word hoti [o(ti] which is an explanatory or causal particle. In this case it is a causal particle and it is explaining the previous sentence. The sentence should read: "And His commandments are not burdensome because whatever is born of God overcomes the world." That begins the next section which focuses on the key word nikao [nikaw] which means to have victory or to overcome. So whatever is born of God has victory over the world, and the words "even our faith" is not talking about salvation but the faith-rest drill.