05.05 - Can We be Saved by Love Only?
5.5 CAN WE BE SAVED BY LOVE ONLY?
We made it clear above that when you place the word only behind even the noblest of actions of motives, it changes the entire meaning. We are saved by faith, but not by faith only. We are saved by obedience, but not by obedience only. It can also be said that we are saved by love. If we have love, it covers a multitude of sins (1Pe 4:8). Paul indicated that love is greater than faith (1Co 13:13): "And now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these [is] love." But can we say: "all we need is love?"
Love is intangible. It is a motive. Having the best interests of God and others is an essential emotion. However, by itself it is only in the imagination. If it exists as the New Testament teaches that it should exist, then it will manifest itself in outward actions. As with true faith, it cannot exist without works. Thus "all you need is love" is a contradiction in terms.
If the speaker means the type of love defined in the New Testament, then why say that this is "all you need?" What is excluded? What do we not need? On the other hand, if the speaker is intentionally trying to infer that we do not need to pay any attention to God’s other commands, then this is not the love defined by the New Testament.
LIST OF SCRIPTURES WHERE LOVE IS USED BY GREEK WORD Let us begin with the word agape (verb: agapao), which appears in the following scriptures: agapao
2Pe 1:7 1Jn 4:8-10, 1Jn 4:16 2Co 5:14; Eph 2:4; Eph 3:19; Eph 5:2
Gal 5:22 John 14:15, John 14:21, John 14:23, John 15:10 1Jn 2:5; 1Jn 5:3; 2Jn 1:6 Rom 15:2; Rom 13:8-10; Gal 6:10; 1Co 13:1-13; Col 3:12-14 philanthropia -- love for man (verb: phileo) -- tender affection; never as a command as a warning:1Co 16:22
BOTH ARE USED
John 21:15-17 BOTH ARE USED (agapao; phileo): love of father for son (John 3:35; John 5:20) God for the believer (John 14:21; John 16:27) Christ’s love for certain disciples (John 13:23; John 20:2)