The preachers quoted here describe love as a choice to seek the good of God and of others, always thinking of the other person and how to help. They call it the soul of religion and the way we imitate our heavenly Father, and they describe it as courteous, free of jealousy, and stronger than opposition.
The New Testament's characteristic word for love is agape.1 Scripture defines it first from God: "God is love" (1 John 4:8), and "Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us" (3:16).
Paul describes it by what it does. "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil" (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). Every phrase is a way of acting toward someone else.
Love has its source in God and not in us. "We love him, because he first loved us" (1 John 4:19). It is "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost" (Romans 5:5) and is the first of the Spirit's fruit (Galatians 5:22).
It is the sum of what God requires. Asked for the great commandment, Jesus named love for God with all the heart and love for one's neighbour, and said, "On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets" (Matthew 22:40). "Love is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans 13:10). He gave a new measure for it: "That ye love one another; as I have loved you" (John 13:34).
It reaches enemies (Matthew 5:44) and it must be practical: "let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18). Augustine summed up Christian ethics as "Love, and do what thou wilt", meaning that a rightly ordered love will will what is right.2
"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity" (1 Corinthians 13:13). In Scripture love is not chiefly a feeling but a settled commitment to another's good, learned from Christ and given by his Spirit.
- Strong's Greek 26, agápē: "love, i.e. affection or benevolence; specially (plural) a love-feast".
- St. Augustine, Ten Homilies On The Epistle Of John To The Parthians, "Homily VII. 1 John IV. 4-12".
In their own words
Each line below is quoted exactly from a sermon on this site. Follow the link to hear or read it where it was said.
Love is a supreme choice of the life to seek the full commitment of the will to bring the greatest good and blessing and happiness to God and to all men.
Paris Reidhead
in (So Great a Salvation) Loving Ones Brother
Listen at 32:51
Love is always thinking of the other person and how it can help the other person.
William MacDonald
in Love
Listen at 5:22
Love is the soul of religion, and that which constitutes a real Christian.
Vernon Higham
in Law of Love 1
Listen at 30:44
Love is how we're meant to imitate our Heavenly Father.
Ernest C. Reisinger
in Love of the Brethren
Listen at 26:24
Love is always doing something useful, saying something good for the person that it loves.
Jim Cymbala
in The Greatest Thing in the World
Listen at 32:32
Love is always polite and politeness has been described as love in the little things of life.
Stephen Olford
in Superlative Qualities of Love
Listen at 27:02
Love is not jealous of others because it doesn't seek its own praise and glory.
Brian Long
in What Is Love? the Root of Self-Seeking
Listen at 29:15
Love is careful not to bring the slightest offense.
Art Katz
in K-033 Extravagant Love
Listen at 41:43
Love is such a weapon that people can't stand against.
Otto Koning
in The Weapon of Love
Listen at 30:44
What Scripture says
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 charity suffers long and is kind
- 1 John 4:7-8 love is of God, for God is love
- John 13:34 love one another, as I have loved you
- Matthew 22:37-40 the two great commandments
- 1 John 3:18 not in word only, but in deed and in truth
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