by Peter Homeier

An essay on the nature of Christian love posted to the Usenet newsgroups net.religion.christian and net.religion on September 4, 1985.

Peter Homeier of The Aerospace Corporation in El Segundo, California, writes on agape — the distinctive love of the New Testament tradition, described in 1 Corinthians 13: patient, kind, without envy, without pride, holding nothing against the beloved, enduring all things. This is not romance, sentiment, or even the love between spouses; it is a decision and an action, the love that flows from God into those who receive it.

Homeier argues that Christian love is not generated from within but received from without: "We love Him because He first loved us." The love of God is unconditional and cannot be earned or lost — no sin makes it less, no virtue makes it more. This security, he writes, is the very ground from which love for others becomes possible.

Note: The opening lines of this essay were not preserved in the UTZOO tape archive; the text begins mid-sentence, in the middle of an initial description of God's love.

...so wonderful that nothing can be compared to it. It answers the deepest need and cry of the human heart for acceptance and kindness. It lowers itself without regard to its own position or importance. It pours itself out selflessly, wholeheartedly, graciously, doing whatever possible to help the beloved.

We love, by first accepting the love that God would give to us. "We love Him because He first loved us." (1 John 4:19) Then as His love flows into us, we become able to love others with that same love. "... God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God." (2 Cor 1:3–4)

Love is not optional for a Christian. It is the commandment of God, which subsumes all other commands within itself. "'You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'" (Mark 12:30–31)

In fact, among Christians, we have an additional commandment: that we are to love each other not just as we love ourselves, but as Christ loved us, and gave Himself for us, even to die for us. Jesus prayed that we would have this love for one another in the Garden of Gethsemane, as He was entering His Passion.

But what is it to love one another? Love is a word which is much ill-used in today's culture, and those errors tend to creep into our minds and deflect our purpose from the clear straightforward love that Jesus exemplified. First of all, Christian love does not mean fornication or adultery. These sins of the flesh have nothing to do with the love of God; indeed they war against God, and those that love them also hate God to the same degree. The obedient Christian, due to a love of God, respects the body as the holy temple of the Spirit of God.

But even the love that is appropriate between husband and wife is not the same as the love God calls us to. The love that He wants us to learn is called in the Greek language, "agape." What this love is like is beautifully described in 1 Corinthians 13:

"Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

"And now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love."

This is the love that the Father had for us, even while we were still completely lost in our sins. It is this love that the Father had for us and demonstrated in sending the Son to us. It is this love that the Son had when he submitted to being humiliated, beaten, scorned, and slain by crucifixion. It was a gentle yet powerful love, generous, and ready to act. Indeed, love will always find a way to express itself in action, naturally, because the honest concern for the other will find some way to help them, be it as quiet as prayer.

Love is not very much an emotion. Rather it is more a decision, and an action. To love your enemy may seem impossible if you are trying to have nice feelings towards him, but it does become possible if you realize that what God wants you to do is to forgive him, and if you see something lying by the road that he has lost, to restore it to him. You love because you decide to love, and that love shows itself in an action.

Love shows itself in many ways. The best example of a loving person we have is Jesus himself. Look at how humble He was, to wash the feet of the disciples, and see how inviting He was, to take Peter, James, and John with Him to the Mount of Transfiguration!

Above all, love is itself a gift from God. It is He who makes us able to love. When we were unsaved, we did not love, for we did not have Him living in us whose very nature is love. All that we did before in the name of love had other motives at the bottom, motives of seeking approval, of giving in order to get. But God's love just flows happily, whether or not anyone approves of the loving, or gives anything in return. His love is unconditional; ours is conditional until He teaches us His own love. And this teaching can only occur as we receive His love. This receiving may come during our every-day experience with trials and difficulties, during worship at church, during bible study, or during private devotions, quiet time. God will pour His love into us whenever we are willing to receive it. He loves us far more than we will ever love Him.

Also, the love of God cannot be earned. There is nothing so wonderful that we can do for God that will make Him love us any more than He already does. Similarly, there is nothing so depraved that we can do against God that will make Him love us any less than He does right now. No matter how many times we fall back into sin, He is always ready to cheerfully clean us up and set us straight and get us going again. His love never ends. One of the most terrible lies of Satan is when a believer stumbles: "God cannot love you now. You have failed Him. He will now turn away from you and abandon you." This is a complete falsehood. The Bible says, "I will not leave you nor forsake you." (Joshua 1:5) And in Romans, Paul writes:

"For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." (Romans 8:38–39)

In view of such a complete, overwhelming love, what can we do but let our hearts overflow with the same love back to God, and also to our fellow men, saved and unsaved, bringing everyone the beauty of the knowledge of God.

Colophon

Written by Peter Homeier ([email protected] / homeier@aerospace), The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, California. Posted to the Usenet newsgroups net.religion.christian and net.religion, September 4, 1985. Original Article-ID: aero.415. The opening lines of this essay were not preserved in the UTZOO tape archive.

Preserved from the Usenet archive (UTZOO tape collection, batch b51) for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.

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