Love: a Most Misused Word in the World and in the Church
In light of the surge of mainline Christian denominations giving in to the LGBTQ agenda, this post revisits the two greatest commandments to show how misused the word love is in the world and is becoming in the churches.
I’ll make every effort to not belabor the point, because we already know quite well most of what I’m about to share. It is only my hope that when people are really ready to be honest with themselves and with God about love, perhaps they will stumble upon this blog post and be helped by it. Let’s get after it…
There are very few words ever heard or said that are as powerful and as moving as the words, “I love you”. Deep down inside, everyone wants to be loved. However, the problem fallen human beings constantly face is that most of us don’t know what love truly is.
The go-to glossary for love’s various definitions is the Greek lexicon. In the Greek language, there are basically 8 words for love. Briefly, they are as follows:
- Agapé — This is the unconditional or sacrificial giving of oneself for another. It is the kind of love Christ showed in giving His life for undeserving sinners. Biblical examples are found in passages like John 3:16, which says, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, or John 10:14-15 where Jesus says, “I lay down my life for My sheep”.
- Eros — This is romantic and/or sexual passion or desire. Surely God created us for passion, but this love is probably the most abused form of love in the world. Eros is unfortunately at the heart of everything from pre-marital sex, to extra-marital affairs, prostitution, human-trafficking, to homosexuality, incest, pedophilia, and even beastiality. By and through human sinfulness, eros has been mostly relegated to the category of illicit sexual affection that is ultimately all about self-gratification; thus, the term erotica—the milder name for pornography. A positive biblical example of this type of love is found in Song of Solomon, while a negative biblical example is given in II Samual 13 where David’s son, Amnon lusted for and eventually raped his own half-sister Tamar.
- Ludus — This is the type of euphoric feeling of infatuation that happens during what we call the “puppy love” state most often experienced by young people in a first-time relationship.
- Mania — The word is almost self-explanatory. It calls to mind things like “Beatlemania” where young ladies fawned, swooned, and obsessed over the Beatles rock band. A more recent example was “Beibermania”, where girls went absolutely bonkers over a younger, more innocent Justin Beiber. This kind of love can become dangerous, as it sometimes produces stalkers, and people who commit violent acts in the vein of, “If I can’t have you, then nobody will…”
- Philautia — This is what is commonly referred to as positive self-love in its mildest sense, and narcissism in its more extreme sense. Without a sense of positive self-love/worth, it is very difficult (though not impossible) for a person to truly love and value others.
- Philia — This is where we get the name “Philadelphia” (meaning brotherly love). It is a non-romantic love that sees and treats others as close friends and equals. Though it is called “brotherly love” it is not to be confused with storgé which is the type of love that blood brothers have for each other. A good Bible example of Philia is found in II Samuel 1:25-26 where David’s deep love for King Saul’s son, Jonathan is described.
- Pragma — Unlike eros, which is more of a feeling and is mostly about short-term sexual attraction/stimulation, pragma is a mature love that is based on commitment to shared objectives and other tangible and intangible benefits of staying together. Sexual attraction need not be present, but can be.
- Storgé — This love is more akin to the instinctual kind of love family members have for each other. A biblical example is Mary and Martha whose hearts were devastated at the death of their brother Lazarus (John 11).
Although the Bible primarily addresses four types of love (agapé, eros, philia, and storgé), understanding the other types listed can help show how love in its most misconstrued forms have crept into the Church. The misuse of the word love precipitates much of the decline in morality and the widespread departure from sound biblical doctrine we are witnessing today. It truly seems we haven’t learned…
The Greatest Commandment
These days, there are very few things Christians are more afraid of than being called “unloving”. We have become so used to a sinful world pulling that trigger on us, that we have even begun to use it as a weapon against each other.
Why? Because it is much easier to accuse brothers and sisters in Christ of being unloving than it is to speak the truth in love to sinners. What’s worse, however, is that many of us would rather be completely silent about truth than to proactively honor what Christ called the greatest commandment. We know what it is, but far too many of us act as if we either do not believe it or do not understand it. So let us briefly re-examine Matthew 22:34-40…
34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him [a question,] testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Now remember, Jesus Himself said that these were, not one but, two commandments. And though they are virtually inseparable, they do have a hierarchical arrangement. The FIRST of the two commandments says that…
1. “YOU SHALL…” This is a commandment and yet it is also a promise. This means that if your faith in Christ is genuine, you are now equipped with the power to do whatever the Lord says you shall do. But it doesn’t stop there. This ultimately means that you must and will do so, IF… you are a true Christian.
Although Philippians 2:13 makes it clear that it is God who is at work in true believers making us willing and able to do what pleases Him, we have a responsibility to yield to His indwelling Spirit. In short, Jesus isn’t making a suggestion. He is giving a very clear and telling commandment. Have you been honoring and obeying the “you shall’s” of God’s word? If not, then your love for the Lord may not be genuine.
2. “LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD…” If you are saved, then you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). This means that you no longer live to yourself, but that by and through the love of God given you (e.g. Romans 5:5), you through the faith of Jesus Christ now live to do precisely what Jesus did when He was here—you live to do the Father’s will:
9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:9-10).
Obeying the word of God is the greatest proof that you love the Lord your God. If you allow any other love to rival or exceed your love for God, then you are not abiding in Christ, which, again, calls your salvation into question. Yet that’s only the external—the what we can see:
God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7).
3. “WITH ALL YOUR HEART…” The heart here refers primarily to your intellect. Before any sinner can truly love God, he or she must be renewed in the heart. For all who truly trust in Christ, God does a sort of heart/intellect transplant. It is part and parcel to being born-again from heaven. Jesus talked about in John 3:1-8. To be more specific, it is a Divine renewal of the intellect. Hebrews 10:16 makes it clear that this is what is meant by the heart when in it God says…
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds”
In other words, God is saying that He will give them new hearts that will be engraved with His word and a will to obey it. This is a great grace of God that we usually take for granted. God is not somehow programming us like robots when He does this. He is giving us all of the necessary information we need to think righteously, and thereby live, righteously. True Christians are now equipped with all they need to love God with our whole hearts. But will we?
4. “AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL…” The soul primarily refers to the seat of your emotions. The great worshiper, David, declared in Psalm 35:9 that, “my soul shall rejoice in the LORD; It shall exult in His salvation.” And it was also David who, in a time of trouble, cried out to God, “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, [Having] sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me” (Psalm 13:2)?
God sent His Son to seek and to save lost souls. And He sheds His love abroad in the hearts of the saved so that we can be able to reciprocate by loving Him back with joy in our souls…
and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Pet. 1:8).
5. “AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND…” The mind here refers ultimately to the intents of your heart. This is not merely the seat of knowledge, which is your heart or intellect, nor the seat of your emotions, which is your soul. This is your actual will. This is where whatever you ultimately do first gets done. When you determine to love the Lord your God with all your mind. You are not merely operating out of your thoughts and feelings, you are literally loving God with all the strength you need to prove that love by your actions and reactions. This is probably why in the Deuteronomy 6:5 and the Mark 12:30 versions of this great commandment, the words “with all your might” and “with all your strength” are added.
In a negative but vivid example, Romans 1:28 says, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,” This verse is simply saying that because they did not see fit to let the knowledge of God dwell in their hearts (or intellects), God gave them over to their unsaved minds (or wills), which resulted in them doing despicable things. This brings to mind the old adage that says, “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. If you love your Lord God with all your mind, you will prove it by doing the will of God above all else.
Now why is this first and greatest commandment so important for us to understand, to be encouraged by, and to obey? The most important reason is that if you can get this first greatest commandment right, then the second one will become clearer to you in its meaning. There simply is no getting the second greatest commandment right without first getting the first one right.
The Second Greatest Commandment
Jesus further says that the second commandment is like the first. This makes it clear that though they are two commandments, they are inseparable. They are alike, but arranged in an unchangeable order of precedence.
6. “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR…” In giving His disciples a definition of a neighbor, Jesus told them the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). This was a man who, unlike the religious leaders who passed by and left a man in need for dead, stopped, helped the man, and made sure he was well cared for. Clearly Jesus wasn’t just speaking of a next door neighbor. It is evident from the parable that your neighbor is anyone who either may be in need or to whom you can show compassion.
Your neighbor can be a stranger, a friend, or even a family member. And just in case you’re wondering which of the above defined words for love is being used here, it is agapé. I arranged the list alphabetically. Just as agapé comes first alphabetically, it should also come first in our hearts. Agapé is preeminent and if properly exercised, it will sustain, guide, and when necessary, even overrule all the above listed forms of love.
Yet the world has been so deceived by sin that people think that love is whatever makes one feel good, happy, or fulfilled. Fallen, sinful human beings cannot even begin to fathom just how deceitful and desperately wicked the heart is. That is why this world is filled with all sorts of perverted lies about love. Men are sexually and romantically involved with men. Women are sexually and romantically involved with women. Adults are sexually and romantically involved with children. Siblings are sexually and romantically involved with each other. Humans are sexually and romantically involved with animals. God has clearly condemned such false forms of love.
People are making what they call “love” during various sexual trysts, affairs, and one-night stands, and yet through the murderous practice of abortion, they are killing what their so-called love-making produced. How is that love, when it produces something so hateful as the murder of innocent lives in the womb? Yet much of this alleged love has become normalized and even legalized. At this rate it might not be long before speaking against adultery is considered hate speech punishable by prison time.
Sadly, most of the world will likely never know the one greatest fact about true love. What is that? It is simple. True love not only lasts forever. But true love is also experienced forever. And the only source of true and everlasting love is the God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Everlasting love is for everlasting life. And if you are truly in Christ, then you have it, and you will never lose it, because nothing, but nothing, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39). And our Lord has commanded you to love your neighbor. But how?
7. “AS YOURSELF…” Like the rest of this sinful world, many people in the Church have attempted to put the proverbial cart before the horse. They have sought to follow the second greatest commandment without first getting the first greatest commandment right. The results have already been devastating. Churches are ordaining homosexuals and literally defending the gay lifestyle. Gay marriages are being performed by many local churches and pastors. And worse, there is a rise in infidelity among church leaders, many of which are caught in homosexual affairs and pedophile scandals.
Scripture asks in Proverbs 6:27-28, “Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched?” The Lord leaves no ambiguity about what we should love and what we should hate. Yet many who claim to be Christians all but refuse to do what the Bible says about these satanic forms of love growing right under our noses. Ministries and ministers are being biblically disqualified left and right as a result, yet true biblical Church discipline is virtually unheard of.
My fear is not that Christians are not loving their neighbor as themselves. My fear is that they actually are loving their neighbors as themselves. I fear many are sinning against God by trying to make His first commandment secondary, and thereby failing to properly honor His second commandment at all. If you love God first and foremost, you will not willfully violate His word, and neither will you try to support those who are doing so. We have people everywhere claiming they are Christians while also living in a lifestyle that God’s word condemns. But what does Scripture say about them? Can it get any clearer than 1 Corinthians 5:9-13?
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I [did] not at all [mean] with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler–not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within [the church?] 13 But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.
Saints, we literally have such a man running for the office of president of the United States. He claims to be a Christian brother. He even claims that God approves of the fact that He is wedded to a man he loves. And yes. You guessed it. There are Christians and Christian leaders who support him and who vote for him, but none of them rebukes him. Try to call it out, and prepare to be told by those who claim to be Christians that you are not being loving.
It sure seems to me that the apostle Paul was a lot less loving than I’ve ever been. A well-known pastor and leader of one of the largest Christian denominations in the world recently said that we must embrace the LGBTQ lifestyle if we want to be like Christ. The only lifestyle we are commanded to embrace is the life of Christ. Paul in the same chapter of 1 Corinthians talked about turning such so-called believers living in sin over to Satan for the persecution of the flesh. Yet we have so allowed the world to define the word love for us that many of us are afraid to even dream of mentioning the apostle Paul, the very one whom God most used to speak about this wickedness.
Caving to or caressing the LGBTQ agenda is not love. Would we call it love if a person went to a doctor for a routine checkup, and the doctor discovered a lump on her breast, but he only gave her a hug and said I’m praying for you? Of course not. If he didn’t tell her what was wrong with her and didn’t seek to try to help her, we would consider him the cruelest of physicians.
And yet, a Christian who truly loves God first, and therefore loves his neighbor as himself, realizes that he is going to spend eternity with Jesus, and wants his neighbor to join him there. Why? Because he first loves God, and stands on God’s word, and then he loves his neighbor as himself.
He believes and obeys God’s word which says that they that practice such sinful things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:9-10). But he desperately wants his neighbor to inherit the kingdom of God. And so he lovingly tells his neighbor what God says about his sinful living and how, through faith in Jesus Christ, God is mighty to save. And he tells his neighbor that he’d just love for him to spend eternity in heaven with him. And he lets the proverbial chips fall where they may, because his love for God is too strong to let the world’s lies about true love overrule his compassion or keep him from his commission.
Loving People To Death…
Recently there was a televised hearing with government officials about their attempts to pass legislation concerning the latest evil of full-term abortion. In the conversation, the question arose of what would be done in the event that a baby survived the abortion attempt. It was decided that they would comfort the baby while discussing with the birth-mother how they should proceed with ending the life of the child. Isn’t it amazing that those who most talk about love are promoting the most hateful and murderous ideas?
But you know what? Doing that to that born baby is a lot like what many Christians, in the name of love, are doing to people in the LGBTQ community. They are helping them stay comfortable in their current lifestyle, and never trying to deliver them from the eternal death of the wicked, which is separation from God in hellfire.
Yes, dear beloved of God, the word “love” is a most misused word in the world and in the Church! May there be true repentance, and may God have mercy on our souls!
Love: a Most Misused Word in the World and in the Church
In light of the surge of mainline Christian denominations giving in to the LGBTQ agenda, this post revisits the two greatest commandments to show how misused the word love is in the world and is becoming in the churches.
I’ll make every effort to not belabor the point, because we already know quite well most of what I’m about to share. It is only my hope that when people are really ready to be honest with themselves and with God about love, perhaps they will stumble upon this blog post and be helped by it. Let’s get after it…
There are very few words ever heard or said that are as powerful and as moving as the words, “I love you”. Deep down inside, everyone wants to be loved. However, the problem fallen human beings constantly face is that most of us don’t know what love truly is.
The go-to glossary for love’s various definitions is the Greek lexicon. In the Greek language, there are basically 8 words for love. Briefly, they are as follows:
- Agapé — This is the unconditional or sacrificial giving of oneself for another. It is the kind of love Christ showed in giving His life for undeserving sinners. Biblical examples are found in passages like John 3:16, which says, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, or John 10:14-15 where Jesus says, “I lay down my life for My sheep”.
- Eros — This is romantic and/or sexual passion or desire. Surely God created us for passion, but this love is probably the most abused form of love in the world. Eros is unfortunately at the heart of everything from pre-marital sex, to extra-marital affairs, prostitution, human-trafficking, to homosexuality, incest, pedophilia, and even beastiality. By and through human sinfulness, eros has been mostly relegated to the category of illicit sexual affection that is ultimately all about self-gratification; thus, the term erotica—the milder name for pornography. A positive biblical example of this type of love is found in Song of Solomon, while a negative biblical example is given in II Samual 13 where David’s son, Amnon lusted for and eventually raped his own half-sister Tamar.
- Ludus — This is the type of euphoric feeling of infatuation that happens during what we call the “puppy love” state most often experienced by young people in a first-time relationship.
- Mania — The word is almost self-explanatory. It calls to mind things like “Beatlemania” where young ladies fawned, swooned, and obsessed over the Beatles rock band. A more recent example was “Beibermania”, where girls went absolutely bonkers over a younger, more innocent Justin Beiber. This kind of love can become dangerous, as it sometimes produces stalkers, and people who commit violent acts in the vein of, “If I can’t have you, then nobody will…”
- Philautia — This is what is commonly referred to as positive self-love in its mildest sense, and narcissism in its more extreme sense. Without a sense of positive self-love/worth, it is very difficult (though not impossible) for a person to truly love and value others.
- Philia — This is where we get the name “Philadelphia” (meaning brotherly love). It is a non-romantic love that sees and treats others as close friends and equals. Though it is called “brotherly love” it is not to be confused with storgé which is the type of love that blood brothers have for each other. A good Bible example of Philia is found in II Samuel 1:25-26 where David’s deep love for King Saul’s son, Jonathan is described.
- Pragma — Unlike eros, which is more of a feeling and is mostly about short-term sexual attraction/stimulation, pragma is a mature love that is based on commitment to shared objectives and other tangible and intangible benefits of staying together. Sexual attraction need not be present, but can be.
- Storgé — This love is more akin to the instinctual kind of love family members have for each other. A biblical example is Mary and Martha whose hearts were devastated at the death of their brother Lazarus (John 11).
Although the Bible primarily addresses four types of love (agapé, eros, philia, and storgé), understanding the other types listed can help show how love in its most misconstrued forms have crept into the Church. The misuse of the word love precipitates much of the decline in morality and the widespread departure from sound biblical doctrine we are witnessing today. It truly seems we haven’t learned…
The Greatest Commandment
These days, there are very few things Christians are more afraid of than being called “unloving”. We have become so used to a sinful world pulling that trigger on us, that we have even begun to use it as a weapon against each other.
Why? Because it is much easier to accuse brothers and sisters in Christ of being unloving than it is to speak the truth in love to sinners. What’s worse, however, is that many of us would rather be completely silent about truth than to proactively honor what Christ called the greatest commandment. We know what it is, but far too many of us act as if we either do not believe it or do not understand it. So let us briefly re-examine Matthew 22:34-40…
34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him [a question,] testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Now remember, Jesus Himself said that these were, not one but, two commandments. And though they are virtually inseparable, they do have a hierarchical arrangement. The FIRST of the two commandments says that…
1. “YOU SHALL…” This is a commandment and yet it is also a promise. This means that if your faith in Christ is genuine, you are now equipped with the power to do whatever the Lord says you shall do. But it doesn’t stop there. This ultimately means that you must and will do so, IF… you are a true Christian.
Although Philippians 2:13 makes it clear that it is God who is at work in true believers making us willing and able to do what pleases Him, we have a responsibility to yield to His indwelling Spirit. In short, Jesus isn’t making a suggestion. He is giving a very clear and telling commandment. Have you been honoring and obeying the “you shall’s” of God’s word? If not, then your love for the Lord may not be genuine.
2. “LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD…” If you are saved, then you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). This means that you no longer live to yourself, but that by and through the love of God given you (e.g. Romans 5:5), you through the faith of Jesus Christ now live to do precisely what Jesus did when He was here—you live to do the Father’s will:
9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:9-10).
Obeying the word of God is the greatest proof that you love the Lord your God. If you allow any other love to rival or exceed your love for God, then you are not abiding in Christ, which, again, calls your salvation into question. Yet that’s only the external—the what we can see:
God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7).
3. “WITH ALL YOUR HEART…” The heart here refers primarily to your intellect. Before any sinner can truly love God, he or she must be renewed in the heart. For all who truly trust in Christ, God does a sort of heart/intellect transplant. It is part and parcel to being born-again from heaven. Jesus talked about in John 3:1-8. To be more specific, it is a Divine renewal of the intellect. Hebrews 10:16 makes it clear that this is what is meant by the heart when in it God says…
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds”
In other words, God is saying that He will give them new hearts that will be engraved with His word and a will to obey it. This is a great grace of God that we usually take for granted. God is not somehow programming us like robots when He does this. He is giving us all of the necessary information we need to think righteously, and thereby live, righteously. True Christians are now equipped with all they need to love God with our whole hearts. But will we?
4. “AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL…” The soul primarily refers to the seat of your emotions. The great worshiper, David, declared in Psalm 35:9 that, “my soul shall rejoice in the LORD; It shall exult in His salvation.” And it was also David who, in a time of trouble, cried out to God, “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, [Having] sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me” (Psalm 13:2)?
God sent His Son to seek and to save lost souls. And He sheds His love abroad in the hearts of the saved so that we can be able to reciprocate by loving Him back with joy in our souls…
and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Pet. 1:8).
5. “AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND…” The mind here refers ultimately to the intents of your heart. This is not merely the seat of knowledge, which is your heart or intellect, nor the seat of your emotions, which is your soul. This is your actual will. This is where whatever you ultimately do first gets done. When you determine to love the Lord your God with all your mind. You are not merely operating out of your thoughts and feelings, you are literally loving God with all the strength you need to prove that love by your actions and reactions. This is probably why in the Deuteronomy 6:5 and the Mark 12:30 versions of this great commandment, the words “with all your might” and “with all your strength” are added.
In a negative but vivid example, Romans 1:28 says, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,” This verse is simply saying that because they did not see fit to let the knowledge of God dwell in their hearts (or intellects), God gave them over to their unsaved minds (or wills), which resulted in them doing despicable things. This brings to mind the old adage that says, “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. If you love your Lord God with all your mind, you will prove it by doing the will of God above all else.
Now why is this first and greatest commandment so important for us to understand, to be encouraged by, and to obey? The most important reason is that if you can get this first greatest commandment right, then the second one will become clearer to you in its meaning. There simply is no getting the second greatest commandment right without first getting the first one right.
The Second Greatest Commandment
Jesus further says that the second commandment is like the first. This makes it clear that though they are two commandments, they are inseparable. They are alike, but arranged in an unchangeable order of precedence.
6. “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR…” In giving His disciples a definition of a neighbor, Jesus told them the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). This was a man who, unlike the religious leaders who passed by and left a man in need for dead, stopped, helped the man, and made sure he was well cared for. Clearly Jesus wasn’t just speaking of a next door neighbor. It is evident from the parable that your neighbor is anyone who either may be in need or to whom you can show compassion.
Your neighbor can be a stranger, a friend, or even a family member. And just in case you’re wondering which of the above defined words for love is being used here, it is agapé. I arranged the list alphabetically. Just as agapé comes first alphabetically, it should also come first in our hearts. Agapé is preeminent and if properly exercised, it will sustain, guide, and when necessary, even overrule all the above listed forms of love.
Yet the world has been so deceived by sin that people think that love is whatever makes one feel good, happy, or fulfilled. Fallen, sinful human beings cannot even begin to fathom just how deceitful and desperately wicked the heart is. That is why this world is filled with all sorts of perverted lies about love. Men are sexually and romantically involved with men. Women are sexually and romantically involved with women. Adults are sexually and romantically involved with children. Siblings are sexually and romantically involved with each other. Humans are sexually and romantically involved with animals. God has clearly condemned such false forms of love.
People are making what they call “love” during various sexual trysts, affairs, and one-night stands, and yet through the murderous practice of abortion, they are killing what their so-called love-making produced. How is that love, when it produces something so hateful as the murder of innocent lives in the womb? Yet much of this alleged love has become normalized and even legalized. At this rate it might not be long before speaking against adultery is considered hate speech punishable by prison time.
Sadly, most of the world will likely never know the one greatest fact about true love. What is that? It is simple. True love not only lasts forever. But true love is also experienced forever. And the only source of true and everlasting love is the God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Everlasting love is for everlasting life. And if you are truly in Christ, then you have it, and you will never lose it, because nothing, but nothing, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39). And our Lord has commanded you to love your neighbor. But how?
7. “AS YOURSELF…” Like the rest of this sinful world, many people in the Church have attempted to put the proverbial cart before the horse. They have sought to follow the second greatest commandment without first getting the first greatest commandment right. The results have already been devastating. Churches are ordaining homosexuals and literally defending the gay lifestyle. Gay marriages are being performed by many local churches and pastors. And worse, there is a rise in infidelity among church leaders, many of which are caught in homosexual affairs and pedophile scandals.
Scripture asks in Proverbs 6:27-28, “Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched?” The Lord leaves no ambiguity about what we should love and what we should hate. Yet many who claim to be Christians all but refuse to do what the Bible says about these satanic forms of love growing right under our noses. Ministries and ministers are being biblically disqualified left and right as a result, yet true biblical Church discipline is virtually unheard of.
My fear is not that Christians are not loving their neighbor as themselves. My fear is that they actually are loving their neighbors as themselves. I fear many are sinning against God by trying to make His first commandment secondary, and thereby failing to properly honor His second commandment at all. If you love God first and foremost, you will not willfully violate His word, and neither will you try to support those who are doing so. We have people everywhere claiming they are Christians while also living in a lifestyle that God’s word condemns. But what does Scripture say about them? Can it get any clearer than 1 Corinthians 5:9-13?
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I [did] not at all [mean] with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler–not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within [the church?] 13 But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.
Saints, we literally have such a man running for the office of president of the United States. He claims to be a Christian brother. He even claims that God approves of the fact that He is wedded to a man he loves. And yes. You guessed it. There are Christians and Christian leaders who support him and who vote for him, but none of them rebukes him. Try to call it out, and prepare to be told by those who claim to be Christians that you are not being loving.
It sure seems to me that the apostle Paul was a lot less loving than I’ve ever been. A well-known pastor and leader of one of the largest Christian denominations in the world recently said that we must embrace the LGBTQ lifestyle if we want to be like Christ. The only lifestyle we are commanded to embrace is the life of Christ. Paul in the same chapter of 1 Corinthians talked about turning such so-called believers living in sin over to Satan for the persecution of the flesh. Yet we have so allowed the world to define the word love for us that many of us are afraid to even dream of mentioning the apostle Paul, the very one whom God most used to speak about this wickedness.
Caving to or caressing the LGBTQ agenda is not love. Would we call it love if a person went to a doctor for a routine checkup, and the doctor discovered a lump on her breast, but he only gave her a hug and said I’m praying for you? Of course not. If he didn’t tell her what was wrong with her and didn’t seek to try to help her, we would consider him the cruelest of physicians.
And yet, a Christian who truly loves God first, and therefore loves his neighbor as himself, realizes that he is going to spend eternity with Jesus, and wants his neighbor to join him there. Why? Because he first loves God, and stands on God’s word, and then he loves his neighbor as himself.
He believes and obeys God’s word which says that they that practice such sinful things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:9-10). But he desperately wants his neighbor to inherit the kingdom of God. And so he lovingly tells his neighbor what God says about his sinful living and how, through faith in Jesus Christ, God is mighty to save. And he tells his neighbor that he’d just love for him to spend eternity in heaven with him. And he lets the proverbial chips fall where they may, because his love for God is too strong to let the world’s lies about true love overrule his compassion or keep him from his commission.
Loving People To Death…
Recently there was a televised hearing with government officials about their attempts to pass legislation concerning the latest evil of full-term abortion. In the conversation, the question arose of what would be done in the event that a baby survived the abortion attempt. It was decided that they would comfort the baby while discussing with the birth-mother how they should proceed with ending the life of the child. Isn’t it amazing that those who most talk about love are promoting the most hateful and murderous ideas?
But you know what? Doing that to that born baby is a lot like what many Christians, in the name of love, are doing to people in the LGBTQ community. They are helping them stay comfortable in their current lifestyle, and never trying to deliver them from the eternal death of the wicked, which is separation from God in hellfire.
Yes, dear beloved of God, the word “love” is a most misused word in the world and in the Church! May there be true repentance, and may God have mercy on our souls!
Love: a Most Misused Word in the World and in the Church
In light of the surge of mainline Christian denominations giving in to the LGBTQ agenda, this post revisits the two greatest commandments to show how misused the word love is in the world and is becoming in the churches.
I’ll make every effort to not belabor the point, because we already know quite well most of what I’m about to share. It is only my hope that when people are really ready to be honest with themselves and with God about love, perhaps they will stumble upon this blog post and be helped by it. Let’s get after it…
There are very few words ever heard or said that are as powerful and as moving as the words, “I love you”. Deep down inside, everyone wants to be loved. However, the problem fallen human beings constantly face is that most of us don’t know what love truly is.
The go-to glossary for love’s various definitions is the Greek lexicon. In the Greek language, there are basically 8 words for love. Briefly, they are as follows:
- Agapé — This is the unconditional or sacrificial giving of oneself for another. It is the kind of love Christ showed in giving His life for undeserving sinners. Biblical examples are found in passages like John 3:16, which says, “for God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, or John 10:14-15 where Jesus says, “I lay down my life for My sheep”.
- Eros — This is romantic and/or sexual passion or desire. Surely God created us for passion, but this love is probably the most abused form of love in the world. Eros is unfortunately at the heart of everything from pre-marital sex, to extra-marital affairs, prostitution, human-trafficking, to homosexuality, incest, pedophilia, and even beastiality. By and through human sinfulness, eros has been mostly relegated to the category of illicit sexual affection that is ultimately all about self-gratification; thus, the term erotica—the milder name for pornography. A positive biblical example of this type of love is found in Song of Solomon, while a negative biblical example is given in II Samual 13 where David’s son, Amnon lusted for and eventually raped his own half-sister Tamar.
- Ludus — This is the type of euphoric feeling of infatuation that happens during what we call the “puppy love” state most often experienced by young people in a first-time relationship.
- Mania — The word is almost self-explanatory. It calls to mind things like “Beatlemania” where young ladies fawned, swooned, and obsessed over the Beatles rock band. A more recent example was “Beibermania”, where girls went absolutely bonkers over a younger, more innocent Justin Beiber. This kind of love can become dangerous, as it sometimes produces stalkers, and people who commit violent acts in the vein of, “If I can’t have you, then nobody will…”
- Philautia — This is what is commonly referred to as positive self-love in its mildest sense, and narcissism in its more extreme sense. Without a sense of positive self-love/worth, it is very difficult (though not impossible) for a person to truly love and value others.
- Philia — This is where we get the name “Philadelphia” (meaning brotherly love). It is a non-romantic love that sees and treats others as close friends and equals. Though it is called “brotherly love” it is not to be confused with storgé which is the type of love that blood brothers have for each other. A good Bible example of Philia is found in II Samuel 1:25-26 where David’s deep love for King Saul’s son, Jonathan is described.
- Pragma — Unlike eros, which is more of a feeling and is mostly about short-term sexual attraction/stimulation, pragma is a mature love that is based on commitment to shared objectives and other tangible and intangible benefits of staying together. Sexual attraction need not be present, but can be.
- Storgé — This love is more akin to the instinctual kind of love family members have for each other. A biblical example is Mary and Martha whose hearts were devastated at the death of their brother Lazarus (John 11).
Although the Bible primarily addresses four types of love (agapé, eros, philia, and storgé), understanding the other types listed can help show how love in its most misconstrued forms have crept into the Church. The misuse of the word love precipitates much of the decline in morality and the widespread departure from sound biblical doctrine we are witnessing today. It truly seems we haven’t learned…
The Greatest Commandment
These days, there are very few things Christians are more afraid of than being called “unloving”. We have become so used to a sinful world pulling that trigger on us, that we have even begun to use it as a weapon against each other.
Why? Because it is much easier to accuse brothers and sisters in Christ of being unloving than it is to speak the truth in love to sinners. What’s worse, however, is that many of us would rather be completely silent about truth than to proactively honor what Christ called the greatest commandment. We know what it is, but far too many of us act as if we either do not believe it or do not understand it. So let us briefly re-examine Matthew 22:34-40…
34 But when the Pharisees heard that Jesus had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered themselves together. 35 One of them, a lawyer, asked Him [a question,] testing Him, 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’ 38 “This is the great and foremost commandment. 39 “The second is like it, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ 40 “On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”
Now remember, Jesus Himself said that these were, not one but, two commandments. And though they are virtually inseparable, they do have a hierarchical arrangement. The FIRST of the two commandments says that…
1. “YOU SHALL…” This is a commandment and yet it is also a promise. This means that if your faith in Christ is genuine, you are now equipped with the power to do whatever the Lord says you shall do. But it doesn’t stop there. This ultimately means that you must and will do so, IF… you are a true Christian.
Although Philippians 2:13 makes it clear that it is God who is at work in true believers making us willing and able to do what pleases Him, we have a responsibility to yield to His indwelling Spirit. In short, Jesus isn’t making a suggestion. He is giving a very clear and telling commandment. Have you been honoring and obeying the “you shall’s” of God’s word? If not, then your love for the Lord may not be genuine.
2. “LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD…” If you are saved, then you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). This means that you no longer live to yourself, but that by and through the love of God given you (e.g. Romans 5:5), you through the faith of Jesus Christ now live to do precisely what Jesus did when He was here—you live to do the Father’s will:
9 “Just as the Father has loved Me, I have also loved you; abide in My love. 10 “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:9-10).
Obeying the word of God is the greatest proof that you love the Lord your God. If you allow any other love to rival or exceed your love for God, then you are not abiding in Christ, which, again, calls your salvation into question. Yet that’s only the external—the what we can see:
God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart” (I Samuel 16:7).
3. “WITH ALL YOUR HEART…” The heart here refers primarily to your intellect. Before any sinner can truly love God, he or she must be renewed in the heart. For all who truly trust in Christ, God does a sort of heart/intellect transplant. It is part and parcel to being born-again from heaven. Jesus talked about in John 3:1-8. To be more specific, it is a Divine renewal of the intellect. Hebrews 10:16 makes it clear that this is what is meant by the heart when in it God says…
“This is the covenant that I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord: I will put my laws on their hearts, and write them on their minds”
In other words, God is saying that He will give them new hearts that will be engraved with His word and a will to obey it. This is a great grace of God that we usually take for granted. God is not somehow programming us like robots when He does this. He is giving us all of the necessary information we need to think righteously, and thereby live, righteously. True Christians are now equipped with all they need to love God with our whole hearts. But will we?
4. “AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL…” The soul primarily refers to the seat of your emotions. The great worshiper, David, declared in Psalm 35:9 that, “my soul shall rejoice in the LORD; It shall exult in His salvation.” And it was also David who, in a time of trouble, cried out to God, “How long shall I take counsel in my soul, [Having] sorrow in my heart all the day? How long will my enemy be exalted over me” (Psalm 13:2)?
God sent His Son to seek and to save lost souls. And He sheds His love abroad in the hearts of the saved so that we can be able to reciprocate by loving Him back with joy in our souls…
and though you have not seen Him, you love Him, and though you do not see Him now, but believe in Him, you greatly rejoice with joy inexpressible and full of glory (1 Pet. 1:8).
5. “AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND…” The mind here refers ultimately to the intents of your heart. This is not merely the seat of knowledge, which is your heart or intellect, nor the seat of your emotions, which is your soul. This is your actual will. This is where whatever you ultimately do first gets done. When you determine to love the Lord your God with all your mind. You are not merely operating out of your thoughts and feelings, you are literally loving God with all the strength you need to prove that love by your actions and reactions. This is probably why in the Deuteronomy 6:5 and the Mark 12:30 versions of this great commandment, the words “with all your might” and “with all your strength” are added.
In a negative but vivid example, Romans 1:28 says, “And just as they did not see fit to acknowledge God any longer, God gave them over to a depraved mind, to do those things which are not proper,” This verse is simply saying that because they did not see fit to let the knowledge of God dwell in their hearts (or intellects), God gave them over to their unsaved minds (or wills), which resulted in them doing despicable things. This brings to mind the old adage that says, “where there’s a will, there’s a way”. If you love your Lord God with all your mind, you will prove it by doing the will of God above all else.
Now why is this first and greatest commandment so important for us to understand, to be encouraged by, and to obey? The most important reason is that if you can get this first greatest commandment right, then the second one will become clearer to you in its meaning. There simply is no getting the second greatest commandment right without first getting the first one right.
The Second Greatest Commandment
Jesus further says that the second commandment is like the first. This makes it clear that though they are two commandments, they are inseparable. They are alike, but arranged in an unchangeable order of precedence.
6. “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR…” In giving His disciples a definition of a neighbor, Jesus told them the parable of the good Samaritan (Luke 10:30-37). This was a man who, unlike the religious leaders who passed by and left a man in need for dead, stopped, helped the man, and made sure he was well cared for. Clearly Jesus wasn’t just speaking of a next door neighbor. It is evident from the parable that your neighbor is anyone who either may be in need or to whom you can show compassion.
Your neighbor can be a stranger, a friend, or even a family member. And just in case you’re wondering which of the above defined words for love is being used here, it is agapé. I arranged the list alphabetically. Just as agapé comes first alphabetically, it should also come first in our hearts. Agapé is preeminent and if properly exercised, it will sustain, guide, and when necessary, even overrule all the above listed forms of love.
Yet the world has been so deceived by sin that people think that love is whatever makes one feel good, happy, or fulfilled. Fallen, sinful human beings cannot even begin to fathom just how deceitful and desperately wicked the heart is. That is why this world is filled with all sorts of perverted lies about love. Men are sexually and romantically involved with men. Women are sexually and romantically involved with women. Adults are sexually and romantically involved with children. Siblings are sexually and romantically involved with each other. Humans are sexually and romantically involved with animals. God has clearly condemned such false forms of love.
People are making what they call “love” during various sexual trysts, affairs, and one-night stands, and yet through the murderous practice of abortion, they are killing what their so-called love-making produced. How is that love, when it produces something so hateful as the murder of innocent lives in the womb? Yet much of this alleged love has become normalized and even legalized. At this rate it might not be long before speaking against adultery is considered hate speech punishable by prison time.
Sadly, most of the world will likely never know the one greatest fact about true love. What is that? It is simple. True love not only lasts forever. But true love is also experienced forever. And the only source of true and everlasting love is the God who so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, so that whoever believes in Him will not perish, but have everlasting life. Everlasting love is for everlasting life. And if you are truly in Christ, then you have it, and you will never lose it, because nothing, but nothing, can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 8:35-39). And our Lord has commanded you to love your neighbor. But how?
7. “AS YOURSELF…” Like the rest of this sinful world, many people in the Church have attempted to put the proverbial cart before the horse. They have sought to follow the second greatest commandment without first getting the first greatest commandment right. The results have already been devastating. Churches are ordaining homosexuals and literally defending the gay lifestyle. Gay marriages are being performed by many local churches and pastors. And worse, there is a rise in infidelity among church leaders, many of which are caught in homosexual affairs and pedophile scandals.
Scripture asks in Proverbs 6:27-28, “Can a man take fire in his bosom And his clothes not be burned? Or can a man walk on hot coals And his feet not be scorched?” The Lord leaves no ambiguity about what we should love and what we should hate. Yet many who claim to be Christians all but refuse to do what the Bible says about these satanic forms of love growing right under our noses. Ministries and ministers are being biblically disqualified left and right as a result, yet true biblical Church discipline is virtually unheard of.
My fear is not that Christians are not loving their neighbor as themselves. My fear is that they actually are loving their neighbors as themselves. I fear many are sinning against God by trying to make His first commandment secondary, and thereby failing to properly honor His second commandment at all. If you love God first and foremost, you will not willfully violate His word, and neither will you try to support those who are doing so. We have people everywhere claiming they are Christians while also living in a lifestyle that God’s word condemns. But what does Scripture say about them? Can it get any clearer than 1 Corinthians 5:9-13?
9 I wrote you in my letter not to associate with immoral people; 10 I [did] not at all [mean] with the immoral people of this world, or with the covetous and swindlers, or with idolaters, for then you would have to go out of the world. 11 But actually, I wrote to you not to associate with any so-called brother if he is an immoral person, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or a swindler–not even to eat with such a one. 12 For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Do you not judge those who are within [the church?] 13 But those who are outside, God judges. REMOVE THE WICKED MAN FROM AMONG YOURSELVES.
Saints, we literally have such a man running for the office of president of the United States. He claims to be a Christian brother. He even claims that God approves of the fact that He is wedded to a man he loves. And yes. You guessed it. There are Christians and Christian leaders who support him and who vote for him, but none of them rebukes him. Try to call it out, and prepare to be told by those who claim to be Christians that you are not being loving.
It sure seems to me that the apostle Paul was a lot less loving than I’ve ever been. A well-known pastor and leader of one of the largest Christian denominations in the world recently said that we must embrace the LGBTQ lifestyle if we want to be like Christ. The only lifestyle we are commanded to embrace is the life of Christ. Paul in the same chapter of 1 Corinthians talked about turning such so-called believers living in sin over to Satan for the persecution of the flesh. Yet we have so allowed the world to define the word love for us that many of us are afraid to even dream of mentioning the apostle Paul, the very one whom God most used to speak about this wickedness.
Caving to or caressing the LGBTQ agenda is not love. Would we call it love if a person went to a doctor for a routine checkup, and the doctor discovered a lump on her breast, but he only gave her a hug and said I’m praying for you? Of course not. If he didn’t tell her what was wrong with her and didn’t seek to try to help her, we would consider him the cruelest of physicians.
And yet, a Christian who truly loves God first, and therefore loves his neighbor as himself, realizes that he is going to spend eternity with Jesus, and wants his neighbor to join him there. Why? Because he first loves God, and stands on God’s word, and then he loves his neighbor as himself.
He believes and obeys God’s word which says that they that practice such sinful things shall not inherit the kingdom of God (I Corinthians 6:9-10). But he desperately wants his neighbor to inherit the kingdom of God. And so he lovingly tells his neighbor what God says about his sinful living and how, through faith in Jesus Christ, God is mighty to save. And he tells his neighbor that he’d just love for him to spend eternity in heaven with him. And he lets the proverbial chips fall where they may, because his love for God is too strong to let the world’s lies about true love overrule his compassion or keep him from his commission.
Loving People To Death…
Recently there was a televised hearing with government officials about their attempts to pass legislation concerning the latest evil of full-term abortion. In the conversation, the question arose of what would be done in the event that a baby survived the abortion attempt. It was decided that they would comfort the baby while discussing with the birth-mother how they should proceed with ending the life of the child. Isn’t it amazing that those who most talk about love are promoting the most hateful and murderous ideas?
But you know what? Doing that to that born baby is a lot like what many Christians, in the name of love, are doing to people in the LGBTQ community. They are helping them stay comfortable in their current lifestyle, and never trying to deliver them from the eternal death of the wicked, which is separation from God in hellfire.
Yes, dear beloved of God, the word “love” is a most misused word in the world and in the Church! May there be true repentance, and may God have mercy on our souls!