Results 1 - 3 of 3
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Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Love God, His word, any difference? | Ps 95:10 | Aixen7z4 | 153537 | ||
O course, there is a difference. Try to see the difference by adding a third object of love, namely, your brother. You cannot love God without loving your brother (1 John 4:20). If a man says, “I love God”, and hates his brother, he is a liar: for he that loves not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen? Though we have not seen God, we can love him (1 Peter 1:8). But a man can love his brother without loving God. One man loves his brother precisely because he believes there is no God. He is a humanist. One man says, “God is love and love is God” and does not even seek to know the supreme being called Jehovah. The fact is, God is love (1 John 4) but love is not God. John says, “No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwells in us, and his love is perfected in us” (1 John 4:12). Does that mean that whenever we see people love each other we can conclude that God dwells in them? No. John is speaking about himself and the other apostles, and differentiating them from false teachers. He is saying the fact they loved one another was one evidence that God dwelt in them. There are other evidences, and the reverse of this one is not necessarily true. Jesus said, “Sinners also love those that love them“ (Luke 6). A man who loves God should love his brother. It is a commandment that we have from him, that he who loves God should love his brother also. It is a commandment, not a corollary. It is always possible to disobey a commandment. And it is sad to say that Christians often disobey that commandment. Sad to say that there is often more love among “sinners” than among brethren. But let’s not get into that. Let’s just say that loving your brother is not the same as loving God. The two should go together, but they are not equivalent. The same may be said for loving the word of God and loving God. The person who loves God wants to please him, wants hear about him, wants to hear from him. Therefore, he should love the word of God. The same psalmist who says, “I love the lord (Psalm 116) also says, “Your law do I love” (Psalm 119). Indeed, blessed is the man who delights in the law of the Lord (Psalm 1). Yet some people have loved God when they had no Bible. They include Abraham, Isaac, Joseph, and my sister. They include most of the people of faith who lived before the invention of printing. And some people do not love the Bible in spite of the fact they have one, because they are unable to read or otherwise do not find it easy to understand. Some people love the Lord and have not learnt to love the Bible. |
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2 | Love God, His word, any difference? | Ps 95:10 | DocTrinsograce | 153540 | ||
Dear Dr. Aixen, You wrote, "But a man can love his brother without loving God." I'd challange that statement with Scriptural backing. Lost people do not know how to love, nor is there any love in them except love for self-love. But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith... (Galatians 5:22) True Christian love never comes without the Holy Spirit. For He is our peace, He making us both one, and breaking down the middle wall of partition, in His flesh causing to cease the enmity, the Law of the commandments in decrees, that He might in Himself create the two into one new man, making peace, and might reconcile both in one body to God through the cross, slaying the enmity in Himself. (Ephesians 2:14-16) In Him, Doc PS Please argue your case using the Word, rather than experiences. We avow the authority of Scripture, not the authority of experience. This will also help to keep you within the forum guidelines. |
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3 | Love God, His word, any difference? | Ps 95:10 | kalos | 153541 | ||
Doc: I agree with you re the impossibility of loving one's brother when one does not love God. It's very simple, really. God is love. If one doesn't have God, then he doesn't have love. Grace to you, Kalos |
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