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NASB | John 13:34 "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. |
AMPLIFIED 2015 | John 13:34 "I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, so you too are to love one another. |
Subject: What is your definition of love? |
Bible Note: EdB, Hey, I'm sure it was unintentional on both sides. If you can apologize, so can I. I have a propensity for being harsh now and again without meaning to. I have four boys 6-10, so ... In any case, it would seem to me that we are in agreement to an extent. Use your chocolate example. You can tell someone you love chocolate, but if you never eat it, they may have reason to doubt it after a while, just as we can claim to be Christians, but if they don't see the love that Jesus said would identify us as his disciples, sooner or later they will doubt us and view us as liars or hypocrites. If, on the other hand, you tell no one that you love chocolate, but everyone you know sees you eating chocolate constantly, they will eventually believe that you love chocolate whether you tell them or not. This is the same as Christianity again, because if we love each other in deed, we need not tell anyone how much we love. They will see it and know it to be so without us having to say a word. Now, taking it to the next level, I'm not so sure I see it as a philosophy. If we are actively loving in deed, meaning that we are actively practicing the virtue of being kind, temperate, charitable, patient, joyful, exhortant, forgiving, humble, hating evil, loving righteousness, etc., then we will be unable to do those things that are contrary to God. For example, how can we kill someone we are trying to love? We wouldn't want someone to do that to us, so to actively love our neighbor as ourselves, we won't kill them. Nor will we steal from them, lay with their spouse, etc. I believe you covered these in one of your posts already. But on an even more obscure level, consider not rendering evil for evil, but good for evil. To actively practive love is to be forgiving, so we offer the other cheek instead of striking back. If someone sues us for our cloak, we exercise the active attitude of love in giving to them as they have need. If someone asks you to go with them a mile, go with them two, because they wouldn't have asked the one if they didn't need help ... so to go with them beyond what they requested is a loving attitude in practical application. This, I believe, is what Stultis was getting at. As stated in Romans 13, love (the active practice of doing those things that are indicative of a loving attitude) is the fulfillment of the law, does no harm to another, and all the commandments are summed up by it. So to answer his question in truth, what commands do we have that have nothing to do with love? I would have to say, "none." Every command I see, whether going to church or giving tithes, humbling yourself or being forgiving ... they are all products of an active loving attitude. To quote John, "If a man loves his brother he walks in the light and there is no occasion of stumbling in him." I would even go so far as to say that if you are actively practicing love, I really can't see any reason why we should ever stumble, fall, or sin. Your thoughts? Xerxes |