Pure Love
Recently, I passed by a house with a multicolored sign in the front yard. There were horizontal lines of different colors, each with a short message. One of those messages was, “Love is Love.” This is a popular statement these days. Some churches display that message, and you often find it on social media. “Love is love” is true but is also useless. It’s like saying 1 = 1. While true, it tells me nothing new. There is a difference, though. Everyone has a common understanding of the number one. There is usually no debate on what the number one is. However, this is not the case with love. “Love is love” is a useless statement because it doesn’t define love. It is one of those statements that is a mile wide and an inch deep. The meaning is supposed to be evident, but when you start digging in, there isn’t much there. It allows me to define what love is. Love is whatever my heart wants or makes me feel good. To use a mathematical analogy again, consider the equation x = x. That is a valid mathematical statement. Let’s ask the question that all beginning algebra students ask, “What is x?” With the equation x = x, x can be any value that you want, and the equation remains true. The same applies to the statement, “Love is love.” Love can be whatever you want it to be, and the statement remains true. Of course, the problem is there is no independent, objective definition of love.
Those who promote this amorphous understanding of love expect everyone to agree with their understanding of love, but this is often a one-way street. If you claim that their definition of love is not valid, they don’t offer the same courtesy they want you to provide to them. In the “Love is love” world, love is primarily considered to be affectionate feelings that result in kind actions towards another. It is purely subjective. However, there is an objective definition of love. In 1 John 4:8 we read, “God is love.” Again, though, we must be careful. Who is God? What is he like? What is his character? In our fallen world, even though we are made in God’s image, we make up a god (or gods) in our image. My definition of sin is assumed to be God’s definition of sin. My understanding of what is good and right is deemed to be God’s understanding of what is good and right. My loving God accepts me just as I am.
The Scriptures say otherwise. In the Bible, we find the true God and his character defined. However, we still have a problem. There are different interpretations of the Bible. In our fallen state, we twist God’s word to fit what pleases us. We have “itching ears,” as 2 Timothy 4:3 says. We reject sound doctrine and listen to teachers who suit our own passions. My purpose is not to discuss principles for sound biblical interpretation (hermeneutics). For now, let me point out that if my or your interpretation of the Bible minimizes the seriousness of sin and compromises God’s holiness, then we are putting ourselves in the place of God. God is then like Gumby; we can shape him however we want.
The only sound path is to proclaim “God is love” without compromising his holiness. This leads us back to defining love. Because God is love, love must be consistent with his character. Romans 12:9 says,
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. (ESV)
The NIV says,
Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.
The Greek word translated as genuine (ESV) or sincere (NIV) literally means without hypocrisy. Some translations, such as the NASB 1995, say, “Let love be without hypocrisy.” Love cannot seem to be one thing but is actually something else.
Consider the word sincere. That word comes from the Latin sine cera, which means “without wax.” Pottery would be marked as “sincere,” meaning it had no cracks in it that were filled with wax and then covered over. If you bought a jar that was not “sincere” and put a hot liquid in it, the wax would melt, revealing the flaws. It looked good on the outside but was not what it seemed to be. So, love must be sincere. That’s why the first thing Paul says about the character of our love is we are to hate. Love hates that which is evil because God hates that which is evil. Proverbs 6:16–19 says,
There are six things that the LORD hates,
seven that are an abomination to him:
haughty eyes, a lying tongue,
and hands that shed innocent blood,
a heart that devises wicked plans,
feet that make haste to run to evil,
a false witness who breathes out lies,
and one who sows discord among brothers. (ESV)
Not only are we to abhor evil, but we are also to hold fast to that which is good. Why is that? Because God is good. We read in Mark 10:17–18 of the young man who came to Jesus,
And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. (ESV)
God is the definition of good. He is the only objective standard of goodness, and he has revealed himself and his goodness in his Word. Love can only be understood in terms of what is good. All that comes from the Lord is pure. As James 3:17 says, “The wisdom from above is first pure.”
In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul says much about love. He explains what true love is and what it is not.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (1 Corinthians 13:4–7 ESV)
Notice that love “does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth.” God’s love is pure thus, ours must be as well. This does not mean we are free to be harsh and unkind to those who promote unbiblical understandings of love. We are always required to “speak the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15), but it is never loving to compromise God’s truth.
Photo by Kristina Paukshtite: https://www.pexels.com/photo/three-red-heart-balloons-704748/