John 15
9 “I have loved you the same way the Father has loved me. So live in my love. 10 If you obey my commandments, you will live in my love. I have obeyed my Father’s commandments, and in that way I live in his love. 11 I have told you this so that you will be as joyful as I am, and your joy will be complete. 12Love each other as I have loved you. This is what I’m commanding you to do. 13 The greatest love you can show is to give your life for your friends.
Love refers to a variety of different feelings, states, and
attitudes that ranges from interpersonal affection ("I love my mother") to
pleasure ("I loved that meal"). It can refer to an emotion of a strong attraction and personal attachment.[1] It can also be a virtue
representing human kindness, compassion, and affection—"the unselfish
loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another".[2] It may also describe compassionate and
affectionate actions towards other humans, one's self or animals.[3]
·
·
Do everything with love.
We love because God loved us first.
“I have loved you the same way the Father has loved me. So live
in my love.
This is love: not that we have loved God, but that he loved us
and sent his Son to be the payment for our sins.
Honor your father and mother. Love your neighbor as you love
yourself.”
The second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as you love
yourself.’
The Father loves you because you have loved me and have believed
that I came from God.
Above all, love each other warmly, because love covers many
sins.
Be very careful to love the Lord your God.
Your commandments, which I love, make me happy.
“If you love those who love you, do you deserve any thanks for
that? Even sinners love those who love them.
But if they love God, they are known by God.
Through Christ Jesus my love is with all of you.
That is why I urge you to assure him that you love him.
So husbands must love their wives as they love their own bodies.
A man who loves his wife loves himself.
Continue to love each other.
So Jonathan made a pledge of mutual loyalty with David because he loved him
as much as he loved himself.
I love those who love me.Those eagerly looking for me will find
me.
If you love those who love you, do you deserve a reward? Even
the tax collectors do that!
“I’m giving you a new commandment: Love each other in the same
way that I have loved you.
Love each other as I have loved you. This is what I’m commanding
you to do.
Love never does anything that is harmful to a neighbor.
Therefore, love fulfills Moses’ Teachings.
So these three things remain: faith, hope, and love. But the
best one of these is love.
Why? Because I don’t love you? God knows that I do love you.
·
All of Moses’ Teachings are summarized in a single statement,
“Love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
These things have I spoken unto you
Concerning the vine and branches, his abiding in them, and they in him, their
fruitfulness from him, and perseverance in him, his love to them, and theirs to
him:
that my joy might remain in you;
meaning either that joy with which he joyed in and over them, as united to him,
and which is of the same nature as the joy of the bridegroom over the bride,
and which will always remain and continue the same; or rather that joy which he
is the author, object, ground, and matter of, for there is always reason to
rejoice in him, even in the most afflictive circumstances of life:
and that your joy might be full;
that grace of joy which is implanted in the soul, by the Spirit of God in
regeneration, and arises from, and is increased by discoveries of the person,
grace, blood, righteousness, and sacrifice of Christ; and is "full of
glory", ( 1
Peter 1:8 ) ; upon a
clear sight of him in this life, and will be entirely full, completely
perfected in the other world, when he will be seen as he is,
This is my commandment, that ye love one another
Christ had been before speaking of his commandments; and he mentions this as
the principal one, and to which all the rest may be reduced; for as the
precepts of the second table of the moral law may be briefly comprehended in
this one duty, love to our neighbour, so all the duties of Christianity,
relative to one another, are reducible to this, by love to serve each other.
This was the commandment which lay uppermost on Christ's heart, and which he
knew, if attended to, the rest could not fail of being observed. The argument
by which, and the manner in which, he presses it, is as before:
as I have loved you;
than which nothing can be more strong and forcible; see ( John
13:34 ) .
Greater love hath no man than this
By these words our Lord shows, how far love to another should extend, even to
the laying down of our lives for the brethren; which is the highest instance of
love among men;
that a man lay down his life for his friends;
and in which believers, should not come short of them; and also his great love
to his people, and explains what he had just said, "as I have loved
you", ( John
13:34 ) ( 15:12 ) ; which in a little time would be
seen, by his laying down his life for them: for he not only came down from
heaven, and laid aside his glory and royal majesty, but he laid down his life;
not his gold and silver, and the riches of this world, which were all his, but
his life; than which, nothing is dearer to a man, is himself, his all: and
besides, Christ's life was not a common one, it was not the life of an innocent
person only, or the life of a mere man, but of a man in union with the Son of God;
it was the Lord of glory and Prince of life, who was crucified, and slain; a
life that was entirely at his own dispose; it had never been forfeited by sin,
nor could it have been forced away from him by men or devils; it was laid down
of and by himself, freely and voluntarily; and that "for", in the
room, and instead of his people, as a ransom for them; he being their surety
and substitute, and standing in their legal place and stead, he took their sins
upon him, bore the curse of the law, sustained his Father's wrath, and all the
punishment due to sin; and so suffered death, the death of the cross; the just,
in the room and stead of the unjust; the persons for whom be laid down his
life, are described as "his friends"; not that they were originally
so; being enemies and enmity itself to God, when he laid down his life for
them, and reconciled them; they were not such as had carried themselves
friendly, or had shown any love and affection to him, but all the reverse: but
they are so called, because he had chosen them for his friends; he had pitched
upon them, and resolved to make them so; and by dying for them, reconciled them
who were enemies; and in consequence of this, by his Spirit and grace, of
enemies makes them friends; so that his love in dying for his people, is
greater than any instance of love among men: he laid down his life for his
enemies, without any sinister selfish views, and that freely and voluntarily;
whereas among men, when one man has laid down his life for others, either they
have been very deserving, or he has been forced to it, or it has been done with
the view of popular applause and vain glory.
We all have our differences, political, sports, what type of barbecue is best, etc... but where the bible is fairly clear we are to love one another just as Jesus has loved us. Were we worthy of his love pouring out on the cross? were we worthy of his giving all he had? do you love him enough to take his place? my question for anyone who reads this is whom does your flame of love burn for? does it just burn for those you are close to...or does it also burn for the homeless person on the corner...does it burn for the soldier who had seen the most horrible atrocities imaginable? I can't speak for others, but my heart burns for all those i come in contact with, those who have nobody, those who need a friend, or maybe just a shoulder to cry on, or maybe just an ear to listen to them. Listen to the songs below and really ponder, close your eyes and listen to them and really think about whom your love is for.
(commentary by john gill, scripture reference courtesy of bible.com, love definition courtesy of wikipedia.com)
