As we reach the end of Peter’s list of qualities we are to add to our faith, we come to one that Paul described in another context as “the greatest of these” (1 Corinthians 13:13) – love. It is fitting for this to be the final trait, though not because it is the least important. As faith is the foundation upon which all of these others are added, love must be the motivation for all that we do in these areas.
“Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ” (2 Peter 1:5-8).
What Is Love?
There are a few different Greek words for love, but the one Peter used in this passage is the most common in the New Testament (agape). This is an active love that leads one to strive to do what is best for others. It is “not shown by doing what the person loved desires but what the one who loves deems as needed by the one loved” (Zodhiates). In other words, loving someone does not mean doing everything they want but what they need. And this is done in a way that makes sacrifices for them. “Christian love…is not an impulse from the feelings, it does not always run with the natural inclinations…” (Vine’s). When the New Testament uses this word, it is about seeking the good of others ahead of our own interests.
What Love Looks Like WITHOUT Faith
People in the world often talk about love and appeal to it as a fundamental principle of their lives. However, at best, love without faith falls short of what it ought to be. Yet without faith as the foundation, many people change the definition of love. Rather than making sacrifices for the good of others, they try to make others feel good about their wicked and destructive behavior, while they themselves feel good about themselves because of how “loving” they are.
Many will accept the sinful behavior of others in the name of “love.” For many people, to “love” someone means accepting their chosen lifestyle. The church in Corinth had adopted this mentality and accepted one in sin: “It is actually reported that there is immorality among you, and immorality of such a kind as does not exist even among the Gentiles, that someone has his father’s wife. You have become arrogant and have not mourned instead, so that the one who had done this deed would be removed from your midst” (1 Corinthians 5:1-2). Many today are like these brethren in that they are “arrogant” over how “tolerant” they are. Yet we are not to tolerate sin.*
Going beyond mere acceptance, some will actively enable destructive behavior. A commonly cited example of this is giving money to someone who will use it to buy drugs or alcohol. Rather than helping the addict or alcoholic to give up their vice, they enable it by giving them money to purchase more. In recent years, we have seen many in our society “affirm” transgenderism. Instead of trying to get those who struggle with this the help they need to overcome their mental issues, they argue that we need to provide drugs, hormones, and surgeries to “affirm” their delusion. Such things are done to “help” others in the name of “love.” However, as Jesus explained in the parable of the prodigal son, we cannot help someone who does not want to change. The father could not welcome his son and help him get his life back on track until his son “came to his senses” and returned (Luke 15:11-24).
Many in our culture use “love” as their reason for disregarding God’s marriage law. The Hebrew writer said, “Marriage is to be held in honor among all, and the marriage bed is to be undefiled; for fornicators and adulterers God will judge” (Hebrews 13:4). God established marriage in the beginning (Genesis 2:24), and Jesus reiterated the divine plan for marriage by explaining that it was for one man and one woman for life (Matthew 19:4-6). We cannot throw out God’s law because people “love” each other.** “Love” is used to justify premarital sex, adulterous marriages, homosexual relationships, and more; yet none of these are in harmony with God’s law.
What Love Looks Like WITH Faith
When we start with faith, how we exhibit love in our lives will look different from the world. “Faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ” (Romans 10:17), so we look to the Scriptures to see “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6).
First of all, love will lead us to obey God’s commandments. John wrote, “For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:3). While many in the world use “love” as an excuse to disregard the teachings of Scripture, we must recognize that real love is demonstrated by following His word. Loving the Lord means obeying Him, as Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (John 14:15). Loving others also means obeying the commands found in God’s word, as Paul wrote, “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10).
We also must be willing to make sacrifices. Jesus gave Himself as the chief example of this: “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). We are to “walk in love, just as Christ also loved you and gave Himself up for us” (Ephesians 5:2). As we put this into practice, we will put the needs of others ahead of ourselves (as we already saw in the definition of agape). Paul wrote, “Make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others” (Philippians 2:2-4).
Love that is grounded in faith will also rejoice “with the truth,” and not “in unrighteousness” (1 Corinthians 13:6). This is why love cannot be used to justify what is contrary to God’s will (such as homosexuality and transgenderism). In order for our “love [to] be without hypocrisy,” we must “abhor what is evil; cling to what is good” (Romans 12:9). We speak “the truth in love” (Ephesians 4:15) in order to offer correction for those who are in sin rather than “affirming” it.
In his first letter, Peter wrote that “love covers a multitude of sins” (1 Peter 4:8). He did not mean that love “tolerates” sin. Instead, this is about unity in the truth. The wise man wrote, “Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all transgressions” (Proverbs 10:12). Paul encouraged the brethren in Colossae, “Beyond all these things put on love, which is the perfect bond of unity” (Colossians 3:14). When we enjoy the “unity of the faith” (Ephesians 4:13), we can encourage and build one another up “in love” (Ephesians 4:16). In other words, love should not cause us to remain comfortable with everyone’s sin. Instead, love should motivate us to overcome sin and help others do the same.
How to Add Love to Our Faith
When we go to the word of God, the source of faith (Romans 10:17), we can find how to add the agape-type love to our faith.
First, we must know the law of God. The need to love one another is a fundamental part of the law revealed by Christ. Shortly before His death, He told His disciples, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another” (John 13:34). Paul recognized that the brethren in Thessalonica were doing such a good job in showing love for one another that there was “no need for anyone to write to [them]” about it. The reason they were so proficient in it was that they were “taught by God to love one another” (1 Thessalonians 4:9). As we already noticed, “love is the fulfillment of the law” (Romans 13:10), and their dedication to this shows their love for God and His law. However, if they did not love God’s law – or know God’s law – they could not properly demonstrate love in their lives.
We must also realize that love is the “more excellent way” (1 Corinthians 12:31). After describing it in this way, Paul immediately began a discussion about the need to show love (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) and what its characteristics are (1 Corinthians 13:4-8). We already noticed that one of the characteristics of love is that it “does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth” (1 Corinthians 13:6). This means we cannot claim to follow love as the “more excellent way” and then define love as we please (which is what the world does). Instead, we need to practice love as it is defined in the Scriptures, which provides us with perfect “training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16).
We also need to recognize that the Lord has shown love for us. We noticed this point in the previous lesson, but it bears repeating. John wrote, “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another” (1 John 4:10-11).
Finally, we need to see people as God sees them. When God sent Samuel to the house of Jesse to anoint King Saul’s replacement, the Lord said to him, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature…for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). This contains a basic principle that we need to remember in all of our interactions with others. Everyone we meet has been made in the image of God (Genesis 1:26), and if we want to “bless our Lord and Father,” we cannot “curse men, who have been made in the likeness of God” (James 3:9). God loved them enough to send His Son to die on the cross for them (John 3:16). This is the perfect example for us to follow in how we treat others.
Conclusion
It will not do us any good to attempt to add every other characteristic to our faith and neglect this one. We must show love as God has defined it. This will lead us to obey the Lord, value the truth, seek the best interest of others (especially as it pertains to their spiritual well-being), and keep ourselves from sin.
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* For more about the situation in Corinth and how they were to deal with the brother who refused to repent of his immorality, see the article, Practicing Church Discipline.
** For more about the way that many in our society ignore God’s marriage law, see the article, The Entitlement Mentality, particularly the section titled, We Are Not Entitled to Marry Whoever We Want.
