Live a life of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us! See Ephesians 5:2.
Love is the foremost lesson the Son teaches His brothers and sisters. He wants us to reflect His own complete, undivided love for the Father, which fulfills the highest commandment. Then He wants us to fulfill the second greatest commandment, caring for others.
“And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31).
Biblical love1 can hardly be over-emphasized, but it was especially on Paul’s mind as he wrote back to Corinth from Ephesus. Pride2 and lack of love lay behind many Corinthian problems.
- Pride in their preferred preachers led them to divide from each other (1 Corinthians 1:11-12; 2:1-4,12).
- Pride in their knowledge caused some to hurt those with less knowledge (1 Corinthians 8:1-13;10:14-33).
- Pride in their miraculous abilities, especially speaking in tongues,3 caused some to look down on others and to disregard the learning purpose of the assembly (1 Corinthians 12-14).
- Brother was taking brother to court, shaming the church rather than accepting a loss (1 Corinthians 6:1-8).
- Some were rude about the common feast (1 Corinthians 11:20-34).
Paul reminded them that love is the opposite of selfishness. Love’s attitudes differ completely from pride and rudeness. Love wills and acts for the good of others, especially seeking their spiritual benefit “so that they may be saved” (1 Corinthians 10:33).
Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor (1 Corinthians 10:24). M
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… (1 Corinthians 13:4-5). M
1. Ancient Greek used different words for different kinds of love. Storge, for example, was a word for family love or affection. Eran (eros) referred to love that seeks pleasure, as in sexual love or passion. Philein was a word for caring and warm affection. In classical Greek writings, another word for good will, agape, was used very little. Yet the New Testament writers adopted agape as their main word for love, along with philein. For Christians, therefore, the full meaning of agape comes, not from Greek itself, but from the fullness revealed in Scripture. Usually this biblical agape (pronounced ah-gah-pay) means love that imitates God and Christ by selflessly sacrificing in order to do good for another person. It begins as an act of will, choosing to seek the best for another, then it does all it can to follow through with helpful actions. As a matter of will or choice, agape need not depend on emotions. In the sense of agape, you can love others even if you do not like them, even when you hate the evil things they do. You can pursue good for people who are neither attractive nor cooperative nor deserving. In short, you can love the unlovely and unlovable just as God loved you, Matthew 5:43-48; Romans 5:8. Research Subject – Agape love (noun): Luke 11:42; John 5:42; 13:35; 15:9-13; 17:26; Romans 5:5,8,35,39; 12:9; 13:10; 15:30; 1 Corinthians 8:1; 13:1-4,8,13; 14:1; 16:14,24; 2 Corinthians 2:4,8; 5:14; 8:7-8,24; 13:11,13; Galatians 5:6,13,22; Ephesians 1:4,15; 2:4; 3:17,19; 4:2,15-16; 5:2; 6:23; Philippians 1:9,16; 2:2; Colossians 1:4,8,13: 2:2; 3:14; 1 Thessalonians 1:3; 3:6,12; 5:8,13; 2 Thessalonians 1:3; 2:10; 3:5; 1 Timothy 1:5; 4:12; 6:11; 2 Timothy 1:7; Philemon 1:7,9; Hebrews 6:10; 10:24; 1 Peter 4:8; 5:14; 2 Peter 1:7; 1 John 2:5,15; 3:1,16-17; 4:7-12,16-18; 5:3; 2 John 1:3,6; Jude 1:21; Revelation 2:4,19 Agapao love (verb): Matthew 5:43-44,46; 22:37,39; Mark 10:21; 12:30-31; Luke 6:27,32,35; 7:5,42,47; 11:43; John 3:16,19,35; 11:5; 12:43; 13:1,23,34; 14:15,21,23,24,28,31; 15:9,12; 17:23-24; 21:15-16; 8:28,37; 9:13,25; 13:8-9; 1 Corinthians 8:3; 2 Corinthians 9:7; 12:15; Galatians 2:20; 5:14; Ephesians 1:6; 2:4; 5:2,25,28,33; 6:24; Colossians 3:19; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 2 Timothy 4:8,10; Hebrews 1:9; 12:6; James 2:8; 1 Peter 1:8,22; 2:17; 1 John 2:10,15; 3:10-11,14,18; 4:7-8,10-12,19-21; 5:1-2; 2 John 1:1,5; Revelation 1:5; 3:9; 12:11; 20:9.
3. “Tongues” means languages, and in this context the miraculous power to speak fluently languages one has not learned, see Acts 2:4-11.