Rev. Rogers: Love is Christian

“Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God; everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, for God is love.” These words from 1 John’s fourth lie at the heart of Christian faith, practice, and expression. As John was writing this letter to the church, he was also addressing a church bitterly divided. This unholy division is much of what prompted the apostle to write to the church in the first place. In order to address this division, John calls the church to love just as Christ first loved.

Love, in this case, is the unconditional love that flows from God. Commonly understood as “agape love,” It is a level of love which John also discussed in the second chapter of his letter. There John again associates knowledge of God with fidelity to upholding the commandment of God to love one another. Yet, John also uses harsh language of branding those who do not manifest God’s love as being an antichrist.

Nobody can actually see God in this life and John is informing the believers that in order for God’s presence in the world to be truly seen and known, it must come from the manifestation of love. The challenge for the church—both the congregation to which John was first writing and to the global church in our world today—is defining the characteristics of agape love.

Love is wonderfully described in Ephesians 13 in beautifully poetic language which all in the church would do well to emulate. Love can be attributed to a faithful manifestation of the fruits of the spirit as described in Galatians 6. Jesus speaks of love in the upper room on the night he was betrayed in John 13 by both modeling love through the washing of the disciple’s feet and issuing the foundational commandment to love one another as he loves them.

A challenge to love is when it becomes distorted and distracted by doctrine, jealousy, or a lust for power. Often the church fails to show love because it loves its own doctrine more than Jesus Christ. This is evident when someone fails to conform to a prescribed doctrine or refuses to accept the doctrine and the church replies with anger and hate rather than love. A recent report released by the Public Religion Research Institute reveals that the church’s vehement adherence to doctrine over love is a primary force driving people away from the church, and subsequently any meaningful connection to Jesus Christ. John saw this in his own church as zealous adherents to their own prideful doctrine were doing the same; driving people away from Jesus!

Love is also not about anything goes. Love must have standards because a truly loving person does not allow others to get away with cruel, sinful, and life-destroying behavior. Yet, genuine love absolutely does not demonize, condemn, or otherwise seek punitive measures upon those people. Jesus reminds us that those who judge will themselves be judged according to the judgment which they delt out (Matt 7:1-5). When the church manifests such anti-loving expressions, especially in the presumed name of love or out of some distorted belief the church is following Jesus, the expression is a lie. It is just as John says in his letter, “Whoever says, "I have come to know him," but does not obey his commandments, is a liar, and in such a person the truth does not exist.”

Love! It is the hallmark of the church and the genuine sign of authentic Christianity. Arguably, it may not always look the same to everyone, but given the world of hate, anger, division, and discrimination that is ripping at the seams of society, the Church is in a powerful position to either truly love as Christ has loved or be the antichrist by refuting love and contributing to the downfall of Christ’s witness to the world.

This article originally appeared on Las Cruces Sun-News: Rev. Rogers: Love is a Christian virtue