God’s Agapē Love
The greatest commandment we have in Scripture is that we ought to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. This is the great and first commandment and a second was also given from God like the first, that is to love your neighbor as yourself (Mat. 22: 37-40, Deu. 6:4-5, Lev. 19:17-18). In 1 John 4:16, we are taught where this love originates. The scripture reads, “So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him.”
The translation of love used in 1 John 4:16 in the Greek is agapē. Although there are proved to be several kinds of love found in scripture, such as eros love (a romantic, passionate love, e.g. Song of Sol. 1:2-4), Phileo love (a brotherly love, e.g. 1 Sam. 18:1-3), and agapē love (an unconditional love toward God and mankind e.g. Rom. 5:8), agapē love is highlighted to be the highest form of love. This is a love that is immovable, and unbreaking. This love is unlike any earthly love between humans, it is an eternal and everlasting love because it originates from an eternal and everlasting God who does not change (Jam. 1:17, Heb. 6:17).
We see this love demonstrated clearly in the book of Jeremiah after the captivity of Judah and Israel into the hands of the Babylonians because of their rebellion toward God. Jeremiah the prophet declares from God a message of hope, their deliverance, healing and of their rebuilding (Jer. 30: 5-21). In chapter 30, verse twenty-one, God also promises a Mediator on their behalf, a Prince who shall come out of their midst. Through this, God’s people found grace in their wilderness and received confirmation of God’s everlasting love toward them and of His everlasting faithfulness (Jer. 31:3). Despite their sin, rebellion, and unfaithfulness, God’s love, and faithfulness toward them still endured.
If you are a believer in Jesus Christ, like Judah and Israel, we have come into this everlasting, eternal love of God. This is a profound reality! The love we have received from God is not a flaky, uncommitted, half-hearted, or counterfeit love which can be found in relationship to others but is a love that never ends, a love that endures all things, bears all things, and believes all things (1 Cor. 13:7). This love is manifested in action (Phl. 2:5-7), it is sacrificial (Phl. 2:8), and it extends in grace and charity toward others (Eph. 2:8).
God’s Love Manifested in Action
In adhering to the commandment to love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind, we quickly find that we are unable to do this in our own strength just like Judah and Israel were not able to do so shown in the book of Jeremiah. This is why God promised to send Judah and Israel a Mediator, an Intercessor that would help them fulfill the laws demands that they were unable to fulfill themselves. This Mediator would be a Prince, a Ruler from their own midst who would be able to draw near and approach God on our behalf (Jer. 30:21).
We see then that God not only has compassion for us in our feeble sin trodden state, but He also manifested this compassion by providing a way for us to be rescued, delivered from our sin, and reconciled back to Him. Philippians 2:5-7 reads of this Prince saying, “Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men”. There was significant condescension on the part of God to willingly come as He did. He took on sinful flesh to become a servant for us. “In this is love, not that we have loved God but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” 1 John 4:10.
God’s Love Manifested in Sacrifice
After fulfilling the laws demands, Christ’s perfect servanthood culminated in sacrifice, a propitiation or appeasement of God’s wrath upon mankind because of our sin. Philippians 2:8 speaks of this saying, “and being found in human form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.” Christ came to do the will of God perfectly to eventually sanctify us through the offering of His body once and for all (Heb. 10:8). Romans 5:8 reads that God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.
God’s Love manifested in Grace and Charity
We are shown in Philippians 2:5-8 that God also offered Himself as a sacrifice willingly. This free offering is given solely because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses (Eph. 2:5a). God set His love on us even when we did not deserve it. There was absolutely nothing we were able to bring before His throne to receive acceptance with Him. For in our sin, who would dare of himself to approach Him? (Jer. 30:21). Scripture declares in Isaiah 64:6 that, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment. We fade like a leaf, and our iniquities, like the wind, take us away.”
Despite our sinful state, because of God’s great agapē love, “He gave us of His only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life” (Jhn. 3:16). This passage continues to say that “God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through Him” (Jhn. 3:17). In Christ, we have the offer of salvation by grace. Being dead in our trespasses and sins (Eph. 2:1), God is able to make us alive together with Christ and able to raise us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:5b-7). This is not a result of works on our own, but it is a gift from God so that no one may boast (Eph. 2:8).
God’s Love Perfected in Us
With a Christian’s confession of Jesus Christ, comes their knowledge and belief of the love that God has for them (1 Jhn. 4:15-17). Since God Himself is love, if we abide in His love, then He promises to abide in us (v.16). We are to walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God (Eph. 5:2). As we continue to strive forward in our walk with God, His love continues to be perfected in us so that we might have boldness and confidence on the day of judgment before Him (1 Jhn. 15:17). This effort is not accomplished on our own, but it is God’s Spirit who works in us both to will and to work of His good pleasure (Phl. 2:13, Heb. 13:21, Eph. 3:20). By Christ’s single offering He has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified (Heb. 10:14).
The Demonstration of God’s Love Perfected in Us
As we continue in our walk with God and strive toward holiness, let us not abandon our First Love, who is Christ Jesus, remembering what He has done for us and reflecting Him in our works, in our love, and in our service. If we are lacking in our works, we should call upon the Spirit for help in exemplifying His fruits which are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control (Gal. 5:22). Similar to the first commandment that we shall love the Lord our God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind, the second is to love your neighbor as yourself (Mat. 22:39).
Through the agapē love that is given to us from God, we are also commanded to love one another (1 Jhn. 4:7,21). 1 John 4:11-12 reads, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us.” This agapē love is demonstrated by being kind to one another, compassionate, tenderhearted, humble, being able to bear with one another, and forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven us (Eph.4:32, Col. 3:12-13). Let us learn to love the brethren so that God’s love can be perfected in us. In doing so, all people will know that you are God’s disciples, if you have love for one another (Jhn. 13:35).
Lastly, we are to remember our First Love in our service to God. As our Lord was a living sacrifice, we ourselves must also be living sacrifices as service to God, holy and acceptable to Him (Rom. 12:1). We must pursue the will of God from the heart, rendering service with a good will as to Him and not to man (Eph. 6:6-7, Col. 2:23). We are to rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation and be constant in prayer. God’s agapē love is the highest form of love known to man. He has freely given to us of His love so let us remember our First Love, the Lord Jesus Christ and remember that nothing can separate us from Him, not tribulation, distress, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, or sword (Rom. 8:35). In all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us (Rom. 8:37).
By Serenity & Grace Counseling
If this blog was helpful to you today, please feel free to reach out to Serenity & Grace Counseling to receive Biblical Counseling advice in finding contentment in God as your First Love or in any other challenging areas of life. We would love to provide you with ‘Life Transforming Hope and Peace Through Christ Centered Biblical Counseling.’
Preliminary Registration Form | Serenity & Grace Counseling (serenitygracecounseling.com)
Additional Resources: Life Transformative Mind Renewal Workbook
Serenity & Grace Counseling 