Love is central to the Christian faith.
This is evident in texts such as “God is love” (1 John 4:8) and a key saying of Jesus that love of God and neighbour sums up the whole Old Testament law (Matthew 22:36–39). Likewise, when he tells us to love even our enemies and not just people who love us (Matthew 5:43–48).
What love isn’t
However, love is a word that needs definition. In modern speech it has become a plastic word that means whatever people use it to mean. Modern understandings of love may be a cover for self-indulgence, in which acts of self-love come at the cost of harming others. Again, much of what we call “love” is highly transactional — you scratch my back and I will scratch yours.
What love is
In a famous passage that is often used at weddings, we are given a different definition of loving others:
“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonour others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” (1 Corinthians 13:4–7)
This definition puts the one who is loved at the centre. It is a love that is generous to others. It seeks their welfare. It thinks the best of them. It forgives. It perseveres. It is not hard to see that living by this kind of love is a blessing to human society and to ourselves.
The way God loves us
This is also the way in which God loves humanity. God does not treat us as we deserve but instead holds out an olive branch of peace in the gospel of Jesus. It is the love that sent Jesus into the world, so that all who believe in him escape the judgement of God and instead have eternal life with God (John 3:16). It is the love that took Jesus to the cross, willing to bear the guilt of our sins so that we might be made right with God (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Why love is hard
Love can be hard. Our human limitations drive us to self-protection when we feel pressured or threatened. Our sinful inclination to self-centredness means that others may get the crumbs of love’s leftovers. And as for those who hurt us, we are more likely to wish them harm rather than good.
Love that crosses the barriers of self
God not only shows what love is in sending Jesus but also gives us a motivation for love that crosses the barriers of self. In short, “We love because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19).
The Christian believer is someone who is drawn into the circle of God’s saving love in Jesus and then expresses the love of God to others. If we find another person unlovable, it is a good habit to reflect on the way God treated us when we were unlovable — and then to do to others what he has done for us in Jesus.
David Burke,
Moderator-General.
August 2026.
