God Is Love – 183 Days With Jesus and Me

In addition to discovering Jesus’ character by reading the Gospels, I want to understand God’s character by reading 1 Corinthians 13, a section of the Bible which is often called “the love chapter.”

The love chapter offers us one of the most sublime, most non-ambiguous definitions of love I’ve ever read. Regardless of one’s spiritual tradition, the definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13 fits. It is universal.

According to 1 Corinthians 13:4-7,

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; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV)

According to 1 John 4:7-12, “God is love.”

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. 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. 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. (ESV)

According to John 1:1-3, 14, God and Jesus are one:

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made…And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. (KJV)

Therefore, if Jesus is the Son of God, and if he and God are one, and if “God is love,” then we’d expect Jesus to be the world’s greatest example of love – right?

That’s what I want to find out.

Oh, believe me, I’ve heard all of the counter arguments regarding the phrase “God is love.”

“That’s true,” Christians would intone gravely (or post on Facebook, with equal gravity), “But God is also just.”(As if the latter canceled out the former.)

“That’s true,” Christians would admit. “But God is holy.”

“That’s true,” Christians would inform me. “But God is wrath.”

“That’s true,” Christians reply, sadly. “But God hates sin.”

I call this the “Yes, but..” retort.

“Yet, but just.”

“Yes, but holy.”

“Yes, but wrath.”

“Yes, but sin.”

“Yes, but…”

Why do Christians spend so much time explaining away God’s love instead of believing it and acting upon it?

Or, here’s another kind of “Yes, but…” statement:

“Yes, but love isn’t God.”

They were right.

Or were they?

“Love isn’t God” is similar to saying, “The ocean is water. But that doesn’t mean water is the ocean.”

Of course all water isn’t the ocean. But some of it is. And all of the water in the ocean is “ocean water.”

To put it another way, can you imagine an ocean without water?

“God is love, but love is not God” is a false premise. Because of that, it tries to force a choice between two sides of an equation set up as opposites when no such dichotomy exists.

“God is love” is undeniable. The Bible clearly states that. But “love is not God” is false if the “love” we’re talking about is God’s love. God and his love cannot be separated. So “love” in the phrase “God is love” is God.

Does that mean all love is God? Of course not. But, in some inexplicable way, all love exists because of God. For example, I sure do love my Classical music. But that doesn’t mean the “love” part of that statement is godly love. But it does mean my ability to love is because God created me in his image. If not for that, love would not exist in me, or in the universe.

So, is the phrase “love is not God” true?

Maybe.

But I have a better question: “Why are you so worried about it?”

I’m not sure what people are afraid of. But it seems they’re unable to believe in a God who is love. Maybe that’s because it is they who wish to be wrath, to seek vengeance, to pass judgement, and to punish wrongs done to them and others.

In short, they want to be god.

I don’t have that problem. I don’t want to be God. I just want to understand who the God of the Bible is.

Therefore, I prefer to allow the Bible to mean what it appears to mean, as read by the average person with average intelligence. Certainly, I qualify in that regard.

So, when the Bible reads, “God is love,” then that’s how I’m going to take it. At face value.

But I intend to put Jesus to the test (the test of love) as love is clearly defined in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. I want to know if Jesus’ life adhered to that definition. If so, everything I read in the Gospels will confirm it – or else there’s something wrong with my approach to this matter.

Here is how 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 is rendered in a Baker’s Dozen different Bible translations, in alphabetical order:

Love endures with patience and serenity, love is kind and thoughtful, and is not jealous or envious; love does not brag and is not proud or arrogant. It is not rude; it is not self-seeking, it is not provoked [nor overly sensitive and easily angered]; it does not take into account a wrong endured. It does not rejoice at injustice, but rejoices with the truth [when right and truth prevail]. Love bears all things [regardless of what comes], believes all things [looking for the best in each one], hopes all things [remaining steadfast during difficult times], endures all things [without weakening].

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; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is always patient and kind; it is never jealous; love is never boastful or conceited; it is never rude or selfish; it does not take offence, and is not resentful. Love takes no pleasure in other people’s sins but delights in the truth; it is always ready to excuse, to trust, to hope, and to endure whatever comes.

King James Version public domain:

Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.

Love is very patient and kind, never jealous or envious, never boastful or proud, never haughty or selfish or rude. Love does not demand its own way. It is not irritable or touchy. It does not hold grudges and will hardly even notice when others do it wrong. It is never glad about injustice, but rejoices whenever truth wins out. If you love someone, you will be loyal to him no matter what the cost. You will always believe in him, always expect the best of him, and always stand your ground in defending him.

Love never gives up.
Love cares more for others than for self.
Love doesn’t want what it doesn’t have.
Love doesn’t strut,
Doesn’t have a swelled head,
Doesn’t force itself on others,
Isn’t always “me first,”
Doesn’t fly off the handle,
Doesn’t keep score of the sins of others,
Doesn’t revel when others grovel,
Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,
Puts up with anything,
Trusts God always,
Always looks for the best,
Never looks back,
But keeps going to the end.

Love is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, [love] is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor 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 suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This love of which I speak is slow to lose patience—it looks for a way of being constructive. It is not possessive: it is neither anxious to impress nor does it cherish inflated ideas of its own importance. Love has good manners and does not pursue selfish advantage. It is not touchy. It does not keep account of evil or gloat over the wickedness of other people. On the contrary, it is glad with all good men when truth prevails.

And the 13th translation, making it a very tidy Baker’s Dozen…

Love is very patient, very kind. Love knows no jealousy; love makes no parade, gives itself no airs, is never rude, never selfish, never irritated, never resentful; love is never glad when others go wrong, love is gladdened by goodness, always slow to expose, always eager to believe the best, always hopeful, always patient.

What I like about reading all those translations is how much alike they are. A few word differences here and there, sure. But not one translation contradicts another in meaning. Love is clearly defined for all to read.

Question: If love is so clearly defined, why aren’t more people embodying it?

And, most importantly, did Jesus himself embody it?

That’s what I’m here to find out.