S. Michael Houdmann Supporter Got Questions Ministries

In 1 Corinthians 13:7, we see that love is more than an abstraction or ideal; it is action. Four specific actions are "always" performed by true love, and the second is that love "always trusts" (N...

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July 01 2013 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report

Craig Mcelheny Christian Author

Let’s understand there are four different Greek words for love in the Bible: 1. Phileo is love for a brother, or a companion, based on loyalty and sharing one’s emotions. 2. Storge, a subset of Phileo, is the love of a parent for their children. 3. Eros is love based on passion, and body chemistry. And 4. Agape is commonly understood to be God’s unconditional love – a love that is fleetingly attainable for most of us, but I’m going to put it even further out of reach: Agape is defined by God’s nature. I John 4:8 states that God is love (agape).

Ok, so what is God’s nature? Well, it clearly tells us in 1 Corinthians 13:4,5,6,7 where it defines the word, agape. Perhaps the best rendition of what agape is, comes from the Amplified version:

“4. Love endures long and is patient and kind; love never is envious nor boils over with jealousy; is not boastful or vainglorious, does not display itself haughtily.”

“5. It is not conceited – arrogant and inflated with pride; it is not rude (unmannerly), and does not act unbecomingly. Love [God’s love in us] does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking; it is not touchy or fretful or resentful; it takes no account of the evil done to it – pays no attention to a suffered wrong.”

“6. It does not rejoice at injustice and unrighteousness, but rejoices when right and truth prevail.”

“7. Love bears up under anything and everything that comes, is ever ready to believe the best of every person, its hopes are fadeless under all circumstances and it endures everything [without weakening].”

There are two critical points to be made from the above definition: 1. God’s agape love is in those who have confessed the Lord Jesus as their Lord and Savior, and all four verses apply, not just the second sentence in the fifth verse. And 2. The seventh verse, i.e. that with which we are concerned herein, has a foible. In the original Greek it reads, “believes all things”. It says nothing about believing the good in a person.

Why the difference? It is because we, as human beings, try to equate this definition of God’s nature to that of human love, or even our understanding of what unconditional love must be like. Stop trying. It cannot be done! Part of God’s nature is that it is impossible for God to lie (Heb. 6:18). We will inherit that nature when the Lord returns for His Church, we are changed in the twinkling of an eye, and completed in the image, glory and nature of the Father (Heb. 1:1,2,3).

If it is impossible to lie for all of God’s Creation, then it is entirely possible to believe all things! It has nothing to do with being naive or gullible. It has everything to do with who God is, and what we will become at the Rapture/resurrection. It is clearly stated in 1 John 3:1,2,3. In God’s cosmos there is no room for lies, all things can be believed, and it is ours to have!

God bless!

February 20 2017 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report