Inseparable Love
"This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.." (John 15:12)
During his Ministry in this world, the Lord Jesus taught the Israelites about the righteousness of God, that He came to fulfil on Earth (Matthew 3:15). Blessed are those who seek it (Matthew 5: 6), and God will provide for all the needs of those who seek it along with His kingdom (Matthew 6:33). The Kingdom of God is of those who are persecuted for righteousness ' sake (Matthew 5:10). To the Pharisees, who were very religious, He stated that the most important things in the law of Moses are justice, mercy and faith (Matthew 23:23). Mercy is a synonym of "love of God" as can be seen in parallel to this passage in Luke 11:42.
When asked by a doctor of the law which is the greatest commandment of the law, the Lord Jesus replied that it is " You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:5) adding also "and with all your mind" (Matthew 22:37), and continued by quoting another that He declared to be similar to this "... you shall love your neighbour as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18). He finished saying "on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 22:40). "Love is the fulfilment of the law" (Romans 13:10).
To His disciples, however, Jesus Christ gave a new commandment: "a new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another..” (John 13:34). This commandment is "new" because it has a new dimension "as I have loved you". This is the inseparable love.
“Who shall separate us from the love of … God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord?" (Romans 8:35 to 39)
This is a question which immediately invites us to the reply: Nobody.
Christ, the Son of God, expressed his love for the sinful world while living among us here in the world. The Gospels tell us clearly how He revealed this divine feature in His dealings with people from all walks of life, with good or bad reputation, friends and enemies, offering to forgive their sins without requiring anything in return, sometimes even spontaneously, to the surprise of those who saw it. His life and his death on the tree on Mount of Calvary were the revelation of the divine love for sinful world (John 3:16).
Paul exclaimed: "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5: 8) and "This is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief." (1 Timothy 1:15). We see here that Paul does not cease to admire the scope of God's love for those who deserve nothing from Him.
Love is part of the character of God: He not only "is the God of love" but in essence "is love" (2 Corinthians 13:11 and 1 John 4:8). In the history of mankind, God has manifested His love to this part of His creation in several opportunities, among which stand out His consideration for Adam and Eve after they disobeyed, the preservation of Noah, his family, and specimens of creation through a flood of world dimension, and the conservation of the people of Israel despite their rebellion and idolatry.
God made one of his prophets, almost three thousand years ago, illustrate in his own life the divine love, compassion and inseparable loyalty to the people of Israel, which have been unfaithful to Him throughout most of their history: obeying the warrant of God, Hosea married a woman named Gomer, who gave him two sons and a daughter and received symbolic names. Gomer then abandoned her husband Hosea to deliver herself to debauchery. Yet Hosea continued to love her and finally managed to buy her from slavery to restore her as his wife again at home.
Hosea figured the extent and depth of the love of God, when he went through the bitterness of betrayal and contemplated the awful spiritual, moral and physical collapse of his wife, suffering even more because he still loved her. His prophecy is remembered in the New Testament, because it predicted the return of Jesus from Egypt when He was a boy, the salvation made available to the Gentiles and the great tribulation still to come to Israel in the future (see Matthew 2.15 and 9.13; Luke 23.30; Romans 9.25-26; Revelation 6.16). But God still has a glorious future for this people, when all its remnant will be saved and will have a relevant place in the millennial Kingdom of Christ, thus fulfilling the entire content of the prophecy (Ezequiel 11:17 -21, Romans 9:27).
The greatest manifestation of the love of God for humanity was when He sent His Son into the world to assume our humanity, and to humiliate Himself to a servant's condition in order to give His human life in the cruelest of deaths. So the Justice of God was satisfied, allowing, through repentance and conversion, even the basest of men be saved from eternal damnation to which we are all doomed because of our inherited and practiced sin.
The love of God is described in His Word as being:
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Sovereign, because He is the one who decides who He should love and has to answer no-one for his decision (Deuteronomy 7:8, 10:15). For our welfare He loved us (John 3:16).
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Immense, because “even when we were dead in trespasses, He by His grace made us alive … and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2: 5 to 7).
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Constant, He is in our midst to save us (Zephaniah 3:17).
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Attentive, never forgetting us (Isaiah 49:14.15).
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Inalienable, because nothing can break us apart from him (Romans 8:39).
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Compelling, attracting us with bonds of love (Hosea 1:4).
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Eternal and benign (Jeremiah 31: 3).
"Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another." (1 John 4:11)
Just as natural brothers don't always get along, sometimes fight each other, and not infrequently become irreconcilable enemies, it also happens that not a few believers are willingly taken by objectionable feelings such as selfishness, envy, and others, and accordingly treat their brethren badly and turn away from them.
To be "imitators of God, as beloved children" (Ephesians 5: 1) we should continue loving our brethren in an inseparable manner, constantly willing to forgive (remember the parable of the unmerciful servant - Matthew 18:27 to 35), not allowing something to stand between us. We have a beautiful description of this love in 1 Corinthians 13, which every believer must memorize and practice in his life.
To thus love the brethren is evidence " that we have passed from death to life, because … he who does not love his brother abides in death.” (1 John 3:14).
" Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you." (Luke 6:27, 28).
They are words of the Lord Jesus, and this is the love of God: just as the love of God encompasses all, we prove that we truly are sons of God by loving and doing good to all, even to our enemies.
It is easy to do good things in reciprocity for good things received, but it is not natural to repay evil with good. This is a strange behaviour, which contradicts our natural impulses: many will regard it as cowardice, lack of character, "taking grievances home", etc. Only our desire to obey the divine will, reinforced with the power of the Holy Spirit in us, can beat the desire of the flesh and the prejudices of the world.
The law gave a measure of justice only: but we must go beyond it and be perfect as our Father in heaven is. This perfection is the product of spiritual maturity that allows the believer to imitate God, blessing all without impartiality, loving his enemies, praying for those who persecute him, speaking well of those who curse him, etc. (Matthew 5:44-48, see also Luke 6:27-35). This is the path of spiritual maturity. It is inseparable, divine love, manifested by us to the unbelieving world.