The Greatest is "Unconditional" Love

This article was written a few years ago and posted on the Summersville blog.  I've done some edits to it and am reposting it.  Hope that it helps!

In 1 Corinthians 13, Paul talks in detail about how unconditional Godly love is and how we ought to love with the same love.  In 1 Corinthians 13:13, Paul says that we are to abide in “faith, hope, love, these three,” but the greatest is unconditional love.

Unfortunately, while that isn't exactly what Paul wrote or taught, that is often how people read it.  Love is defined (even by those claiming to be religious) as unconditional, non-judgmental, and without stipulation or consequence.  By this definition, we cannot convince or rebuke (2 Timothy 4:2; Titus 2:15) because we would be judging another person to have sinned, and those that advocate this definition of “love” are adamant about not judging (a very misapplied Matthew 7:1).  If we truly love someone, then we accept them the way that they are!

Let us examine some of these concepts and see if the previously defined version of “love” is the Biblical definition of “love.”  In 1 Corinthians 13:1-3, Paul says that even if he does great deeds (speaking in tongues, prophesying, great understanding of mysteries, feeding the poor, and even being burned) but doesn't have love, it profits him nothing.  Paul then defines the characteristics of love for us: it is long-suffering and kind, it does not envy, it does not parade itself, it is not puffed up, it does not behave rudely, it does not seek its own, it is not provoked, it thinks no evil, it does not rejoice in iniquity, but it does rejoice in truth, it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, and it never fails.  How many of these characteristics fit into the definition of love found above? Many people that advocate this definition will say to someone they perceive to be judging them, “You need to love more!” What does this typically mean? The insinuation is that they have perfected love and that you need to love as they love.  Question: is this not “puffed up” and parading? Does a refusal to accept chastening fit with rejoicing in truth, or does it fit more with rejoicing in iniquity?

What about other passages that help us define love? Hebrews 12:5-8 tells us that those whom the Lord loves He chastens (in other words, He judges their activities/lifestyle/choices to be a transgression).  Do we dare tell the Lord that He doesn't know how to love because He has chastened us?

How is love defined in 1 John? With the flighty, wishy-washy definition that we utilized at the beginning of this study, or is it defined as something of substance, something worth having? In 1 John 4, he writes that we are to love one another because love is of God (4:7-8).  How was God’s love for us made manifest? Through the sacrifice of His Son for our sins (4:9-10).  This is God’s definition of love! How are we to love one another? In the same manner that He loved us (4:11)!

There are many other passages, even in 1 John, that we could look at to further substantiate the true definition of love, but we will consider only a few more.  In John 13:34-35, Jesus says, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.  By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another (which is the commandment spoken about in 1 John 1:7-8).  Did Christ come to the world to tell us that we are all fine in our current spiritual state? Did He come and die so that sin wouldn't be judged as sin? No, Christ loved us and came to earth and died for our sins that we can have hope in eternal life. There is substance to this love, not simply a phrase.  True love is all the things found in 1 Corinthians, plus the willingness to tell someone something they don’t want to hear in order that they can be saved.  If you are unwilling convince, rebuke, and exhort for the saving of their souls, then YOU DO NOT LOVE THEM.

In John 14:15, Jesus says, “If you love Me, keep my commandments.”  What can we inescapably conclude from this passage? If we do not keep His commandments, then we do not love Him! We cannot claim to love God, but keep the ways of the world.  We cannot claim to love God, but walk in darkness (reference 1 John 1; Galatians 5:16-26; and Ephesians 5:1-21)!