What is Christian Love?

Resources Referenced

Man, Woman, and the Meaning of Love by Dietrich von
Hildebrand (https://amzn.to/2UxRaQa)

The Myth of Religious Neutrality by Dr. Roy Clouser
(https://amzn.to/2UxRaQa)

The Wisdom of Trauma produced by Science and Nonduality



What does the Bible say about loving one another?


"A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even
as I have loved you, that you also love one another." John 13:34


Jesus gives this command to his disciples at the Last Supper and
following. At this time Jesus has washed the feet of his
disciples and predicted the betrayal of Judas. He then prefaces
this new commandment by saying, "Little children, I am with you a
little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews,
now I also say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.' A new
commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I
have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men
will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one
another."


We Protestants love our law/Gospel distinction. It aims at
ensuring we neither fall into legalism nor antinomianism. Christ
fulfilled God's Law in our place so that we may enjoy renewed
fellowship with God our Father. But questions concerning
obedience to God's Law in the Christian life persist. And now we
have this new commandment, directly from the mouth of Jesus
Christ. So, what does this mean?


The command to love one another is repeated 15 times in the New
Testament. Christ repeats it in John 15. Paul repeats it in
Romans and Thessalonians. Peter repeats it in his letter to
exiles of the Dispersion. And John repeats it in his first and
second letters warning against false teaching. Paul even says
that love is the fulfillment of the law.


But didn't Christ himself say that he fulfilled the law in
Matthew 5:17? Romans 8:3-4 explains this:


"For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh,
God did: sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and
as an offering for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, so that
the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us, who do not
walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit."


So the fulfillment of the law in us, through the work of Jesus
Christ, manifests in our love for one another.
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