“Love is an act of service for one in need, not necessarily an emotion.”
– John MacArthur (1939 – 2025)
I recently heard the above quote from a recorded message on Spotify taught by Pastor MacArthur titled, Love Your Enemies. In it he expounded upon the Biblical definition of love in order to qualify Jesus’ own statement in Luke 6:27ff.
“But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you. To one who strikes you on the cheek, offer the other also, and from one who takes away your cloak do not withhold your tunic either. Give to everyone who begs from you, and from one who takes away your goods do not demand them back.
“And as you wish that others would do to you, do so to them.
“If you love those who love you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. And if you do good to those who do good to you, what benefit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. And if you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount.
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
– Luke 6:27-36
The parallel passage in the Gospel of Matthew reads, “You therefore must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect” (Matthew 5:48).
By now, you may be saying, “Hold on, this is impossible!” In part, you are correct. I mean, let’s be fair here, we label some people “enemy” because they have expressed a certain hostility towards us, at some point, often leaving us with emotional or even physical scars. So, why is Jesus, Himself, asking us to flat out love these people? Heck, we don’t even like them! The key to unlocking Jesus’ statement is to understand exactly what it is He’s asking. The only way to do this is to first understand what Biblical love looks like.
There are four Greek words translated “love”: agape, phileo, storge, and eros. Only the first two expressly appear in the New Testament. Phileo describes love between friends (e.g., John 11:36), storge describes familial love (e.g., love between a parent and child), and eros describe sexual/romantic love (where we get the English word erotic). Agape is the word that Jesus used when He said, “Love your enemies” (Luke 6:27).
Agape love is unique because it is most often used to describe godly love. As demonstrated by God, Himself, this love is expressed by what it does for others. It is compelled to help those in need, even when the object of this love is unaware of their need (the Cross of Jesus Christ is the greatest example of godly love we have). As I like to say from my pulpit, “Love cannot help but express itself.” What I mean is that it abounds with grace, which manifests in myriad ways. In all cases, it gives and it serves.
“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.”
– John 15:12-13
The pinnacle of godly love is to give it all for another human being, as Jesus Christ did on the Cross. The pattern, as Pastor MacArthur so well pointed out, is “an act of service for one in need, not necessarily an emotion.” This means that you don’t necessarily need to possess a brotherly, familial, or romantic love for another person to obey God’s command to love one another the way Jesus did. Did Jesus have a brotherly love for Lazarus? Yes, but that’s not what is commanded of us. Did Solomon possess a deep romantic love for his wife in Song of Solomon? Indeed, but that’s not what is commanded of us, either. So, this precludes us from feeling condemned because we don’t love everyone like we love our dearest friends, spouse, or relatives. In fact, we may not even like someone yet still be able to love them the way Jesus did when He uttered those famous words while hanging on the Cross, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34). In a moment of tremendous personal stress, Jesus prayed for His enemies. In other words, He acted. He showed love to those in need (they were wretched, ignorant, and in need of Him, the Messiah).
You see, godly love isn’t emotionally driven. It is, rather, a grace gift from God to serve others from a heart that has been fundamentally changed (e.g., unsaved individuals are inherently self-serving). Godly love is a supernatural, transcendent love that is exclusive to God’s children.
We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
– 1 John 4:19-21
There you have it, my friend. To love like Jesus is to give sacrificially at personal expense, for the sake of others, especially those in need. It is to allow circumstances, not emotions, to dictate your responses. It is to act with integrity towards what you know is right (James 4:17).
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
– Ephesians 5:1-2
I’ll leave you with Paul’s word on godly love.
If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.
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 never ends.
As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when the perfect comes, the partial will pass away. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I gave up childish ways. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I have been fully known.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
– 1 Corinthians 13:1-13
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins