Dale Ridge church of Christ

On 25 June, 1967 the Beatles debuted what would become the world famous anthem “All You Need Is Love” , written specifically for the BBC television special “One World”.  Beatles lore holds that John Lennon had written the song specifically for the program two weeks prior to the live broadcast.  Aired simultaneously in 26 countries, 400 million viewers eagerly tuned in.  When asked about his inspiration, Lennon reportedly said he chose the one word that could be easily understood in every language.  Love.

All You Need Is Love has since become a cure all mantra for most any difficulty which one might face.  The “love only” cover up is an especially popular false doctrine among denominational groups, and those that would aim to fellowship with them.  Properly directed, love is indeed vital to any good work, and is a hallmark of all that is wholesome, but is love really all that we need?  Is love alone sufficient, and most important, will love really over compensate to allow for sin?  Are Christians to embrace all works reportedly done in love, that carry the name of Christ?  Should a self-professed “love” for Christ be all that is required to sustain our fellowship?  For the answers, let us turn to our Bible.  What exactly does the Bible teach about love?  Much.

The word love (and it’s derivatives) is found in our KJV translations over 440 times.  When the New Testament Christian thinks of love, most often we think of the apostle John.  More than any other NT writer, John is credited with being the “Apostle of Love”. 

John indeed has a good deal to teach about love.  It is John that uses the word more than twice as frequently than any other gospel writer when he communicates the good news of Jesus Christ.  On five occasions, John describes himself as the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (challenge – read John’s gospel and notate these passages!).  Early non-inspired church historians such as Eusebius report that near the end of his long life, John was carried amongst congregations of the Lord’s church, admonishing the brethren to “love one another“.  But is this the entirety of John’s instruction concerning love?

Space will not allow us to examine all the wonders of Godly love that John teaches.  Certainly his most well known passage quotes the words of Jesus himself in John 3:16.  Sadly, many that profess the name of Christ stop studying John’s teaching on love with that verse.  Friend, it is very significant that John teaches us as much about what we are not to love, as he does about that which we are to love.  Shall we examine just a few, from his first epistle?

• We are not to love sin, nor a lie – 1 John 1:8-10
• We are not to love darkness, nor the works of darkness – 1 John 2:10-11
• We are not to love the world, nor worldly teachings - 1 John 2:15
• We are not to love words alone, nor deeds alone – 1 John 3:19
• We are not to love fear, nor it’s affects - 1 John 4:18

Finally, what would John say about the “love covers all” attitude of many toward sin?  Should love really motivate us to accomodate sin, overlook false doctrine, and fellowship with those that teach such?  Are we to love any and all that adopt the name of Christ, out of our own love for Him?

We do well to remember that John dealt with these same issues during the 1st century as he faced false Gnostic doctrine, egotistic men puffed up with their own creations, and those that fell back to the world.  In 2 John 9-11 we are commanded to reject any that “abideth not in the doctrine of Christ” .   John clearly addresses those that falsely bear His name, but adhere not to His teaching and that of His inspired apostles.  The Christian can hold no fellowship with false teachers, for risk of contamination with their doctrines. 

In 3 John 9-10, the apostle calls out by name one that rejected sound doctrine.  For nearly two thousand years, the name Diotrephes has lived on in infamy as a result.  Has any Godly parent since given their child this name?  Yet count how many individuals you know named John.

As we can see from this, and many other Scripture studies, love is not all that we need.  The world and it’s teachings would instruct to love the wrong things, and thereby lose sight of God.  May we remember -

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments:  and his commandments are not grievous.  1 John 5:3

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Filed under: Authors, Gregg Alexander on August 29th, 2008