Christian Love Part 1 Of 4 By J. C. Ryle

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love!” 1 Corinthians 13:13

“The end of the commandment is love.” 1 Timothy 1:5 

Love is rightly called “the Queen of Christian graces.” It is a grace which all people profess to admire. It seems a plain practical thing which everybody can understand. It is none of “those troublesome doctrinal points” about which Christians are disagreed. Thousands, I suspect, would not be ashamed to tell you that they knew nothing about justification or regeneration, about the work of Christ or the Holy Spirit. But nobody, I believe, would like to say that he knew nothing about “love!” If men possess nothing else in religion, they always flatter themselves that they possess “love.”

A few plain thoughts about love may not be without use. There are false notions abroad about it which require to be dispelled. There are mistakes about it which require to be rectified. In my admiration of love, I yield to none. But I am bold to say that in many minds, the whole subject seems completely misunderstood.

I. Let me show, firstly, the place which the Bible gives to love.

II. Let me show, secondly, what the love of the Bible really is.

III. Let me show, thirdly, where true love comes from.

IV. Let me show, lastly, why love is “the greatest” of the graces.

I ask the best attention of my readers to the subject. My heart’s desire and prayer to God is, that the growth of love may be promoted in this sin-burdened world. In nothing does the fallen condition of man show itself so strongly, as in the scarcity of Christian love. There is little faith on earth, little hope, little knowledge of Divine things. But nothing, after all, is so scarce as real love!
 

I. Let me show the PLACE which the Bible gives to love.

I begin with this point in order to establish the immense practical importance of my subject. I do not forget that there are many high-flying Christians in this present day, who almost refuse to look at anything practical in Christianity. They can talk of nothing but two or three favorite doctrines. Now I want to remind my readers that the Bible contains much about practice as well as about doctrine, and that one thing to which it attaches great weight, is “love.”

I turn to the New Testament, and ask men to observe what it says about love. In all religious inquiries there is nothing like letting the Scripture speak for itself. There is no surer way of finding out truth, than the old way of turning to plain texts. Texts were our Lord’s weapons, both in answering Satan, and in arguing with the Jews. Texts are the guides we must never be ashamed to refer to in the present day. “What do the Scriptures say? What is written? How do you read?”

Let us hear what Paul says to the Corinthians: “If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love–I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love–I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love–I gain nothing!” 1 Corinthians 13:1-3 

Let us hear what Paul says to the Colossians: “Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfectness.” (Colossians 3:14.)

Let us hear what Paul says to Timothy: “The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart” (1 Timothy 1:5.)

Let us hear what Peter says: “Above all things, have fervent love among yourselves: for love shall cover the multitude of sins.” (1 Peter 4:8.)

Let us hear what our Lord Jesus Christ Himself says, “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” (John 13:34, 35.) 

Above all, let us read our Lord’s account of the last judgment, and mark that lack of love will condemn millions. “Then He will say to those on the left: Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the Devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave Me nothing to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me nothing to drink; I was a stranger and you did not take Me in; I was naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did not take care of Me.” (Matthew 25:41-43.)

Let us hear what Paul says to the Romans: “Owe no man anything–but to love another: for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.” (Romans 13:9.)

Let us hear what Paul says to the Ephesians: “Walk is love, as Christ also has loved us.” (Ephesians 5:2.)

Let us hear what John says: “Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God, and everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, because God is love.” (1 John 4:7, 8.)

I shall make no comment upon these texts. I think it better to place them before my readers in their naked simplicity, and to let them speak for themselves. If anyone is disposed to think the subject of this paper a matter of light importance, I will only ask him to look at these texts, and to think again. He who would take down “love” from the high and holy place which it occupies in the Bible, and treat it as a matter of secondary consequence, must settle his account with God’s Word. I certainly shall not waste time in arguing with him.

To my own mind, the evidence of these texts appears clear, plain, and incontrovertible. They show the immense importance of love, as one of the “things that accompany salvation.” They prove that it has a right to demand the serious attention of all who call themselves Christians, and that those who despise the subject are only exposing their own ignorance of Scripture.