The Light of Love
The Sapphire Review Vol. 1 | No. 31 • December 20, 2024
He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.
1 John 2:10, KJV
LIGHT OF TRUTH
What does it mean to have light? Perhaps the most common way that we view this, in a spiritual sense, is to have a knowledge of and belief in truth. Particularly, those truths that have been well disguised by centuries of deception and tradition.
Such a view is not incorrect. After all, God the Father is light.1 Jesus is light.2 Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.3
The psalmist writes of light with truth4 and understanding.5 This can be seen from the opposite perspective through blindness being associated with a lack of understanding.6 Jesus spoke of doers of truth coming to the light.7 Paul writes of truth being associated with fruit of the Spirit in the children of light.8 It is God who has shined light into our hearts to awaken us from darkness and into a knowledge of His glory through His Son.9
Indeed, we have certainly experienced moments in our lives where we would say that we have come out of darkness and into the light of truth. Most especially, those who have embraced the truth of the Sabbath with God’s ten commandments, have understood the true nature of the relationship between the Father and His Son, have rejected the lie of hell as being a place of never-ending torment, and stand upon the truth of cosmology as described in the Bible, would say that a light of truth has most definitely dispelled darkness from their hearts and minds.
LIGHT YET DARKNESS
Suppose a person has embraced all these truths. Is it possible for such a person to have so much light and yet still reside in darkness? Is it possible for such a person to still be walking upon the broad road to destruction? Is it possible that a person who keeps the ten commandments, who says that they love God,10 and who says that they know God11 can still be called a liar who has not the truth within them?12
How could it be that one could have so much light of truth, and yet remain in darkness?
HATRED
Hatred is not confined to just the concept of a boiling rage or a vile disposition toward another. Jesus used this word in relation to how we are to prioritize following Him and loving Him above every other relationship in our lives.13
Jesus also says the following:
“For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.” (John 3:20, KJV)
From this verse we can conclude that hatred, in a spiritual sense, can be as simple as rejecting reproof and living in any way that is in direct opposition to the commands of God or the principles that are taught in the pages of the Bible. A person who hardens their heart to any of these things to maintain a character, attitude, or lifestyle that is not harmonious with that of Christ, is guilty of hatred.
God help us to remain free from this snare!
A NEW COMMANDMENT
In Jesus’ final moments with His disciples, He introduces them to and leaves them with a new commandment:
“A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” (John 13:34, KJV)
First, note that new does not mean replacement. This commandment is not a replacement for the ten commandments, but rather it is an addition that is built upon them. Anyone that keeps this new commandment will not have to worry about breaking any of the other commandments regarding his relationship with and treatment of others.
Second, note that the command is not simply to love one another, but rather to love with the same love that was exhibited by Jesus. There is no standard that is higher than this, for God is love,14 and Jesus was a perfect reflection of His Father to mankind.15
For one to obey this new commandment and to love others in accordance with the standard that was issued by the command, full surrender to Christ is required. It is only by the grace of God, through the spirit of Christ abiding in a person, and the love of God being shed abroad in their hearts16 that one can love another with the love of Christ.
“Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. Charity never faileth...” (1 Corinthians 13:4–8, KJV)
The great significance of this new commandment is that it is the very thing that serves as evidence of a person being a true disciple of Jesus,17 and of His spirit being within them.18
HATING A BROTHER
John echoes the new commandment of Jesus19 in his first letter.20 The new commandment is that we are to love others with the SAME love that Jesus exhibited. This is our standard.
John warns that any person who does not seek to love his brother in this way is in great danger. Any person who hates their brother by refusing to submit to the teachings of the Bible in regards to how we are to treat one another is said to be walking in darkness.
“But he that hateth his brother is in darkness, and walketh in darkness, and knoweth not whither he goeth, because that darkness hath blinded his eyes.” (1 John 2:11, KJV)
It is here where we see the answer to our questions above. It is here where we see that a person can have a great abundance of the light of truth and yet be in great eternal peril by refusing the light of love. It is pride that causes one to reject this light. By rejecting this light, a fall is certain,21 and eternal destruction is its end.22
God warns that no liar will be part of His eternal kingdom, but rather they will be part of the lake of fire which will purify the earth.23
“If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?” (1 John 4:20, KJV)
THE LIGHT OF LOVE
Great safety is found in the light of love. For it is in this light where one is free from any cause of stumbling in their lives.24
True love toward others is evidence of true conversion. The lack of love toward others is evidence of a religious façade, regardless of how many layers of spiritual truth it may be cloaked with.
Upon true conversion the Father and the Son, by their spirit,25 make their abode within a person.26 The presence of a God who is love27 then drives that person to love others with the same love,28 thus fulfilling the new commandment.29
Praise God and all glory to Him and His beloved Son for placing within earthen vessels30 such precious treasure as the light of love.
Such love is evidence that God is in us and that we are the disciples of Jesus.31
“No man hath seen God at any time. If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us.” (1 John 4:12, KJV)
“And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16, KJV)
PRAYER
May God help us all to be fully surrendered to Him in every way, and to be willing to lay aside every weight and every sin that besets us,32 that we may be filled with His love and manifest that love toward others. May His love be perfected within us, so that we can obey the new commandment and show the world the evidence that we are the disciples of the true Jesus, the only begotten Son of God. Unto Him be glory and honor and power, forevermore.
God Bless,
Charles
Loving one another is truly righteousness by faith lived out as we love our sisters and our brothers with only a heart filled with love for them. And the same love should overflow to the "unloveable" as Jesus poured out on the suffering, the outcast, the leper, the thief on the cross, and other afflictions that repel worldly minded people from caring for their brother. Truly fulfilling Jesus command "to love one another" is perfect blending of the law and grace lived out in us.