The following is excerpted from John Phillips’ commentary on Galatians:
Love! It is the sum and substance of the Christian life. It all began with love. Love flooded this sin-cursed planet even before Adam’s fateful fall. The Old Testament prophet first picks up and then puts down that great word from God: ‘Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee’ (Jer. 31:3). ...
The gospel begins on the same high note. Never have greater words been penned than these: ‘God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life’ ( John 3:16).
Well might we sing Frederick M. Lehman’s hymn ‘The Love of God’:
Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk of earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry.
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.”
‘God is love’ (1 John 4:8). Jesus came to demonstrate the truth of that declaration. He exhibited love as a babe, as a boy, as a teenager, and as a man. He manifested love in the home, in the classroom, on the playground, in the synagogue, and at the workbench. He revealed love when tramping the highway, when on the sea, and when in the temple. Ever and always, He displayed this one great truth about God: God is love. He displayed it with every breath He breathed. He demonstrated love in action in a particularly memorable, undiluted, down-to-earth way. There was never a road too rough, never a way too long, never an appeal too faint, never a case too hard, never a sob too late, and never a day too long for His love. Now it was an aristocratic Pharisee coming to Him in the dead of night, then it was a wicked woman at a wayside well at high noon. Now it was a dead little girl, then a demon-possessed little boy. Now it was a loathsome leper, then a woman with an issue of blood. Now it was Nathanael under a fig tree, then it was Zacchaeus up a sycamore tree. Now it was a wedding that had run out of wine, then it was a funeral and a woman who had been robbed of her only son. Now it was a publican, next a peer of the realm. Now it was a hungry multitude, then some frightened disciples in the grip of a howling gate. Always, love found a way to dry the tears and calm the fears.
Love! The word breathed through His teaching. He summarized all 613 commandments of the Mosaic Law in the one word--love! He said, ‘Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets’ (Mt. 22:37-40). He said to His disciples, ‘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). But He demanded even more: ‘I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you’ (Mt. 5:44).
Impossible? Not for Him. He loved poor, lost Herod, self-seeking Annas, crafty Caiaphas, and weak and wavering Pilate. He loved them enough to die for them. He loved Peter even as he cursed and swore and denied Him. He loved Judas even as he planted the traitor’s kiss on His cheek. He loved the man who punched Him in the face, the man who crowned Him with thorns, the man who smote Him on the head with a reed, and the man who plowed His back with a scourge. He loved the soldier who dropped that heavy cross upon His lacerated back and commanded Him to get going. He loved the men who nailed Him to that tree. He loved the very men who mocked Him as He died: ‘Father, forgive them,’ He said (Luke 23:34). What love:‘Love that no tongue can teach, Love that no thought can reach; No love like His. God is its blessed source, Death ne’er can stop its course, Nothing can stay its force; Matchless it is.’
“Now then, says Paul, ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love.’ It is the love that ‘many waters cannot quench’ (Song 8:7), the love that ‘suffers long and is kind’ (1 Co. 13:4), the love that ‘will not let [me] go’ (Song 3:4), and the love that is ‘strong as death’ (Song 8:6). Impossible? Of course, it is impossible to us. But it is gloriously possible to the Holy Spirit. Indeed, that is one of His New Testament titles--He is called ‘the spirit... of love’ (2 Ti. 1:7).
Let us remind ourselves afresh how the Lord Jesus, as Man, lived His life on earth. He did not live His matchless life in the power of His own deity, although He could have done so because He was never less than God. He allowed the love of God His Father to flow through Him as electrical current flows through a wire, in touch with the power at one end and the need at the other end. As a result, the supernatural, sublime, and superlative love of God flowed through the Lord Jesus at all times, in all places, and under all circumstances.
That same love is to flow through the believer in the same way by means of the Holy Spirit. We cannot manufacture it; neither can the flesh imitate it. The flesh, indeed, can exhibit what it calls love, but it is flawed at best. True love is of God, for God is love. In contrast with the ‘works of the flesh’ is this glorious fruit of the Spirit” (John Phillips, Galatians).
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