Gospel Doctrine: Christ’s Love

Christ’s Love
By John A. Tvedtnes

[Supplement to Gospel Doctrine New Testament lesson 24]

And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them [the apostles]; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.

Father, I will that they also, whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.

O righteous Father, the world hath not known thee: but I have known thee, and these have known that thou hast sent me.

And I have declared unto them thy name, and will declare it: that the love wherewith thou hast loved me may be in them, and I in them. (John 17:22-26)

Christ’s intercessory prayer followed the Last Supper, in which he also instructed the apostles:

A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another (John 13:34-35).

To this, he added:

If ye love me, keep my commandments ... He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him (John 14:15, 21, 23).

To this, he added, “For the Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God” (John 16:27).

To illustrate what he expected of his disciples, the Savior declared, “But that the world may know that I love the Father; and as the Father gave me commandment, even so I do” (John 14:31). He further explained,

As the Father hath loved me, so have I loved you: continue ye in my love.

If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.

These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full.

This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends. Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you (John 15:9-14).

In an attempt to comfort the apostles, the Lord said, “These things I command you, that ye love one another. If the world hate you, ye know that it hated me before it hated you. If ye were of the world, the world would love his own: but because ye are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hateth you” (John 15:17-19).

Appearing to some of his apostles after the resurrection, he thrice asked Peter, “Lovest thou me?” (John 21:15-17), reflecting once again the importance of love.

The apostle John is the only gospel writer who recorded these teachings of the Master on the eve of his mortal death. [1] He began his account of the Last Supper by saying, “Now before the feast of the passover, when Jesus knew that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved his own which were in the world, he loved them unto the end” (John 13:1).

John also recorded earlier instances of the Savior speaking of love. For example, Christ told Nicodemus “For 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). He often spoke of the love shared by the Father and the Son (John 3:35; 5:20; 10:17) and noted that his critics did not love God (John 5:42).

So impressed was John with the importance of love as taught by Jesus that he repeated the theme in his epistles. It is instructive to examine some of the relevant passages in connection with the events recorded in John 13-17:

And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments.

He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him ...

Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning.

Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth. He that saith he is in the light, and hateth his brother, is in darkness even until now. He that loveth his brother abideth in the light, and there is none occasion of stumbling in him.

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 ...

Love not the world, neither the things [that are] in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him (1 John 2:3-5, 7-11, 15).

Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not.

Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.

And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure ... In this the children of God are manifest, and the children of the devil: whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his brother.

For this is the message that ye heard from the beginning, that we should love one another ... We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren. He that loveth not his brother abideth in death.

Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer: [2] and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him. Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren.

But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:1-3, 10-11, 14-18).

Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love. In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.

Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another ... If we love one another, God dwelleth in us, and his love is perfected in us ... 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.

Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.

We love him, because he first loved us.

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? And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also (1 John 4:7-12, 16-21). [3]

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous? (1 John 5:1-3).

And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another. And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it (2 John 1:5-6).

Reading through these passages, one finds that Christ’s teachings about love during the Last Supper are repeated by John in his own letters. When Jesus unfolded to the apostle John the vision recorded in the book of Revelation, he again expressed his love (Revelation 1:5; 3:9-10, 19).

Another of the apostles, Matthew, recorded Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, in which he stressed the importance of love:

Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy. But 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;

That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same? And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect” (Matthew 5:43-48).

The context of this passage suggests that we should strive to become perfect in loving even our enemies. If, as John wrote, “God is love,” it is in this aspect of divinity that we must seek perfection, remembering, too, that we show our love by obedience to the Lord’s commandments.

For additional material relating to this lesson, see:

Russell M. Nelson, “Divine Love,” Ensign, February 2003.

For an introduction to the books of the New Testament and in-depth discussions of each verse in the New Testament, see Kevin L. Barney (ed.), John H. Jenkins, and John A. Tvedtnes, “Footnotes to the New Testament for Latter-day Saints,” go to: http://feastupontheword.org/Site:NTFootnotes

[1] This idea is expressed in Jesus’ sermon on the mount, Matthew 5:21-22).

[2] This last statement draws on Jesus’ declaration of the two most important commandments, to love God and to love one’s fellow man (Matthew 22:35-40).

[3] John is the disciple “whom Jesus loved” (John 13:23; 19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20), a title he applied to himself because it was so important to him.