Part 52. Defining Christian love (2)

Following on from my previous post I turn my attention to John's Letters and to James.

* 1John 3: 17-18

If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him. Dear children  let us not love with words or tongues but with actions and in truth.

* 1 John 4:7-8, 21

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.

And he has given us this command: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

* 2John vv5-6

I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Note John states that that love is not about words but about actions. This is the theme of James who argues that faith without deeds is dead. Our faith, according to James, requires us to love, not by mental or vocal assent,  but by deeds, by action.  James rails against discrimination and oppression of the poor and weak.  It is a call for justice and for Christians to act accordingly.

So,  taking on board the views of a range of authors  are we any closer to deciding what love is?  A few tentative thoughts:

* Love cannot be reduced to a set of concrete fixed rules as language is susceptible to different interpretations.

* Love shows itself in how we relate to people on an individual level.

* Love entails helping individuals in need by providing practical support

* Love requires us to demand justice in our society to eliminate, poverty, oppression, marginisation and exclusion.

Love entails being respectful to people and selfless in supporting them. Sadly many Christians and churches are not outward looking and inclusive. instead they are exclusive and self-centred.

I have expressed the opinion before that the two great commandments are not rules to be slavishly obeyed.  They are principles we may apply in an inclusive, progressive, expansive, transformative way. They give us strength to tranform our personal life, the lives of our neighbours  and the communities and society in which we live.

I finish with an observation by Richard Rohr with which  I agree.

We worshipped Jesus instead of following him on his same path. We made Jesus into a mere religion instead of a path towards God and everything else. This shift made us into a religion of 'belonging and believing' instead of a religion of transformation.