What is Love? A Christian Perspective

What is the Christian perspective of love? Love is one word that is thrown around a lot without many people knowing its true meaning. The world has its definition for this word, but when you look at it closely, it is completely different from the Christian perspective. In this post, we will define love from both perspectives with a clear view of what God’s love is.

Love from the World’s Point of View

One of the most popular searches on Google is, “what is love?” This tells us something very important, love is not just for Christians, even the people of the world want to love. Before we look at the Christian perspective of this word, let’s look at how the world views it.

The people of the world define love in three ways. Let’s look at each below:

Romantic love

This is very common with the people of the world. They view love as “eros,” an emotion or feeling that leads to erotic or semi-erotic desires and expressions. This love has sexual tendencies and is directed toward another person. The basis of this type of love makes it warped and has led many down a pit.

Reciprocal love

Here, love is dependent on the exchange of things mutually between two individuals. It involves giving affection in return for a benefit or gift. This means that this type of love will only hold when both parties are benefiting from the relationship. As soon as the benefit disappears, the love fades into oblivion.

Relational love

Most people will consider this as the most common in the world today. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, this love is a strong affection for someone else rising from personal ties or kinship. As such, it can exist between family members or close friends. 

What is Love? A Christian Perspective

When you look at all the types of love described above, one factor is missing, God. Because of this, each one is warped, a false representation of the real idea. God is love, and no kind of love can exist outside of Him (1 John 4:8).

We can get the Christian perspective of love through the scripture. By viewing the scripture, we can see that God is the true foundation for eternal, unadulterated, genuine, and multi-faceted love. If you are going to love properly, then you must do so through God’s example.

We have paraphrased a few definitions of true love from different parts of the Bible below:

• A good friend will love you at all times, regardless of the conditions. (Proverbs 17:17)
• We are to bear each other and with each other in love. (Ephesians 4:2)
• Love requires us to treat others the exact way we want them to treat us. (Luke 6:31)
• Only those born of God can truly love. (1 John 4:7)
• It is a husband’s responsibility to love his wife. (Ephesians 5:25)
• Jesus Christ set the perfect example of love by laying down His life for us without us knowing or acknowledging Him first. (1 John 3:16)
• True love never has the intention to do harm to its neighbor. (Romans 13:10)
• Love covers a multitude of transgressions. (1 Peter 4:8)
• Jesus Christ expects us to love each other the way He loves us. (John 15:12)
• Our love for God must be with our whole heart, strength, and mind. (Mark 12:30)
• Love is patient, kind, not envious, and keeps no record of wrong. (1 Corinthians 13:4)
• One of the hallmarks of true love is doing good to our enemies. (Luke 6:35)
• You should love your neighbor how you love yourself. (Mark 12:31)
• Fear cannot exist in the presence of true love. (1 John 4:18)
• Remain in Jesus’ love. (John 15:9)
• There is no greater love than when a man lays his life down for his friends. But Jesus Christ did more in that He died for us before we called Him friend. (John 15:13)
• God loved us first, and that is why we know how to love Him. (1 John 4:19)
• If a person does not love, then they cannot say they are born of God. (1 John 4:8)

From this, you will agree that love from a Christian perspective is sacrificial, generous, time-consuming, helpful, less reciprocal, less sexual, more demanding, and more relational. We love the way God loves us.

Conclusion

This post has shown you the Christian perspective of love. What kind of love are you expressing? Check the love you show others and be sure that it is in line with God’s design. Meanwhile, spend some time looking through articles on GodKulture today.