This is a chapter from J.C. Ryle's classic book Practical Religion.
LOVE
"Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love." 1 Corinthians 13:13
Love, translated as charity in older English Bibles, is rightly called the queen of Christian graces. It is a virtue all people profess to admire, and seems a plain, practical thing everyone can understand. However, there are false ideas about it that need to be dispelled. My heart's desire and prayer to God is that the growth of love may be promoted in this sin-burdened world. In nothing does the fallen condition of mankind show itself so strongly as in the scarcity of Christian love. Let us therefore embrace the prominence the Bible gives to this kind of love, what it really is, where it comes from, and why it is the greatest virtue.
1. The prominence the Bible gives to love. Hear what Paul says to the Corinthians: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing" (1 Corinthians 13:1-3).
Hear what our Lord Jesus Christ Himself says about love: "A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another" (John 13:34-35). Let us read our Lord's account of the last judgment, paying close attention to the lack of love that will condemn millions (Matthew 25:41-46).
Hear what Paul says to the Colossians: "Above all these things, put on love, which is the bond of perfection" (Colossians 3:14). Hear what he says to Timothy: "The purpose of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and sincere faith" (1 Timothy 1:5).
Hear what Peter says: "Above all things, have fervent love for one another, for love will cover a multitude of sins" (1 Peter 4:8).
Hear what Paul says to the Romans: "Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the Law" (Romans 13:8). Hear what he says to the Ephesians: "Walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us" (Ephesians 5:2).
Hear what John says: "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love" (1 John 4:7-8).
The evidence of these texts is clear, plain, and incontrovertible. They show the immense importance of love as one of the "things that accompany salvation" (Hebrews 6:9). They prove that love has the right to demand the serious attention of all who call themselves Christians.
2. What love actually is as described in the Bible. Here are where mistakes about love begin:
A. Christian love does not consist of giving to the poor. Remember that Paul warned us about people who bestow all their goods to give to the poor, "but have not love." The loving Christian, of course, will eagerly "remember the poor" (Galatians 2:10), but there is more to Christian love than that.
B. Christian love does not consist in never disapproving of anyone's conduct. Thousands pride themselves on never calling anyone or anything wrong, perverting Christ's prohibition against rash judgments into a prohibition of all judgment whatsoever. Jesus commanded, "Do not judge by appearances, but judge with right judgment" (John 7:24). It is not biblical love to throw a veil over sin and refuse to call things by their right names—to talk of hearts being good when lives are flatly wrong.
C. Christian love does not consist in never disapproving of anyone's religious opinions. There are many who pride themselves on never pronouncing others mistaken, whatever views they may hold. Such foolishness pours contempt on the Bible and talks as if God has not given us a written test of truth. True love, out of genuine concern, cries out, "Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world.... If anyone comes to you and does not bring this doctrine, do not receive him into your house nor greet him" (1 John 4:1; 2 John 10).
D. Christian love for God and man is the fruit of God's Spirit. Love is what Paul lists first among the fruits that the Spirit of God brings forth in the lives of genuine Christians (Galatians 5:22-23). Our Lord Jesus Christ described sincere, all-encompassing love for God and others as the greatest of God's commands (Matthew 22:36-40).
E. Christian love always displays itself in loving deeds. It will make a believer ready to do kind acts to the body and soul everyone within his or her reach. It will not let him be content with soft words and wishes. It will make her diligent in doing all in her power to lessen the sorrow and increase the happiness of others. Like their Master, His faithful disciples will care more for ministering than in being ministered to, and will look for nothing in return. They join Paul in saying, "I will most gladly spend and be spent for your souls" (2 Corinthians 12:15).
F. Christian love always displays a readiness to bear hardships. It will make believers patient under provocation, forgiving when injured, meek when unjustly attacked, and gentle or even quiet when slandered. It will make them put up with much and look over much, submit often and deny themselves often, all for the sake of peace. It will make them exercise mastery over their tongues and tempers. Those characterized by Christian love are not always asking, "What are my rights?" and "Am I being treated as I deserve?" but instead, "What can I do that is most edifying to others?" and "How can I best promote peace and harmony?"
G. Christian love always displays itself in the general spirit and demeanor of a believer. It will make her kind, unselfish, good natured, and considerate of others. It will make him gentle, pleasant, and courteous in all his daily interactions, thoughtful about the comfort of others, tender for the feelings of others, and much more eager to give pleasure than to receive it. Those characterized by Christian love do not envy others when they prosper or rejoice in the calamities of others when they are in trouble. They will try to think the best of others and even with those at their worst, they will be full of pity, mercy, and compassion.
Do you know where we can find all these characteristics of Christian love displayed most prominently? In the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation (Hebrews 2:10), who left us an example to follow in His steps (1 Peter 2:21). Love shines in all His doings. In His daily life He "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38). Throughout His ministry Jesus was increasingly hated, persecuted, slandered, and misrepresented, but He patiently endured it all. No ill temper ever appeared in His demeanor. "When He was reviled, He did not revile in return; when He suffered, He did not threaten, but committed Himself to Him who judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:23). Among weak and impatient disciples, among sick and sorrowful crowds needing help, among the most disreputable members of society, and among the religious leaders He was kind and patient to all.
Yet also remember that our blessed Master never flattered sinners or winked at sin. He never shrunk from exposing wickedness in its true colors or from rebuking those who would cleave to it. He never hesitated to denounce false doctrine by whomever it might be held or to expose false practices and the certain end to which they lead. He called things by their right names. The Lord Jesus spoke as freely of hell and the fire that is not quenched as He did of heaven and the Kingdom of glory. He has left on record everlasting proof that perfect love does not require us to approve everyone's life or opinions, and that it is quite possible to condemn false doctrine and wicked practice, yet be full of love at the same time.
3. Where Christian love comes from. This love I have described from the Bible is not natural to man. By nature we all are more or less selfish, envious, ill-tempered, spiteful, and unkind. We have only to observe children left to themselves to see proof of that. Let boys and girls grow up without Christian training, and you will not see any of them possessing Christian love. Some of them will think first of themselves and their own comfort and advantage; others will be full of pride, greed, and anger. The natural heart knows nothing of true love, but a heart prepared by the Holy Spirit will. Christian love is a tender plant that grows in one soil only.
The heart in which such love grows is changed, renewed, and transformed by God's Spirit. The image and likeness of God, marred by the Fall of our first parents in the Garden, has been restored to it, however feeble and imperfect the restoration may at first appear. It is a "partaker of the divine nature" by union with Christ and sonship to God. One of the first features of that new nature is love (2 Peter 1:3-7). Such a heart sees sin for what it is, hates it, flees from it, and fights it from day to day—especially against selfishness and lack of love.
Such a heart is deeply sensible of its mighty debt to our Lord Jesus Christ. It feels continually that it owes to Him who died for us on the cross all its present comfort, hope, and peace. How can it display its gratitude? If it can do nothing else, it strives to be like Him, drink of His Spirit, walk in His footsteps, and be full of love like Him. "The love of God ... poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us" (Romans 5:5) is the surest fountain of Christian love. Love will produce love.
Careful attention is required here: many profess to admire Christian love, but care nothing about vital Christianity. They like some of the fruits and results of the Gospel, but not the root from which those fruits alone can grow, or the doctrines with which they are inseparably connected. Hundreds will praise love and charity who hate to be told of man's corruption, the sacrificial death of Christ, and the inward work of the Holy Spirit. Many parents would like their children to grow up unselfish and good tempered, but do not want conversion, repentance, and saving faith in Christ alone brought to their attention. All such feelings are futile: you cannot have the fruits of Christianity without its roots.
Once in awhile you see a person who seems very charitable and amiable without any distinctive doctrinal religion, but such cases are so rare and remarkable that, like exceptions, they only prove the truth of the general rule. All too often, it may be feared, the apparent charity is only surface and in private completely fails. Holy practice will not flourish without sound doctrine. What God has joined together, it is useless to expect to have separate and apart. Beware that where you do find them separate is in the realm of novels, romances, and tales of fiction. The greater part of them give a false or incorrect view of human nature. They paint their model men and women as they ought to be and not as they really are. Real love comes down from above. He or she who would really have it must sit at Christ's feet and learn from His Word.
4. Why Christian love is called the greatest of the graces. As noted at the head of this chapter, Paul concludes his great treatise on love like this: "Now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (1 Corinthians 13:13). What are we to understand when we hear of love being greater than the highly exalted biblical virtues of faith and hope? It does not mean that love can atone for our sins or make our peace with God. Nothing can do that for us but the sacrificial death of Christ, and nothing can apply His death to our account apart from our faith in Christ (Romans 3:19-31). As valuable as faith and hope are, however, there are three things that set love above those virtues:
A. Love displays some likeness between God and His people. God has no need of faith. He is dependent on no one. God has no need of hope. To Him all things are certain, whether past, present, or future. But "God is love" (1 John 4:8), and the more love His people have, the more they are like their Father in heaven.
B. Love is most useful to others. Faith and hope, however precious, are for the believer's own, private benefit. Faith unites the soul to Christ, bringing peace with God and opening the way to heaven. It does not do those things for others. Hope fills the soul with cheerful expectation of things to come. Amid the many discouragements of things seen, hope brings comfort with visions of things unseen. But love is preeminently the grace that makes people useful. It is the spring of good works and kindness. It is the root of missions, schools, and hospitals. Love made the apostles spend and be spent for the souls of others. Love raises up workers for Christ and keeps them working. Love smooths over quarrels and stops strife, in that way "covering over a multitude of sins" (James 5:20; 1 Peter 4:8). Christian love adorns the Christian faith and commends it to the world. Faith and hope can sometimes be invisible, but love cannot.
C. Love endures the longest. In fact, it will never end. Faith will one day be swallowed up in sight and hope in certainty. But love will live on through the endless ages of eternity. The inhabitants of heaven will be full of love, and in ever-increasing quantities since they cannot exhaustively know our great God, who is the essence of love itself!
I conclude with a question: Does Christian love have an obvious home in your heart and life? The strong language Paul uses in the love chapter deserves a fresh look: "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I have become sounding brass or a clanging cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profits me nothing. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:1-8).
Look at your daily life. What is your temper like? How do you behave toward all around you at home and at work? What is your manner of speaking, especially in trying times and circumstances? What do you know of the mind of Him who "went about doing good" (Acts 10:38), who had a heart wide enough to feel for all? Give yourself no rest until you know something by experience of real Christian love. Go and learn from Him who is meek and lowly of heart, and ask Him to teach you how to love. Ask the Lord Jesus to put His Spirit within you, to take away your old heart and give you an new nature. Happy indeed will your life be when you really understand what it is to "walk in love" (Ephesians 5:2)!
For those of you who are characterized by Christian love and long to feel more of it every year, I urge you to practice it diligently and teach it to others. Love grows by constant exercise. Watch over your tongue and temper throughout each day, especially in your dealings with children, near relatives, and people who serve you one way or another. Remember the character of the excellent woman "who opens her mouth with wisdom, and on her tongue is the law of kindness" (Proverbs 31:26). "Let all that you do be done with with love," says Paul (1 Corinthians 16:14), and not just any kind of love, but "fervent love," as Peter clarifies (1 Peter 4:8). It takes effort to keep all these things in mind, and there may be little encouragement from the example of others, but persevere. Love like this brings its own rewards. Teach your children, grandchildren, and anyone else you influence to above all things "put on love, which is the bond of perfection" (Colossians 3:14).
