The Gospel in One Word

“ 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. ”

There is a universal melody that has many lyrics, but one lyric spells out the Gospel, the good news, in a children's song: Love, love, love, love; the Gospel in One Word is Love. Love the Lord and love your neighbor; love, love, love. Glory to the Father, glory to the Son, glory to the Spirit, Three in One. As it was at first, is and evermore shall be; world without end. Amen, Amen. The Gospel in One Word is Love. How profound is that? And is it true?

One of the Jewish scribes heard Jesus in a dispute one day, and seeing that Jesus was doing very well answering His detractors, he put to Him this question: “What commandment is the foremost of all?” Jesus answered, “The foremost is, ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these.” And the scribe said to Him, “Right, Teacher, You have truly stated that He is One; and there is no one else besides Him; and to love Him with all the heart and with all the understanding and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as himself, is much more than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.” And when Jesus saw that he had answered intelligently, He said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” Mark 12:28-34

If any teacher, any wise man, any prophet, any religious figure in all human history has ever taught about love, this man was Jesus. The Jews counted it righteous to love their friends and to hate their enemies. Jesus' comment on this was: “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor, and hate your enemy.' But I say to you, love your enemies, and pray for those who persecute you in order that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax-gatherers do the same? And if you greet your brothers only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same? Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Matthew 5:43-48 His point was, if God can love your enemies, and do all that He can to show them the light of His perfect love, to lead them out of darkness to His own eternal shining love, you may count it your own duty to love them as well. Be like God and love them too.

As He prepared for His own greatest trial, Jesus gave His disciples His own great command: “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you…. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.” John 13:34-35. The mark of Jesus' followers became an unbreakable, deep-seated and holy love. Their love for each other was love unto death. They lived and died for each other. And they loved people of every nation, color, tribe, religious background, and gender because they knew that Christ had come for every man, woman and child. They were no longer a religion of one race, but of all mankind. It took love to do that. God had loved all mankind from the beginning. It was right that His own people should love all mankind as well. Jesus explained this to a Jewish ruler, Nicodemus, who came secretly to Him by night a phrase that has become the theme of Christians everywhere: “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” John 3:16

Why love ? Why not honor? Why not valor? Why not honesty, or peace, or diplomacy, or the nurture of children? These are all high values for God's people, yet love remains the main thing. Faith, hope and love are universal to Christ's followers, but the greatest of these is love. How does love conquer all?

In the beginning, God made man in His own image and likeness. This was not to say we looked like God, for God is spirit and has no physical image as we do. We were made like God, and unlike the animals, because we were given a triune nature : a body, a mind or soul, and a spirit . One human person has these three interdependent but distinct natures. Our body has physical senses, and registers the complex and intricate processes that happen to and in our biological beings. The soul reasons, feels and decides for us. Thought is not a function of a brain, but of that intangible mind that transcends our physical nature. The spirit believes, hears and communicates in wondrous ways of which we have little consciousness. Our spiritual nature comes alive by the grace of God and has direct communion and fellowship with God, and is able to love as He loves. God made us dangerously free, capable of making choices, able to determine the course of our lives, and even to act wrongly. He did this in order to see coming back to Him those of us who would choose to love Him. This is the glory of God and the reason for which He made us. To choose to love Him over every other choice, every other relationship, every other urge or desire or passion or person was His purpose in our existence.

What of commandments? What of obedience? Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.” John 14:15 “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him, and make Our abode with him. He who does not love Me does not keep My words; and the word which you hear is not Mine, but the Father's who sent Me.” John 14:23-24 We have the ten commandments; we have the many rules and demands of the Law; but we have the One Great Commandment that, if we follow it in earnest, seek it at a higher cost to ourselves than any other thing we search for, it will lead us to obey Him in order to please the God whom we love. Thus, Jesus said, referring to loving God and loving your neighbor, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

And so the beloved disciple, St. John, wrote the churches under his leadership to hold love as the highest cause . “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. By this the love of God was displayed in us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world so that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the sacrifice for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another… If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love is perfected in us… we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has given us of His Spirit. And we… bear witness that the Father has sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.”

It was for love that we were created, in the image of God, because God is love . It is love that we were made for, and if we love God first , and each other as we love and concern ourselves over our own needs, we do His most perfect will and bring glory back to God. But man does not bring glory to God, not all, not everywhere. We are unable to love as He loves. Instead of God, we have chosen ourselves to love and give our highest to, and this broke our relationship with God and broke our own hearts. Our spirits died and we lost that intimacy with God we had at first. There was nothing in us that could repair us, no one worthy enough among us who could make a bridge back to Him. No saint, no sage, no scholar had the answer. We groped around in the darkness. Only God could provide the bridge, only He could repair the damage that we caused. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world. For God so loved the world…

Love is the reason He came. Love is why He let Himself be cruelly treated. Love is why He was willing to die. Love is how He rose again from death to eternal life, not as deity alone , but human , resurrected eternal life , the first of us to achieve it, leading us back to the Father. A bridge of love.

Gospel means good news . Is there any news better than that God loves you and He sent the most precious beloved Person He loves to be our Savior? Jesus shows us His Father for they have always dwelt in each other. The Father, Son and Spirit have always been One God whose triune nature lets Him experience love, the love of another, within the One God. His love for us is therefore not His need. He needs no one. His love for us is generous. The good news is that He loves us enough to suffer for us, die for us, become man for us, and lead us to heaven, making a place there for us. The Gospel in One Word is Love. “And we have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him… We love, because He first loved us.” How can we love? Ask Him.

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