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“you yourselves are taught by God to love one another” (1 Thess. 4:9, NKJV)
I attend a men’s breakfast held by my local church. We always have a good time catching up with one another and engaging in discussions on all sorts of topics. That morning one of the men asked me, “Is it true agape was a new word for love with the writing of the New Testament?”
I looked into it and found that agape was not novel to koine Greek but was found in classical Greek and used prior to the writing of the New Testament. I suggested to the man who asked that the concept was enriched by NT writers and personified in Jesus Christ.
Sometimes we will hear a classification of love that suggests agape love and brotherly love are categorically distinct from one another. In his letter to the Thessalonians we find that the distinction is not so neat.
Paul writes: “But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another; and indeed you do so toward all the brethren who are in all Macedonia” (1 Thess. 4:9-10a).
“Brotherly love” translates the Greek, philadelphia, while “love one another” reflects agape. Paul calls these believers to love of the brethren, including those in Macedonia, as part of the lesson plan of love taught them by God.
In what way are we taught by God to love? Love has always featured large in God’s covenant curriculum. The two great commands of loving God and loving neighbor that our Lord identifies as a summary of the Law (Matt. 22:37-40) are both found in the Old Testament.
After the giving of the Law in Deuteronomy 5, Moses writes in the next chapter: “Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deut. 6:4–5). The Law is not given as sterile duty but as an expression of redeeming grace and kingdom allegiance.
In respect to love of neighbor, Moses writes in Leviticus: “You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD” (Lev. 19:18). Just as we would not hold a grudge against ourselves, so we are to treat others as an expression of love.
The supreme way we are taught love by God is seen in the giving of His Son for our salvation. “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Rom. 5:8). John gives us a primer on love in his first epistle where God teaches us what love looks like and how it operates as an expression of a new heart. (Click here for a devotional on 1 John that pursues Greater Love.)
We are taught love by the instruction of Scripture, the illustration of our Father and His Son, and the illumination of the Holy Spirit at work in our hearts. Paul just told of the cultivation of love as the work of God and subject of prayer. “And may the Lord make you increase and abound in love to one another and to all, just as we do to you” (1 Thess. 3:12).
Love is something we are to grow in as part of our spiritual development in Christlikeness. Paul says that the Thessalonians know love, but it is not enough to pass an academic exam explaining it. Rather, love has an object. It is to be expressed and enlarged, developed and deepened.
We are to love God and love others, and we are to grow in love experientially and practically. That’s why Paul goes on to say, “But we urge you, brethren, that you increase more and more” (1 Thess. 4:10b). The word “increase” suggests not mere incremental growth but abundance. Our lives are to be lush with love, bearing beauty to others and bringing glory to God.
By what means can you increase in love?
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
