The definition of love

[Pig]

This belongs with Gary's "Reasons... " above, but I couldn't keep it short.

Using the Hebrew hermeneutic, I get a different view of love.

In the law concerning cities of refuge (De 19:5 )  there is a curious turn of the phrase.
If someone is chopping with an axe, and the head flies off in an unfortunate accident, the killer may flee to a city of refuge to seek protection from an avenger.

However it says, "if he did not previously hate him".  The implication is that the accident is an act of hate, otherwise it could have simply said, "If he did not hate him."

Love is putting others first. Had the wood chopper loved his friend, his friend's safety would have been considered before beginning to chop. His friend was in second position.

This makes sense of God hating Esau. Esau was the first son of Isaac and should have received the inheritance. But God placed him in second position. He hated him, not considering him first. He put Jacob first.

This also makes sense of Jesus saying that we must hate our parents in order to love him. This is reminiscent of his relationship with his Mary and Joseph when he was 12 in the temple. They said "Why have you treated us thusly?" or "Why have you hated us?"  His answer was that he had to be about his Father's business... he had to place his Father first.

So if I love my neighbor, I put him first. If he slaps me, I consider it an accident and absorb his sin. If he steals my stereo, I give it to him, making it impossible for him to sin against me.

Consider David's sin. He stole a man's wife, and had him killed. But when he repented he said:
Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: Ps 51:4

All sin is against God, not against each other. If we take offense, we make ourselves equal to God. When we realize our sin, we repent by forgiving.

This is why we cannot be forgiven if we don't forgive...we are making ourselves equal to God.

So.... why would God require a greater love be practiced by us than he himself practices?  It is his love that enables us to love.

1Jo 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

All scriptures which speak about God's love are fair game for arguing that he absorbs all our sin... while we were yet sinners and enemies.

[joeteekay]

 :iagree:

[sheila]

........and so the man of lawlessness..that sit's in the temple..showing himself that he is god..is revealed[made himself equal unto god]

.............

[micah7:9]

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness
1Jn 4:8  for God is love.

So do I assume man is love? :Chinscratch: :HeartThrob:

[eaglesway]

Perhaps so, before the fall, as far as the "image" is in terms of the divine nature, the spiritual character, of YHWH, the I AM.

Certainly so, inwardly, in the new creation in Christ, partakers of the divine nature, conformed to the image of the son of God, who is the image of God :o)

Heb 1:3 And He(Jesus) is the radiance of His(the Father's) glory and the exact representation of His(the Father's) nature, and upholds all things by the word of His(Jesus') power.

[Seth]

Interesting to note that the word "so" in John 3:16 means "in this manner."

So it says, "for God, in this manner, loved the world, that he gave his only begotten son."

[Pig]

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness
1Jn 4:8  for God is love.

So do I assume man is love? :Chinscratch: :HeartThrob:

Actually, God said "Let us make man in our image and likeness." But then it goes on to say that he made man in his image...

What happened to the likeness?  It doesn't show up until Chapter 5.  It is a riddle which is solved with chapters 2-5.

Christ, the man, is the express image of God (Heb 1:3 ) and his bride, the woman, is made to be like him. (1Jo 3:2 ). Together they are the image (Christ) and likeness (church) of God.   In as much as we are 'like' Christ, we are love. That's why he says "Love one another."