Colossians 1:3-8, Part 3

Just as Paul has in mind a faith that is specific – it is "faith in Christ Jesus" – he has in mind a love that is also specific – it is "the love you have for all the saints." Some commentators remark that in this passage faith characterizes our "vertical" relationship with God, while love characterizes our "horizontal" relationship with other people. This is true to the passage as far as it goes, but it would be a mistake to infer from this a broad principle that rigidly enforces the distinction. This is because, among other things, love must also characterize our vertical relationship with God.

Although faith is sometimes associated with a feeling of confidence, it is not to be identified with the feeling itself. Rather, faith is belief in divinely revealed propositions and it is in itself independent of feelings that may fluctuate. Feeling good about a biblical proposition is different from believing it. Likewise, although love is sometimes accompanied by certain emotions, love itself is not an emotion. The idea that love is either an emotion or necessarily and proportionately associated with certain emotions has inflicted disastrous damages to the intellectual and ethical development of countless believers.

The Bible speaks of love as the disposition to think of and act toward other persons (including God) in accordance with divine precepts and laws – that is, to treat them as God tells us to treat them. This love has no direct and necessary connection with any emotion, which without any inherent negative connotation, we define as a type of mental disturbance. This disturbance can be positive or negative, but it is a disturbance.

As Paul writes in Romans 13, "The commandments…are summed up in this one rule: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law" (v. 9-10). Notice that love is the fulfillment and not the replacement of the law. We do not treat people with love instead of treating them according to the law. Rather, to treat them with love is to treat them according to the law, or God's commandments.

He says that the commandments, such as "Do not commit adultery" and "Do not murder," are summed up in the commandment to love. A summary is not different from or superior than the things that it embodies. In fact, to truly understand the details represented by the summary, one must examine the things that it summarizes. Thus the commandment to love is not different from or superior than the other commandments – love is defined by these commandments in the first place.

Scripture defines our love toward God in the same way. Jesus tells his disciples in John 14:23, "If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching" – not that he will feel a certain way or have a certain emotion. If he loves, he obeys. Then he says, "My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends" (15:12-13). There is no emotion here. The command is to love, and this love means heroic and sacrificial action for the benefit of others.

Many people who feel thoroughly distraught inside at the slightest suffering in others would never sacrifice even their personal comfort to save them, not to say their very lives. But they have been taught – by culture, by tradition, by anti-Christian philosophies, but not by Scripture – that this represents compassion. They groan and weep for them – is this not love? Although it might permit themselves to feel very compassionate and spiritual, it has nothing to do with love.

In their more sober moments, theologians and commentators admit that biblical love has to do with thinking and acting in accordance with God's commands toward other persons, and that it has nothing to do with a particular kind of mental disturbance, or emotion. The Scripture is clear on this; it is not difficult to recognize. As one commentator writes, "The Bible speaks of it as an action and attitude, not just an emotion….Christians have no excuse for not loving because Christian love is a decision to act in the best interests of others."

Defining love as an emotion leaves one with an excuse, since our feelings could fluctuate. Moreover, such a definition generates unnecessary guilt in the person who does not always feel what he thinks he should feel toward people. And if love is an emotion, then exactly what emotion is it? That is, what should it feel like? But according to the Bible, if a person will consistently treat other people in accordance with God's commands, regardless of how he feels, then he walks in love. On the other hand, the person who does nothing more than collapse into an emotional mess at any sign of human suffering does not walk in love. He is an unloving nuisance, and he might as well stop pretending.