Ten Elements of a Love Life
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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First Epistle of John
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The article is a detailed exegesis of 1 John 4:7-21. Understanding the epistle's authorship debates, historical context, relationship to Johannine literature, and its place in early Christian theology would deepen appreciation of the passage being analyzed.
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Agape
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The article centers on the Greek concept of love (agapē/agapētoi) and distinguishes divine love from other forms. The Wikipedia article explores the theological and philosophical development of agape in Greek philosophy and early Christianity.
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Divine simplicity
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The article discusses how 'God is love' is a non-reciprocating statement about God's nature. Divine simplicity is the theological doctrine that God's attributes (love, goodness, being) are identical with God's essence, directly relevant to understanding this claim.
From my 1, 2 & 3 John: Living a Life in Light and Love, in the Everyday Bible Study series, with questions from Becky Castle Miller, who writes a Substack.
1 John 4:7-21
4:7 Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
13 This is how we know that we live in him and he in us: He has given us of his Spirit. 14 And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. 15 If anyone acknowledges that Jesus is the Son of God, God lives in them and they in God.16 And so we know and rely on the love God has for us.
God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. 17 This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
19 We love because he first loved us. 20 Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen. 21 And he has given us this command: Anyone who loves God must also love their brother and sister.
Count the italicized words in today’s reading. My tally is twenty-seven. Three times more than the number of times love appears ...
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