It’s been another minute, but instead of longer entries, I’ve been compiling and sharing information on Instagram, my main social media outlet, lately. Nevertheless, I’ve been working on this blog entry a little as well.
Once again, I come as a fellow sister in Christ with all love in patience, gentle correction and encouragement as we walk together in the faith, growing in maturity and unity.
I’ve talked about this several times, but when it comes to this topic as a Christian, information can never be redundant. We need frequent reminders.
I think so many are dumbing down, oversimplifying, overusing, and misusing “Love God, love others” so much the truth behind it, its original context, has been lost.
When asked, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” Jesus answers, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-39). Jesus didn’t pull these from nowhere. The first, to love God with everything we have, is repeated over and over in the Old Testament. God’s command, His main message, to the Israelites was to love Him—serve Him, revere Him, turn to Him—above all (stop serving false gods, doing abominably evil acts, and forsaking Him). (Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12/ 1 Chronicles 28:9/ 2 Chronicles 16:7/ Jeremiah 3—these are just a VERY few; it’s so important to read the OT!). As Jesus makes clear, this still applies today and is a summation of the law given by God in the Old Testament (Matthew 5:17). The second, to love your neighbor as yourself, is also given in the Old Testament (Leviticus 19:18, to name one that’s plainly written out). Again, as Jesus makes clear, this still applies today and is also a summation of the law given by God. When we have true love for God and His love for others, we will desire to carry out what’s been commanded by His moral law. Jesus also says, “On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” That which was commanded in the Law (the Torah) and the Prophets of the Old Testament is now culminated in and repeated by Jesus.
To love God with all we have is prioritized as primary. Yes, there is hierarchy in this command of love. We have to remember, loving others as ourselves is not an equal love to loving God. I love God way more than I love myself. You and I are not God, so we cannot elevate ourselves to His level. He alone is Sovereign and to be revered and loved with utmost priority. So loving others as I love myself is a lesser, yet not to be neglected, love.
I think so many get this wrong today. They’re so quick to proclaim, “Love God, love others!” that they’re equating loving God *BY* loving others. This then brings into play Progressive “Christianity,” which caters to peoples’ “feelings” over truth. Oftentimes supporting sin and aiming not to be offensive, because if you tell them truth, and it hurts them, you’re not loving them—which is a false idea.
Yes, there is hierarchy in love.
Mike Winger has this to say about Progressive Xianity and their idea of this love (a sermon which prompted me to revisit this subject and share what I’ve learned and just stated):
"Love does not mean approval and agreement. Your Christian values, what you think are Christian values, on (sinful) issues are not when it hits the life of real people, they're hurting them, so it can't be loving, so you must have it wrong. Whether that means you've changed your view of Jesus or of the Bible, they ("progressive Christians") don't care. You've got to change. They define love differently than I think Jesus would. Jesus, I think to rescue us from this, He says things like, 'If you love Me, obey My commands.' Our love for Jesus is different than our love for people. See, when I love people, I don't obey their commands. When I love Jesus, I obey His commands. When I love people, I extend kindness and self-sacrificial care for them, but I don't obey their commands... [Jesus] talks about love like a hierarchy, which I think progressive Christians would reject. I think they have to reject it because of their views. Where Jesus says love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, right, and love your neighbor as yourself. You can tell these are two very different kinds of things. I love God with everything I've got. I love Him completely, entirely with all I have. My neighbor I love like I love me. That's lesser love, by the way. Progressive Christianity takes all that and it kind of reverses it—love God *by* loving your neighbor and loving yourself."
*I want to clarify, because I had some pushback about this quote in reference to 1 John 4:20 (“If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen.), with the line of thought that we DO love God BY loving others. The basis of the context of the book of 1 John is the test of being a genuine Chrisitan, a true child of God. One test of that is that if we love God THEN we will love others. Love originates with God, because God IS love (He doesn’t have love, He isn’t part love, He IS love, learn more about His attributes here), therefore, the one who is walking with God, abiding in God, a true child of God, will be demonstrating His love to others (and 1 John 3:18 says this is in deed AND TRUTH). If we hate others, though, then that means we do not and have never loved God, because if we did love God, that would overflow into loving others with His love. What this quote from Mike Winger is saying is that Progressive Xtians (1) get love reversed, that they place their love for others equal to or above their love for God. They distort and reverse the commands of love. As we see this hierarchy supported in 1 John 4, specifically verse 21, “And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God (the first, foremost, foundational love) must also love his brother (the secondary love, the effect of loving God, obeying His commands and His Spirit dwelling in us [i.e. being His true child]). (2) They do not hold a correct definition of God’s love in the first place (because of poor or no theological training). Their “love” is what I’ve described before, a tolerant, accepting (of sin, so as not to “offend”), can’t-we-all-just-get-along, all-inclusive mindset, and they equate this with loving God. So, it is very necessary to define what God’s love is and is not (and again, we need proper theology for that).
I want to know truth. I think we all search for truth, even though it’s sometimes tough—sometimes downright excruciating —to hear. Just my opinion here, but I believe Christians get upset over truth because truth speaks to the Holy Spirit dwelling inside. The Holy Spirit then convicts us in response to that truth, and a tug-of-war ensues between the Spirit and the flesh. Most likely, the flesh wants to act in pride (no one likes hearing they are wrong), anger, bitterness, etc.. This battle can be painful, which is why truth hurts. Nevertheless, we must choose to walk by the Spirit, not gratifying the desires of the flesh. We must have a teachable spirit and a soft, listening heart.
“But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.”
He who is often reproved, yet stiffens his neck, will suddenly be broken beyond healing.
Whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid.
Listen to advice and accept instruction, that you may gain wisdom in the future.
Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise.
Likewise, you who are younger, be subject to the elders. Clothe yourselves, all of you, with humility toward one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”
To genuinely love others, we have to tell them the truth in love, even if it causes them that painful struggle.
For even if I made you grieve with my letter, I do not regret it—though I did regret it, for I see that that letter grieved you, though only for a while. As it is, I rejoice, not because you were grieved, but because you were grieved into repenting. For you felt a godly grief, so that you suffered no loss through us. For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.
“Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ”
“Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.”
*I John 3 is a great read, by the way
Some points to keep in mind:
- We do NOT love God BY loving others, making our love for others equal to or greater than our love for God.
- Love is a hierarchy: Love God first and foremost with utmost reverence and obedience, then love others as ourselves, through compassion (deed) in truth, caring for both their spiritual and physical well-being (spiritual being primary, because it is the eternal). We have to love God first before we can rightly love others.
- Feelings ≠ Truth; Truth is objective (doesn’t change) not subjective (changes person to person).
- Be teachable, willing to receive correction and guidance
- “Love God, Love Others” is not the Gospel and should not be a Christian’s “catch phrase.” This is actually a byproduct of salvation, but it does not lead to salvation.
- Compassion without a clear Gospel is nothing better than a humanistic love shown by every other person in the world. Even atheists lovingly show compassion to many.
- God is love, yes, but He is also wrath, justice, mercy, holiness, patience, and many other attributes along with love. These many attributes of God are equal (He doesn’t have these things, He is these things), none are greater or less than the other. Therefore, “He would love first” is a false teaching. I don’t think those in Sodom and Gomorrah would say (by society’s standards today) God “loved” them first. And, as Melissa Dougherty has stated, “Anytime anybody ever tries to tell you that Jesus was not judgmental, was always peaceful, quiet, non-confrontational and calm (again, “love” by society’s standards today), just send them over to Matthew 23…Ouch.” God is love (and biblical love is defined here), but love is not God.
Dr. Jack Cottrell states, “It is crucial that we have a proper understanding of the relation between God’s love and God’s holiness. The temptation is to make one or the other of these the primary or inclusive attribute, with the other being just one of the many expressions of it. The more common approach is to take ‘God is love’ as the all-inclusive description of God’s nature, with every other attribute, including holiness, being simply one of the ways God’s love functions. The same is sometimes done with God’s holiness, but less frequently. Neither approach is correct. God’s holiness and God’s love are two distinct and equally ultimate attributes of God, with neither being an expression of the other” (92). - The entire Bible “is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness” (2 Timothy 3:16). Dr. Jack Cottrell states, “the whole Bible, and not just the life and teachings of Jesus, must be our theological norm. It was never Jesus’ purpose simply to be a source and norm for truth, knowledge, ethics, or theology. The main purpose of Christ’s incarnation and work was to redeem mankind from sin through the atonement and resurrection. This is contrary to a serious but common fallacy (the “christological fallacy”) that says that Christ’s primary purpose was to be a unique source of doctrinal truth. Such an error leads to a ‘What Would Jesus Do?’ approach to ethics. It leads to seriously erroneous statements such as this: ‘If Christ is truly to be preached, then every doctrine and ordinance of the faith must be dependent on Him, His nature, character, and deeds, for meaning.’ Or the following: ‘If you have a theology, let it be Jesus. If you want someone to guide you in your conduct toward others, let it be Jesus.’ To avoid such errors we must not think that the red-letter section of the gospels have some unique significance for theology. The entire Bible is God’s inspired and authoritative Word” (25).
- The entire Bible is used to teach us today, however, some of the Bible is prescriptive (should be applied, something should happen still today, a command to be obeyed or an action to be imitated) and some of the Bible is descriptive (describes an event/what happened already, a story with a purpose and/or lesson, but is not intended to be imitated /does not apply today). We must use proper hermeneutics and exegesis to determine which applies.
I hope these reminders prompt new understanding in your heart as they did for me, or at least brought realization to mind that we need to keep these thoughts front and center in our daily walk of faith.
Much love (in truth!), dear friends 
References
Cottrell, Jack. The Faith Once for All. College Press Publishing Company. 2002
Blue Letter Bible. Retrieved August 15, 2022, from blueletterbible.org
All Scripture (unless otherwise noted): English Standard Version Bible. 2021. BibleHub.com and English Standard Version Bible. 2016. Crossway
Winger. Mike. “The Hidden Unchristian Belief of TOP Progressive Christian Influencers.” March 24, 2022. Retrieved August 15, 2022, from https://youtu.be/nYuWlxnqa4o
Dougherty, Melissa. Instagram Post. October 12, 2020. Retrieved August 18, 2022, from Melissa Dougherty (@melissaldougherty) • Instagram photos and videos