Friday, June 2, 2017

What is love? (Bible Study Notes on Love Based on 1 Corinthians 13)

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What is love?
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What is love?  Love is difficult to define by human standards, but the Bible tells us what love is.

What is Love?


If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And  if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.  Love is patient, love is kind and is not jealous; love does not brag and is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth; bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.  Love never fails; but if there are gifts of prophecy, they will be done away; if there are tongues, they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be done away.  – 1 Corinthians 13:1-8a

There are four types of love:
  1. Storge – Storge is the “I like you” kind of love.  It provides for companionship.
  2. Eros – Eros is the “I want you” kind of love.  It is romantic.
  3. Phileo – Phileo is the “I enjoy you” kind of love.  It provides for friendship.
  4. Agape – Agape is the “I love you” kind of love.  This kind of love is a choice.  We choose to love.Love is more than just a word.  We show it by our conduct.  It is a commitment.Love is a covenant. 
And He answered and said, “Have you not read that He who created them from the beginning made them male and female and said, ‘For this reason, a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh?’  So they are no longer two, but one flesh.  What therefore God has joined together, let no man separate. – Matthew 19:4-6
Love is unequaled.  (1 Corinthians 13:1-3) 

It is greater than words.
It is greater than ability.
It is greater than martyrdom.

Love is unconditional. (1 Corinthians 13:4-7) 

Love is patient and kind.  (verse 4)
It is not jealous or arrogant.  (verse 4)
It has a toughness and a tenderness.  (verse 5) 
Be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving each other, just as God in Christ also has forgiven you. – Ephesians 4:32
Love loves truth.  (verse 6)
It is fearless and strong.  (verse 7)

When love has no evidence, it believes the best.  When the evidence is adverse, it hopes the best.  And when hopes are repeatedly disappointed, it still courageously waits – Alfred Plummer

Love is unending. (verses 8 and 13) 

Love never fails. (verse 8)

And now these three remain:  faith, hope, and love.  But the greatest of these is love.  (1 Corinthians 13:13)

“I DO” love you means:

Say “I love you” daily.
Write it down.
Begin this moment.
Love God first.

What is love?
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 Everything you do must be done in love. – 1 Corinthians 16:14
This is my prayer for you:  that your love will grow more and more; that you will have knowledge and understanding with your love. – Philippians 1:9

  

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