The Love That Leads to Life

“The fruitage of the spirit is love.”—Gal. 5:22.

1. What questions illustrate the reasonableness of the Greeks’ use of four words to express love? And why should we be interested in the answers?

THE saying goes that “the Greeks had a word for it.” And that seems to be true when it comes to the subject of love, for the Greeks had, not one but, four words to express the idea of love as viewed from different angles: éros, storgé, philía and agápe. This is reasonable, for love is a very complex quality, and you only need pause here and try to define it for yourself in order to be convinced that this is so. What, really, is love? Is it just a feeling, an impulse? Must it be accompanied by affection, and can it be displayed only toward those for whom we feel admiration, attraction, or at least some fondness, because of the qualities they possess? Could you love someone even though you did not like him? What is the source from which love springs? Is it the heart or the mind or both? And, finally, what means is there, if any, by which love can be measured to test its genuineness and worth? We need to know this, because, just as “all that glitters is not gold,” so all that appears as love is not always love. It could be as false as Judas’ last kiss, tender but treacherous.—Mark 14:44, 45.

2. What shows that love can be taught?

² “Love is the hardest lesson in Christianity; but for that reason, it should be most our care to learn it.” So wrote William Penn, the founder of the state of Pennsylvania. While it may seem strange to think of love as being taught, yet the Bible clearly shows that it can be. (1 Thess. 4:9, 10) The word “disciple” literally means a learner or a pupil, and God’s Son on the night before his death, told those whom he had trained and taught: “By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.”—John 13:35.

3. (a) Why is genuine love the distinguishing mark of true Christians? (b) What danger exists today for the Christian congregation?

³ Love of that kind must be rare, so rare that it would make Jesus’ true pupils or disciples stand out among all other persons on earth and be their distinguishing mark. It did in Jesus’ day; does it today? Look at the newspapers, listen to the radio reports, or just examine the scene around you wherever you may now happen to be. Do you not see what the apostle Paul said you would, when he wrote: “But know this, that in the last days critical times hard to deal with will be here. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, . . . disobedient to parents, unthankful, disloyal, having no natural affection, . . . without love of goodness, . . . puffed up with pride, lovers of pleasures rather than lovers of God, having a form of godly devotion but proving false to its power; and from these turn away”? (2 Tim. 3:1-5) Why, Jesus foretold that the lack of true love would be so great that even his own Christian congregation would be seriously affected. Remember, it was not of the world in general but of his own professed followers in the time of the end that he said: “And because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off.” That spells danger.—Matt. 24:12.

4. What is sentiment, and whose experience illustrates that it is not the same as genuine love?

⁴ What kind of love do you have? Would it, does it, distinguish you from people in general and identify you as a follower, disciple or pupil of Christ Jesus? Or is your love mainly a matter of sentiment? Sentiment is defined in the dictionary as “an attitude, thought or judgment permeated or prompted by feeling.” Many people act on an impulsive feeling or emotion and do or say certain things that they feel are expressions of love. The apostle Peter in his early days as a disciple inclined toward such acts, and this brought him into difficulty on more than one occasion. Thus, when Jesus told his disciples about his future sufferings and death, Peter impulsively took Jesus aside and raised strong objections, saying, “Be kind to yourself, Lord; you will not have this destiny at all.” Did Jesus accept this emotional appeal as an expression of genuine love? The account says: “But, turning his back, he said to Peter: ‘Get behind me, Satan [opposer]! You are a stumbling block to me, because you think, not God’s thoughts, but those of men.’”—Matt. 16:21-23.

5. What controls the sentimental person, and how is true love superior?

⁵ Sentiment lets feeling rather than truth dominate the mind; and since sentiment relies on feeling to find its way, it is like a blind person. The sentimental person, in effect, shuts his eyes to the need for logical thought and for weighing matters to determine what will actually be in the best interests of the other person or bring the best results for all concerned. Genuine love, by contrast, takes a long-range view of matters and does not let emotion grab the reins and go off on uncertain paths. It makes sure that any emotion or feeling that arises is used to give force in the right direction, which the mind has already selected.—Rom. 8:5-8.

6. (a) What may our own sound thinking on the subject of love cause us to realize about it? (b) Why does honesty oblige us to admit our need for divine guidance in expressing love?

⁶ But above all, love thinks “God’s thoughts.” It acknowledges the truth of his statement that “as the heavens are higher than the earth, so my ways are higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isa. 55:9) Our own powers of reason may tell us that the human family was obviously made to be interdependent, that we all have needs, physical, mental and spiritual; and that, while we can fill some of these needs ourselves, we must rely on those who love us for the filling of others, and that only when such needs are filled can there be happiness. Logic may tell us that a loving person would be one who discerned such needs and endeavored to fill them to the extent of his ability, and that, since such ability is limited, his love would prompt him to determine the most important needs and concentrate on them. Our intelligence may tell us that many factors and circumstances would need to be considered, and that true love would be determined not by what we ourselves may prefer to do for another, nor by what others may think should be done, nor even by what the person himself may want at the moment, but, rather, by what the facts show to be for his future welfare. Sensible thinking may also tell us that, in addition to all this, love would require a heartfelt wanting to do this for the other person. Nevertheless, if we are honest we will admit that we need “God’s thoughts” to tell us how we can best fill the needs of others, what their greatest needs really are, and what will result to their best interests both now and in the future, as well as to build up in us the desire to do these things. We will never go wrong if we look to him, because “every good gift and every perfect present is from above, for it comes down from the Father of the celestial lights, and with him there is not a variation of the turning of the shadow.”—Jas. 1:17.

LOVE IN THE GREEK LANGUAGE

7. What is the basic meaning of each of the four Greek words for “love”?

⁷ This is where the Greeks and their four words for love come back into the picture. In Bible times the Greeks used the word éros to describe what we today would call romantic love, or love between the sexes. Love among those of the same family, such as love of parents for a child, was expressed by the word storgé. The word philía conveyed the idea of affection felt for friends, a love characterized by fondness or attachment due to mutual attraction of personalities. Finally, they used the word agápe to express the love that is based on principle and that results from the deliberate exercise of one’s judgment and will, a love free from selfish interests.

8. (a) To whom are we indebted for the clear understanding of these words? (b) How does their use of the word agápe show it to be the love that leads to life?

⁸ The Greeks gave us the words but, strangely enough, it was Hebrews, writing in Greek, who gave us the clearest understanding of their meaning. These were the writers of the Christian Greek Scriptures of the Bible, and the clear understanding they gave us is due primarily to their unique use of the word agápe, referring to the love based on principle (rather than on physical attraction, family relationship, or compatibility of personality). In fact, Douglas’ Bible Dictionary tells us that agápe is “one of the least common words in classical Greek writings.” So, while Plato, Socrates and Aristotle rarely used the word, Peter, Paul, John and the other writers of the books from Matthew to Revelation used it as it had never been used before. In their writings the word éros does not appear, storgé occurs only three times, and the verb philéo appears less than a hundred times, but the word agápe is found some 250 times in the Greek Scriptures. The apostle John used it when he wrote: “God is love [agápe].” (1 John 4:8) He quoted Jesus as using it when he said his disciples would be known if ‘they had love [agápe] among themselves.’ (John 13:35) Paul used it when he said that the “fruitage of the spirit is love [agápe].” (Gal. 5:22) And since it is the one “who is sowing with a view to the spirit [who] will reap everlasting life,” it becomes a life-and-death matter for us to learn this kind of principled love produced by God’s spirit. (Gal. 6:8) That is just the way the apostle John puts it when he says: “We know we have passed over from death to life, because we love [agapáo, a verb form of agápe] the brothers. He who does not love remains in death.”—1 John 3:14.

9. (a) What issue arose due to a lack of love early in human history? (b) How did Jehovah God react to such expression of selfishness?

⁹ What are the principles with which this unselfish love works? In his written Word God reveals to us the great issue of universal sovereignty that arose when one of God’s spirit sons turned against his Creator and maliciously lied about him to the first human pair in Eden to win them over to his side, even at the cost of their own lives. The first man, Adam, showed only erotic love, fleshly desire for his wife, Eve, and turned his back on his heavenly Father to join her in her disobedience. By spurning his righteous standing with Jehovah God and forfeiting his human perfection he drastically reduced his ability to show any true love for his wife. His children would inevitably be born imperfect, with inborn sin, and in a dying state like himself. But in the face of all this selfish ingratitude Jehovah’s own love did not turn bitter. Even when pronouncing just sentence on the three rebels he simultaneously announced his purpose to produce eventually a Seed who would end all the evil that God’s adversary had begun. This theme runs throughout the entire Bible as it traces God’s development of matters down through four thousand years to the time when he sent his most beloved Son to earth, first of all to uphold his Father’s side of the issue and demonstrate unbreakable integrity to him as the Rightful Sovereign, and then to meet mankind’s greatest need: the provision of a ransom to relieve them from the condemnation of sin and death and thus reconcile them with his heavenly Father.—Gen. 3:14-24; John 3:16, 36.

10. (a) What prospects do Bible prophecies hold out to those who show genuine love today? (b) In what activity would love prompt them to engage?

¹⁰ The Bible also shows that these benefits will be extended to obedient and loving men and women through a Kingdom government ruled by Christ Jesus, and that this will result in an entirely new order for this earth; the old order founded on selfishness, violence and disobedience to God being wiped out at the universal war of Armageddon. Bible prophecies combine with the present-day events and conditions to testify that we now live in the “time of the end” of that old order since 1914, and that our generation will shortly see the earth cleansed of hatred, greed, strife, murder, theft, oppression, adultery, slander, and all the other fruitages of a loveless world void of God’s spirit. (Matt. 24:7-14, 33-35; Gal. 5:21) It shows too that, while the love of many of those claiming to be Jesus’ disciples would “cool off,” others would endure and do a most loving work. What would it be? Jesus said: “This good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations; and then the end will come.”—Matt. 24:14.

11. Who really teaches us the true meaning of love?

¹¹ We can see, now, why 1 John 4:19 says: “As for us, we love, because he first loved us.” The knowledge of God’s loving acts and purposes provides the real understanding of love and should stir us as nothing else could to imitate him. Since man was originally made in God’s image, it is our obligation to express a love like his.—Gen. 1:26, 27.

ROMANTIC LOVE

12, 13. (a) Does the Bible ignore or reject the love between the sexes and how do we know? (b) What does such romantic love need in order to be a contributing factor to happiness, and how is this seen in the case of the ancient Greeks and Romans?

¹² Consider first of all the love between the sexes, which the Greeks called éros. You may wonder what relation there can be between such love and the principled love (agápe) about which we have written. True, the Christian writers did not use the word éros, but still the Bible does consider such love and it does so in plain, frank language, as anyone who reads the account in Genesis of Adam and Eve, of Isaac and Rebekah, of Jacob and Rachel, or the book of the Song of Solomon, or the counsel at Proverbs 5:15-19, must admit. But it does not deify such love. While we read that Rebekah was “very attractive in appearance” and that Rachel was “beautiful in form and beautiful of countenance,” yet the Bible shows that their real beauty was in their devotion to the true God Jehovah and their wifely devotion to their husbands. (Gen. 24:16; 29:17) In the Christian Scriptures the apostle Paul gives very straightforward counsel on marital love in his first letter to the 1 Corinthians, chapter seven, and there is certainly nothing “prudish” about his dealing with the matter.

¹³ But in all that the Bible has to say, this fact is made clear: Such romantic love can contribute to happiness only when it is controlled, not worshiped; and, to control it, we need the love based on principle. Today the whole world seems to be committing the same mistake the ancient Greeks did. They worshiped Eros as a god, bowed at his altar and offered sacrifices to him. The Romans did the same with Cupid, the Roman counterpart of Eros. But history shows that such worship of sexual love only brought degradation, debauchery and dissolution. Perhaps that is why the Bible writers made no use of the word.

14. How could the love based on principle solve major, and even intimate, marital problems?

¹⁴ Problems of incompatibility today are making the divorce rates soar in many lands, and in some states of the United States the ratio now stands at one divorce for every two marriages. How great the need is for the love based on principle! Men and women could find the solution to some of marriage’s most intimate problems by remembering that “love [agápe] does not behave indecently, does not look for its own interests, does not become provoked.” (1 Cor. 13:5) The roots of marital strife and quarrels could be cleared away by the balanced advice Paul gives: “Nevertheless, also, let each one of you individually so love [agapáo] his wife as he does himself; on the other hand, the wife should have deep respect for her husband.” (Eph. 5:33) Where a husband and wife have such love their aim will be, not to possess, but to share. Rather than thinking in terms of “I,” “me,” “mine,” they will think in terms of “we,” “us,” “ours.” They will each seek to know the other’s needs and longings and then lovingly use this knowledge for the happiness of the other.

LOVE WITHIN THE FAMILY CIRCLE

15. How is the love expressed by the word storgé now in a time of crisis, and what is needed to protect it?

¹⁵ What a delightful thing a united, loving family is! It has a beauty all its own, a charm that makes time spent within its borders a real pleasure. This natural affection (storgé in Greek) of family members for one another was used by Paul to stress the close family relationship that should exist among Christians. (Rom. 12:10) But he also foretold that in our times men in general would lack this “natural affection.” (2 Tim. 3:3) The family circle of yesteryear is certainly breaking up today under the pressures of modern-day living. In more and more cases families no longer take their meals together, nor gather in their living rooms to enjoy one another’s association. Delinquency, both adult and juvenile, continues to divide home after home. This is because natural affection alone cannot stand up under the present-day stresses. But the love based on principle can hold the family together, because “love [agápe] . . . is a perfect bond of union.”—Col. 3:14.

16. What Bible counsel is given to parents who have their children’s life interests at heart?

¹⁶ You parents, do you want your children to love you and to be like those to whom the Bible speaks, saying: “Children, be obedient to your parents in union with the Lord, for this is righteous: ‘Honor your father and your mother’; which is the first command with a promise: ‘That it may go well with you and you may endure a long time on the earth’”? Would you like them to gain life everlasting in the paradise earth under God’s kingdom? Then what are you doing really to fulfill your part as expressed in the next words: “And you, fathers, do not be irritating your children, but go on bringing them up in the discipline and authoritative advice of Jehovah”? To do that in these days takes more than mere affection; it takes love of a principled kind.—Eph. 6:1-4.

17. (a) Why does it not show true love to pamper a child. (b) How can the withholding of discipline work calamitously for both parent and child?

¹⁷ The parent who withholds proper discipline and caters to every whim of a child actually is showing love only of self. Such a parent will often say, “I know it isn’t really good for my child to have this, but he does so have his heart set on it and I couldn’t bear to hurt him.” Concern is thus shown, not for the child’s future welfare, but selfishly on the part of the parent lest the child’s affection be withdrawn temporarily because of the proper exercise of discipline. What parent would give a child a time bomb as a gift? Yet some do, disguised in the form of a car given when the boy is too young to appreciate the responsibility that goes with it, or by allowing a girl a larger area of freedom than her years would sensibly allow for. The sacrificing of principle on the altar of affection is only a false worship, and all too often in later years the doting parent hungers for a love that is no longer for sale. How wise the proverb that says: “The one holding back his rod is hating his son, but the one loving him is he that does look for him with discipline”! (Prov. 13:24) Discipline means teaching and training; and as our heavenly Father disciplines and teaches us, so we must do with our children if our love is to be genuine.—Heb. 12:5-11.

LOVE AMONG FRIENDS

18, 19. (a) On what is the love expressed by the word philía based, and what shows that it is proper? (b) What does such friendship love need in order to be of lasting value, and why?

¹⁸ Enriching, too, is the friendship love, called philía by the Greeks. How barren life would be without friends! Friendship usually results from a person’s seeing in another qualities that he just naturally likes, appreciates, enjoys; or there may be a sharing of experiences together over a period of time that gives the foundation for fondness, affection and loyalty. Mutual trust and confidence flow between friends. Christ Jesus himself showed a special friendship toward three of his disciples, Peter, James and John, and of the three, John is mentioned as especially beloved by Jesus.—John 19:26; 20:2.

¹⁹ Nevertheless, for our friendship to have any lasting value it must first be combined with principled love, and so the apostle Peter’s exhortation is that we ‘supply to our brotherly affection [philadelphía] love [agápe].’ (2 Pet. 1:7) Otherwise, our friendly affection could easily degenerate into flattery and spoiling; it could allow us to become partners with others in things that are not right and not for the good of either one or the other, in things that are dishonoring to God and harmful to our neighbor. But “love [agápe] does not work evil to one’s neighbor.”—Rom. 13:10.

20. How does God’s expression of friendship guide us in our expressing it?

²⁰ Principled love, in fact, should guide us even in the initial selection and cultivation of our friends. How thrilled Jesus’ disciples must have been to hear him say: “The Father himself has affection [philéo] for you!” But why were they so honored by God? Jesus’ next words answer: “Because you have had affection for me and have believed that I came out as the Father’s representative.” (John 16:27) Yes, God has affection for, or bestows his friendship on, only those who are deserving. (Jas. 2:23) With good reason, then, we are warned that, “whoever, therefore, wants to be a friend [phílos] of the world is constituting himself an enemy of God.” Our friends should be, first of all, those who are God’s friends and lovers.—Jas. 4:4.

21. Why does this understanding not restrict our expression or love to a few persons?

²¹ Does that restrict us, put a fence around our expression of love? No, because principled love [agápe] can and should go where affection [philía] may not venture or even feel attracted. The reward of life everlasting is not for those who merely express love and devotion to marriage mate, family or close circle of friends. Jesus said: “For if you love those loving you, what reward do you have? Are not also the tax collectors doing the same thing? And if you greet your brothers only, what extraordinary thing are you doing? Are not also the people of the nations doing the same thing? You must accordingly be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” (Matt. 5:46-48) Very definitely, then, we can love persons even though we do not like them. Our life depends upon our doing just that.

22. What questions are worthy of serious consideration by each of us?

²² Pause and ask yourself now: How does my love measure up? Is it based on principle or just sentiment? Do I have love only for those whom it is natural for me to love: marriage mate, parents, children, or friends whose personality appeals to me? Is even the love I have for them really with their eternal welfare at heart, or is it just an expression of affection because of the satisfaction my relationship with them brings me? How genuine is my love? The value and worth of your whole life can be measured by your answers.—1 Cor. 13:1-3.

Fulfilling the New Commandment of Love

“I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”—John 13:34.

1. According to the apostle Paul’s argument, what kind of love did God express in providing the ransom?

THE basis for God’s greatest gift to mankind was principled love, not affection. This is what the apostle Paul argues at Romans 5:7-10, saying: “For hardly will anyone die for a righteous man; indeed, for the good man, perhaps, someone even dares to die. But God recommends his own love [agápe] to us in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. . . . For if, when we were enemies [not friends], we became reconciled to God through the death of his Son, much more, now that we have become reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.” No, it was not fondness that Jehovah God expressed for imperfect, sinful mankind by the gift of his Son. What qualities did they have for which to feel fondness? But he did exercise love, a principled, unselfish interest in their welfare and their needs. He provided their paramount need, the means by which they could gain reconciliation with him, the Fountain of life, by his Son’s ransom sacrifice.

2, 3. (a) Why is such principled love needed to carry out the command at Matthew 24:14, and how do Jehovah’s witnesses manifest that love? (b) How did Jesus differ from modern philanthropists?

² Our being Christian followers of God’s Son requires that kind of love today. Without it Jesus’ prophecy, that “this good news of the kingdom will be preached in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations” before the end of this system of things, would never be accomplished. He warned the bearers of this good news that “people will deliver you up to tribulation and will kill you, and you will be objects of hatred by all the nations on account of my name.”—Matt. 24:9, 14.

³ Today in 194 lands and islands Jehovah’s witnesses are bearing the good news of the Kingdom and are doing it out of unselfish love. What else could keep them going to the people in their cities, towns and villages, using their time and energy, and yet in so many homes being met with rebuffs or abuses? They do not have the easy way of modern philanthropists who pave their path into a place of affection with the people by gifts of money, food or works that appeal to the people’s human fleshly interests. True, on two occasions Christ Jesus did cause food to be miraculously multiplied for the benefit of crowds who had come a long distance to hear him. But he made no practice of this and showed he wanted no “rice Christians” among his followers. To a crowd of such ones he said: “You are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate from the loaves and were satisfied. Work, not for the food that perishes, but for the food that remains for life everlasting, which the Son of man will give you.” He then went on to speak strong truths that many found “shocking,” with the result that “many of his disciples went off to the things behind and would no longer walk with him.” They loved the bread that perishes, but not the truth, which “remains for life everlasting.”—John 6:25-27, 60, 66.

4, 5. What shows that Jesus was not referring to a general love of neighbor when he gave his new commandment of love?

⁴ Others of his disciples stayed with him to the end of his ministry. On his last night with them he said: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” (John 13:34) How can it be said that this was a “new commandment”?

⁵ The Law given to Israel through Moses some fifteen centuries before had stated: “You must love your fellow as yourself.” (Lev. 19:18) Though the history of that nation showed they had failed miserably in carrying out this law, still it had been there in their law code all during those centuries. So mere neighbor love was certainly not a new commandment. Jesus quoted this law when answering an inquiring Jewish Law expert who asked him to state the Law’s greatest commandment. Jesus replied: “‘You must love Jehovah your God with your whole heart and with your whole soul and with your whole mind and with your whole strength.’ The second is this, ‘You must love your neighbor as yourself.’” (Mark 12:29-31) Even though that law covenant with Israel was fulfilled and moved out of the way following Jesus’ death and the institution of a new covenant, still the principles of these two great commandments carried right over to the newly established Christian congregation. (Rom. 12:1, 2; 13:8-10; Jas. 2:8) To understand what Jesus’ new commandment meant we would do well to see first what these prior commandments required.

MIND, HEART, SOUL AND STRENGTH

6. What does love of God with our whole mind require of us?

⁶ How all-embracing to say that we must love Jehovah with our whole mind, heart, soul and strength! (Mark 12:30; Matt. 22:37) The mind is the seat of intelligence, and to love God with our whole mind would certainly require our using all our intelligence to learn about our Creator and his purposes and principles, and then intelligently applying this knowledge in all things of life in harmony with his will. This could never be done with a ritualistic way of life, going through routine ceremonies or the repetition of prayers and praises learned by memory, things that require no more exercise of intelligence than a mere child might use. Surely the All-wise God who made this vast and marvelous universe with all its grandeur and variety could never accept such a stunted expression as worthy of being called true love for him. Love for God with the whole mind calls for being “transformed by making your mind over, that you may prove to yourselves the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”—Rom. 12:2.

7. Will mental acceptance of our obligation to serve God and our obedience on that basis be sufficient to demonstrate true love for him? Why?

⁷ The heart is an expressive unselfish, altruistic quality of an individual, the powerhouse of one’s affection and motives, of conscience and moral conduct. Our loving God with the whole heart will never allow us to give obedience and service to him merely because of a feeling of obligation or necessity to do what pleases him. A halfhearted expression like that would show one was interested in but one thing: getting benefits from God, much like the man who works for another with sole interest in the wages he will receive. The one who loves Jehovah God with his whole heart will do his Creator’s will, not only because he knows that he should do so and that his very life depends on his doing so, but also because he wants to do so, he longs to do so. Strong heart affection motivates him to please his heavenly Father.—1 John 5:3.

8. How can we love God ‘with our whole soul’?

⁸ To love God with your whole soul is equivalent to saying you are to love him with your very life as an intelligent creature. This certainly eliminates being a mere Sabbath-worshiper, a one-day-a-week lover of God, or one who worships God just at stated times during the year. Life and time are inseparable for us; while we live we have time at our disposal and, when we die, time has run out for us, at least until such time as our heavenly Father may see fit to awaken us to life again by a resurrection. If we love God with our whole soul, then our entire life will revolve around the doing of his will. We will not think we can reserve the first half for ourselves and give the second half, our old age, to him.—Eccl. 12:1.

9, 10. (a) Can we love Jehovah God with our “whole strength” and still work for our physical necessities or those of our family? How? (b) Why is genuine love for God such an intimate expression?

⁹ Our whole strength used to love God will mean an energetic service to him, real effort put forth to do his good pleasure. While strength may properly be employed in earning a living, in caring for a home, or even in occasional recreation, yet Jehovah God will always have prior claim to our vital forces. Writing to persons who had already dedicated their lives to God, the apostle said: “I entreat you by the compassions of God, brothers, to present your bodies a sacrifice living, holy, acceptable to God, a sacred service with your power of reason.” Is it not only reasonable that, since Jehovah “makes all his works co-operate together for the good of those who love God,” we should try to make all our works cooperate to his praise and to the good of all others who love him?—Rom. 12:1; 8:28.

¹⁰ What could be more intimate than this love that the Bible says we must have for God? We may discuss the part the mind, the heart, the soul and the strength play separately in expressing it, yet in reality they must all be combined for it to be genuine. It involves the whole of us, with nothing left out.

LOVING OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES

11. In what ways can we ‘love our neighbor as ourselves’?

¹¹ Jesus said we must love our neighbor, not instead of ourselves, but as ourselves, doing for him what we would want him to do for us. We do not expect, nor would we want, others to provide us with all needed things with no effort on our part. Life would be robbed of most of its interest if others waited on us hand and foot. But we do appreciate generosity, a sharing of good things, not merely physical, material things, but even more so those things that satisfy our mental and spiritual needs, stimulating conversation, upbuilding words of encouragement. We appreciate protection from harm, or warnings when we are unaware of danger, guidance when we are in doubt, counsel when we are confused. But we also appreciate it when others do not deprive us of our right to make our own final decisions or exercise our own judgment in personal matters when we have the facts at hand. We would not want others to interfere with our property rights by theft or misuse of the things we own, and even more so would we not want their selfishly coming between us and those whom we love: marriage mate, family members or friends. We want all these things and privileges for ourselves. We should also want our neighbor to enjoy similar things, and we should do what we can to see that he does. As Jesus put it, “this, in fact, is what the Law and the Prophets mean.”—Matt. 7:12.

THE NEW COMMANDMENT

12, 13. (a) Jesus’ new commandment of love meant to express it in what special way? (b) How did Jesus show extraordinary love during his missionary work on earth?

¹² Since for centuries the Law and the Prophets had urged this love of neighbor in the sense of having a general regard for his well-being, then Jesus must have meant something else when he told his disciples that he was giving them a “new commandment.” What? His words tell us: to love one another “just as I have loved you.” Even they did not fully appreciate just how much that meant, but they soon learned.—John 13:34.

¹³ As his disciples later understood, Jesus had left his home to be with them, yes, left his Father, his brothers, his closest associates and warmest friends, and all his possessions and privileges. These were all in the heavenly realm from which he had come on a missionary assignment by giving up his spirit life as the “Word of God” and being born as a human in a common stable. (John 1:14; Luke 2:7) It was indeed a drastic change, vastly greater than one could experience by leaving the most progressive, most prosperous country today and then going into the most backward, most poverty-stricken land on earth. But his love did not culminate there; that was just the beginning. Though he became a perfect man, sinless, superior in every respect to those around him, he lived and worked, ate, drank and slept among people who were imperfect, sinful, sick and dying. If the first thirty years of his life could be called “normal,” the last three and a half years certainly could not. He had loved his neighbors as himself for all those years, but now he loved them in a unique way. From one end of Palestine to the other he tirelessly taught them and poured out his strength on their behalf and on behalf of the truth about his Father’s purposes. When not teaching the public, he was training his disciples; though at times the flow of people to him was such that “it was not convenient even to eat a meal.”—Mark 6:31.

14. What shows that Jesus did not advocate the ascetic way of life even though he was self-sacrificing?

¹⁴ Asceticism? Not at all. He accepted many invitations to meals and even banquets, as well as at least one wedding, and he doubtless enjoyed himself. He appreciated good things done for him. When he was having a meal with his friend Lazarus, Lazarus’ sister Mary used about $50 worth of costly oil to anoint his feet. Judas expressed indignation and professed loving concern for the poor who could have benefited by the sale of the oil. But Jesus told him: “Let her alone, that she may keep this observance in view of the day of my burial. For you have the poor always with you, but me you will not have always.” (John 12:1-8) But whether his unselfish love expressed in his ministry incited others to respond with love or not, Jesus’ own love continued undiminished.

15. (a) How did Jesus emphasize the need for love to his disciples? (b) The new commandment called for them to love whom, and on what basis?

¹⁵ Do we wonder, then, that on his final night with his disciples he laid such stress on love, genuine principled love? Over thirty times he spoke of love and loving, and three times he repeated the command that they “love one another.” (John 13:34; 15:12, 17) How could they possibly prove themselves his disciples if they lacked such love? Was his command that they ‘love their neighbor as themselves’? They should and did, but this was not the new commandment. They were to love one another, to have love among themselves as Christian disciples, and a love like what Jesus had shown for them as beloved disciples, men who loved his Father, who loved the truth, and who loved him. He told them: “No one has love [agápe] greater than this, that someone should surrender his soul in behalf of his friends. You are my friends if you do what I am commanding you.” (John 15:13, 14) The next morning they knew what he meant.

16. (a) How did Jesus show superlative love for his friends? (b) What words should his disciples have then remembered?

¹⁶ One of them may have seen it, if only from a distance, whereas we can only imagine it: his hands being held, one upon the other, until the spike punctured and tore through the flesh to imbed itself in the wood. The red of his blood beginning to stain his hands when another spike was driven through his feet. Then the stake being swung upright until his whole weight hung on these two points. Six hours later he was dead and thus was spared from having his legs brutally broken. If his disciples did not all see it, they soon heard about it from those who had. (John 19:25-27) Would they be ashamed of him? Would they want to deny that they had followed this man, believed his teachings, believed that he was God’s chosen one to rule in His kingdom? Peter at least should have remembered what Jesus told them after rebuking Peter for his sentimental objections to predictions of these very things. “If anyone wants to come after me,” Jesus said, “let him disown himself and pick up his torture stake and follow me continually. For whoever wants to save his soul will lose it; but whoever loses his soul for the sake of me and the good news will save it. . . . For whoever becomes ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man will also be ashamed of him when he arrives in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.”—Mark 8:34-38.

17, 18. (a) What loving purposes did Jesus accomplish by his death? (b) Into what wonderful relationship may we now enter, and how?

¹⁷ By his death Jesus accomplished his primary purpose in coming to earth: to vindicate his Father’s beloved name. (John 17:6; 18:37) He also provided a ransom for all of mankind who would accept it and to whom he would be able to say: “You are my friends [because] you do what I am commanding you.” (John 15:14) He gained the right to serve as king of a new capital government with its throne in the heavens and serve on behalf of his followers as God’s high priest, “not one who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who has been tested in all respects like ourselves, but without sin.”—Heb. 4:15.

¹⁸ Forty days after his resurrection Jesus went home again to the heavenly realm, but he has never forgotten this missionary assignment where he served for thirty-three and a half years. Today he rules as king toward this earth in his established kingdom, and we can even now enjoy his love and affection and that of his Father, Jehovah God, if we too prove ourselves his disciples. It will take love on our part.—Matt. 25:31-40; John 15:7-10.

19. (a) What quality have people around the world noted as manifest among Jehovah’s witnesses, and why is it unusual? (b) Why does true love oblige them to lead lives that many view as not “normal”?

¹⁹ Jesus’ faithful disciples fulfilled the new commandment, and today the New World society of Jehovah’s witnesses is sincerely endeavoring to fulfill it also. Their assemblies, national and international, have put them before the public eye, even as their house-to-house activity has brought them in contact with individual families in millions of homes around the globe. Their strong love for God, for neighbor, and for one another has been commented on in newspapers, by radio, and in newsreels in many nations. International frictions, national factions, racial differences are unable to break their bond of love. Persecution and reproach have not embittered them. (1 Cor. 13:6, 7) To many the life they lead may not seem to he “normal” as they regularly attend their congregational meetings three times each week and employ much of their free time on weekends and evenings in Bible instruction work. But Jehovah’s witnesses know that today’s world is not a “normal” world nor are these “normal” times. The unmistakable fulfillment of Bible prophecies, marking this as the most unusual and significant time of earth’s history, provides factors that true love will not ignore. Yes, today, with Armageddon staring us in the face, we must keep in mind the sobering thought that millions, even billions, of lives may shortly come to a swift and decisive end, putting their onetime owners beyond the reach of any expression of love on our part.—Matt. 24:34-42.

20. (a) As regards such “normal” living, what does the new commandment of love require of each of us? (b) Why is it so vital to learn and develop genuine love now?

²⁰ What about us as individuals? Will we individually fulfill the commandment: “Love one another . . . just as I have loved you”? Are we willing to sacrifice what the world calls a “normal” life to devote ourselves to helping our brothers and interested persons who show love for righteousness to gain life everlasting, even risking or losing our own lives on their behalf? Every day some of Jehovah’s witnesses are doing just that, behind the Iron Curtain and elsewhere. Why not? “By this we have come to know love, because that one surrendered his soul for us; and we are under obligation to surrender our souls for our brothers.” (1 John 3:16) We need to learn true love now and learn it well so that in future trials, tempting situations, hard decisions, love will prompt us to do the right thing and to endure. Then, even though the world may try to play on our emotions, stir up sentiment, or blind us to principles and the true life interests of others, we will see clearly what is the loving thing to do.—Jas. 1:12; 1 John 4:17, 18.

21. With God’s new order at hand, of what prospects does true love assure us, and what should we be stimulated to do?

²¹ God’s new order is at hand and in it his earthly subjects will, by love, produce achievements a thousand times more wonderful than anything selfishness has ever done in this present order. They will make this earth not only a literal paradise but also a spiritual one, filled with the fruitage of God’s spirit: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, mildness and self-control. With your life interests at heart our prayer is “that your love may abound yet more and more with accurate knowledge and full discernment; that you may make sure of the more important things, so that you may be flawless and not be stumbling others up to the day of Christ, and may be filled with righteous fruit, which is through Jesus Christ, to God’s glory and praise.”—Phil. 1:9-11.

Help All Nations to Come to Jehovah’s House of Prayer

WHAT a precious privilege prayer is! What could we, as Jehovah’s dedicated Christian ministers, do without it? Even as we depend upon Jehovah’s spirit, his organization and his Word, we also depend upon prayer. Jesus had great need of prayer—twenty of his are recorded for us; and if he had to lean so heavily on prayer, certainly we imperfect creatures need to do so still more!—Heb. 5:7.

In prayer we pour out our hearts to Jehovah, uttering words of praise to him and expressing our appreciation for all he has done for us as the Giver of every good gift and every perfect present, spiritual and material. Because we are imperfect and weak, we also need to pray continually for forgiveness and wisdom and strength to do God’s will. We also want to pray for his blessing upon all the activities of his servants.

Mature Christian ministers can testify to the value of prayer in ever so many instances: as when seeking for the truth, at mealtimes, when spiritually or when physically sick—although not praying for divine healing—when needing encouragement and when having weighty decisions to make.

What many people overlook in prayer, however, is that Jehovah God has certain conditions that must be met if he is to answer our prayers. We must come to the one true God, the great “Hearer of prayer,” and in Jesus’ name. (Ps. 65:2; John 14:6, 14) Moreover, we must come in sincerity, integrity and humility, for God does not hear the prayers of the wicked, the proud and the hypocritical. And then, of course, to be heard by God, we must act in harmony with our prayers.—Prov. 15:8, 29.

There is still another important condition to be met if we are to have our prayers answered. What is that? We must recognize God’s temple arrangement for his worship. Thus Solomon’s temple was a house of prayer for the Israelites and the foreigner who would pray toward that house. Yes, Jehovah’s house was to be, just as he foretold: “A house of prayer for all the peoples.”—Isa. 56:7.a

Today Jehovah’s house of prayer for all peoples is a spiritual house that replaced the literal temple at Jerusalem. As Peter shows, in writing to sanctified Christians: “You yourselves also as living stones are being built up a spiritual house for the purpose of a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices.”—1 Pet. 2:4, 5.

This spiritual temple is represented on earth today by a remnant of Kingdom heirs. It follows, therefore, that, just as in the days of King Solomon the foreigner or non-Israelite had to recognize God’s temple or house of prayer at Jerusalem, the “foreigners” or nonspiritual Israelites, the “great crowd” of “other sheep” today, must actively associate with Jehovah’s temple arrangement for all their prayers to be heard by Jehovah. Until then their prayers will go up as a memorial, as did those of Cornelius, and in due time God will see to it that they are reached by representatives of God’s house of prayer.—Acts 10:4.

Are you now worshiping at this house? If so, a great responsibility rests upon you to do all you can to help all the nations come to Jehovah’s house for prayer also.

In particular should all worshiping at Jehovah’s house of prayer make a special effort to help others to do so during the month of April. Be “Memorial-conscious” by inviting as many as possible to attend its celebration Friday, April 16, after 6 p.m., Standard Time. Let them see how pure worship is being carried on at Jehovah’s house of prayer.