If the other person asks forgiveness after the wrong is privately pointed out to him, and repairs the damage, the one having love will show that his forgiveness is real, that it has completely covered the matter, as God has.—Prov. 10:12; 17:9; 1 Pet. 4:7, 8.

Love “believes all things.” Love has faith in the things God has said in his Word of truth, even though outward appearances are against it and the unbelieving world scoffs. This love, especially toward God, is a recognition of his truthfulness, based on his record of faithfulness and reliability, just as we know and love a true, faithful friend and do not doubt when he tells us something for which we may not have proof. (Josh. 23:14) Love believes all God says, though it may not be able to grasp it thoroughly, and it is willing to wait patiently until the matter is more fully explained or until getting an understanding. (1 Cor. 13:9-12; 1 Pet. 1:10-13) Love also trusts in God’s direction of the Christian congregation and his appointed servants and backs up their decisions based on God’s Word. (1 Tim. 5:17; Heb. 13:17) However, love is not gullible, for it follows God’s Word to “test the inspired expressions to see whether they originate with God,” and tests everything by the measuring rule of the Bible. (1 John 4:1; Acts 17:11, 12) Love produces confidence in one’s faithful Christian brothers, not suspecting them or disbelieving them unless there is absolute proof that they are wrong.—2 Cor. 2:3; Gal. 5:10; Philem. 21.

Love “hopes all things.” It has hope in all the things Jehovah has promised. (Rom. 12:12; Heb. 3:6) It continues to work, waiting patiently for Jehovah to bring fruitage, to make things grow. (1 Cor. 3:7) A person having love will hope the best for his Christian brothers through any circumstances in which they might be, even though some may be weak in faith. He will realize that if Jehovah is patient with such weak ones, he should certainly adopt the same attitude. (2 Pet. 3:15) And those he is helping to learn the truth he continues to assist, hoping and waiting for them to be moved by God’s spirit to serve him.

Love “endures all things.” Love is required for the Christian to keep his integrity toward Jehovah God. There is nothing the Devil can do to test the soundness of the Christian’s devotion and faithfulness to God but what love will endure in a way that holds him true to God.—Rom. 5:3-5; Matt. 10:22.

“Love never fails”; it endures and continues to grow. New knowledge and understanding may correct things we once believed; hope changes as the hoped-for things are realized and new things are hoped for, but love always remains in its fullness and continues to be built up stronger and stronger.—1 Cor. 13:8-13.

“A TIME TO LOVE”

As to the period of its extension to others, love is restricted only toward those whom Jehovah shows are unworthy of it, or toward those set in a course of badness. Love is extended to all persons until they show they are haters of God. Then the time comes for love’s expression toward them to end. Both Jehovah God and Jesus Christ love righteousness and hate lawlessness. (Ps. 45:7; Heb. 1:9) Those who in tensely hate the true God are not persons toward whom love is to be expressed. Indeed, it would accomplish no good to continue exercising love toward such ones, for those who hate God will not respond to his loving-kindness. (Ps. 139:21, 22; Isa. 26:10) Therefore God properly hates them and has a time to act against them.—Ps. 21:8, 9; Eccl. 3:1, 8.

THINGS NOT TO BE LOVED

The apostle John writes: “Do not be loving either the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him; because everything in the world—the desire of the flesh and the desire of the eyes and the showy display of one’s means of life—does not originate with the Father, but originates with the world.” (1 John 2:15, 16) He says, later on, “the whole world is lying in the power of the wicked one.” (1 John 5:19) Accordingly, those who love God hate every evil way.—Ps. 101:3; 119:104, 128; Prov. 8:13; 13:5.

While the Bible shows that husbands and wives should love one another, and that this love includes the conjugal relationship (Prov. 5:18, 19; 1 Cor. 7:3-5), it points out the wrongness of sexual love toward another not one’s spouse, a fleshly, worldly practice. (Prov. 7:18, 19, 21-23) Another thing of the world is materialism, “love of money” (phi·lar·gu·riʹa, literally, “fondness of silver” [Kingdom Interlinear Translation]), which is a root of all sorts of injurious things.—1 Tim. 6:10; Heb. 13:5.

Jesus Christ scathingly denounced the hypocritical religious leaders of the Jews who liked to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the broadways to be visible to men, and who loved the prominent places at evening meals and the front seats in the synagogues. He pointed out that they had already received in full their reward, that which they loved and desired, namely, honor and glory from men; therefore no reward at all was due them from God. (Matt. 6:5; 23:2, 5-7; Luke 11:43) The record reads: “Many even of the rulers actually put faith in [Jesus], but because of the Pharisees they would not confess him, in order not to be expelled from the synagogue; for they loved the glory of men more than even the glory of God.”—John 12:42, 43; 5:44.

Christ, in speaking to his disciples about his death, emphasized that those who wished to be his ministers would have to follow him. He said: “He that is fond of [phi·lonʹ] his soul destroys it, but he that hates his soul in this world will safeguard it for everlasting life.” (John 12:23-25) One who preferred to protect his life now rather than to be willing to lay down his life as a follower of Christ would lose out on everlasting life, but he that considered life in this world as secondary, and who loved Jehovah and Christ and their righteousness above everything else would receive everlasting life.

God hates liars, for they have no love of the truth. He declared to the apostle John in vision: “Outside [the holy city, New Jerusalem] are the dogs and those who practice spiritism and the fornicators and the murderers and the idolaters and everyone liking [phi·lonʹ] and carrying on a lie.”—Rev. 22:15; 2 Thess. 2:10-12.

ONE’S LOVE CAN COOL OFF

Jesus Christ, in telling his disciples of the things ahead, indicated that the love (a·gaʹpe) of many who professed belief in God would cool off. (Matt. 24:3, 12) The apostle Paul said that, as a feature of the critical times to come, men would become “lovers of money.” (2 Tim. 3:1, 2) It is evident, therefore, that one can lose sight of right principles and that the proper love he once had can fade away. This emphasizes the importance of constant exercise and development of love by meditation on God’s Word and by molding one’s life according to His principles.—Eph. 4:15, 22-24.

LOVE FEASTS

[Gr., a·gaʹpai (pl. of a·gaʹpe, love)].

The Bible does not describe these love feasts nor does it indicate how often they were held. (Jude 12) They were not commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ or his apostles, and it is apparent that they are not to be considered mandatory or permanent. Some say they were occasions when materially prosperous Christians held banquets to which their poor fellow believers were invited. Together the fatherless, the widows, the rich and the less fortunate shared a bountiful table in a spirit of brotherhood. The Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 12, page 333, says: “The love feast was more than a symbol in the early church. It was a hearty meal whose cost was partly defrayed by the church. It demonstrated the family spirit of equality and community of goods. For many humble members of the church it was their best meal of the week. Gluttony and clannishness contradicted the whole spirit of such occasions.”

Tertullian, an early Christian writer, gives a description of the love feasts, recounting that the participants, before reclining to eat, offered prayer to God. They would eat and drink with moderation, only enough to satisfy hunger and thirst, remembering that even during the night they must worship God. Their conversation was as those who knew that the Lord was listening. Each sang a song, and the feast closed with prayer.

That these feasts were originally held with good intent is indicated by the word used to describe them. A·gaʹpe is the Greek word used for the highest form of love, love based on principle. It is the kind of love that the Bible says “God is.” (1 John 4:8) It is listed as a fruit of the spirit at Galatians 5:22 and described at length in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7.

NOT THE “LORD’S EVENING MEAL”

There does not appear to be any basis for connecting such love feasts with the Lord’s Evening Meal (Memorial), as some have done, saying that the love feasts took place either before or after the observance of the Memorial. The Lord’s Evening Meal is an anniversary taking place yearly on the same day, the fourteenth day of the lunar month Nisan, whereas the love feasts seem to have taken place often and not necessarily on a regular schedule. The apostle Paul condemns the making of an ordinary meal out of the Lord’s Evening Meal and adds: “Certainly you do have houses for eating and drinking, do you not? . . . If anyone is hungry, let him eat at home.” (1 Cor. 11:22, 34) This was an evening to be observed with seriousness and meditation on its significance and not an occasion for eating and drinking at the meeting place.

Neither are these love feasts the same as the “taking of meals” (“breaking of bread,” AV) mentioned at Acts 2:42, 46; 20:7. Bread in those times was usually made in thin cakes. Unleavened bread would be crisp as well. Bread was not cut, but broken, which gave rise to the phrase “breaking bread,” with reference oftentimes to the partaking of an ordinary meal.—Acts 2:46, AV, compare NW.

MISUSED BY SOME

As a literal meal, love feasts became subject to various abuses by those who did not have the proper spiritual outlook, and not being commanded by the Lord Jesus Christ or his apostles but being only a custom, they were later discontinued. Jude’s words indicate that some associated on these occasions with bad motives: “These are the rocks hidden below water in your love feasts while they feast with you, shepherds that feed themselves without fear.” (Jude 12) Peter indicates the infiltration of evildoers and those teaching false doctrine among true Christians, saying: “They consider luxurious living in the daytime a pleasure. They are spots and blemishes, indulging with unrestrained delight in their deceptive teachings while feasting together with you.” (2 Pet. 2:13) While Christians up to and including the present time have continued to have pleasurable fellowship and have helped one another materially as far as it is within their power, there is no basis for the revival of love feasts as a custom in the Christian congregation.—Jas. 1:27; 2:15.

LOVING-KINDNESS

See KINDNESS.

LOYALTY

Faithful adherence to a sovereign or government, or to a leader, a cause, or the like. It connotes devoted attachment, the feeling of devotion to something or someone, trueness to any person or persons to whom one owes fidelity.

In the Hebrew Scriptures, the adjective hha·sidhʹ is variously translated by the English words “loyal,” “kind,” “holy,” and similar terms. The noun hheʹsedh has reference to kindness, but contains more than the thought of tender regard or kindness stemming from love, though it includes such traits. It is kindness that lovingly attaches itself to an object until its purpose in connection with that object is realized. Such is the sort of kindness that God expresses toward his servants and that they express toward him. It therefore comes into the field of loyalty, a righteous, devoted, holy loyalty.

In the Greek Scriptures the noun ho·si·oʹtes and the adjective hoʹsi·os carry the thought of holiness, righteousness, reverence, being devout, pious; the careful observance of all duties toward God. It involves a right relation toward God.

There appear to be no English words that exactly express the full meaning of the Hebrew and Greek words, but “loyalty,” including, as it does, the thought of devotion and faithfulness, when used in connection with God and his service, serves to give a close approximation. The best way to determine the full meaning of the Bible terms in question is to examine their usage in the Bible.

JEHOVAH’S LOYALTY

Jehovah God the Most Holy One, devoted to righteousness as he is, and exercising unbreakable loving-kindness toward those who serve him, dealing in righteousness and trueness even with his enemies, is eminently dependable. It is said of him: “Great and wonderful are your works, Jehovah God, the Almighty. Righteous and true are your ways, King of eternity. Who will not really fear you, Jehovah, and glorify your name, because you alone are loyal?” (Rev. 15:3, 4) Loyalty to righteousness and justice as well as love for his people prompts him to act in judgment, about which an angel was moved to say: “You, the One who is and who was, the loyal One, are righteous, because you have rendered these decisions.”—Rev. 16:5; compare Psalm 145:17.

Jehovah is loyal to his covenants. (Deut. 7:9) Because of his covenant with his friend Abraham he exercised long-suffering and mercy for centuries toward the nation of Israel. (2 Ki. 13:23) Through his prophet Jeremiah he appealed to Israel: “‘Do return, O renegade Israel,’ is the utterance of Jehovah. ‘I shall not have my face drop angrily upon you people, for I am loyal.’” (Jer. 3:12) Those who are loyal to him can rely fully on him. David, in prayer, asked for God’s help and said: “With someone loyal you will act in loyalty; with the faultless, mighty one you will deal faultlessly.” (2 Sam. 22:26) In an appeal to the people, David asked them to turn away from what is bad and do what is good, “for,” he said, “Jehovah is a lover of justice, and he will not leave his loyal ones. To time indefinite they will certainly be guarded.”—Ps. 37:27, 28.

Those who are loyal to Jehovah can count on his closeness and his help to the very end of their faithful course, and can rest in full security, knowing that he will remember them no matter what situation arises. He guards their way. (Prov. 2:8) He guards their lives or souls. (Ps. 97:10) He counts the death of those loyal to him precious, for they have died, not merely as sinners dying on account of Adam’s sin; rather, theirs is a death of integrity in answer to Satan’s challenge of God’s sovereignty.—Ps. 116:15.

JESUS CHRIST

Jesus Christ when on earth was greatly strengthened in the knowledge that God had caused to be foretold of him that, as God’s chief “loyal one,” his soul would not be left in Sheol. (Ps. 16:10) On the day of Pentecost, 33 C.E., the apostle Peter applied this prophecy to Jesus, saying: “[David] saw beforehand and spoke concerning the resurrection of the Christ, that neither was he forsaken in Hades nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God resurrected, of which fact we are all witnesses.” (Acts 2:25-28, 31, 32; compare Acts 13:32-37.) The Expositor’s Greek