What is Biblical Love?
by Sean Michael Morris
Jesus Christ’s preaching was rarely, if ever, preceded by verbal pleas of "I love you", nor was it followed with such statements that this world holds to be the foremost proof of love. He exposed sin, condemned hypocrisy, opposed the leaders of His day, cleansed the Temple, gave warnings, preached on hell more than heaven, and was in danger of death on many fronts because of His sin-exposing preaching - this is Biblical Judgment. Everything Christ did, verily, is LOVE, but it was not what this World or carnal Christianity deems as love. My reader, when reading a text which is on this website, please stop and pause when you see a verse quoted or cited. Consider the scripture carefully – its force, its wording, its offensiveness, and how unashamedly it was delivered by God-Incarnate. Please, keep in mind that Christ was criminalized and hated BECAUSE He loved men, but they HATED His love! Will you?
True, biblical, Christ-inspired, and Christ-exemplified LOVE is...
- primarily guided by discernment instead of acceptance. - John 7:24, Matt. 7:16, 21
- prepared to reject all that is intolerable to God even if this is intolerant of man. - Lk. 16:15
- willing to contradict the masses who believe that tolerance is love. - Isa. 5:20, Mal. 2:17
True, biblical, Christ-inspired, and Christ-exemplified LOVE does...
- cut and wound like a two-edged sword. - Prov. 27:6, Heb. 4:12, Matt. 10:34, Eph. 6:17
- engage in spiritual war against the enemies of the cross. - 2 Cor. 10:3, Php. 3:18
- Amidst carnal joy the Holy Spirit is grieved! - Eph. 4:30
- Amidst carnal confidence the Holy Spirit is accusing! - Ezek. 13:22
- Amidst carnal happiness the Holy Spirit is sorrowing! - Mal. 3:14-18
- Amidst carnal peace the Holy Spirit is terrifying! - Jer. 4:10
- Amidst carnal rest the Holy Spirit is restless! - Amos 6:1
- Amidst carnal ease the Spirit is in anguish! - Rom. 9:1-3
- Love questions. - Jer. 7:10
- Love examines. - 2 Cor. 13:5
- Love interrupts. - 1 Kings 13:4
- Love exposes. - Jn. 3:20
- Love leads men to be crucified to Self! - Gal. 2:20
- Love resurrects men to live a-new in Christ! - Rom. 6:1-13
True, biblical, Christ-inspired, and Christ-exemplified LOVE will...
Practically speaking, what does this mean? It means that those who are proud mistake reproof for abuse. They view the humble as victims of subversion. Those who are proud feel competent without the guidance of scripture. Those who are proud feel they can judge between right and wrong without the Word of God judging them. Those who are proud disagree with the written word of God (though they would never admit it). Thus, for example, when they are approached by a man of God who pleads with them via the scripture, they do not feel they need to search out the matter to see if it be true before they give an answer. They go away criminalizing the scripture-studying and scripture-pleading individual, claiming that he is controlling, but in reality they are turning their own conscience into an idolatrous shrine whereby they go-a-whoring from the God of the Bible. The Jesus Christ of the Bible who prayed, preached, and pled, “It is written”, is thus despised and rejected, as souls fall-a-lusting after “another jesus” (2 Cor. 11).
Such men are offended at scriptural instruction because to them it is conscience-troubling, but this is because they consider their individual conscience to be the highest form of authority instead of the written word of God. They use scriptures like Romans Ch. 14 to justify their wicked ways because the chapter holds in high regard the individual conscience as it pertained to Christian Liberties in the 1st century, but they misapply the passage in their own lives because what they consider liberties the Bible calls lust, what they consider conviction the Bible calls deception and heresy, and what they preach as personal revelation the Bible forbids as “a little leaven” (1 Cor. 5:6-8).
They feel that brotherly accountability and interdependence is oppression, and they feel that unbiblical individualism and independence is freedom. Alas, these souls! What a tragedy! All of this happens, because: In the life of a heretic, the scripture is sidelined. They have their own means to “draw close to god”. They have found a better way. When encountering those who obsess over scripture, they are offended. They call such people “Bible-Idolaters”. They shun the study of Bible doctrines and despise the use of biblical terminology… to them, it is all dead religion! They rashly anathematize and falsely accuse all people who are defiant of this "jesus" who, they suppose, has been their savior for their entire lifetime (2 Cor. 11:4). Superstitiously, they chant evangelical mantras, like: "By Faith Alone", "By Grace Alone, "In Christ Alone”. But, in so doing, they attempt to simplify the issue and accuse all divisive influences who, to them, preach the contrary. While raving and obsessing over a false peace they once had, they condemn the Holy Spirit who is convicting them of sin. In essence, they say to the Man, Jesus of Nazareth: "We will not have this Man to reign over us" (Lk. 19:14)! But, on the contrary, every man’s conscience should be controlled by the KING! In other words, the conscience should be enlightened by and conformed to the written word of God, not our own imagination. If our conscience disagrees with the written word of God, we should change, but the heretic rages onward in confidence like there is no KING, doing what is right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6, 21:25). God forbid!
Preachers of righteousness in such circumstances, conflict with persecutors. In love, they preach the death of Adam, the death of the Old Man, the destruction of the works of the Devil, and the condemnation of Pharisaical Christian Religion. They are forced to it, by love! They wade through the carnage of lost souls to rescue the ignorant and shine light in the darkness! In so doing, they are divisive to the anti-Christ Christian Religion of the 21st century and all its authorities. True love is, therefore, unrelenting even though it is un-welcomed!
- preach freedom by a man-slaying device called, The Cross. - 1 Cor. 1:18
- expound life and liberty by the arrested, nail-fastened, and cross-lifted misery of SELF. - Gal. 6:13-14
Practically speaking, what does this mean? It means that those who are proud mistake reproof for abuse. They view the humble as victims of subversion. Those who are proud feel competent without the guidance of scripture. Those who are proud feel they can judge between right and wrong without the Word of God judging them. Those who are proud disagree with the written word of God (though they would never admit it). Thus, for example, when they are approached by a man of God who pleads with them via the scripture, they do not feel they need to search out the matter to see if it be true before they give an answer. They go away criminalizing the scripture-studying and scripture-pleading individual, claiming that he is controlling, but in reality they are turning their own conscience into an idolatrous shrine whereby they go-a-whoring from the God of the Bible. The Jesus Christ of the Bible who prayed, preached, and pled, “It is written”, is thus despised and rejected, as souls fall-a-lusting after “another jesus” (2 Cor. 11).
Such men are offended at scriptural instruction because to them it is conscience-troubling, but this is because they consider their individual conscience to be the highest form of authority instead of the written word of God. They use scriptures like Romans Ch. 14 to justify their wicked ways because the chapter holds in high regard the individual conscience as it pertained to Christian Liberties in the 1st century, but they misapply the passage in their own lives because what they consider liberties the Bible calls lust, what they consider conviction the Bible calls deception and heresy, and what they preach as personal revelation the Bible forbids as “a little leaven” (1 Cor. 5:6-8).
They feel that brotherly accountability and interdependence is oppression, and they feel that unbiblical individualism and independence is freedom. Alas, these souls! What a tragedy! All of this happens, because: In the life of a heretic, the scripture is sidelined. They have their own means to “draw close to god”. They have found a better way. When encountering those who obsess over scripture, they are offended. They call such people “Bible-Idolaters”. They shun the study of Bible doctrines and despise the use of biblical terminology… to them, it is all dead religion! They rashly anathematize and falsely accuse all people who are defiant of this "jesus" who, they suppose, has been their savior for their entire lifetime (2 Cor. 11:4). Superstitiously, they chant evangelical mantras, like: "By Faith Alone", "By Grace Alone, "In Christ Alone”. But, in so doing, they attempt to simplify the issue and accuse all divisive influences who, to them, preach the contrary. While raving and obsessing over a false peace they once had, they condemn the Holy Spirit who is convicting them of sin. In essence, they say to the Man, Jesus of Nazareth: "We will not have this Man to reign over us" (Lk. 19:14)! But, on the contrary, every man’s conscience should be controlled by the KING! In other words, the conscience should be enlightened by and conformed to the written word of God, not our own imagination. If our conscience disagrees with the written word of God, we should change, but the heretic rages onward in confidence like there is no KING, doing what is right in his own eyes (Judges 17:6, 21:25). God forbid!
Preachers of righteousness in such circumstances, conflict with persecutors. In love, they preach the death of Adam, the death of the Old Man, the destruction of the works of the Devil, and the condemnation of Pharisaical Christian Religion. They are forced to it, by love! They wade through the carnage of lost souls to rescue the ignorant and shine light in the darkness! In so doing, they are divisive to the anti-Christ Christian Religion of the 21st century and all its authorities. True love is, therefore, unrelenting even though it is un-welcomed!
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The place in which sin resides, Christ crucified
The flesh which killed Christ must now be mortified The cross which Christians adore & preach kills mankind That by way of personal execution men are finally made alive! The sons of Adam must see their birthright as Satan’s pride The philosophy of life that they love and follow as Satan’s lie The way of life they choose to follow as a battle-line Their words and deeds as combat against the Crucified! |
At last, my reader, let us understand the dilemma! True Christians, let us understand our calling!
True, biblical, Christ-inspired, and Christ-exemplified LOVE does...
- expose sin to be EXCEEDINGLY SINFUL! - Rom. 7:13
- exalt God to be breathtaking in HOLINESS! - Rev. 4:8, Ps. 99:1
- describe humanity to be infinitely unworthy of forgiveness! - Ps. 119:120
- declare self-sacrifice and personal-crucifixion as the only reasonable experience of the Gospel! - Gal. 2:20
- hate the unfounded confidence of sin-loving rebels, being moved thereto, to expose sin and preach hell! - Ps. 10:1-18
- force bitter-belly preaching against the enjoyments of sin - that they are animal-like in SHAME! - 2 Pet. 2:12, 22, Jude 1:10, Ps. 73:22
- herald woe upon false prophets in the public square! - Matt. 23:13, 14, 15, 23, 25, 27, 29
- unmask the good intentions of false prophets so as to hold them to their God-judged guilt, even if the common public gasps in disbelief – Namely that false prophets are:
- as treacherous MASKED MURDERERS to the human soul! - Ezek. 13:16-23, 22:25, 27, Hos. 6:9, Jer. 2:30, 34, Rev. 17:6
- as an EVIL PLAGUE cursing both earth and man! - Gen. 3:18, Ezek. 2:6, 2 Sam. 23:6-7, Matt. 7:6, 15-17, 12:33-37,
- as an infestation of VENOMOUS BEASTS resulting in widespread death and tragedy! - Ps. 58:3-5, Num. 21:6, Matt. 3:7, 23:33
- weep in secret and wait for every opportunity to lift up the CROSS of Christ before sinners who are ready to appreciate their wrath-mangled Savior for the first time!
- exclaim the wonder of - The Atonement! - unto all those who are stabbed in their hearts and thereby made able to admire it (Acts 2:37)! Then, and only then, will the happy throng be illuminated to sing: "Just as I am, without one plea, but that thy blood was shed for me, and that THOU BIDST ME COME TO THEE, O Lamb of God, I COME,I COME". Hallelujah!
"As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter." - Rom. 8:36
This climactic Image of Christ living in the Church on earth was sealed by this God-ordained, yet mysterious clash, man-to-man, when holy men and unholy men, with God, met face to face (2 Cor. 5:19-20). These 1st century Christians “endured such a contradiction of sinners” in their “striving against sin” (Heb. 12:3-4), which meant that they rejected their popular cliques, did upset their family unity, and became the troublesome aggravation of society’s honorable elite who domineered in idolatrous fraternities! The self-obsessed “nobility” of the city was the power class of the heathen – emboldened in sin – and they, even they, FEARED that their life of sin was in danger! Can you imagine it!? The highest class of wealth and power, which fared sumptuously in sin and debauchery, even they were melting with fear that their livelihood of sin was in danger of extinction! The idolatry-fueled economy was crashing into a depression with no economist making the claim, but streetside bonfires hailing Jesus’ Name! Men were in fear, fear for the safety of their world of lies and sin, that this Christ in men would utterly end it at last! Therefore did the servants of the devil bestir themselves to violently oppose it with boundless immorality. Blaming God and beautifying the devil, they shed the blood of their converted family, friends, and fellow countrymen. Do you see the point? These Christians had POWER; therefore sinners feared to let them have a fair-standing freedom to preach in the public eye. Doomed to do the devil’s will, the heathen murdered the righteous children of Christ, and no wonder; it is just like they did to Christ. It was because Christ in their countrymen was destroying sin (1 John 3:8)! This Christ in the 1st century Christian men – He did “fill Jerusalem” (Acts 5:28), and then “every where” (Acts 21:28, 28:22) else in “the world” (Acts 24:5), with sin-destroying, sinner-saving Truth! “I am the Truth” – saith Christ! Oh! Will we ever recover that wondrous secret of abiding in the Lord?
A Painful Love
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee;
how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings,
and ye would not!" (Luke 13:34)
"And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!
but now they are hid from thine eyes." (Luke 19:41-42)
So many deceived, how can I be consoled (Rom. 9:2-3)?
Strangers, the world, and my dearest adamic friends… the alarm is bold.
Going through life, many works I multitask,
But the breath of God does show the monotony as a mask.
Time slips away in a perpetual bask as I am confronted by a ceaseless task (Mark 16:15),
That by some endeavor, and before the END, pleading and preaching might eternity unmask (2 Cor. 4:18).
My heart breaks in unrest; I am moved and distressed…
Oh to gather the condemned from vanity!
To bring them nigh to Christ, even to His chest,
That they would be the chicks under His wing and upon His breast (Luke 13:34),
That they would cease from pleasure and smiling (2 Tim. 3:4), and know what is best.
"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God:
God is not in all his thoughts." (Psalm 10:4)
Stadiums of souls circle to behold,
Sports and fame, and for the world they’re sold...
Their hearts are dead and cold; they know not the rest of the Savior's fold.
Of His face they are unaware, the joy of His Kingdom they do not share,
Though nothing on this earth could nearly compare (2 Cor. 3:17-18).
Happy merry-making and pleasure without God (Psalm 147:10),
these rags of menstrual blood they do applaud (Isa. 64:6).
Oh such love that seizes upon my soul (2 Cor. 5:14),
It is like a wound, a pain, a breaking, Christ-life role (Gal. 2:20).
My mind does meditate what I might do, seeking salvation for this one or two.
I imagine suffering a thousand crucifixions just for you,
That for you these blessed words might be true…
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
To me, in Him, a thousand deaths do seem small (Php. 1:8),
I earnestly hurt that you would hear the gospel call.
Oh, I wish a sinner could behold it all (2 Cor. 4:4)…
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2:24)
"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, which killest the prophets, and stonest them that are sent unto thee;
how often would I have gathered thy children together, as a hen doth gather her brood under her wings,
and ye would not!" (Luke 13:34)
"And when he was come near, he beheld the city, and wept over it, Saying, If thou hadst known,
even thou, at least in this thy day, the things which belong unto thy peace!
but now they are hid from thine eyes." (Luke 19:41-42)
So many deceived, how can I be consoled (Rom. 9:2-3)?
Strangers, the world, and my dearest adamic friends… the alarm is bold.
Going through life, many works I multitask,
But the breath of God does show the monotony as a mask.
Time slips away in a perpetual bask as I am confronted by a ceaseless task (Mark 16:15),
That by some endeavor, and before the END, pleading and preaching might eternity unmask (2 Cor. 4:18).
My heart breaks in unrest; I am moved and distressed…
Oh to gather the condemned from vanity!
To bring them nigh to Christ, even to His chest,
That they would be the chicks under His wing and upon His breast (Luke 13:34),
That they would cease from pleasure and smiling (2 Tim. 3:4), and know what is best.
"The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek after God:
God is not in all his thoughts." (Psalm 10:4)
Stadiums of souls circle to behold,
Sports and fame, and for the world they’re sold...
Their hearts are dead and cold; they know not the rest of the Savior's fold.
Of His face they are unaware, the joy of His Kingdom they do not share,
Though nothing on this earth could nearly compare (2 Cor. 3:17-18).
Happy merry-making and pleasure without God (Psalm 147:10),
these rags of menstrual blood they do applaud (Isa. 64:6).
Oh such love that seizes upon my soul (2 Cor. 5:14),
It is like a wound, a pain, a breaking, Christ-life role (Gal. 2:20).
My mind does meditate what I might do, seeking salvation for this one or two.
I imagine suffering a thousand crucifixions just for you,
That for you these blessed words might be true…
“Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
To me, in Him, a thousand deaths do seem small (Php. 1:8),
I earnestly hurt that you would hear the gospel call.
Oh, I wish a sinner could behold it all (2 Cor. 4:4)…
"Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree,
that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness:
by whose stripes ye were healed." (1 Peter 2:24)
