What is written in the Bible about love. The word of God (quotes from the Bible), Love - read, download - compiled by K.V. Gritsenko
"He who does not love has not known God, because God is love." 1 John 4: 8
What is love? When we, as humans, think about love, we think about some good and pleasant feelings. However, true love does not depend on feelings. It means a lot more than how I feel about someone. This also applies to romantic love, and love for one of the relatives, for a friend or colleague - We often give our love or accept it based on what benefit it will bring to ourselves. But what will I do if love for someone is worth something? What does the Bible say about love?
“Love is longsuffering, merciful, love does not envy, love is not exalted, is not proud, does not rage, does not seek its own, does not get irritated, does not think of evil, does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth; Covers everything, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything. " 1. Cor. 13: 4-8
When I do this in spite of my feelings and no matter what other people do, then I am in love. I do not feel like I am in love when I am tempted to anger, to impatience, to seek my own, to believe in all the bad things or to lose faith in someone. When I reject all these feelings and instead rejoice, become long-suffering, humble myself, endure others and endure everything - this is true love. Love sacrifices itself, all its natural reactions, demands that are part of human nature, then I do not expect to receive anything in return.
"There is no more love than if someone lay down his life for his friends." John 15:13
Love first
"In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1. John 4:10. It's good when someone loves me and I answer such people with mutual love. It is not hard. But this is not a proof of love. God loved us before we loved Him, and we did nothing to deserve God's love. How do I react if I have been mistreated? Where is my love then? Love gives, gives, not only to those who treat us well. But love loves its enemies, it loves first. This love does not disappear, even if it is not reciprocated. This love endures everything.
"But I tell you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who offend you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven." Matt. 5: 44-45
Divine love
“He who says,“ I love God, ”but hates his brother is a liar: for he who does not love his brother whom he sees, how can he love God, whom he does not see? And we have from Him such a commandment that he who loves God should love his brother too. " 1. John 4: 20-21
Our love for God is no greater than our love for our neighbors. Divine love does not change depending on the circumstances. She is solid.
We often want others to change. We find it difficult to love people for who they are, and we want them to change. This is proof that we are more concerned with our own well-being and comfort. We are looking for our own, instead of loving others.
The truth is that instead of hoping that others will change, we must find sin in ourselves and be cleansed of it. Personal interest and thoughts that "I know better", vanity and stubbornness, etc. - all these sins I find in myself when I deal with other people. When we are free from all this, then we can endure, believe, hope and endure everything for the sake of others. We love others for who they are, we begin to pray for them with sincere love and care.
With no exceptions
There are no exceptions here. There should not even be a thought that this person did not deserve it. Jesus gave His life for us and this is irrefutable proof of how much He loves us. Nobody else deserves it less than we do. Loving does not mean agreeing with the sins of others or agreeing with whatever they do. Love is when we carry others in our hearts, pray for them, believe in them, and wish the best for them, despite what our feelings say. Then I can love the one to whom I initially felt reluctance. Then I can instruct, advise, or correct to help others move away from anything that could be harmful. But all this is only when I am motivated by a sincere concern for other people.
Everyone I meet should feel drawn to Christ through communication with me. Love attracts people. Kindness, humility, meekness, patience, understanding. How can you feel attracted when I come from impatience, pride, rudeness, hatred, etc.?
When I feel that I lack this divine love, then I can ask God to show me how I can receive it. I have to be willing to sacrifice my own will and start thinking about others.
“And now these three abide: faith, hope, love; but love is the greatest of them. " 1. Cor. 13:13
Inna asksVasily Yunak answers, 02/03/2013
Inna writes:"I would like to know what the Bible says about love (meaning love between a man and a woman)."
To begin with, there is an entire book in the Bible devoted to this very topic - the relationship between a man and a woman. This is the Song of Solomon. This book is a poem about the love of a tsar and a shepherdess. But at the same time, this book is an allegory, describing the relationship of the Lord with His Church. The love of a man for a woman is used as an image to describe the love of God for a man.
In addition, the Bible contains a variety of love stories from different people. For example, the story of Jacob and Rachel (ch) has served as a model for many works of art. The story of Ruth, recorded in the book of the same name, also amazes with its touching scenes. Esther's story is also a love story, although little is directly said about it. David had several novels, and they are all interesting in their own way. In particular, the story of Bathsheba is described in chap. In its own way, the book of the prophet Hosea is wonderful, which also almost completely reveals the amazing relationship in one family. There are exciting stories about Joseph in Egypt (chap) and Samson (-16 chap), and a number of other, smaller or more subtle love stories, such as the story of Dinah (chap), Tamar (chap) or Amnon (chap).
In addition to the love stories of different people, the Bible also talks about the rules of behavior, relationships and conflict resolution. Fornication (premarital sexual relations) and adultery (extramarital affairs or adultery) are addressed in many laws of the Old Testament, including the moral law of the ten commandments, sanitary law, civil and marriage laws. Most of the precepts and laws on these matters, as well as on the perversions of love, are found in the books of Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers. These regulations are rather scattered throughout the books, therefore I will give only a few indicative references:; and 20 hl; ch. There are also helpful instructions and rules in the New Testament:; ; ; ; - 7:40; ; ; ... And of course, the very principle of the family: "In the beginning of creation, God created them man and woman. Therefore, a man will leave his father and mother and cleave to his wife, and the two will be one flesh; so that they are no longer two, but one flesh . So what God has united, let not man separate "(). In practice, this is one of the very first decrees of God given by God to man in the Garden of Eden ().
While this is by no means a complete list of what can be found in the Scriptures about love, it will nonetheless help you see how the Bible focuses on this important aspect of human life.
Read more on the topic "Sex, Erotica and Intimacy":
| Sep 30 | Is petting, touching, without direct sex for fornication? (Stepan) Stepan asks: Is petting, touching without direct sex for fornication? Peace be with you Stepan, Fornication is the satisfaction of sexual desire by a person who is not legally married, the opposite of chastity ... |
The process of searching for new semantic and moral guidelines in our society is still far from complete. The strong value shift that has taken place in the field of gender relations - one of the most important aspects of human life, has made it the subject of close attention of modern Orthodox theologians. In light of this, an article by the candidate of philological sciences, an employee of the Institute for Bible Translation Andrey Desnitsky.
Many people believe that for Christians everything about sex is sin. Is this a delusion? It is difficult to answer unequivocally, because everything here depends on our idea of sex. In modern culture, this is, of course, one of the main idols, to which people are ready to sacrifice anything - and the attitude of Christians to such an idol can only be sharply negative. It just so happened that the commandments "Thou shalt not kill" and "Thou shalt not steal" are readily accepted by modern society and considered the foundations of their legal order, but the attitude to the commandment "Do not commit adultery", which is on the same list, is completely different. In fact, it was replaced by the commandment "we all have the right to everything that happens by mutual consent between adult citizens."
One of the tricks of the idol named "sex" is precisely to appropriate everything that is only connected in a person with gender and intimate life. Say, there are only two options: to worship this idol or to reject any thought about the bodily side of love as sinful. But this, of course, is a false choice.
What does the Bible say about bodily intercourse between the sexes? From the very beginning of the story of the creation of man, the book of Genesis notes: "... God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them" (1:27). That is, the division into two sexes is not just conceived by God, but it turns out to be almost as important as creation "in the image of God." Further, in the second chapter of the same book, we meet the explanation: "... it is not good for a man to be alone" (2:18). That is, the joint life of a man and a woman is an integral property of humanity, and - attention! - its meaning is by no means reduced to procreation, as in animals or birds, which God also created as males and females, but did not say anything like that about them. It is fundamentally important for a person to communicate with someone who is equal to him ... and at the same time, different from him.
Can it be considered that from the very beginning, back in the Garden of Eden, communication between the sexes also implied bodily love? We do not know for sure, but certainly nowhere in the Bible - not in Genesis, not in other books - does it say anything about the sinfulness of such love. Maybe everything in the Garden of Eden was generally different than in our world, and the intercourse of the sexes there also looked completely different. In general, the first chapters of Genesis pay relatively little attention to this side of life, it goes on for people as if by itself: for example, they are given certain restrictions in food (Noah and his descendants are forbidden to eat blood), but relations between the sexes are practically not regulated in any way.
True, there is one mysterious episode right before the story of Noah's flood: the "sons of God" marry the "daughters of men" (Genesis 6: 2), and this behavior is a clear sin. We do not know who it is about exactly here we are talking about: maybe about princes and rulers who got harems for themselves without asking the desires of the girls themselves. But pagan cults with their orgies can also be implied here, in which, as their participants believed, they enter into "sacred marriages" with their deities. This reading is quite consistent with the biblical tradition, because in it very often the relationship between God and Israel is portrayed as a marriage union, and idol worship is equated with fornication.
Accordingly, the sinfulness of fornication is not at all in the fact that people enter into an intimate relationship with each other, but in the fact that they break the bonds of fidelity that bind spouses or the bride and groom. The Bible does not in any way deny the bodily side of love, but limits it to the framework of marriage. In the Old Testament there is an amazing book - the Song of Songs - which sings just such an integral love, in which loyalty to each other and spiritual unity are combined with the physical closeness of lovers: "May he kiss me by kissing his lips! For your caresses are better than wine ..." - this is how this book begins. It has long been interpreted allegorically, as a story about the love of God and the chosen people or the Church (which is, in general, the same thing), but even with this interpretation, bodily love turns out to be sublime and beautiful: after all, it is with her that mystical communion with God is compared ! If she were sinful, such a comparison would simply be blasphemy.
So, physical intimacy was considered an integral part of marriage, and marriage itself was the union of a man and a woman ... or a man and several women. The Old Testament in no way prohibits or regulates polygamy, and we see in it a considerable number of men who had more than one wife. In addition to full-fledged wives, there were also concubines, that is, slaves who shared a bed with their master. Sometimes their appearance was due to the fact that the wife remained childless (for this reason, for example, Abraham took Hagar, the maid of his wife Sarah, as his concubine), but, of course, there could be other reasons. Today such an attitude towards women seems to us cruel and barbaric, but in fact it is a special case of slavery, which is not at all denied in the Old Testament. There are generally no calls for a social revolution: the norms existing in society are more likely to be accepted, but the desire to transform this society from the inside remains clear. Over time, people come to understand that the norms of their lives simply do not correspond to the ideals of their faith, and begin to change their norms (some, however, prefer to change their faith).
This happened with slavery, and, much earlier, with polygamy. By the end of the Old Testament time, we see how, without any prohibitions, the union of one man and one woman has become the norm, because it is such a marriage that best reflects the principle laid down in the story of the creation of man. A man and a woman may be unequal in some social conditions, but by their nature they are equal, one and complementary. Moreover, it is in the Old Testament that we find amazing stories about women who played a huge role in the history of the Israeli people, and who played it in a woman's way. Here is the Moabite Ruth, who exactly fulfilled the laws of Israel when many of the Israelites themselves forgot about them, but the beautiful Esther, who became the Persian queen and persuaded the king to cancel the intended beating of the Jews. Separate books are devoted to them, but we will meet similar heroines in other narratives of the Old Testament. It was these stories that more reliably than any political declarations made men look at a woman with different eyes than before.
But in some respects, the Old Testament is still sharply opposed to the norms of the time. In those distant times, in many cultures, sex-related rituals were considered quite normal: for example, "temple harlots" at pagan temples did not just earn their living, but rather performed a kind of sacred rite, as they understood it. The Old Testament condemns this in its harshest terms. He does not leave any kind words for another phenomenon widespread today - homosexuality. The reason is quite understandable: it contradicts the Creator's plan of the unity of the two sexes. Today it is customary to take the desires of the people themselves as a starting point: "What's wrong with that if they themselves want it?" - but for the Bible, human will never comes first. The freedom of choice of a person should not lead to the violation of clearly expressed commandments and to the perversion of natural forms of life.
At the same time, the Bible makes no attempt to define the specific form of marital relations in marriage, leaving it entirely to the discretion of the spouses. Blessed is everything that is done in marriage for the sake of the integrity of a person and the unity between a man and a woman, and everything that takes a person away from these values is condemned.
The New Testament continues this line: it is enough to remember that Christ performed his first miracle at a wedding in Cana of Galilee. He not only honored this celebration with his presence, but, turning water into wine, allowed it to continue further. In doing so, He confirmed the great value of marriage. In the Gospel of Matthew we also find the words that marriage, in fact, is an indissoluble unity (the Old Testament just allowed divorce): “Whoever divorces his wife not for adultery and marries another commits adultery; and whoever marries a divorced commits adultery "(19: 9). Only adultery, i.e. unilateral exit of the spouse from the marriage union can destroy this union. Such severity surprised even the closest students: "If such is a man's duty to his wife, then it is better not to marry." It turns out that marriage imposes such serious obligations on a man ...
And then very unusual words of the Savior sounded: "Not everyone can contain this word, but to whom it is given, for there are eunuchs who were born from their mothers like this; and there are eunuchs who were emasculated from people; and there are eunuchs who made themselves eunuchs for the Kingdom Heavenly. Who can contain, let him contain "(19: 11-12). It is clear that there are people who are physically incapable of carnal love and therefore unsuitable for marriage (eunuchs), and some of them are such from birth, while others have undergone surgery. Naturally, they are not subject to the rights and obligations of marriage. But who are these eunuchs who made themselves such "for the Kingdom"? To this day, there is a sect that takes these words literally: its adherents physically emasculate themselves.
But, apparently, these words should be interpreted no more literally than a call to pluck out your eyes when you see something seductive (Matt. 5:29). Casting himself for the Kingdom is a person who voluntarily renounced the joys of family life in order to serve God. Let us note that Christ does not at all belittle marriage, does not at all call those who do not refuse it, some second-rate people unfit for spiritual life: on the contrary, it is they who "contain" the commandment about the indissolubility of marriage. Refusal from marriage is like a temporary refusal of food, i.e. fasting: there is nothing wrong with food, it is also a gift from God to people, but in a certain situation a person humbles himself, denying himself the essentials in order to emphasize his complete devotion to God and dependence on Him.
Later this idea was developed by the apostle Paul. He himself remained single, and what a family could withstand such wanderings and dangers through which he had to go! He explained it this way: "The unmarried man cares about the Lord, how to please the Lord; but the married man cares about the worldly, how to please his wife" (1 Cor. 7: 32-33), and therefore advised those who want to devote themselves entirely to the service of God, stay single. However, for him, the bishop could also be married, if only he was “the husband of one wife,” that is, a person who has shown faithfulness in marriage. For the last one and a half millennia, however, bishops have been elected from among the monks who have just decided to become "eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom."
For the apostle Paul, marriage is also an image of the relationship between God and man. He owns amazing words, the depth of the meaning of which we rarely ponder: "Wives, obey your husbands as the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, like Christ is the head of the Church, and He is the Savior of the body ... Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the Church and gave Himself for her "(Eph. 5: 22-25). Yes, on the one hand, the Apostle Paul speaks of the subordinate position of his wife (which was completely natural in that society), but on the other hand, he points to the source of this intra-family hierarchy. It reflects the relationship between God and the Church, and most importantly, husbands are not at all allowed to abuse themselves and use their power for self-gratification. They are called to love their wives, and not only as the groom loves the bride, but also with the love that Christ Himself manifested on the Cross. After reading these words, you will involuntarily come to the conclusion that the apostle describes the role of husbands in the family much more strictly than the role of women: obeying is not so difficult, but repeating the feat of love manifested on the Cross ...
And what about intimate relationships? As in the Old Testament, in the Apostle Paul they are an integral part of married life and only her: "The wife does not have power over her body, but the husband; likewise, the husband does not have power over his body, but the wife. Do not shy away from each other, unless by consent, for a while, for exercise in fasting and prayer, and then again be together, so that Satan does not tempt you with your intemperance "(1 Cor. 7: 4-5). As we can see, the main principle of Christian asceticism is proposed here: the time of prayer and special spiritual concentration, called fasting, requires a person to abandon the usual joys of life. And at the same time, he clarifies that in marital relations this should only happen by mutual consent, otherwise the "high spirituality" of one of the spouses may become a heavy temptation for the other.
As we can see, the Bible recognizes the bodily, intimate, or, if you will, the sexual side of human life as natural and not shameful. At the same time, she sets her a certain framework, or, more precisely, points to the main principle of the unity of a man and a woman and their fidelity to God and each other in marriage, to which this side of our life must obey. Sexual permissiveness, as well as aversion to the bodily side of love as something dirty and sinful, are equally foreign to the Bible. As always, she encourages us to follow the middle, "royal" path.
The word "love" today can be understood in different ways.
For example:
- love to motherland
- love for a pet
- love for mom
- love for wife or husband, child
We say "love", and sometimes we express this mean a different attitude to someone or to something.
What is true love?
If you ask a person, then, depending on his views, age, age, we will get many options, but what opinion should we choose to say - “now I know”?
We can spend enough time thinking about these questions. I suggest asking God.
Let's turn to the Holy Scriptures, to the Epistle to the Corinthians:
4 Love is longsuffering, merciful, love is not jealous, love is not exalted, not proud,
5 does not rage, does not seek his own, does not get irritated, does not think of evil,
6 does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices in the truth;
7 Covers all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.
8 Love never fails, although prophecies will cease, and tongues will cease, and knowledge will be abolished.
(1 Cor. 13: 4-8)
In this passage we are given the characteristics of "Love". It can be safely noted that love is not just feelings, but actions are deeds.
The Son of God came to this world to show us True Love. Jesus gave us a personal example - he showed us how true love works.
You can safely replace the word "love" with the name "Jesus" in the passage (1 Cor. 13: 4-8).
Try to re-read what happened?
Personally, I myself have never looked at these lines like in a mirror, until a certain moment ...
Now let's put our name in the passage and read it again.
I confess to you that when I read to myself, I understand that there is something to strive for.
Jesus showed us love and He wants it to live in you and me.
Not just existed, but acted as it is written from verses 4 to 8.
9 The love of God for us was revealed in the fact that God sent His Only Begotten Son into the world so that we could receive life through Him.
10 In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
(1 John 4: 9,10)15 Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God.
16 And we have come to know the love that God has for us, and believed in it. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.
(1 John 4:15, 16)8 But God proves His love for us by the fact that Christ died for us when we were still sinners.
(Rom. 5: 8)
Here are just a few of the most famous Scriptures that speak of love:
"... love covers all sins" (Prov. 10:12)
"... and his banner over me is love" (P. Songs 2: 4)
"... for strong like death is love; fierceness is like hell, jealousy; her arrows are arrows of fire; she is a very strong flame.
Large waters cannot extinguish love, and rivers will not flood it. If anyone gave all the wealth of his house for love, he would be rejected with contempt. "(P. Songs 8: 6-7)
"Above all, have zealous love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Pet. 4: 8)
"We know love in this, that He laid down His life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers." (1 John 3:16)
"... because love is from God, and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love has not known God, because God is love. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear, because in fear there is torment. The one who fears is imperfect in love "(1 John 4: 7-8,18)
"But love is that we walk in his commandments" (2 John 6)
"Let love be unfeigned ..." (Rom. 12: 9)
"Love does no harm to one's neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law" Rom. 13:10)
"... love builds up" (1 Cor. 8: 1)
"If I speak in tongues of men and angels, but I do not have love, then I am a ringing brass or a sounding cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy, and I know all the secrets, and I have all knowledge and all faith, so that I can move mountains, and not I have love - then I am nothing. And if I distribute all my possessions and give my body to be burned, but I have no love, there is no benefit to me. " (1 Cor. 13: 1-3)
"Love is longsuffering, merciful, love does not envy, love is not exalted, is not proud, does not rage, does not seek its own, does not get irritated, does not think evil, does not rejoice in untruth, but rejoices at the truth; it covers everything, believes everything, hopes everything, endures everything Love never ceases, although prophecies will cease, and tongues will cease, and knowledge will be abolished. " (1 Cor. 13: 4-8)
"And now these three abide: faith, hope, love; but love is the greatest of them." (1 Cor. 13:13)
"But the fruit of the spirit: love ..." (Gal. 5:22)
"Above all put on love, which is the totality of perfection" (Col. 3:14)
"Let the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God and into the patience of Christ" (2 Thess. 3: 5)
"The goal of admonition is love from a pure heart and a good conscience and unfeigned faith" (1 Tim. 1: 5)
"... you left your first love" (Rev. 2: 4)
"Let all things be with you in love" (1 Corinthians 16:14)
"I give you a new commandment, that you love one another; as I have loved you, so you also love one another" (John 13:34)
"... love one another continually from a pure heart" (1 Peter 1:22)
"Husbands, love your wives, as Christ also loved the Church and gave Himself for her" (Eph. 5:25; Col. 3:19)
"You heard that it was said: love your neighbor and hate your enemy. But I say to you: love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who offend you and persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in Heaven, for He commands his sun will rise over the wicked and the good and send rain on the just and the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward will you? " (Matt. 43:46)
"... to love Him with all your heart and with all your mind, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and love your neighbor as yourself" (Mark 12:33)
"... let us not love in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth" (1 John 3:18)