“But concerning brotherly love you have no need that I should write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another”
Question: How does God teach you to love other people?

Brotherly love

On “brotherly love”, Paul is speaking in this letter in a limited way about relations between the followers of Jesus in the church of Thessalonica, and as a guide, he points to how God teaches us to love one another.

Cause of disharmony

The basic cause of hostility between people was the original fall into sin which separated mankind from God and consequently caused separation within mankind. The descent into hostile relations was rapid, with Cain first killing his brother Abel, and then Lamech boasting that his vengeful killing was eleven times greater than Cain (Genesis 4:24).

God’s Teaching

God’s ultimate response to heal our brokenness was by sending Jesus, who won forgiveness for our sin on the cross, and raises us from our old life of sin to new life. He restores us to a righteous relationship with God and with one another, however imperfectly that yet shows.

But God has also guided us to restore relationships throughout history.
To limit the extent of separation from God and between people, He gave Moses the Law which called people to both respect God, and to respect and care for one another.
And He repeatedly commanded Israel to cease their idolatry which misled them into barbaric practices, such as child sacrifice.
But His greatest gift in Jesus showed us how to love others, and enabled us to do so.

Who we are to love

As fallen humanity we have a very limited capacity for love. Beyond family it is generally given only to those people we can trust, and because trust seems in short supply in our modern age, there’s not much love to go around, while hatred is in abundant supply.
But Jesus showed our love for others was to extend far wider than we could imagine.

In Matthew 22: 37-40, when tested by a Pharisee lawyer, Jesus stated that while the command to, “love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind” was the first and greatest, the second command to “love your neighbour as yourself” was very similar. And in Luke 10:25-37, we find the lawyer then asked, “Who is my neighbour?”, and Jesus replied with the parable of the Good Samaritan who showed mercy and care for one from an unfriendly nation, and Jesus commanded, “Go and do likewise”.

And in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus set the standard of perfect righteousness with the requirement to “love your enemies, and do good to those who persecute you.”
As this is beyond the ability of fallen mankind, it shows the sermon was not given as extra Law to that which had already failed. It was given both to show that fallen mankind cannot become righteous before God by our own strength, and also to illustrate the amazing path that Jesus was preparing for all who would receive Him.

How we are to love

The “How” is given by Jesus in John 13:34, where he said, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another.”
So, we are to love in the same way as Jesus has loved us.
And we learn how has He loved us from Romans 5:8, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us”. And in Romans 5:10, “… when we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son”.
Jesus’ love for us is unconditional; it is completely undeserved as it was given to us and all mankind as sinners and enemies of God. And it is infinite, for when he died, he took on Himself the pain and suffering due to all mankind for their sin.

Being able to love like Jesus

Have you noticed that people who are mean and nasty are often those who have been given little or no love? They may feel insecure and uncomfortable when offered kindness, as it is so foreign to them. But people who are generous in love are often those who give it naturally because that is what they have known when growing up.

And that is how God’s love to us in Jesus changes us. When we realise how vast is the infinite love of God for us, and we allow Him to take and carry us in His arms, His love overflows from within us, it runs onto the people around us as we are unable to keep it to ourselves.

If we try to give love because of a legal command, that is not genuine, and it fails the test of what is commanded. Just as Jesus said forgiveness must be “from your heart” (Matthew 18:35), so also with God’s love. It cannot be faked, it must come without restraint from the new heart given by God through His Holy Spirit.

So, we are able to love because Jesus has loved us.

We need not fear

You may have also noticed that people who seem vicious are often those who are most afraid, they regard most everyone as a threat and want to keep them distant.
But people who have no cause to fear are often generous and caring. Hence the term “gentle giant” for a person of such great strength that no hostile situation will alarm him. My younger brother was like that in the police force; he used to be twice my weight and far taller, his mere presence brought a calm and quiet that enabled him to be considerate and kind.

We also saw that in Jesus. Although He was fully human, and suffered more than we can imagine, His strength to face that was given by His heavenly Father, in whom He trusted completely.
And we are given that same strength when we trust completely. No matter how scary the situation, we know that Jesus has gone before us to prepare the way, and we will be given all we need to do God’s will.

So, we have no need to fear when reaching out in love to those He brings into our lives. That reaching out need not be timid, it may even be corrective like Jesus’ cleansing of the temple, but it needs to be according to God’s will and given in His love, with the same desire to save which Jesus has for all of mankind.

How are we doing?

When I look at YouTube videos about Christian issues, I find division and argument between various denominations and groups. I even learnt the Anglican church has now split into two, with the larger part no longer recognising the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Lambeth Conference.
And when I look at my own life, I see how far short I fall in all of this. It reminds me of the concept of sanctification; we have a long way yet to go.

But when I see the way some people from church reach out to others, I can see God’s love being given in stark contrast to the way the wider world works, however imperfect it may yet be.
And it is amazing to consider how much of our Western heritage that we take for granted, is wonderfully good because people reached out without fear in the boldness of God’s love. I am only here now because of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which was started by John Flynn, a Presbyterian minister, in 1928, only 40 years before I needed an emergency ambulance from the Australian outback.

Thanks be to God.