Why "Love Is Love" Is Not Enough

By Dr. Brandon Steenbock, Family Minister

1 John 4:9 - This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him.

Love your neighbor. Love everyone always. Love is all you need. Death cannot stop true love. Believe in love. Love is love. Many familiar sayings about love, but do we know how to define love?

I love coffee. I love pizza. I love football. I love my wife. I love Jesus. All true. Same verb. Very different meaning. If only we were Greek! They have four different words for love, each defining a different direction and purpose. 

But you're not here for a Greek lesson. Let's ask the real question: How do we define true love?

1 John 4:9 fits into the larger context of a letter all about love for God and love for each other, all of which rests on the deeper truth of God's love for us. As he says in verse 7, "Love comes from God." We can't truly love one another until we know the love of God, because, as he says in verse 8, "God is love."

Don't get that backwards. He doesn't say, "Love is God." We get this wrong sometimes. We chase after love, going from one partnership to another, idealizing romance to the point of destroying ourselves and others, all chasing a counterfeit of love. We make the idea of "love" into an idol. 

Or we make "love" the all-important aspect of how we treat others, elevating it above things like "truth," "challenge," "sacrifice," and "goodness." To make someone feel loved becomes all there is, and we will let go of anything that gets in the way of it. Yes, we are to show love as we speak truth, challenge perspectives, encourage sacrificial living, and pursue goodness. But when we back off of everything else to maintain "love," we make an idol out of the feeling of "love," which is not actually love. 

John isn't saying God is only love, as if he is one-dimensional, and not also justice, holiness, power, wisdom, etc. Rather, John is expressing that love is so essential to God's character that everything God does - when he exacts justice, radiates holiness, exercises power, and reveals wisdom - he does as a supreme act of love for his creation. 

So God is love. And we still haven't defined it. But John, in a perfect "show, don't tell" fashion, defines love for us. Love is action. Love is sacrifice. Love is redemption. Love is generosity. God demonstrates the definition of love by giving his Son as a sacrifice for sin, so that through his Son, all people can know the life he gives. 

Love that covers over our idolatry. Love that covers over our shallow pursuit of romance. Love that covers over our attempts to preserve people's feelings. Love that calls us to a deeper, richer life where we can embody all of God's truth, justice, holiness, wisdom, and power... as expressions of love for others.

So what is love? It is God giving his Son as an atoning sacrifice for sins. It is the cross, the nails, the empty tomb. It is God, in all his goodness, pouring all his glory into his creation. It is redemption for you and for me. 

So how do we show love? Not through cliches like "Love is love" that ultimately mean nothing. But through action. Through self-giving and sacrifice. Through speaking truth and building each other up and calling each other to the holiness of a God who is love. With that kind of love, love really is all you need.