The Holy Spirit used Apostle Shaul (Paul) to declare certain things in 1 Corinthians 1 3:1-3 which are supposed to be of utmost importance to all the worshippers of the only true and living God. One may have and use any or some of the spiritual gifts without being in possession of love. It is, thus, lucid that many apostles, prophets, healers, miracle workers etc are being regarded as nothing by the Holy Spirit because they do not have love. We must let ourselves be deceived into believing that love is all about giving of alms. So, let us obey the injunction “pursue love and desire spiritual gifts”. We cannot have love unless and until we pursue it but we cannot pursue it without knowing what it is. So, what is love?
In this present time, a lot people give different definitions and versions of love but we will take love from biblical point of view. 1 Yehocanan (John) 5:2-3 told us the following concerning love:”By this we know that we love the children of God when we love God and keep his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments…” what are these commandments of God that we have to keep so as to love God and his children? I believe that it is these same commandments that were referred to in Ecclesiastes 12:13 as the whole duty of man. The commandments are the two great commandments, according to our savior in Matityahu (Mathew) 22:36-40: 1. You shall love Yah, your God, with all your heart, soul, mind and strength. 2. You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
These two great commandments serve as the summary of the Ten Commandments. Yaakov (James), while writing against partiality or favoritism in chapter 2 of his letter, called “love your neighbor as yourself” the royal law according to the Scripture. What Yaakov referred to as the Scripture is the Torah (law) of Moshe (Moses) and the Prophets (Genesis-Malachi). In verse 11, he named some of the royal law as: do not commit adultery and do not kill. Apostle Shaul complimented Yaakov while writing about love in Romans 13:8-10. He also listed some points of the law as do not commit adultery, do not kill, do not steal, etc. All these points listed by these men are evidently part of the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17 and Deut. 5:1-22).
So, we see from the above that Yaakov and Shaul gave us part view of love but Yehoshua gave us the full view in Matityahu (Mathew) 22:36-40. Thus, to have love is to keep the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were also referred to as: the Covenant of God, the royal law (Yaakov 2:8), the commandments of God (Revelation 12:17, 14:12), the word of God (Revelation 1:2, 9, 6:9) and LOVE. Note that none of the commandments in the covenant of God has changed. It became old (because men broke it) and was renewed. The renewal only affected its form (the old was written on tablets of stone but the new in our hearts) according to Yeremayah (Jeremiah) 31:31 and Hebrews 8:6-13.
Finally, to have love means one coming into covenant relationship with God (which was broken in the beginning by sin). This is only achievable if the problem of sin is solved through born again. One can only be born again through receiving Yehoshua and believing in his name.
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