Josheb
Well-known member
I came across this quote from theologian D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones recently,
While I understand the sentiment being expressed (and agree with it) my first thought was that, as stated, these two statements are incorrect because BOTH God's love and out love matter. Lloyd-Jones (LJ) has created a false dichotomy when he says only one matters and the other does not. There are many scriptures that speak to this beginning with the two greatest commands (love God and love others), and the premise asserted by John if we do not love our siblings in the faith then we cannot claim to love God. Our love does matter; it doesn't matter as much as God's love because God is, in fact, ever-faithful and any love we possess or do is predicated upon His being love and having first loved us. I'm sure the larger context of LJ's comments would inform us of the same because LJ would not have otherwise believed our love does not matter at all.
But when I broached this with a pastor recently, he disagreed.
1 John 4:20-21
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Thoughts?
"What matters is God’s love to us, not our love to God. Our love is weak and frail and fallible; it wanes and waxes, comes and goes. Thank God my salvation does not depend on me, but on God’s love to me; not upon my frail grasp of Him, but upon His strong grasp of me!"
While I understand the sentiment being expressed (and agree with it) my first thought was that, as stated, these two statements are incorrect because BOTH God's love and out love matter. Lloyd-Jones (LJ) has created a false dichotomy when he says only one matters and the other does not. There are many scriptures that speak to this beginning with the two greatest commands (love God and love others), and the premise asserted by John if we do not love our siblings in the faith then we cannot claim to love God. Our love does matter; it doesn't matter as much as God's love because God is, in fact, ever-faithful and any love we possess or do is predicated upon His being love and having first loved us. I'm sure the larger context of LJ's comments would inform us of the same because LJ would not have otherwise believed our love does not matter at all.
But when I broached this with a pastor recently, he disagreed.
1 John 4:20-21
If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.
Thoughts?