III. The Love of Man. (ISBE)
1. Source of Man's Love:
Whatever love there is in man, whether it be toward God or toward his
fellowman, has its source in God - “Love is of God; and every one
that loveth is begotten of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not
God; for God is love” (1Jn_4:7 f); “We
love, because he first loved us” (1Jn_4:19). Trench, in speaking of agapē, says it is a word born within
the bosom of revealed religion. Heathen writers do not use it at all, their
nearest approach to it being philanthropı́a or philadelphia - the love betweeen those of the same blood. Love in the heart of man
is the offspring of the love of God. Only the regenerated heart can truly love
as God loves; to this higher form of love the unregenerate can lay no claim (
1Jn_4:7, 1Jn_4:19, 1Jn_4:21; 1Jn_2:7-11; 1Jn_3:10; 1Jn_4:11 f). The regenerate man is able
to see his fellow-man as God sees him, value him as God values him, not so much
because of what he is by reason of his sin and unloveliness, but because of
what, through Christ, he may become; he sees man's intrinsic worth and
possibility in Christ (2Co_5:14-17). This love is also created in the heart
of man by the Holy Ghost (Rom_5:5), and is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal_5:22). It is also stimulated by the
example of the Lord Jesus Christ, who, more than anyone else, manifested to the
world the spirit and nature of true love (Joh_13:34; Joh_15:12; Gal_2:20; Eph_5:25-27; 1Jn_4:9 f).
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