Prioritizing Love for God in Relationships and Marriage
Prioritizing Love for God in Relationships and Marriage
The Bible commands believers to prioritize their love for God above all else, including their relationships and marriage. This is evident in Deuteronomy 6:5, which instructs Israel to "love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might" [1]. Jesus reiterates this commandment in Matthew 22:37, emphasizing its importance.
In the context of marriage, prioritizing love for God means that a believer's relationship with their spouse should be grounded in their relationship with God. The biblical account of Hosea's marriage to an adulterous wife serves as a metaphor for God's relationship with Israel, illustrating the depth of God's love and commitment [2]. This narrative demonstrates that a believer's love for their spouse should be modeled after God's love for them.
The apostle John emphasizes the importance of loving one another as a manifestation of one's love for God. In 1 John 4:19, he writes, "We love him, because he first loved us" [6]. This love is not limited to God alone but extends to other believers, as John notes in 1 John 4:7, "let us have love for one another: because love is of God" [3]. The connection between loving God and loving others is also highlighted in 1 John 5:2, where John states that loving God is demonstrated by keeping His commandments, which includes loving one's brethren [5].
In the context of marriage, the New Testament teaches that husbands should love their wives sacrificially, just as Christ loved the church. Ephesians 5:25 instructs husbands to "love your wives, just as Christ loved the church—that is, sacrificially, for Christ gave up his life for her" [7]. This selfless love is a reflection of Christ's love for the church and serves as a model for marital relationships.
The prioritization of love for God in relationships and marriage is not limited to individual actions but is also reflected in the community of believers. The early Christian community demonstrated this love through their unity and care for one another, as seen in the writings of Flavius Josephus, who notes that Jews were known for their mutual love and support [4].
The biblical emphasis on loving God and others is echoed in various Christian traditions. The Puritan commentator Matthew Henry notes that love to God is the "primum amabile - the first and chief of all amiable beings and objects" [8]. Similarly, the Wesleyan commentator Adam Clarke emphasizes the importance of husbands loving their wives as Christ loved the church, highlighting the need for selfless love in marital relationships [9].
Sources
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Affections, The — Should be supremely set upon God -- De 6:3; Mr 12:30. Should be set Upon the commandments of God. -- Ps 19:8-10; 119:20,97,103,167. Upon the house and worship of God. -- 1Ch 29:3; Ps 26:8; 27:4; 84:1,2. Upon the people of God. -- Ps 16:3; Ro 12:10; 2Co 7:13-15; 1Th 2:8. Upon heavenly things. -- Col 3:1,2. Should be zealously engaged for God -- Ps 69:9; 119:139; Ga 4:18. Christ claims the first place in -- Mt 10:37; Lu 14:26. Enkindled by communion with Christ -- Lu 24:32. Blessedness of making God the object of -- Ps 91:14. Should not grow cold -- P”
- Hosea “Hosea 3:1 (BSB) — Then the LORD said to me, “Go show love to your wife again, though she is loved by another and is an adulteress. Love her as the LORD loves the Israelites, though they turn to other gods and offer raisin cakes to idols.””
- I John “I John 4:7 (BBE) — My loved ones, let us have love for one another: because love is of God, and everyone who has love is a child of God and has knowledge of God.”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Against Apion, BOOK II, section 31: in order to surfeit ourselves, or to be drunken; for such excesses are against the will of God, and would be an occasion of injuries and of luxury; but by keeping ourselves sober, orderly, and ready for our other occupations, and being more temperate than others. And for our duty at the sacrifices [22] themselves, we ought, in the first place, to pray for the common welfare of all, and after that for our own; for we are made for fellowship one with another, and he who prefers the common good before what is peculiar to himself is above all a”
- 1 John (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on 1 John 5:2: By--Greek, "In." As our love to the brethren is the sign and test of our love to God, so (John here says) our love to God (tested by our "keeping his commandments") is, conversely, the ground and only true basis of love to our brother. we know--John means here, not the outward criteria of genuine brotherly love, but the inward spiritual criteria of it, consciousness of love to God manifested in a hearty keeping of His commandments. When we have this inwardly and outwardly confirmed love to God, we can know assuredly that we truly love the children of ”
- 1 John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 John 4:19: We love him, because he first loved us. Lest love to God, and so to one another, should be thought to be of ourselves, and too much be ascribed unto it, the apostle observes, that God's love to us is prior to our love to him; his love is from everlasting, as well as to everlasting; for he loves his people as he does his Son, and he loved him before the foundation of the world; his choosing them in Christ as early, and blessing them then with all spiritual blessings, the covenant of grace made with Christ from all eternity, the gift of grace to them in him before the w”
- Ephesians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Ephesians 5:25: 5:25-33 Christian husbands are to love their wives just as Christ loved the church—that is, sacrificially, for Christ gave up his life for her (5:2; cp. Col 3:19; 1 Pet 3:7).”
- 1 John (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on 1 John 4:17: The apostle, having thus excited and enforced sacred love from the great pattern and motive of it, the love that is and dwells in God himself, proceeds to recommend it further by other considerations; and he recommends it in both the branches of it, both as love to God, and love to our brother or Christian neighbour. I. As love to God, to the primum amabile - the first and chief of all amiable beings and objects, who has the confluence of all beauty, excellence, and loveliness, in himself, and confers on all other beings whatever renders them good and amiable. Lov”
- Ephesians (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Ephesians 5:25: Husbands, love your wives - Here is a grand rule, according to which every husband is called to act: Love your wife as Christ loved the Church. But how did Christ love the Church? He gave himself for it - he laid down his life for it. So then husbands should, if necessary, lay down their lives for their wives: and there is more implied in the words than mere protection and support; for, as Christ gave himself for the Church to save it, so husbands should, by all means in their power, labor to promote the salvation of their wives, and their constant edification in”