Prioritizing Love in Christian Moral Decision Making
Prioritizing Love in Christian Moral Decision Making
Christian moral decision-making is rooted in the biblical command to love God and neighbor. Jesus taught that loving God with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving one's neighbor as oneself, are the greatest commandments [3]. This emphasis on love is echoed throughout the New Testament, with Paul writing that believers should "walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us" [5].
The biblical basis for prioritizing love in moral decision-making is clear. Ephesians 1:4 states that believers were chosen "to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love" [1]. This love is not limited to human relationships but is also directed towards God. The apostle John writes that "in this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins" [6].
In Christian tradition, love is understood as a fundamental aspect of moral decision-making. According to John Chrysostom, an Eastern Orthodox father, God's love is not based solely on human virtue but is a combination of His love and human response [12]. This understanding is echoed in the writings of Matthew Henry, a Nonconformist/Puritan commentator, who notes that love to God and neighbor is a key aspect of Christian duty [11, 13].
The characteristics of love are described in 1 Corinthians 13:4-7, where Paul writes that love is patient, kind, and not self-seeking [9]. This love is not limited to feelings but is demonstrated through actions, such as caring for one another and showing hospitality to strangers [13]. one commentary tradition on Romans 12:10 notes that believers should "be affectionate one to another" and "outdo one another in showing honor" [8].
In Christian moral decision-making, love is not just a feeling but a choice that guides actions. According to Torrey's Topical Textbook, love to God and neighbor is commanded by God and is a characteristic of saints [2, 4]. The Baptist/Reformed commentary on 1 John 4:19 notes that God's love to us is prior to our love to Him, and that our love is a response to His prior love [10].
The prioritization of love in Christian moral decision-making has significant implications for how believers live out their faith. It means that decisions should be guided by a desire to love and serve others, rather than solely by personal interests or rules. As the apostle Paul writes, "put on affection, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience" [7]. By prioritizing love, Christians can cultivate a moral framework that is centered on serving others and glorifying God.
Sources
- Ephesians “Ephesians 1:4 (BSB) — For He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world to be holy and blameless in His presence. In love”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Love to God — Commanded -- De 11:1; Jos 22:5. The first great commandment -- Mt 22:38. With all the heart -- De 6:5; Mt 22:37. Better than all sacrifices -- Mr 12:33. Produced by The Holy Spirit. -- Ga 5:22; 2Th 3:5. The love of God to us. -- 1Jo 4:19. Answers to prayer. -- Ps 116:1. Exhibited by Christ -- Joh 14:31. A characteristic of saints -- Ps 5:11. Should produce Joy. -- Ps 5:11. Love to saints. -- 1Jo 5:1. Hatred of sin. -- Ps 97:10. Obedience to God. -- De 30:20; 1Jo 5:3. Perfected in obedience -- 1Jo 2:5. Perfected, gives boldness -- 1Jo 4:17,18. God, faith”
- Mark “and to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbor as himself, is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.” -- Mark 12:33”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Love to Man — Is of God -- 1Jo 4:7. Commanded by God -- 1Jo 4:21. Commanded by Christ -- Joh 13:34; 15:12; 1Jo 3:23. After the example of Christ -- Joh 13:34; 15:12; Eph 5:2. Taught by God -- 1Th 4:9. Faith works by -- Ga 5:6. A fruit of the Spirit -- Ga 5:22; Col 1:8. Purity of heart leads to -- 1Pe 1:22. Explained -- 1Co 13:4-7. Is an active principle -- 1Th 1:3; Heb 6:10. Is an abiding principle -- 1Co 13:8,13. Is the second great commandment -- Mt 22:37-39. Is the end of the commandment -- 1Ti 1:5. Supernatural gifts are nothing without -- 1Co 13:1,2. The greates”
- Ephesians “Ephesians 5:2 (BSB) — and walk in love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant sacrificial offering to God.”
- 1 John “In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins. -- 1 John 4:10”
- Colossians “Colossians 3:12 (LEB) — Therefore, as the chosen of God, holy and dearly loved, put on affection, compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience,”
- Romans (Presbyterian) “Jamieson, Fausset & Brown on Romans 12:10: Be, &c.--better, "In brotherly love be affectionate one to another; in [giving, or showing] honor, outdoing each other." The word rendered "prefer" means rather "to go before," "take the lead," that is, "show an example." How opposite is this to the reigning morality of the heathen world! and though Christianity has so changed the spirit of society, that a certain beautiful disinterestedness and self-sacrifice shines in the character of not a few who are but partially, if at all under the transforming power of the Gospel, it is only those whom "the lo”
- 1 Corinthians (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on 1 Corinthians 13:4: 13:4-7 This description of Christian love emphasizes the willingness to give up one’s own desires for the good of others (see also 8:1–10:33; Rom 5:6-8; 15:3; 2 Cor 8:9; Phil 2:4-8).”
- 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”
- 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”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians–Colossians–Thessalonians: nor of any good works of ours, but of love; and yet not of love alone, but of our virtue also. For if indeed of 52 love alone, it would follow that all must be saved; whereas again were it the result of our virtue alone, then were His coming needless, and the whole dispensation. But it is the result neither of His love alone, nor yet of our virtue, but of both. “He chose us,” saith the Apostle; and He that chooseth, knoweth what it is that He chooseth. “In love,” he adds, “having foreordained us;” for virtue would never have save”
- Hebrews (Nonconformist/Puritan) “Matthew Henry on Hebrews 13:1: The design of Christ in giving himself for us is that he may purchase to himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Now the apostle calls the believing Hebrews to the performance of many excellent duties, in which it becomes Christians to excel. I. To brotherly love (Heb 13:1), by which he does not only mean a general affection to all men, as our brethren by nature, all made of the same blood, nor that more limited affection which is due to those who are of the same immediate parents, but that special and spiritual affection which ought to exist among the ”