Reshaping Perspective on Loving Others Biblically and Spiritually
Biblical love for others rests on the double commandment Jesus affirmed: to love God with all one's heart, understanding, soul, and strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself [1]. This dual structure appears throughout Scripture, linking vertical devotion to God with horizontal care for others. The scribe in Mark's Gospel recognized that this love "is more important than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices" [1], placing relational fidelity above ritual performance.
The Old Testament Foundation
The command to love one's neighbor appears in Leviticus 19:18, predating the New Testament by centuries [12]. When Jesus called this a "new commandment" in John 13:34, Augustine argued that the novelty lay not in the command itself but in the transformation it effects: believers are "divested of the old, and clothed with the new man" [9]. The command becomes new because regeneration enables what the law demanded but could not produce. The Psalms model this love as rooted in God's own loving-kindness, which is "better than life" [6] and the basis for human trust and obedience [3, 4].
Love as Evidence of Regeneration
Reformed theology emphasizes that genuine love for others flows from spiritual rebirth. Charles Hodge described regeneration as the Spirit imparting life to a soul "spiritually dead," opening blind eyes and softening hard hearts [10]. This new life "manifests itself just as any other form of life, in all the exercises appropriate to its nature" [13], including love for fellow believers. The author of Hebrews instructs Christians to "consider how to provoke one another to love and good works" [2], treating mutual encouragement as a deliberate spiritual discipline. Love of other believers serves as "a hallmark of genuine Christian faith" [8], and assurance of salvation comes through perseverance in this love.
The Trinitarian Source
Augustine pressed further, arguing that "he who loves his brother, loves God; because he loves love itself, which is of God, and is God" [11]. Brotherly love is not merely obedience to a command but participation in the divine nature. God's loving-kindness is "through Christ" [6], and Hodge noted that Christ's "manifestation of self-sacrificing love" exerts transformative "power over the hearts of men" [7]. Colossians speaks of hearts "knit together in love" [5], a unity that reflects the mystery of God himself.
Sources
- 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”
- Hebrews “Let us consider how to provoke one another to love and good works, -- Hebrews 10:24”
- Psalms “Consider how I love your precepts. Revive me, Yahweh, according to your loving kindness. -- Psalms 119:159”
- Psalms “Cause me to hear your loving kindness in the morning, for I trust in you. Cause me to know the way in which I should walk, for I lift up my soul to you. -- Psalms 143:8”
- Colossians “that their hearts may be comforted, they being knit together in love, and gaining all riches of the full assurance of understanding, that they may know the mystery of God, both of the Father and of Christ, -- Colossians 2:2”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Loving-Kindness of God, The — Is through Christ -- Eph 2:7; Tit 3:4-6. Described as Great. -- Ne 9:17. Excellent. -- Ps 36:7. Good. -- Ps 69:16. Marvellous. -- Ps 17:7; 31:21. Multitudinous. -- Isa 63:7. Everlasting. -- Isa 54:8. Merciful. -- Ps 117:2. Better than life. -- Ps 63:3. Consideration of the dealings of God gives a knowledge of -- Ps 107:43. Saints Betrothed in. -- Ho 2:19. Drawn by. -- Jer 31:3. Preserved by. -- Ps 40:11. Quickened after. -- Ps 119:88. Comforted by. -- Ps 119:76. Look for mercy through. -- Ps 51:1. Receive mercy through. -- Isa 54:8. Are ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 2, section 111: his willingness to forgive sin, and as confirming to us the truth of those doctrines He is entitled to be regarded as the Saviour of men. Thirdly, others again regard the power of Christ in saving men from sin, as not due to his teaching, or to his sealing his doctrines with his blood, but to the manifestation which He made of self-sacrificing love. This exerts a greater power over the hearts of men than all else besides. If the wicked cannot be reclaimed by love, which manifests itself not only in words of gentleness, by acts of kindnes”
- Hebrews (Protestant academic) “Tyndale House on Hebrews 6:11: 6:11 keep on loving others (literally show the same eager commitment): Love of other believers is a hallmark of genuine Christian faith (Jas 2:15-16; 1 Jn 3:16-20). Through diligence and focused commitment, they can make their hope in Christ absolutely certain. Assurance of salvation comes through perseverance.”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 7: Augustine — Homilies on John — CHAPTER XIII. 34, 35. (part 1): 1. The Lord Jesus declares that He is giving His disciples a new commandment, that they should love one another. "A new commandment," He says, "I give unto you, that ye love one another." But was not this already commanded in the ancient law of God, where it is written, "Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself"? (1) Why, then, is it called a new one by the Lord, when it is proved to be so old? Is it on this account a new commandment, because He hath divested us of the old, and clothed us with the new man? For it is not”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 54: the mind the intellectual knowledge of those truths. Both these are essential. The work of the Spirit is with the soul. That by nature is spiritually dead; it must be quickened. It is blind; its eyes must be opened. It is hard; it must be softened. The gracious work of the Spirit is to impart life, to open the eyes, and to soften the heart. When this is done, and in proportion to the measure in which it is done, the Word exerts its sanctifying influence on the soul. It is a clear doctrine of the Bible and fact of experience that the truth”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 3: Augustine — On the Holy Trinity — CHAP. 8.--THAT HE WHO LOVES HIS BROTHER, LOVES GOD; BECAUSE HE LOVES LOVE ITSELF, WHICH IS OF GOD, AND IS GOD. (part 2): and there is none occasion of stumbling in him."(8) It is manifest that he placed the perfection of righteousness in the love of our brother; for he certainly is perfect in whom "there is no occasion of stumbling." And yet he seems to have passed by the love of God in silence; which he never would have done, unless because he intends God to be understood in brotherly love itself. For in this same epistle, a little further on, he”
- Leviticus (Methodist/Wesleyan) “Adam Clarke on Leviticus 19:17: Thou shalt not hate thy brother - Thou shalt not only not do him any kind of evil, but thou shalt harbor no hatred in thy heart towards him. On the contrary, thou shalt love him as thyself, Lev 19:18. Many persons suppose, from misunderstanding our Lord's words, Joh 13:34, A new commandment give I unto you, that ye love one another, etc., that loving our neighbor as ourselves was first instituted under the Gospel. This verse shows the opinion to be unfounded: but to love another as Christ has loved us, i. e., to lay down our lives for each other, is certainly a ”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 6: acknowledged, they should be) devoted to securing them for ourselves and others. This is one of the forms in which the Bible sets forth the doctrine of regeneration. It is raising the soul dead in sin to spiritual 35 life. And this spiritual life unfolds or manifests itself just as any other form of life, in all the exercises appropriate to its nature. It is a New Birth. The same doctrine on this subject is taught in other words when regeneration is declared to be a new birth. At birth the child enters upon a new state of existence. Birth ”