What Do the Scriptures Tell Us About Love?

Questions for Reflection/Discussion by Catholic Men

1. Slowly read and meditate on the Scripture passages above on love. If you are in a men’s group, share with the men those Scriptures that touched you the most.

2. The first three Scriptures above on love seem impossible to meet on our own human strength as men. How do Scriptures such as Romans 5:5, 2 Corinthians 5:14, and John 3:1 help us to see that it is not a matter of our own strength that allows us to obey the Lord’s commandments to love him and others?

3. In 1 Corinthians 3:13, we hear these words: “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.” Why do you believe of these three, love is the greatest?

4. In 1 John 3:15 and 4:20, a man who hates his brother is called a murderer and a liar, and does not have a share in eternal life. Why do you think the consequences of not loving our brothers are so harsh?

[Editor's Note: This article is the fourth in a series on the theme “Being a Man of Love.” Click here to find the first article, second article and the third article.]

How important it is to ground our lives on the scriptural truths of who God is and his divine love for us. When we do this we will be able to better resist the temptations of the flesh and the lies of Satan that keep us from being “men of love.” Both the Old and the New Testament are filled with hundreds of passages on God’s love. Below are just a few of the marvelous truths of God’s love from the New Testament that we can build into our everyday thinking. Let this list be just a beginning for you. Use it as a springboard for building your own personal database of truths on God’s love, which you can take with you into your day.

SCRIPTURES ON LOVE FROM THE NEW TESTAMENT

“Which is the first of all the commandments?” Jesus replied, “The first is this: ‘Hear, O Israel! The Lord our God is Lord alone! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: `You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these”. (Mark 12:29-31)

Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, that you may be sons of your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:44-45)

A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another. (John 13:34-35)

Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him. (John 14:21)

If anyone loves me, he will obey my teaching. My Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. He who does not love me will not obey my teaching. These words you hear are not my own; they belong to the Father who sent me. (John 14:23-24)

The love of God has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit that has been given to us (Romans 5:5)

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

But the man who loves God is known by God. (1 Corinthians 8:3)

And if I have the gift of prophecy and comprehend all mysteries and all knowledge; if I have all faith so as to move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. (1 Corinthians 13:2)

And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1 Corinthians 13:13)

For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again. (2 Corinthians 5:14-15)

Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. (1 Peter 1:22)

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! (1 John 3:1)

This is how we know who the children of God are and who the children of the devil are: Anyone who does not do what is right is not a child of God; nor is anyone who does not love his brother. This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. (1 John 3:10-11)

We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him. (1 John 3:14-15)