The pages of Scripture are permeated with a resplendent theme: the inestimable and unspeakable love of God. This love cascades through time and eternity, an everlasting torrent of grace and mercy. We are taught even as little children the profound simplicity of love, expressed in Christ’s commandment to love one another (John 13:34), drawing from the well of God’s love for His creation.
According to Christ Himself in Matthew 22:37-39, the greatest of all commandments given is a call to love: to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. This love is a hallmark of Christ and authenticates us as His disciples.
But here’s the snare: the perversion of love’s true meaning.
Many, under the sway of today’s popular Evangelical pulpits, believe themselves to be disciples of Christ simply because they “love one another.” But we must first confront the question: What is biblical love? The answer is not found in fleeting emotion, in receiving or taking, nor in accepting or tolerating sin.
The modern mantra “love is love” has already taken over the progressive mainline churches. This seemingly benign phrase has been transformed into a battering ram, used to level any biblical opposition to the normalization of sin. Even mainstream Evangelical churches have succumbed to this pressure, adopting an attitude that “it’s unloving to confront sin.”
But this represents a grievous misunderstanding of the true nature of love. In the biblical understanding, love never turns a blind eye to sin; rather, out of concern for the eternal state of one’s soul, it seeks the repentance and redemption of the sinner. Anything less is counterfeit love, masked in the guise of compassion but devoid of truth. It is from the pits of Hell itself.
On the other hand, biblical love is found in selfless giving, unrestrained sacrifice, and the diligent seeking of the best for another—it is the love epitomized in Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13).
It is a love that does not accept or tolerate sin nor does it accept us for “who we are.” If it did, justice would be trampled, and the wages of sin would be ignored (Romans 6:23). This love is a transcendent act of grace (Ephesians 2:8-9), a selfless and unconditional love offered to those who would repent and believe.
In an age where false gospels slither into the pulpit, where love is extolled without the full counsel of God’s wrath, the church faces a perilous predicament. The snare of false love may be sweet to the taste but is a poison to the soul, leading many down the path to eternal destruction.
A church that refuses to condemn sin, that preaches “love” without substance, that prioritizes “unity” or “kindness” over and above biblical truth, is a mirage, a facade of visible Christianity that hides a dead and rotting core.
To those ensnared in such a place, let this ring out: Speak up! Challenge the false teachings that pervade the sanctuary. And if your church refuses to teach the full counsel of God, recognize the tragic reality that you are not in a church at all, and it may be time to move on.
The snare of false love is a treacherous twist of truth. It turns the simplicity of Christ’s command to love one another into a hollow doctrine, empty of the power of the Gospel. And in this day of evil and deception, we must learn even more to discern true love from its counterfeit, to embrace the unstained truth of God’s Word, and to love in a manner worthy of our calling. The purity of the church, the fidelity of the gospel, and the salvation of billions of souls hang in the balance.