Separation and Join in Love

We are all apprentices of love, who seek not after a human guide or our own feelings, but after the Word of God, because God is love. (1 Jn. 4:8, 16 ESV) God’s love first calls for separation. He called Abraham first and separated him out from a place and culture he called home. Later God gave a unique law to the Israelites and purposely set them apart from the nations. Israel’s love for God has been constantly evaluated by their faithfulness in keeping this law so different from the rest of the world. People have raised this objection: how can love be associated with separation? There are already so many man-made separations that trump love, such as the barriers of race, class, and culture. Of all these barriers to love, the barrier of religion perhaps tops them all. If this world was already broken and full of hatred, then why would God raise another wall and establish another divisive religion? No wonder many people do not see love in the Old Testament. When Jesus came, he lived well within the wall of Judaism and had no intention of tearing it down. Jesus once said, Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. (Matt. 5:17 ESV) Once a Gentile woman asked Him for help, he did not hide His reluctance just because she was not a Jew! (Matt. 15:21-28) If there is love in the Old Testament, it sounds like a very narrow-minded love.


Once an expert of the Law asked Jesus about the greatest commandment in the Old Testament. And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40 ESV) Not only is the central teaching of the Old Testament love, but it has been dissected with a surgical knife for our benefit: The core of love is first of divine, and human love comes out second. The former love expresses itself in religion, it is mystical in nature and the root of all love. The latter love expresses itself in ethics, it is practical kindness and the fruit of love. Perfect love encompasses from root to fruit as one whole body. Divine love is a jealous love (Exo. 20:5), because God is one. Therefore God taught the Israelite people to separate themselves from a world of idolatry and secularism, to be holy unto God, to lay down a divine foundation for love, and to bear fruits. But the fruit of love has not manifested until the coming of Christ. Jesus explained the fruit of love summarized in “Love your neighbor as yourself” in a parable of the good Samaritan. (Lk. 10:29-37) In that parable, both the Levite and the priest held correct religious doctrines. With a foundation of love laid so well for them, they were expected to bear fruits of love. Yet little did we expect that it is the Samaritan who came forth with the fruit of love. In this surprising twist, Jesus was in no intention commending Samaritan’s religious doctrine, he was emphasizing the importance of fruit-bearing and this fruit of kindness ought to extend to all people and join everyone together, because we are all created in the image of God. There is indeed both separation and join in love.


It is exactly because of this dichotomy of love that improper application of separation and togetherness could lead to unhealthy love. The Pharisee only worked on the root and ignored bearing fruit. They were good at separation in piety, but failed to join together in kindness. This type of mistake that concentrates solely on divine love and self-righteousness would either lead to bondage of legalism or indulging in secretive religious experience. They turn love into something exclusive or intangible in this world. On the other hand, if we raise the banner of universal kindness and ditch the only divine source, we strip love down to a couple of moral principles. This would remove both the engine and the turning wheel from love itself. By cutting its root and embracing only the fruits, love becomes a castle in the air and remains forever a human fantasy. This dual nature of love even plays a role in human relationships. Human love has its best in the love between a man and a woman. This fierce and sometimes crazy love can bring extreme happiness to lovers, but it can also destroy those who fall in love. As it is written, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. (Song. 8:6 ESV) This is the mystical side of human love. Besides your only lover, you would not share this side of love with another. Yet human love also has another side stamped with responsibility and kindness. It manifests itself in life-long faithfulness and sacrifice. Love in this respect can be and should be shared beyond your lover, and the more the better. This duality of separation and unity in human love can be messed up as well. If you share freely what is only meant to be enjoyed with your lover, love becomes lust. If you hold back what is meant to share with everyone else, your “love” becomes a public threat to those outside your love circle. When a man and a woman fall in love, if they only pursue for passion and ecstasy, and ignore responsibility, their love will never last. If they only stress sacrifice and ignore watering the root of love, their love would become a burden wearing out soon. The Bible used the love between husband and wife as an analogy for Christ and His church, because both loves consist a mystical origin and daily sacrifice.


The mystical origin of all love is Christ, For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (Jn. 3:16 ESV) Besides Christ, there is no other foundation of love. (1 Cor. 11:3) If people accuse this idea as narrow-minded, it is because they do not understand the mystery of love. Apart from Christ, no effort of love can be sustained or even produced. Only in Christ, love is able to transcend all man-made barriers and we can truly love one another. This is the blessing God promised to bless the nations through the offspring of Abraham. In His church, There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Gal. 3:28 ESV) Therefore we love all who are outside the church, and the greatest good we can ever do to them is to lead them to know the love of Christ. And we love even more those who are inside the church, because There is one body and one Spirit-- just as you were called to the one hope that belongs to your call-- one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all. (Eph. 4:4-6 ESV) So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Gal. 6:10 ESV)

Prayer: O Lord! Help us to know more about your wondrous love and let it blow our mind! Help us to love this world with your kindness!