{"id":1200,"date":"2022-08-18T15:33:23","date_gmt":"2022-08-18T15:33:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/?p=1200"},"modified":"2022-08-18T17:44:46","modified_gmt":"2022-08-18T17:44:46","slug":"the-love-is-love-fallacy-the-truth-about-love-hc-ld-34-qa-92-95","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/the-love-is-love-fallacy-the-truth-about-love-hc-ld-34-qa-92-95\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cLove Is Love\u201d Fallacy &#038; the Truth about Love (HC LD 34, QA 92-95)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe src=\"https:\/\/anchor.fm\/smalltowntheologian\/embed\/episodes\/STT-089---The-Love-Is-Love-Fallacy--the-Truth-about-Love-HC-LD-34--QA-92-95-e1mm26q\" height=\"102px\" width=\"400px\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>You\u2019ve probably seen it on signs or t-shirts or stickers \u2013 \u201cLove is love.\u201d It\u2019s the slogan of the LGBTQIA+ community. This little slogan reveals our culture&#8217;s confusion about love.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>First, as a kid, I was taught not to define a word with the word itself. Doing this is called a circular definition. What is the Heidelberg Catechism? Well, it\u2019s a catechism from Heidelberg. That\u2019s not all that enlightening or helpful. \u201cLove is love\u201d is unhelpful in part because it\u2019s a circular definition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second, \u201cLove is love\u201d is like many modern praise songs. It\u2019s vague and assumes that people rightly understand love. However, people don\u2019t understand what true love is, therefore \u201cLove is love\u201d is pretty vague. Circular definitions can sometimes be thought-provoking and helpful if people know the precise meanings of the words. But since most people are confused about love (because they don\u2019t know God and haven\u2019t experienced His love in Christ), \u201cLove is love\u201d is at the very least unhelpful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Third, I\u2019m struck by how the phrase \u201cLove is love\u201d communicates boldfaced godlessness. Apart from its meaning, the statement smacks of rebellion against God. What do I mean? \u201cLove is love\u201d sounds a lot like a familiar Bible verse. The Bible says \u201cGod is love\u201d (1 Jn. 4:8, 16). Do you think it\u2019s coincidental that in the slogan \u201cLove is love,\u201d <em>love<\/em> replaces <em>God<\/em>? Love itself becomes the absolute which replaces God. \u201cLove is love\u201d inherently argues that love is not defined by God or understood by knowing God, but that love defines itself and is understood however you choose to understand it. \u201cLove is love\u201d is relativism at its finest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>God and love are distinct but inseparable terms. Though it is true that \u201cGod is love,\u201d it wouldn\u2019t be true to reverse it and say \u201cLove is God.\u201d God and love are not synonyms. We can only begin to understand love when we begin to know God. The Apostle John wrote to the church:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. (1 Jn. 4:7-8) &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>John made this point clear. Love is not whatever you consider it to be. Love\u2019s origin is God. To know love one must know God who is love. When a person knows God, they begin to accept by faith God\u2019s definition of love and therein they begin to truly understand love. When a person rejects God, they also reject God\u2019s definition of love and come to accept their own idolatrous version of love which isn\u2019t love at all. &nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When people hear the word <em>law<\/em>, they usually don\u2019t think of <em>love<\/em>. And vice versa. Right? The young man looks into his fianc\u00e9\u2019s eyes and says, \u201cI love you so much.\u201d I doubt she\u2019s thinking of God\u2019s law. However, maybe she should. See, God\u2019s law defines true love for us. If we don\u2019t know the Ten Commandments, we certainly don\u2019t know true love. The Bible says, \u201cfor the one who loves another has fulfilled the law\u201d and \u201cLove does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law\u201d and \u201cFor the whole law is fulfilled in one word: \u2018You shall love your neighbor as yourself\u2019\u201d (Rom. 13:8, 10; Gal. 5:14). God\u2019s moral law summarized in the Ten Commandments defines true love, it gives us the specifics of how to love. Sure, 1 Corinthians 13 is often the go-to text on love, but while 1 Corinthians 13 expresses the spirit of the law, the Ten Commandments give specifics as to how to be patient, kind, and so forth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Heidelberg Catechism talks about God\u2019s law in both the <em>guilt <\/em>and <em>gratitude <\/em>sections. God\u2019s law reveals to us our great sin and misery. The <em>guilt <\/em>section doesn\u2019t list the Ten Commandments, however, it does give Jesus\u2019 summary of the Ten Commandments from Matthew 22. Only later in the <em>gratitude <\/em>section, in 92, does the Heidelberg give the Ten Commandments. The <em>gratitude <\/em>section explains how believers live by God\u2019s grace in response to God\u2019s grace. Ninety-two defines good works. It defines true love which the grace and Holy Spirit of God produce in us through faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heidelberg 92 simply quotes Scripture. Read the law in Exodus 20 or Deuteronomy 5. Heidelberg 93 then explains that the moral law comes in two parts. The first four commandments explain how we are to love God or \u201clive in relation to God.\u201d The last six commandments explain how we are to love others or explain what \u201cduties we owe our neighbor.\u201d I want to focus on Heidelberg 94-95.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Heidelberg 94 says:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\"><p>What does the LORD require in the first commandment? That, for the sake of my very salvation, I avoid and flee all idolatry, witchcraft, superstition, and prayer to saints or to other creatures. Further, that I rightly come to know the only true God, trust in Him alone, submit to Him with all humility and patience, expect all good from Him only, and love, fear, and honor Him with all my heart. In short, that I forsake all creatures rather than do the least thing against His will.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Now, you\u2019ll notice that answer involves putting certain negative things off and putting certain positive things on. This coincides with Heidelberg 88-90 which talk about putting the old nature to death and the coming to life of the new nature. Each of the Ten Commandments tells us something to put off or put to death and something to put on or something that needs to come to life in us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Loving God includes putting idolatry to death. Heidelberg 95 defines idolatry as \u201chaving or inventing something in which to put our trust instead of, or in addition to, the only true God who has revealed Himself in His Word.\u201d We don\u2019t love God when we trust in anything else; we must not trust, adore, praise, worship, venerate, love, or serve anything but God. It must not be God plus this or God in addition to that. It must be God alone upon whom we depend. Love begins with surrendering our entire self to the one true God and worshiping and serving Him alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While forbidding all forms of idolatry or the adoration, worship, and service of other gods, the first commandment also commands us to rightly know God as He reveals Himself to us in His Holy Word and creation. To love is to learn to trust the one true God alone. To love is to humbly, joyfully, patiently, and willingly submit to the triune God alone including His holy law. To love is to recognize that everything good in our lives is from God and to be grateful for such. To truly love is to fear and honor and adore God alone. In other words, no other creature or created thing must distract or dissuade us from knowing God rightly and living for His pleasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Friends, this is where love begins. Love begins with rightly knowing God according to His self-revelation in the Bible. \u201cLove is love\u201d doesn\u2019t take this all-important truth into consideration. \u201cLove is love\u201d is actually idolatry because it is inventing a new kind of love that isn\u2019t love at all and replacing God with it. And it is quite sad to see the pain \u201cLove is love\u201d creates in people\u2019s lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Do you want to truly love people? If so, consider this simple thought. Direct your entire life to rightly knowing God through Christ by the Spirit, and you will become more and more loving. Love begins with understanding God\u2019s love in the sending of His only Son as our redemption (1 Jn. 4:9). Our love begins with God loving us by sending His own Son as the propitiation for our sins (1 Jn. 4:10). John said, \u201cWe love because he first loved us\u201d (1 Jn. 4:19). If you are to truly love your spouse, children, parents, church, friends, co-workers, etc., you must begin by receiving God\u2019s love in Christ by faith and experiencing the love God has for you in Christ. As God\u2019s love is poured into your heart through the Holy Spirit, God produces love in you for others. Depend on your God because \u201cGod is love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Quotes from the Heidelberg Catechism and creeds are taken from Zacharias Ursinus &amp; Jonathan Shirk, <em>The Heidelberg Catechism: True Comfort for Life &amp; Death<\/em> (Manheim: Small Town Theologian, 2021), 395.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Scripture quotations are from the ESV\u00ae Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version\u00ae), copyright \u00a9 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. May not copy or download more than 500 consecutive verses of the ESV Bible or more than one half of any book of the ESV Bible.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve probably seen it on signs or t-shirts or stickers \u2013 \u201cLove is love.\u201d It\u2019s the slogan of the LGBTQIA+ community. This little slogan reveals our culture&#8217;s confusion about love. First, as a kid, I was taught not to define a word with the word itself. Doing this is called a circular definition. What is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kadence_starter_templates_imported_post":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[169,164,165,166,167,168,170,171,163],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1200"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1206,"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1200\/revisions\/1206"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smalltowntheologian.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}