THREE DEGREES OF LOVE by Geo. D. Ballou

Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 28, 1877

THREE DEGREES OF LOVE.

By Geo. D. Ballou

MANY well-meaning Christian people make hard work of understanding the Scriptures, because they do not search far enough to get their general teaching in regard to the subject they may be considering.

We have often heard people wonder how it can be that God requires us to attain such a degree of perfection that we can have the same feeling of regard for all our fellow-men that we have for our own families and ourselves. We think that these people fail to get hold of the truth on this subject as it is taught by our Saviour. By quoting three passages, we hope to make this matter clear to some who may not have seen the subject in the light in which we regard it.

Matt. 5:44: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them that despitefully use you, and persecute you.” Please read the context. Here our duty to our enemies is laid out. We are not permitted to harbor any but feelings of kindness and regard toward those who are trying to injure us. There is no place in all our Saviour’s teachings where permission is given to indulge feelings of hatred or malice or envy toward even our bitterest enemies; but we are taught, both by precept and example, to love our enemies and work for their salvation. This we call the first degree of love for our fellow-men.

In Luke 10:27, we have given the two great principles underlying the law, the second of which is, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” The verses following plainly inform us who our neighbor is in the Scripture sense of the term. He is the one who shows us a kindness, who proves himself to be a real friend; and such a one we are commanded, not merely to love, as in the case of the enemy, but to love in the words of Scripture, “as thyself.” Here a greater manifestation of regard is required than for our enemy. The circumstances demand that we should honor and appreciate our friends, and show greater regard for them than for our enemies. It would be injustice to treat these two classes alike, to manifest the same amount of love for the one as for the other. Even the great God in Heaven shows favor to those who honor him, and manifests his displeasure toward those who do not. We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. We are to be ready and willing to do everything for him which it would be proper and right to do for ourselves under similar circumstances. This constitutes the second degree of love for our fellow-men.

The Saviour says (John 13:34), “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.” Again (chap. 15:12), “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.” Christ is conversing with his disciples. He points out a different relationship from that which we sustain to either our enemies or our friends. It is the relationship existing between those who are believers in Christ, and it is the most sacred and endearing that can exist among men. Here a degree of love is enjoined which is still greater than that toward our neighbor. Christians are to love one another as Christ has loved them. This is the highest type of love to which it is possible for man to attain; for we read: “Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”

Christ’s love was such that it led him to sacrifice everything for the sake of those who should believe in him. If we could only realize Christ’s amazing love, we should be better able to fulfill the duties which we owe to our brethren and sisters. The spirit of disinterested benevolence, devotion, and sacrifice for the sake of Christian fellow-beings, is demanded by this new commandment.

Our Saviour’s teaching upon this subject is only one of the many instances in which he magnified the law and made it honorable. See Isa. 42:21. David must have had a lively sense of these principles when he said, “I have seen an end of all perfection; but thy commandment is exceeding broad.” We may never be able to see the entire breadth of this great moral principle of love to man; but we may rest assured that the more exact and systematic our knowledge of this principle becomes, the better shall we be able to comprehend our relations to our fellow-men, and to manifest such feelings of regard for them as will have a telling effect in favor of the cause which we profess to love.

GEO. D. BALLOU.