Why “Love is Love” is Hate Speech
The Bible teaches us that “God is love (1 Jn 4:8).” It also teaches us that God is true (Rom 3:4). For us to understand true love, then we must place our focus on the Word of truth, which is God’s revealed Word, the Bible (2 Tim 3:16; Heb 4:12; 2 Pet 1:20–21). Learning about God from the Holy Scriptures, we discover that Jesus Christ is the best way for people to understand what God is like in reality (Jn 14:8–14). God is Spirit (Jn 4:24); therefore, when Jesus became a man (incarnation), the Son of God was perfect for showing others what God the Father (Yahweh) was like in truth.
Yahweh had already given His Law to the nation of Israel through Moses (Ex 20; Dt 5), the prophet of God. The Law of God was not meant to be either punishment or a way of salvation. The Law was God’s revelation of His holiness, in contrast with man’s sinfulness (Rom 3:23; 5:12; 6:23). People now had a clear explanation of what was out of alignment. Sin was incongruent with who God is and what He demanded from His creatures.
Man surveys God’s Law, and the Law’s effect on people actually causes them to sin even more against the holy God (Rom 5:20). In this way, the Law serves as the Light of Truth, which displays man’s utter corruption. This is why the natural man suppresses the truth (Rom 1:18). Theologians explain man’s corruption as sin leading to death (Rom 6:23), but it also includes man’s inability to remedy his problem in any positive way (Rom 8:7). This is the doctrine of Total Depravity.
Satan, the devil, exacerbates the plight of man by deceiving humanity with endless lies. Satan’s objective is to destroy the works of God. The conflict our adversary brings to humanity is to entice people to participate in his demonic rebellion against God. Man is hopeless without God (Eph 2:12) and helpless apart from Christ (Jn 15:5), but he is blinded to his plight and the only remedy (2 Cor 4:4). The song of the damned is, “I Did It My Way.”
Language is a key component to the spiritual warfare (Eph 6:10–20). It is written that words can kill, or they can give life (Jn 6:63). When words are employed to communicate meaning, they must first be defined. For example, the word “grace” is not defined the same by Arminians and the Reformed. Therefore, when an Arminian uses the word “grace” to communicate meaning, it means something very different. The result is theological conflict.
Love is the most voluminous theme communicated in the Bible. Exegetes of the Scriptures teach us the three Greek words in the Bible which are all translated into English as “love.” Eros is translated “love” of the erotic type. Phileo is translated “love” of brotherly friendship. Agape is translated “love” of a kind attributed to God. So, clearly, love does not mean the same thing in every context in which it is used to communicate meaning. Love is not love when it is defined differently and employed in different contexts.
The world is a dangerous place (Jn 16:33). People die all around us, every day (Eccl 3:2). God’s Law reveals the meaning of righteousness. A man is right with God and with his neighbor when he is obedient to all that God has commanded (Eccl 12:13; Mt 28:20). The Law of God facilitates right relationships. If man is commanded to love the Lord his God and to love his neighbor as himself (Lk 10:27), doing unto others as he would have it done to himself, then the Law shows him the way to do this in practice.
In our fallen sinful world, the devil has twisted the word “love” to take on a meaning that incorporates disobedience to God’s Law. The tempter’s motive in leading people to perform abominable acts, calling it “love,” is hatred for God. The Bible calls unrepentant sinners (sin is lawlessness — 1 Jn 3:4) “children of the devil” (1 Jn 3:10) and “haters of God” (Rom 1:30). When a sinner claims that an abominable act of disobedience is “love,” while God calls it “sin” and an “abomination,” then one party is telling the truth and the other is telling a lie. The Bible is clear, God is true, and every man is a liar (Rom 3:4).
For sinners to claim, “Love is love” they are giving others license to sin in whatever way they choose to define “love.” Euthanizing a relative may be defined as “love” by family members of the deceased, but God, in His Word, defines it as “murder.” Murder is a lawless act of disobedience, as defined in the Ten Commandments (a summary of the whole moral Law).
The court of public opinion drives human lawmakers to legislate immorality, especially in representative democracies where lawmakers may be ousted in the next election cycle. One sinner is one voice in the debate, but when the majority of voices demand the license to sin against God, the laws of the land begin to reflect the evil intent in peoples’ hearts. The Bible assures us that the human heart is deceived and deceitful (Gen 6:5; Jer 17:9). People are not seeking for God and His goodness and righteousness (Rom 3:10–12). They lust to perform their evil deeds (Jn 3:19).
God has told us the truth about love. He has demonstrated His love by sending Jesus into the world (Jn 3:16; Rom 5:8), in order for Christ to die on the cross for sinners (Eph 5:25; 1 Pet 2:24). He gave His life a ransom for many (Mt 20:28; Mk 10:45). He laid down His life for His sheep (Jn 10:11, 15), the people of God’s pasture (Ps 95:7; 100:3), who come to Him when He calls them to repentance and faith (Mt 11:28; Jn 10:3–4; Acts 17:30).
Has Satan and this world of darkness deceived you about the true meaning of love? Is it right for everyone to do what is right in his own eyes? Will this not lead to even more chaos and confusion in our culture?
The truth, my dear reader, is that God is love (1 Jn 4:8). He alone determines the boundaries by which true love is practiced, in relationship to Him and between neighbors. Love, therefore, is holy, pure, and good. It reflects, even as it represents, all the attributes of God.
For people to profane that which is holy is a revelation of their heart status. If one’s heart is perverted from the way of God, then he or she is condemned already (Jn 3:18). To propose that “Love is love” is true — is to call God a liar. Only haters of God do that, and when they communicate this deception to others, it is simply hate speech toward God.
David Norczyk
Spokane Valley, Washington
July 1, 2022
