Did Jesus say, “Love is love”?

Over the past decade, definitions of marriage and sexual identity have come under attack in our world. And when we are around people we know and love who are in the process of redefining their sexuality, their marriage, or maybe even their gender, we all have to try to find a way to navigate those redefinitions.

About fifteen years ago, the Christian community began saying the phrase “God is love,” but now it’s “love is love.” What do you hear when you hear the phrase “love is love”? Well, this is what it means to most people in our time: “Love is love” is a phrase that means that the love expressed by an individual or couple is valid regardless of the sexual orientation or gender identity of their lover or partner.

When I was in Europe not long ago, I visited Oxford University and toured the historically famous Randolph Hotel. In this beautiful hotel, there was a sign at the reception that read, “We welcome all sexual orientations.” No restrictions, no exceptions, no explanation. Love is love.

You see, when this movement started, at least the Christians in the church were saying things like, “God is love.”

The subtle movement from “God is love” to “love is love” is no accident; it is a development that occurs whenever there is deception or a lie behind the intent. The devil has used “God is love” to lead many Christians down the path of trying to be “loving” to the people in their lives, which, simply put, redefines love.

Now let’s leave out “God” and just add “love” as the first rule of this rule. But love comes from God. 1 John 5:7-8 says:

“He who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, because God is love. Love is therefore an expression or an action that is defined by God alone.”

God has exclusive rights to love. So anyone who says, “Love is love” must go back and ask, “Does God Almighty define this as love?”

1 John 5:9-10 says:

“In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”

This tells us that love is an expression or action that is seen supremely through Jesus. If I want to know what love is, I look at the life of Jesus and His sacrifice for me. The Savior shows us what love is; sex does not.

Because when people say, “Love is love,” what they really mean is, “Sex is sex,” and that doesn’t agree with the Bible either. That’s why the Bible defines acceptable and unacceptable sexual acts and orientations. The point is: you won’t find love primarily through sex; you’ll only find sex. And if that sex is unacceptable to God, you’ll find destruction. That’s what the Bible teaches in Romans 1 and 1 Corinthians 6.

1 John 5:11 says, “Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

This means that love is an expression or action motivated by God’s example through Jesus.

I learn to love you by learning how God loves me. How successfully I can love you depends on how successfully I understand and apply how God loves me. If I don’t believe that God loves me, then that will affect how I treat you.

John concludes his thoughts on love with the words in 1 John 5:12: “No one has seen God at any time; if we love one another, God abides in us, and his love is perfected in us.”

This means that love is perfected by God living in us and then through us.

So love is Jesus living in us and through us. Paul gives us a list of actions and expressions that help us recognize when it is Christ living love through us. He says in 1 Corinthians 13:

“Love is patient and kind. It does not envy or boast. It is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way. It is not irritable or resentful. It does not rejoice at wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth.”

Here is a list of what love is when Jesus lives through us:

1. Patient
2. Type
3. Is not jealous and does not boast
4. Not arrogant
5. Not rude
6. Do not insist on your own path
7. Not irritable.
8. Forgiving.
9. Does not rejoice over injustice
10. Rejoices with the truth.

These are the top ten loves when Jesus lives through you to love others.

What words or phrases are missing from this list in 1 Corinthians?

1. Sex is love.
2. Acceptance is love.
3. Live your love.
4. Live your truth in love.
5. Be happy for them and for what makes them happy.
6. Choose your orientation.
7. All orientations are welcome and accepted.
8. Don’t let anyone else define love for you.
9. Love is love.
10. Do what makes you feel good.

Our world has twisted love. Love is the most sacred gift God gives us, and Christ modeled it for us. Love without selflessness and sacrifice is not love. We learn to love by experiencing how Christ loves us and loves others through us. May I encourage you today to rethink your view and understanding of love and return to the Creator, Designer, Definer, Motivator, and Model of love? His name is Jesus.