On what love is

Love is a wonderful word which we all love. And love takes many forms. There is no interest in the New Testament, for example, in love of the beautiful – it’s simply not there. And yet love of the beautiful is very central in our lives.

There is an intense focus in the New Testament on love in the sense of care – for that matter, for the unlovely, for those in need. And Paul says that of the three that he points to – trust, hope, and care, as I’m calling love – he says care is the greatest, presumably because it lasts longest in God’s kingdom itself. It is the character of God himself to care, according to the New Testament.