CAN YOUR LOVE FOR OTHERS SAVE YOU?

 

 

Here is one verse that suggests that love can save you:

·       Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. (1 John 4:7)

 

If taken by itself, it sounds as if love can save even without faith in Jesus, and we can merit or earn our salvation. However, the entire Bible teaches that salvation is given as a gift through the mercy of God. It cannot be earned:

 

·       For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8–9)

 

Nor can we be “born of God” through our loving performance. Instead, it can only come through Jesus:

·       Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. (John 14:6)

 

Even the immediate context of 1John argues that we must confess a faith in Jesus to be saved:

·       By this you know the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit that does not confess Jesus is not from God. (1 John 4:2–3)

 

This means that you can have fantastic loving relationships, but if you do not confess the truth of Jesus, you cannot be of God. Even the verse directly before the verse in question argues that those of God listen to the Apostles:

 

·       We are from God. Whoever knows God listens to us; whoever is not from God does not listen to us. By this we know the Spirit of truth and the spirit of error. (1 John 4:6)

 

However, those who claim that they can be saved by their own love alone do not obey the writings of the Apostles. This disqualifies them.

 

One last thought: What does John mean regarding “love?” It is not a glowing feeling in one’s heart but obedience to the Truth:

·       By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and obey his commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome. (1 John 5:2–3)

 

The way we love others is by devotion to God’s commandments. This discounts the love of unbelievers. Consequently, we are not going to be saved if we love enough.

 

How do we come to this conclusion? By starting with the context or theology of the entire Bible and then by examining the immediate context.