Love was the conformity to the nature of God, the living expression of what He was, the manifestation of having been made partakers of His nature: it was the acting and feeling according to His likeness. This love is developed in reference to others, but others are not the motive, although they are the object. It has its source within; its strength is independent of the objects with which it is occupied. Thus it can act where circumstances might produce irritation or jealousy in the human heart. It acts according to its own nature in the circumstances, and by judging them according to that nature, they do not act upon the man who is full of love, except so far as they supply occasion for its activity and direct its form. Love is its own motive. In us participation in the divine nature is its only source. Communion with God Himself alone sustains it through all the difficulties it has to surmount in its path. This love is the opposite of selfishness and of self-seeking, and shuts it out, seeking the good of others, even (as to its principle) as God has sought us in grace. (See Eph. 4:32; 5:1, 232And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. (Ephesians 4:32)
1Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; 2And walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savor. (Ephesians 5:1‑2).) What a power to avoid evil in oneself, to forget all in order to do good!
It is worthy of note that the qualities of divine love in 1 Cor. 13 are almost entirely of a passive character.
The first eight qualities (vv. 4, 5) pointed out by the Spirit are the expression of this renunciation of self.
The three that follow (vv. 5,6), mark that joy in good which sets the heart free also from that readiness to suppose evil, which is so natural to human nature, on account of its own depth of evil, and that which it also experiences in the world. The last four (v. 7) show its positive energy, which—the source of every kind thought—by the powerful spring of its divine nature, presumes good when it does not see it, and bears with evil when it sees it, covering it by long-suffering and patience, not bringing it to light, but burying it in its own depth—a depth which is unfathomable, because love never changes. One finds nothing but love where it is real, for circumstances are but an occasion for it to act and show itself. Love is always itself, and it is love which is exercised and displayed. It is that which fills the mind: everything else is but a means of awakening the soul that dwells in love to its exercise. This is the divine character. No doubt the time of judgment will come, but our relationships with God are in grace. Love is His nature. It is now the time of its exercise. We represent Him on earth in testimony.
J. N. Darby
The strength of divine love
is independent of
the objects with which
it is occupied.
Love is its own motive.