1 Corinthians 13:1-3 English Standard Version

The Way of Love

13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3 If I give away all I have, and if I deliver up my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing.

These words would not have been necessary if we could obey just one command.

Matthew 22:37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.”

God created us to love and be loved. All He ever wanted was to be loved.

But love that is not given freely is not love, thus He gave all His creation free will.

What we do with our free will speaks directly to the quality of love in this relationship. In the beginning God came to Adam and Eve every morning. Ever since the fall we have been the ones seeking to come to Him. What kept us from achieving that goal is sin.

• Ezekiel 33:13 Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die.
• Romans 3:10 as it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one;”

“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one. Their throat is an open grave; they use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips. Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. Their feet are swift to shed blood; in their paths are ruin and misery, and the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.”

We are unable to establish righteousness on our own. We cannot love God without being in a deeply personal committed relationship with God. He made that possible, He gave us a way.

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

This is true doctrine rejected by many who present false doctrines to exploit free will.