In deed
Jesus states very plainly the top commandments of the Almighty God. You know them by heart: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22:37-39)
Later, the Lord crystalizes what love for the neighbor entails: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) His own commandment to his followers is in the previous verse: “Love one another as I have loved you.” He has that greatest love, he lays down his life. And he commands us to do the same.
This, I believe, is what John is getting at in his first letter, when he writes, “Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)
It’s easy to claim we love our neighbor. That we love one another as brothers and sisters in Christ. Easy even to convince ourselves that we really do. But is it talk or is it “in deed”? The word John uses for “in deed” is very common in the New Testament, mostly translated as work, works, deeds, acts.
Like faith (see James 2:14-26), Jesus and John teach us love is shown in works, in deeds.
People have argued for centuries about salvation by works versus salvation by faith and grace. Paul is portrayed as the champion of salvation by faith, and James the advocate of salvation by works. But there is no actual disagreement—both agree that we cannot save ourselves by works in the sense of following a set of legal regulations. And they agree that genuine faith is not idle, it shows up in deeds. John insists it’s the same for love. He’s not alone.
Here's something you and your family or your study group should do. Do a search for “love one another” in a Bible program. (Search ‘all the words’, not ‘exact phrase’.) Then discuss the results. In my main version 22 passages come up. Strikes me that’s a lot! Which of course makes perfect sense, since it’s the big thing Jesus commands us, five times at the last supper. The apostles who wrote the rest of the New Testament didn’t miss the importance. They lean on this command and convey their own inspired understanding: Paul (8 times), the Hebrews writer (1), Peter (3), John (6). I think you’ll find this a really worthwhile exercise.
The Hebrews passage captures the same point we saw in John’s letter: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works.” (Hebrews 10:24) The word “works” there is exactly the same as John’s “in deed”.
Loving “in deed” does not have to be in big or obvious ways. In fact the deeds should honor the spirit of Jesus’s command in the sermon on the mount: “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:3-4) I say in the “spirit” of this command, because some deeds of love will be seen, and that’s OK. Jesus would not be commanding us to refrain from loving actions because we might be noticed! What Jesus commands us, is to do deeds motivated by love, not by whatever recognition might come along. Jesus is specifically talking about giving aid to the needy, but the principle is far broader. The Father who sees in secret knows when we do something in love.
Do I love enough to lay down my life? I might never have to make that choice. How about laying down some time (a portion of my life) to encourage, build up, console, listen to my neighbor? To sing and rejoice and worship with those I love? Do I love enough to proclaim the good news of salvation to someone who will otherwise perish?
There’s no end to the ways we can love “in deed”.
Love, Paul