What does love exclude?

What does love exclude?

If we love one another, there are certain things which are totally out of place. Already in the Old Testament law God had told his people, ‘You shall not oppress one another’ (Lev. 25:14, 17). ‘Love does no harm to a neighbour’ (Rom. 13:10). This was what the young Moses felt very strongly when he caught two Israelites fighting in Egypt. We can understand his logic when he said to them, ‘Men, you are brethren; why do you wrong one another?’ (Acts 7:26).

A good starting point is what Paul told one church: ‘through love serve one another. For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another!’ (Gal. 5:13–15).

Paul seems to be speaking generally here, just as in verse 26 where he says, ‘Let us not become conceited, provoking one another’, but his words indicate a clear progression. The trouble commences with taking bites at one another, continues with devouring one another and concludes with utterly consuming one another. Paul may be tracing the way in which thoughts lead to words and words to actions. Looking at these three stages affords a good background and insight to what went wrong with the unloving Diotrephes, one of the main actors on the stage of 3 John.

Terence Peter Crosby, Opening up 2 and 3 John, Opening Up Commentary (Leominster: Day One Publications, 2006), 33–34.