Advent 2025 - Love

12/21/2025

1 Corinthians 13:13

“And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.”

Today we look at the power of love in the Advent season. The Bible references four types of love: Agape, which is self-giving, sacrificial, unconditional love; the kind of love God shows to humanity and that we are called to show one another. We are all familiar with Eros, which is romantic or passionate love, clearly present in Scripture. There is also Philia or Phileo, which is affectionate friendship or brotherly love; warm, loyal love between friends or close companions. Then there is Storge, which is parental and long-term loyal love.

The Bible mentions Philostorgos, which is a combination of Philia and Storge types of love. Philia grows through commitment and equality, while Storge endures hardships instinctively; their compound Philostorgos blends them for warm, tender, family-like devotion among believers. Congregations often form this type of love. Romans 12:10 uses Philostorgos when is says, “Be devoted to one another in brotherly love.”

But the power of love in Advent shines brightest as God’s Agape – selfless and initiating – entering our world through Christ. This fourth Sunday calls us to embrace love not as fleeting emotion, but as covenant action that transforms lives, a pinky-swear and promise with God to be kind, share, forgive, and help others, then actually do it, even when it is challenging.

When the time was right, John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”  Unlike human affection, Agape is selfless and aims solely for the other’s greatest good. As C.S. Lewis notes in Mere Christianity, “Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person’s ultimate good as far as it can be obtained.” 1 John 4:19 declares, “We love because He first loved us,” urging us to mirror this divine plan amid Advent’s hope. Just as God instigated our love toward Him, we are to initiate love toward others.

Philosopher Søren Kierkegaard captures its mystery by writing: “Love does not alter the beloved, it alters itself.” This means that through duty to God’s command, Agape “alters itself” by adapting unconditionally to the beloved’s reality – flaws, changes, or unworthiness included – freeing love from anxiety over alteration or loss. Erotic love or friendship, however, “alters the beloved,” imposing conditions that collapse if unmet, turning to hate or jealousy when circumstances shift.

This other-oriented quality is exhibited in Matthew 5:44 when Christ commands us to, “…love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you.” We are not praying to change them but asking that God’s love changes us to see them in a loving light.

Martin Luther King Jr. said, “Love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend…,” which aligns with Romans 12:21: “Overcome evil with good.” This is a choice, an intentional daily practice and action plan.  Ephesians 4:32 recommends that we, “…be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you.”

Agape love guides us to forgive, as we are forgiven. This unconditional love leads us to serve humbly. Philippians 2:3-4 instructs, “Don't do anything for selfish purposes, but with humility think of others as better than yourselves. Instead of each person watching out for their own good, watch out for what is better for others.” God’s love inspires our heart to yield kindness and joy.  

We can think of love as “joy in action.”  The Bible presents love as the primary command and fruit of the Spirit. Galatians 5:22-23 lists Agape first, followed by joy, flowing outward by God’s design into action that generates more joy. In John 15:11 Jesus says, “I have said these things to you so that my joy will be in you and your joy will be complete.”  Love initiates, while joy, hope, faith, and the other fruits of Spirit confirm love’s power.

1 John 4:12 tells us that “No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God lives in us, and his love is perfected in us.” Loving others demonstrates God’s indwelling presence. We may not see the face of God, but through loving each other we make the invisible God visible through our actions. God’s love reaches maturity or perfection in us when expressed mutually among each other, not through moral perfection but through genuine, Spirit-enabled love. It is through our daily decisions and actions that we cultivate the love that we are promised and expected to give.

Agape love is more than mere sentiment; it is a promise to God, a contract we embrace as a child of God. We agree to living righteously, which means to live according to God’s moral standards and by the laws and commands written on our hearts. We are obligated to love others selflessly and unconditionally, as spoken by Christ in John 13:34, “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.” This includes practices like forgiveness, abstaining from wrongdoing, and devotion to God’s Word.

In 1 Corinthians 13:4-7. Paul describes God’s love, Agape, in this way: “Love is patient, kind, not envious, boastful, arrogant, rude, self-seeking, easily angered, or record-keeping of wrongs; it avoids evil, rejoices in truth, and always protects, trusts, hopes, endures, and never fails.” These traits form the foundation of love, emphasizing active choices over feelings, bearing all things without expectations.

Under Jesus’ new commandment, we are to love each other as Paul described, sacrificially, selflessly, which means conceding personal comfort, time, or resources for others’ spiritual, emotional, or physical good. We are to use Christ’s self-giving love through humble service, forgiving enemies, and mutual care as a template. We are to act without desiring reciprocation. We give, we love, not expecting at all that this person is going to love us back. If we do have expectations - that is like Eros love, and we are being controlled by the ego. Agape has no ego. It is not about me; it is about you, about them, about others. There is no such thing as division when Agape is in the room.

As Advent's love candle burns brightly this fourth Sunday, it is my prayer that we embrace Agape not just as a warm sentiment, but as Christ light illuminating our daily choices – patient in trials, kind amid offenses, and enduring without fail. I pray that we allow God’s gift in the manger to inspire us to love our enemies, serve the overlooked, and bind communities in unity through sharing love and making the invisible Father visible. This Christmas, may the transformative power of Christ overflow through us, conquering division and revealing heaven’s fullness on earth.