The Saints' Love For One Another

 The Saints' Love For One Another

 

The older I get, the more impressed I have become by the amazing and wonderful fact of and truth of the saints' love for one another.  Some important definitions are necessary.  By "saints," I mean truly born-again (regenerated) Christian church members, who sincerely love God through Jesus Christ, and whose testimony has proven to be credible via perseverance in the covenant of grace.  I do not mean any other kinds of religious (or non-religious) people, be they professing Christians or otherwise.

 

The church's true saints are a unique breed, indeed.  They have a heavenly "origin," and they are very much "aliens" and "strangers," both in and to this world.  The fallen world of ordinary sinners does not and cannot understand us.  They view us with amazement, disdain, wonder, and confusion.  "Who are these people; and from whence did they come?" becomes the query of those who behold the forgiven, new, Christ-loving creations.

 

. . . But, to go back to the main point.  The church's Spirit-filled saints absolutely love one another, with a remarkable love.  We love each other like no one else on earth can.  We love each other because God has first loved us in Jesus (1 Jn. 4:19); and now, our love for God is as consistently communicated through our love for each other, as it is in our love for Christ Himself.  Every true saint loves every other true saint--and that, with ardor.  We are (literally) willing to lay down our lives for each other.

 

Somebody might be asking, "My, how may I have and experience this love--it sounds really good?!"  The answer is found in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ.  This love flows to us, from God, through Jesus Christ, and then disseminates through His entire "body" of His church; and this love also "ascends" from the saints, to the Holy Trinity, through the Person of the Mediator, Jesus Christ, the God/Man, (cf. 1 Tim. 2:5).

 

Our love for God and each of the saints actually starts with saving faith, that is the fruit of the Holy Spirit's prior regeneration of us.  This living faith results in love, which is demonstrated in willing and filial obedience (to God).  The church's saints are commanded to love everyone else, as well--even our enemies, (cf. Matt. 5:44)--but love for God in Christ is first; and this love always includes a totally corresponding love for God's people (Christ's saints).

 

The true saints of the church love each other, no matter if the other person is a man, a woman, a boy, a girl, a native, a foreigner, a Jew, a Gentile, a black person, a white person, a brown person, a yellow person, a red person, or any other person no matter who they are or what they look like.  This divine love of the church in Jesus Christ is universal and pervasive.  Every saint loves every other saint, and there are no exceptions.

 

So, does the life of religion (generally) look like a life of love?  No; but this does not mean that this type of love does not exist.  In fact, it does exist; and it flourishes among the true saints.  The world, the religious world, and the devil all have their counterfeits of this love--but none of them even come close to approximating the real thing.

 

No wonder David wrote these words, as they are found in Ps. 16:3: "As for the saints in the land, they are the excellent ones, in whom is all my delight," (ESV).


[Addendum on 9/25/26 . . . The church's saints are precious to God; and they are precious to each other.  Here are the words of God, taken from Ps. 116:15: "Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints," (ESV).]

 

Rev. Mark J. Henninger

Treatise #141

25 September 2026

 

https://theologicaltreatisesinretirement.blogspot.com

https://henningerdevotions.blogspot.com

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