On love to men flowing from love to God (Patrick MacFarlan)

[Reformed Covenanter]

Love to men never fails to flow from love to God. Love is the fulfilling of the law; it completes the character of a true Christian. No gifts or endowments, however excellent, can compensate for the want of Christian love.

Patrick MacFarlan, ‘On Goodness’ in The Free Church Pulpit; Consisting of Discourses by the Most Eminent divines of the Free Church of Scotland. Vol. I. (New York: Robert Carter, 1848), p. 332.

 

[Solparvus]

As it is the sum of Christ fulfilling the Law, so it sums up our duty in obeying the Law.

As John says, the old commandment of love is a new commandment in the New Testament, because the love of God is manifested in such an extraordinary fashion toward us, God loving us as His own self. The Father giving the Son, the Son becoming our propitiation (1 John 4:9-11) becomes the supreme reason why we ought to give our whole selves to God, and for the good of our neighbor. I think once this really gets into the heart, it would be thoroughly transformative.