The Characteristics of Love

Jones’ fifth chapter centers on justice, mercy and faithfulness as the primary forms of Christian love. This was definitely an interesting way of thinking about love. I had never read a long discussion about the actual inner workings of love. To read this chapter was both helpful and surprising to an extent.

In asking the question, “what is justice?” Jones gives a brief but excellent definition, “To render to each his or her due.” This discussion of justice at first glance looked to me to have nothing to do with love. However, after some thinking, it became clear that Jones is simply arguing that one aspect of love is to deal justly with people. He gives an example from Proverbs where it is stated that God hates for the guilty to be acquitted and the innocent to be condemned. But love certainly does not stop at justice, it also must entail more because, “to think of love in terms of obligations…yields a minimalistic ethic…[which] falls short of what God is calling us to be and to do in response to his love” (86).

Mercy then is what Jones brings us to next. In his discussion Jones often seems to be describing mercy along the same lines as grace. This was interesting for me because I often think of mercy and grace in systematic theological categories where mercy is the withholding of due punishment and grace is a free and undeserved gift. But Jones recognizes the overlap between mercy and grace as an attribute of God. He describes mercy as something that is constrained by the love of Christ. It is those that have experienced the free grace of God that are then called to walk in mercy toward others. This mercy attitude of the Christian is personified and championed in James 2:13 where the author writes, “Mercy triumphs over judgment!” This for James is the bedrock of why the Christian walks to mercy towards others, because the Christian has been shown great mercy by God! Mercy is therefore just as important to Christian love as justice, in fact it is even at times to triumph over justice because God will deal justly and the Christian is called to be merciful and longsuffering, or patient, towards all.

The third aspect of love as Jones defines it is faithfulness. He first summarizes God’s faithfulness, especially to His covenant promises of the Old Testament. This faithfulness of God is found also in the obedience and faithfulness of Jesus Christ, the one whose faithfulness both achieves and defines the salvation of God’s people. Jones again shows the relationship between this characteristic of God and its manifestation in the life of His people. Jones describes Christians as those who, “live by trust in the faithful God…[and] whose entire salvation depends on the faithfulness of God are disposed to practice the same in their own relationships and responsibilities” (94).

One interesting thought came to my mind after reading Jones’ quote above, the Christians are disposed to faithfulness. The Christian life is not an effort of willpower and exertion to try harder at being faithful. The Christian is actually transformed by the grace of God into a faithful covenant member. This is essential to Christian ethics because without the above qualification, the Christian might find himself, or herself, trapped in the despair of an achievement based relationship with God and others. But in realizing that you are actually being transformed to a “long obedience in the same direction,” as Eugene Peterson puts it, relieves the burden of achievement and frees you to live a life of love towards God and others.