From various occasional utterances of Christ we can form a general idea of the nature of the love which He expects men to display in their relations to one another. Its unselfishness on the one .side, and its interest in the welfare of others on the other, are features which continually appear in the exhortations in which He seeks to inculcate it. In illustration of the unselfish spirit which He commends. He urges His hearers to invite to their banquets not their friends and kinsmen who may in\ite them in return, but the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind, who cannot recompense them (Lk \-i^^-). In the same spirit He bids men lend, hoping for nothing (6^, according to the translation of firjOev dyeXxifoi^es l)est suited to the context). Another aspect of the unselfish- ness which is characteristic of the spirit of love Christ would in-stU, is the suppression of those ATndictive feelings which are prone to rise when we experience ill-treatment from others. We are required to forgive those who have wronged us, not seven times, but seventy times seven (Mt IS-"-) ; to be so far from resenting injury Me receive from another that we turn the other cheek to the smiter, allow him who would take away our coat to have our cloak also, and go two miles with him who would compel us to go one ^5^*"*^) : to love our enemies, and to pray for them that i>ersecute us (5*^). Again, this unselfishness will exhibit itself in the absence of all self-assertion or desire to attain pre-eminence among our fellows. Such self-exaltation is characteristic of the scril>es and Pharisees (Mk \^^^. Mt 235*-). and of the Gentiles (Mk 1C^\ Lk 22--=). But the follower of Christ, '• who came not to be ministered unto but to minister, and who was among His disciples as he
that serveth, will be ready to stoop to the lowliest service (Mk lO'*''-*^ Lk 22-'"'-), and will seek for self-exaltation only through self-abasement (Lk 14").
But while love is thus regardless of self, it will ever seek to advance the good of others. It will give readily to supply their demands (Mt 5^^, Lk 6^**). Nay, it will be quick to anticipate them. It will teach us to put ourselves in their place and realize what they stand in need of. ' All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them ' (Mt 7^'^ Lk e^i). We shall not hesitate to share with them our earthly goods. ' It is more blessed to give than to receive ' is a saying of Christ's preserved by St. Paul (Ac 20^) which is not recorded in the Gospels. In the picture which Christ has painted of the Judgment, He claims as offices of love performed towards Himself acts of kindness done to our unfortunate fellow-creatures (!Mt 25^'*"*'*). That is the wise use of our riches whereby we make to ourselves friends of those whom we benefit (Lk 16^). But we shall care not only for our brother's worldly interests, but also for his spiritual welfare. AVe are solemnly warned to give heed lest we cause him to stumble (]Mk 9^^ Lk 17"- ). It is not the will of our Father which is in heaven that one of these little ones, i.e. the humblest member of the Kingdom of God, should perish (Mt 18"). And while we are careful to avoid the censorious spirit which takes delight in uncharitable judgment of the faults of others (7"-)> we shall still feel it our duty to rebuke our brother when he trespasses, and to endeavour to reclaim him from his sin (18^'''-)-
One other point worthy of notice in connexion with the duty of brotherly love which Christ inculcates, is the light in which this duty is pre- sented in view of the love which we experience at the hands of God. At the root of all that Christ says regarding the love which we should display to one another lies the great truth of the Father- hood of God. That word of St. John's, ' We love because he first loved us' (1 Jn 4^^), expresses the position which Christ takes up. To forgive another his trespasses and to recompense an injury with kindness, to love one's enemies and to pray for them that persecute one, appears the height of magnanimity from the standpoint of the natural man. But Christ puts the matter in a new light. He reminds ns of the love with which God treats man, undeserving as he is, and of the readiness with which He forgives us our ofiences. In the parable of the Unforgiving Servant (Mt 18^^"^^) He exhibits in its true ligiit the conduct of the man who, freely forgiven at the hands of God, yet refuses to for- give his brother who has offended him. And as our indignation burns at the behaviour of the unforgiving servant in the parable, we realize that so far from the forgiveness of those who have offended us being the magnanimous conduct we had imagined, it is a simple duty, the non-fulfil- ment of which calls for severest condemnation.
In the Fourth Gospel the duty of love to our brother is laid down with the utmost distinctness, though the references are comjjaratively few. As in the Synoptics Christ had summed up the Law and the Prophets in the Golden Rule to do unto others whatsoever we would that they should do to us, so here He concentrates His ethical teaching to His disciples in the new commandment to love one another as He has loved them (13^^ 15'^). It was a new commandment in the new emphasis with which it was enjoined, in the new place assigned to it as the one jirinciple in which the Law and the Prophets find fulfilment (Mt V^ 5""'-, cf. Ro 13^, Gal 5"), in the new sanction it received through the appeal to Christ's own example. He declares that the keeping of this commandment is