Faith which worketh by Love.

Gal 5:6 For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which
worketh by love.

What does it mean for faith to work by love? This question is of utmost importance because in scripture
Paul states of only three things that avail anything (brings profit/ is advantageous/is beneficious ) in Jesus
Christ of which this is one.

The THREE Things That Avail in Christ Jesus.

1. The keeping of the commandments of God 1Co_7:19 [Matt 22:36-40 | 1 Jn 4:20-21 1 Corinthians 13]
2. Faith which worketh by love. Gal_5:6
3. A new creature Gal_6:15 [Eph_4:24 | Col_3:10 | 2Co_4:4 | 2Co_5:17)] *See Journal notes from
07.06.2018*

What does it mean for faith to work by love?

Definition According to Scholarly Commentaries from Others

Faith which worketh by love "is not a mere intellectual belief, but it is that which reaches the heart, and
controls the affections."

Faith which worketh by love is not a "mere intellectual assent to the truth [which] may leave the heart cold
and unaffected."

Faith which worketh by love is "seen in Christian kindness and affection...which produces trite attachment
to others."

Faith which worketh by love is "seen in benevolence, in love to God, in love to all who bear the Christian
name; in a readiness to do good to all mankind."
- Albert Barnes

Faith which worketh by love means faith "which is made active, or energetic, by love."

Love here is: "the principle of all obedience to God, and beneficence [active goodness/kindness] to man.
[T]herefore faith cannot work unless it be associated with love. Love to God produces obedience to his will:
love to man worketh no ill;"
- Adam Clarke

"But faith leads us to obedience in yet another fashion, than this opening of the door of the heart for the
entrance of the new-creating Spirit. It leads to it in the manner which is expressed by the words of our text,
‘worketh by love.’ Faith shows itself living, because it leads us to love, and through love it produces its
effects upon conduct.
Two things are implied in this designation of faith. If you trust Christ you will love Him. That is plain
enough. And you will not love Him unless you trust Him. Though it lies wide of my present purpose, let us
take this lesson in passing. You cannot work yourself up into a spasm or paroxysm of religious emotion
and love by resolution or by effort. All that you can do is to go and look at the Master and get near
Him, and that will warm you up. You can love if you trust. Your trust will make you love; unless you trust
you will never love Him.
The second thing implied is, that if you love you will obey. That is plain enough. The keeping of the
commandments will be easy where there is love in the heart. The will will bow where there is love in
the heart. Love is the only fire that is hot enough to melt the iron obstinacy of a creature’s will. The will
cannot be driven. Strike it with violence and it stiffens; touch it gently and it yields. If you try to put an iron
collar upon the will, like the demoniac in the Gospels, the touch of the apparent restraint drives it into fury,
and it breaks the bands asunder. Fasten it with the silken leash of love, and a ‘little child’ can lead it. So
faith works by love, because whom we trust we shall love, and whom we love we shall obey."
...
"There is a ‘faith’ so called, which does not work. It is dead! Let me beseech you, none of you to rely upon
what you choose to call your faith in Jesus Christ, but examine it. Does it do anything? Does it help you to
be like Him? Does it open your hearts for His Spirit to come in? Does it fill them with love to that Master, a
love which proves itself by obedience? Plain questions, questions that any man can answer; questions that
go to the root of the whole matter. If your faith does that, it is genuine; if it does not, it is not.
And do not trust either to forms, or to your freedom from forms. They will not save your souls, they will not
make you more Christ-like. They will not help you to pardon, purity, holiness, blessedness. In these respects
neither if we have them are we the better, nor if we have them not are we the worse. If you are trusting to
Christ, and by that faith are having your hearts moulded and made over again into all holy obedience, then
you have all that you need. Unless you have, though you partook of all Christian rites, though you believed
all Christian truth, though you fought against superstitious reliance on forms, you have not the one thing
needful, for ‘in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision, but faith which
worketh by love.’"
- Alexander MacLaren

Faith which worketh by love means faith which 'keepeth all the law/commandments of God'
1Co 7:19 Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but the keeping of the commandments
of God.

Because all the law/commandments of God according to Jesus Christ hang on two commandments; to love
God and to love others. “all the law is fulfilled in one word - love,” which is the principle on which “faith
worketh” (Gal_5:14). - Jamison-Fausset-Brown

Gal_5:6. Faith which worketh by love.—Effectually worketh, exhibits its energy by love, and love is the
fulfilling of the law.
- Preacher's Homiletical

Mat 22:36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul,
and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

"God acknowledges no faith, as of the operation of his Spirit, that is not active or obedient"
- Adam Clarke

Conclusion
Faith which worketh by love = Belief in | Trust in | Obedience to God which is evident by Loving and
Willing/Wilful Obedience to and lovingkindness to others.

If a man say, I love God, and hateth his brother, he is a liar: for he that loveth not his brother whom he hath
seen, how can he love God whom he hath not seen?
1Jn 4:21 And this commandment have we from him, That he who loveth God love his brother also.

What does it mean for faith to work by love?

Definition According to Revelation
By my definition which I believe I have received from the Father, not of the individual words but the phrase
in whole:

A. 'Faith which worketh by love' means "faith which is generated, powered and brought to life by
love."
(Faith which is Begotten; engendered; procreated; produced; formed; activated; put into motion, ...by love)

It is faith which is generated, powered and brought to life by love that avails anything in Christ Jesus.

B. God is love - 1 John 4:8 | 1 John 4:16.

Therefore, 'faith which worketh by love' is faith generated, powered and brought to life by God.
(Faith which is Begotten; engendered; procreated; produced; formed; activated; put into motion, ...by God)
And it is this faith that avails anything in Christ Jesus.

Php 2:13 For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure.
"God must work in and for us, if we are to succeed in the gospel ministry."
- F.B Meyer
*See Journal notes of 05.06.2018*
I say, God must work in us and for us if we are to succeed in Christ; to avail any thing in Christ Jesus.

In light of this [ it is faith which is generated, powered and brought to life by God (beacuse God is love)
that avails anything in Christ Jesus.], I quote again MacLaren and substitute in the second the word 'love' for
'God'.

1. "The keeping of the commandments will be easy where there is love in the heart. The will will bow
where there is love in the heart. Love is the only fire that is hot enough to melt the iron obstinacy of a
creature’s will."

2. "The keeping of the commandments will be easy where there is GOD in the heart. The will will bow
where there is GOD in the heart. GOD is the only fire that is hot enough to melt the iron obstinacy of a
creature’s will."

God in the heart of the man, speaks of the 'new man'; the new creature made after the image of God with the
indwelling of the Spirit of God.

C. This faith is generated, powered and brought to life by God when we go to Him. [We love Him, because
He first loved us. - 1 John 4:19]
(Faith which is Begotten; engendered; procreated; produced; formed; activated; put into motion, ...by God,
only comes when we go to Him because of His love for us.)

"You cannot work yourself up into a spasm or paroxysm of religious emotion and love by resolution
or by effort. All that you can do is to go and look at the Master and get near Him, and that will warm
you up."
- Alexander MacLaren
"Submit yourselves therefore to God...Draw nigh to God..." James 4:7,8
GO to GOD in surrender submission and He will do the work in you ("warm you up"...that's Him drawing
near to you).