Enns Studies Jesus’ Love Command

Gaylord Enns. 2022. Love Revolution: Rediscovering the Lost Command of Jesus. Chico, CA: Love Revolution Press.

Review by Stephen W. Hiemstra

One of the challenges in biblical interpretation is to place statements in their proper context. The literary, historical, linguistic, and social contexts are neither obvious or even easily discoverable because records from two thousand years ago are scarce or non-existent. As a consequence, denominations can be thought of as schools of biblical interpretation in which different rules are are applied in reading the text.

Introduction

Gaylord Enns begins his book, Love Revolution

Rediscovering the Lost Command of Jesus, with this purpose statement:

“Love Revolution is about loss, discovery, and recovery. It is about coming full circle, back to the point of origin and the One who will never change. It is about returning to the feet of the Master Teacher—Jesus.” (11)

In so many words, Enns is offering a biblical interpretation. He begins by examining the commands of Jesus and discovers what he believes (27) is a misinterpretation of this passage: “This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.” (John 15:12 ESV)

Enns sees this love command as one of two that Jesus held up as primary importance, the mark of authentic Christian belief.  He writes:

“It was becoming clear to me that (1) faith in Jesus Christ and (2) love for one another were indeed recognized by the writers of the New Testament as marks of authenticity.” (44).

Probably the most widely recognized passage bearing this out is the double-love command:

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law? And he said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matt 22:36-40)

The double-love is, however, less binding than Jesus’ command, because Jesus goes on to say: “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13) Jesus’ love goes beyond the point of self-preservation, making it more intensive than the double-love command, which is based on an Old Testament interpretation. We can be confident that the Apostles understood Jesus’ command, because ten of the eleven faithful apostles died a martyr’s death. The Apostle John was the only one of the eleven faithful disciples that did not die a martyr (Fox and Chadwick 2001,10).

Background and Organization

 Gaylord Enns graduated from California State University, Chico, California. He has been active in a number of parachurch organizations, including the Jesus People Movement, Servant Leadership Network, Love Revolution, and Chico Pastors.

Enns writes in twenty chapters:

Days Gone Awry
An Empty Table
All That I have Commanded
The Early Church Fathers
Two Core Commandments
You Can Ask a Question
A Breakfast Surprise
Comparing the Old and New
The Time is Coming
NOT Like the Covenant
Listen to Him!
New Covenant, New Commandment
One New Person
Lost and Found?
The King’s Law
The Law of Christ
Love Covers, Love Confronts
Do I love ‘em or Hate ‘em?
The Bridge: Words I Want to Hear
Conclusion: Touching the Titanic (9)

These chapters are preceded by an introduction and followed by an invitation, chapter discussion questions, appendices, a bibliography, and contact information.

Two Commandments

Enns (67) makes an interesting comparison between the core commandments of the Old Testament, summarized in the double-love command (Deut 6:5 and Lev 19:18), and the New Testament (love Christ, love one another). As long as you believe that Christ is divine, the primary distinction is the intensity of love prescribed by Christ.

Part of his evidence of the importance of these two core commands of Jesus in authentic Christianity is echoed in statements made in Paul’s letter, like: “For this reason, because I have heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love toward all the saints, I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers.” (Eph 1:15-16; also, Col 1:4) In these opening statements, the same sentence mentioned both faith in Christ and love of the saints. Love is mentioned, but love’s intensity is not discussed.

The primacy of Christ’s command to love another is a focus of Enn’s review of documents of the early church, the writing of several prominent theologians, and of denominational statements of faith. Finding only passing mention of Christ’s command to love one another, Enns concludes that this command has been lost to the church (178).

Assessment

Gaylord Enns’ book, Love Revolution examines Jesus’ command to love one another as I have loved in the biblical context and church history and argues that this command has been lost. The historical divisions of the church over other points of doctrine run counter to church unity, which reinforces Enns’ point. Postmodern misuses of the term, love, fall outside the scope of Enns’ work. Still, while the intensity of Christ’s love to the point of martyrdom is seldom held up in the church as an ideal, most Christians practice love of neighbor at some level and would find Enns’ review of the issue interesting, helpful, and accessible.

 References

Fox, John and Harold J. Chadwick. 2001. The New Foxes’ Book of Martyrs (Orig Pub 1563). Gainsville, FL: Bridge-Logos Publishers.

Footnotes

https://www.loverevolutionnow.org.

https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/....

Enns Studies Jesus’ Love Command
Also see:
The Who Question
Preface to a Life in Tension
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