The Message of Love: The Only Thing That Counts

Love – such a deceptively simple and popular little word.

It is almost universally agreed that we need love in order to live and flourish as human beings; and yet within our contemporary culture there are numerous confusing, competing and evolving ideas about what ‘love’ is.

There are few greater subjects in Christian theology than love; yet it is a surprisingly complex and challenging concept to understand, let alone live by. Patrick Mitchel’s conviction is that Christians need to be thinking about, and practising, love in compelling and winsome ways. Our task is not only to articulate what love is, but also to show to the world what authentic Christian love looks like in practice. ‘The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love’ (Gal. 5:6 NIV).

Mitchel’s exposition explores love in the Old Testament; how the love of God is supremely revealed in the mission and death of Jesus Christ; love in the life and teaching of Jesus; and the church’s calling to be a community of love. He helps us to grasp afresh the breadth, depth, scope, and radically counter-cultural nature of the Bible’s teaching on love.

© 2019 IVP (Ebook): 9781783595921

Release date

Ebook: September 19, 2019