If one has all the gifts of the Spirit, but not love, it profits him nothing, as the divine Apostle says. How great a zeal should we show to acquire it!
“But I say to you,” the Lord says, “love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, pray for those who persecute you,” Why did he command these things? So that he might free you from hate, sadness, anger, and grudges, and might grant you the greatest possession of all, perfect love, which is impossible to possess except by the one who loves all men equally in imitation of God, who loves all men equally and “wills that they be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.”
Perfect love does not split up the one nature of men on the basis of their various dispositions but ever looking steadfastly at it, it loves all men equally, those who are zealous as friends, those who are negligent as enemies. It is good to them and forbearing and puts up with what they do. It does not think evil at all but rather suffers for them, if occasion requires, in order that it may even make them friends if possible. If not, it does not fall away from its own intentions as it ever manifests the fruits of love equally for all men. In this way also our Lord and God Jesus Christ, manifesting his love for us, suffered for all mankind and granted to all equally the hope of resurrection, though each one renders himself worthy either of glory or of punishment.
— Maximus the Confessor
Cited from Four Hundred Chapters on Love (1.54, 61, 71).
We can be so prone to slander, deride, and fault our enemies. Whatever caused the breach in relationship, so often we retaliate to even the score. But Maximus the Confessor points us to the love of Christ. To express divine love through and through is the highest virtue and goal of Christian living. God is love and love is fully experienced in God’s interactions with His creatures. We love because He first loved us. Our love is the imitation of God’s perfect love.
Maximus the Confessor (c. 580-662), born in Palestine but dwelt and ministered in Constantinople and Africa, lived to become an extraordinary theological genius. He is known for taking boldly defending dyothelitism (Christ having two wills, both human and divine) against the error of monothelitism (Christ having one will). Emperor Constance II (642-668) issued the Typos forbidding discussion on the subject. But Maximus along with other theologically orthodox Christians, including Pope Martin I, opposed the decree and refused to compromise on the teaching of Christ two wills. For opposing the emperor, Martin was exiled to Cherson on the Black Sea, and then martyred on September 16, 655. Maximus had his tongue cut off for having insisted upon confessing Christ’s two wills, and right hand cut off for refusing to signing the compromise. He was then exiled to Lazica on the Black Sea, where succumbed to his injuries, dying as a martyr on August 13, 662.
But Christ two wills is significant. If the incarnate Son of God lacked a human will, He would never be truly human. If the incarnate Son of God was never truly human, the divide between humanity and divinity remained, and humanity could never truly experience union with God. To resolve the problem. The incarnation of the Son of God in the person of Christ Jesus of Nazareth resolves the problem of the divide between divinity and humanity, since Christ is both fully divine and fully human in one person with two wills, a human will and a divine will.
Love Truth Blog 