ESCHATOLOGY OF LOVE: THE CONCEPT OF AGAPE IN MATTHEW’S GOSPEL

Leonardo Nunes and Willian Wenceslau de Oliveira

SAD, Northeast Brazil Academy

ABSTRACT: The term “love” in its substantive form occurs only once in the book of Matthew (24:12).
Traditionally, love in this text has been interpreted as “Christian agape,” the law of Christ—as opposed
to the Mosaic law and persecuting hatred against Christians. However, the verbal form also occurs in
Matthew and is directly connected to the Old Testament, suggesting that the understanding of
Matthew 24:12 relies upon the comprehension of the use of the term “love” in Hebrew scripture.
Finally, the eschatological meaning of this text is evaluated in the context of the definition of the
remnant and of his work in verses 13 and 14.
_______________________

Introduction

Love is one of those words that anyone can claim to know what it means until the moment
they need to operationalize its definition. Love is an ambiguous, misleading word 1 that carries out
many meanings and nuances, and even more so, when contemporary literature 2 is considered.
Even though Christian theologians, philoophers, and psychologists consider the definition of
love central to their understanding of God and the created world, love is rarely defined, 3 even when
considering its significant role in the major religions of the world. 4

1 Mildred Bangs Wynkoop, A Theology of Love: The Dynamic of Wesleyanism (Kansas City: Beacon Hill Press of

Kansas City, 1972), 9.

2 Thomas Barrosse, "Christianity: Mystery of Love: An Essay in Biblical Theology," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly

20, no. 2 (1958): 137, http://catholicbiblical.org/publications/cbq (Publisher's URL:);

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0000655550&lang=pt-br&site=ehost-
live.
3 Thomas Jay Oord, "Love, Wesleyan Theology, and Psychological Dimensions of Both," Journal of Psychology &

Christianity 31, no. Summer 2012 (2012): 144,

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=78553971&lang=pt-br&site=ehost-live.
4The lack of definition of love allows bridges to be created between the various religious thoughts. John Templeton

states that love is a creative and eternal force, a pure and unlimited love, taught by all religions, a kind of universal construct,
in John Templeton, Pure Unlimited Love (Philadelphia and London: Templeton Foundation Press, 2000). If, on one hand, this
alternative is well regarded by the defenders of the relativity of the religious phenomenon and its diversity, it also reduces
the unique character and specificities of the various religious movements in the name of a possible dialogue. See also,
Thomas Jay Oord, Science of Love: The Wisdom of Well-Being (Philadelphia: Templeton Foundation Press, 2004), 2. John
Templeton, Agape Love: A Tradition Found in Eight World Religions (Philadelphia & London: Templeton Foundation Press
1999), 1. Templeton presents his concept of agape in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism,
Confucianism, and the Native American (spirituality) religion, without, however, but this is a reading of these movements
from his own conception of Christian agape. islamismo, hinduísmo, budismo, taoísmo, confucionismo e a religião

1
 On the other hand, today, love is loaded with a misplaced emphasis 5 and it is very distant
from the conceptual perspective of the days of Christ. There is a temporal, cultural and linguistic
distance that needs to be overcome. Love has increasingly and indisputably acquired the status of
God's fundamental attribute 6, or the central theme of the Christian religion 7. Although it serves to
provide an image of God that nourishes the spirit of this time, other attributes like justice or eternity
cannot be disregarded. Seeking the highest attribute, as if only one of them could describe God better
than the others, does not seem to be the best way to know God. To overestimate one attribute over
the others is like having a partial image of God and, it may lead to the misinterpretation of the
Scriptures or to the construction of relevant theological systems that might be inconsistent with the
principles found in the Bible.
In the book of Matthew there is only one occurrence of love in its substantivated form
(agape), it is in Mat 24:12, which brings more challenge to its understanding. This verse in particular
has a significant characteristic for the understanding of the term, which is its eschatological context
of the discourse of Christ, recorded there.
One of the most common ideas for the interpretation of this verse is to affirm that Jesus is
talking about something that represents a break with Judaism, and that it defines the core of the
Christian message, Christian agape. The term love has been used to defend theological perspectives
of inclusion8, universalism 9, open theism 10 and ecumenism 11.
Is this the perspective in Jesus’ days? Or is it just a reading of Christ's words under different
assumptions from those who guided the canonical writers? When the account of Christ's words from
the book of Matthews is read today, is his understanding anachronistic and goes through extra-

5 Love gains an individualistic and utilitarian characteristic, according to Bauman's description of love, in which

the fragility of human bonds is the tonic, in a society of materialism and scarce values, in Zygmunt Bauman, Amor Líquido:
Sobre a Fragilidade Dos Laços Humanos (Rio de Janeiro: Zahar, 2004).,
6 Troels Nørager, "Difficult but Necessary: Conditions of a Contemporary Theology of Love," Dialog: A Journal of

Theology 50, no. 1 (Spring2011 2011): 47, http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6385.2010.00580.x.

7 Werner G. Jeanrond, "Biblical Challenges to a Theology of Love," Biblical Interpretation 11, no. 3-4 (2003 2003):

640, http://www.brill.com (Publisher's URL:);

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live.
8 Inclusive theology is basically a perspective grounded in a cultural approach to the Bible. In this regard, what the

Bible says against homosexual practices is no longer useful for the present day, in Adrian Tatcher, God, Sex and Gender: An
Introduction (Malden, MA: Wiley-Blackwell, 2011). God's love is described as inclusive. From this point of view, it is not a
matter of loving the sinner unconditionally, but of including him in the church community independent of his sexual
behavior, in Donald G. Hanway, A Theology of Gay and Lesbian Inclusion: Love Letters to the Church (Ney York, NY: The
Haworth Pastoral Press, 2006).
9 Salvific universalism advocated by Karl Barth was based on the sovereign love of God. A broader picture of this

understanding is presented in his work: Karl Barth, Geoffrey William Bromiley, and Thomas F. Torrance, Church Dogmatics:
The Doctrine of the Word of God, Part 2, vol. 1 (London; New York: T&T Clark, 2004).
10 As a starting point, open theism admits that God loves us and wants us to freely choose to return His love. Clark

Pinnock et al., The Openness of God: A Biblical Challenge to the Traditional Understanding of God (Downers Grove, IL:
Invervasity Press, 1994). Richard Rice, The Openness of God: The Relationship of Divine Foreknowledge and Human Free Will.
(Nashville, TN: Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1980). It is an unlimited love, which even accepts the possibility
of being rejected by humanity, in Clark Pinnock and Robert Brow, Unbounded Love: A Good News Theology for the 21st
Century (Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock Pulishers, 2000). Open theism can be understood as a theology of love, in which God
cannot be perfectly loving, but as if he could prevent genuine evil, he fails. Thomas Jay Oord, The Nature of Love: A Theology
(St Louis, MO: Chalice Press, 2010).
11 There is an emphasis on a kind of ecumenism based on love as a theme common to many religions, even non-

Christian religions, more oriented towards the proclamation of a necessary religious tolerance than to define a center of
religious domination, according to Templeton.

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biblical definitions, or is there a comprehensive effort to identify its use in such accounts? If sought
in its original meaning, what is the validity and relevance of this construct for the present day?
Thus, in addressing agape in the text of Matthew 24:12 we can find three major problems to
focus on. The first refers to the understanding of the term, without which it is impossible to
approach the original intention of the author; the second refers to the literary unit of the text; and
the third, deals with its eschatological use.

Compreheending Agape

There is little attention in defining what love is, even among those who write about it 12.
Among theologians, when they write about love, they do so by assuming that there is an obvious
meaning 13 to it.
As a socially learned and shared construct in a community of speakers, the understanding of
love varies according to the culture in which it is embedded. Similarly, if there are differences in
conceptualization, practice is not unaffected by its influences either.
Even greater differences can be noticed in the face of a great deal of time, which is the case of
the definition and practice of love when considering biblical times and their correlation with the
present day. Part of the communicative process involves understanding how the speaker uses the
terms. If this is a process that requires care in a everyday type of conversation, let alone when it
comes to retrieving the concept of a term in a document, whose author distances himself in time,
culture, language and the way the text is constructed14.
A sensitive point in the debate, over the understanding of the meaning of love, is that
modern notions of love do not help one to understand it in the biblical context. The notion of love is
socially and culturally constructed, so its content is subject to change15.
Currently, there is a tendency to privatize the emotions, distancing them from the actions
correlated to them, as well as the very fragility of the affective ties, the insecurity of the relationships
and the virtuality that characterizes the love in these days 16.
Agape is qualified by the concerns of modern ethics 17. It is the attempt to approach the
concept of agape with approaches drawn from the social sciences 18, valuing sometimes emotional

12 Jules Toner, The Experience of Love (Washington, DC: Corpus Books, 1968), 8.
13 Edward Collins Vacek, Love, Human and Divine: The Heart of Christian Ethics (Washington, DC: Georgetown
University Press, 1994), 34.
14 Stanley E. Porter, "Markers and the Paragraph: Textual and Linguistic Implications," in The Impact of Unit

Delimitation on Exegesis, ed. Raymond de Hoop, Marjo C.A. Korpel, and Stanley E. Porter, Pericope: Scripture as Written and
Read in Antiquity (Boston: Brill, 2009).
15 Jacqueline E. Lapsley, "Feeling Our Way: Love for God in Deuteronomy," The Catholic Biblical Quarterly 65, no. 3

(2003), http://catholicbiblical.org/publications/cbq (Publisher's URL:);

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16 Bauman.
17 Gene Outka, Agape: An Ethical Analysis (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1972).
18 In this type of approach to the biblical text it is common to use jargon extracted from the human sciences,

especially from social psychology and sociology.

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and psychological aspects 19, and other times social 20, altruistic 21, ethical 22, or even political
aspects 23.
Those who understand love, mainly or exclusively, as a trend, identify it as pure feeling or
emotion 24. Love always includes emotion, but it is more than emotion. It has the potential to affect
all human relationships 25.
The concept of love involves an alterity. Love wants to relate to the other, to know the other,
to admire the other, to experience the other's life, to spend time with the other. Love requires a
concrete agent, a love affair 26. Even today, the necessary alterity in love is not denied; however,
relationships have become increasingly unstable and recognized by their fragility in a world of
confused values under constant changes by people who are unable to establish lasting bonds.
The definitions of love based on desire imply that the lover seeks his or her own good, that
is, the lover loves himself 27. "The promise of learning the art of love is the offer to construct the love
experience in the likeness of other products. " 28
Otherwise, in order to overcome individualism, approaching a social consciousness, love has
also been understood as its principle, in a theology of strong moral foundations, an act of the person
as a whole29. Love is also known as the model of freedom, for Christian love is not natural to the
human being, who needs God to free him from his appetites and propensities. The love of Christ
liberates man from his natural selfishness and from his own passions, to exercise a truly unselfish
love. The idea that love is primarily a human emotional experience has precedents in church history,

19 Gene H. Outka, "Theocentric Agape and the Self: An Asymmetrical Affirmation in Response to Colin Grant's

Either/Or," Journal of Religious Ethics 24, no. 1 (1996 1996), http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-

9795 (Subscriber access);
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20 Norbert Rigali, "Toward a Moral Theology of Social Consciousness," Horizons 4, no. 2 (1977),

http://collegetheology.org/ (Publisher's URL:);

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21 Paul Rigby and Paul O'Grady, "Agape and Altruism: Debates in Theology and Social Psychology," Journal of the

American Academy of Religion 57, no. 4 (1989), http://www.jstor.org/stable/1464175.

22 Wilhelm O. Deutsch, "Needs as Norms: Towards an Operationalization of Agape," Journal of Theology for

Southern Africa 40 (1982), http://www.uct.ac.za/ (Publisher's URL:);

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23 Timothy P. Jackson, "Liberalism and Agape: The Priority of Charity to Democracy and Philosophy," The Annual of

the Society of Christian Ethics (1993 1993),

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24 Thomas Jay Oord, Defining Love: A Philosophical, Scientific, and Theological Engagement (Grands Rapids, MI:

Brazos Press, 2010), 21.

25 Werner G. Jeanrond, A Theology of Love (London: T&T Clark International, 2010), 3.
26 Ibid.
27 Rigali, 169.
28 Bauman, 22.
29 Rigali, 169.

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especially in the thinking of Aquinas, John Wesley and Jonathan Edwards 30, as well as for Luther and
Calvin following Augustine's tradition of original sin 31, grace, and sovereignty of God.
Augustine's view of love has had a greater influence on Christian history than any other non-
biblical writer. The meaning of agape as Christian love has been understood in the same categories
he created, including the emotional element with which he qualified it 32.
Augustine talks about a love inherent to the human race that found its satisfaction only in
God 33, in him who is love. And on the loving nature of God, he builds one of his arguments in favor of
the Trinity. For him, if God is love, this requires the presence of the lover, the beloved and the love
itself. That is, God should coexist in the form of the trinity, since love cannot exist without the figure
of the beloved34.
Love, in Augustine's writings, corresponds to an inner feeling. In this way, he deals with Mt
24:12 in a timeless way, emphasizing only the intrinsic malignity of the human race35.
So, what kind of love is Jesus referring to in Matthew 24:12, and how did Jesus and his
audience understand ἀγάπη (agape) and its message?
Traditionally, Matthew 24:12 has been seen from an eschatological perspective. A future
time, marked by a general disinterest in the religion 36 in which is identified the increase of the
iniquity 37, plus a cooling of love 38, as it is understood as a human feeling. Although Jesus' words had
a partial fulfillment in the days leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem, there is yet a future
fulfillment (Matt. 24:21) in the midst of unparalleled tribulation39 yet to come.

30 Matthew Elliott, "The Emotional Core of Love: The Centrality of Emotion in Christian Psychology and Ethics,"

Journal of Psychology & Christianity 31, no. 2 (Summer2012 2012): 105,

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=78553968&lang=pt-br&site=ehost-live.
31 According to Augustine, guilt is derived from an original conviction in Augustine, Augustine of Hippo: Selected

Writings ed. John Farina (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1984), 416. This is passed on to all human beings from Adam, who
would already have seminal existence in him, in Norman R. Gulley, Systematic Theology: Creation, Christ, Salvation (Berrien
Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2012), 165. This inner guilt is intrinsically linked to condemnation, in a close relation
to the penal sanction of the law in R. L. Dabney, Syllabus and Notes of the Course of Systematic and Polemic Theology, Second
Edition ed. (St. Louis: Presbyterian Publishing Company, 1878), 310. The concept of original Augustinian sin brings with it,
"converging in the concept of sin of nature, two heterogeneous notions, that of a biological transmission by means of
generation and of an individual imputation of guilt ..." in Paul Ricoeur, O Conflito Das Interpretaç Ões, trans. M. F. Sá Correia
(Porto: Editora Ré s, 1990), 33-34. Luther and Calvin, exponents of the reform followed Augustine in Alister E. McGrath, The
Intellectual Origins of the European Reformation (Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing, 2004). The central problem of the
doctrine of original sin is the issue of alienated guilt in G. C. Berkower, Studies in Dogmatics (Grand Rapids, MI: William B.
Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971), 436. Augustine's understanding contrasts with Ezekiel 18:20: "He who sins will die.
The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of his son "(NIV).
32 Anders Nygren, Agape E Eros, trans. Philip S. Watson (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1953).
33 Ibid., 710.
34 Bengt Hägglund, História Da Teologia, trans. L. Rehfeldt and Gládis Knak Rehfeldt, 7ª ed ed. (Porto Alegre:

Concórdia, 2003).
35 Aurelius Augustin, "The City of God " in St. Augustin’s City of God and Christian Doctrine, ed. Philip Schaff, A Select

Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church (The City of God: Christian Literature Company,
1887), 406. For Augustine, corruption flooded the earth and "even the best men are broken and corrupted" and where sin
abounds, love cools. The use made of Mat 24:12 does not presuppose any relation to an eschatological time, but it is an
interpretation derived from the human condition itself, according to his interpretation.
36 Charles Ryrie, Ryrie’s Practical Guide to Communicating Bible Doctrine (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman

Publishers, 2005), 84.

37 Donald G. Bloesch, The Last Things: Resurrection, Judgment, Glory (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2004),

75.
38 Louis Berkhof, Summary of Christian Doctrine (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 188.
39 L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans publishing co., 1938), 700.

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 Origen identified the tension between the increase of iniquity and the cooling of love in the
Christian community in Matthew 24:12. “As God, then, is a "fire" and the angels are "flames of fire"
and all the saints are "fervent in spirit," so, on the contrary, those who have fallen away from the
love of God are undoubtedly said to have cooled in their affection for God and to have become cold.
For the Lord also says that 'because iniquity has abounded, the love of many will grow cold’ ” 40.
Karl Barth, on the other hand, believes that the love based on God cannot disappear 41, so it is
impossible in his view, that Jesus would be referring to the commandments to love God and love
your neighbor, in Mat 24:12. He then suggests, that the love that is growing cold refers to the feelings
of relatives and friends, who in the time of ordeal can turn into indifference, even into hatred.
Barth's explanation of love, trying to place it into relatives and friends, is an attempt to preserve his
own understanding of God's sovereign love.
In this eschatological context, what is the meaning of love? Would ἀγάπη, be an exclusive
concept of Christianity42, a love of divine origin, which would be withdrawn from human beings
because of their great iniquity? Or would it be a feeling that is in opposition to the persecuting
hatred (Mt 24:10-11) against those who follow Jesus43? Defining this question is vitally important
for understanding the discourse of Christ as recorded by Matthew.

Christian Agape
Since the nineteenth century there is an ongoing ethical agapism 44, which attempts to value
a pretense unicity or Christian 45 ethical superiority based on the qualification of ἀγάπη as something
proper to Christianity.
Christian love is defined as "consideration and a strong, non-sexual feeling for a person and
his or her well-being, according to the moral character of God; especially characterized by a
voluntary loss of rights or privileges on behalf of another person." 46
According to Barrosse 47, agape in the New Testament involves the love of God for
humankind, from humankind for God and from the Christian for his neighbor, and constitutes the
nucleus of Christianity, manifested in a benevolent, effective and disinterested way.
Fletcher48 defines agape as the one and only regulating principle of the Christian faith. Agape
is the main emphasis of the teaching of Jesus in the New Testament. Jesus customarily taught his

40 Origen, "De Principiis," in Fathers of the Third Century: Tertullian, Part Fourth; Minucius Felix; Commodian;

Origen, Parts First and Second, ed. Alexander Roberts, James Donaldson, and A. Cleveland Coxe (Buffalo, NY: Christian
Literature Company, 1885), 288.
41 Barth, Bromiley, and Torrance, 398.
42 Joseph Fletcher, Situation Ethics: The New Morality, Library of Theological Ethics (Philadelphia: Westminster

John Knox Press, 1996).

43 Barth, Bromiley, and Torrance.
44 In philosophy, ethical choice built on the foundation of Christian agape (Wolterstorff, 2015).
45 Nicholas Wolterstorff, Justice in Love, Emory University Studies in Law and Religion (Grands Rapids, MI: William

B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015).

46 Logos Bible Software Infographics Lexham Press (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2009).
47 Barrosse, 137.
48 Fletcher, 148.

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disciples, Jews and Gentiles using agape, which involves loving and forgiving one's neighbor,
whether Jewish, Christian, Greek or Roman 49.
Two qualities about love (agape) could be mentioned. The first is its universality. Christian
love excludes no one, reaching even the impious and the persecutors (Mt 5,44; Lk 6,27). There is no
reason to limit it to those who can offer something in return or to personal affinity. On the other
hand, love is, in itself, reciprocal and mutual50 (Barrosse 1958, p.138). The Christian community
must be recognized by the presence of this attribute in its environment. Agape should regulate the
life of Christians living in community.
"To love is to act intentionally, in sympathetic response to others (including God), to
promote general well-being" 51. This definition points out to a tension between the importance of
relationships and the other, which emphasize the value of the individual and the community. Love
always requires some kind of relationship 52.
While Kierkegaard and Nygren 53 place human love in opposition to divine love, Nørager 54
proposes a theology of love, where eros and agape are recognized as different aspects within a
continuum of what love is, in which human and divine love are perceived as mirroring one another.
Love reveals its faults. This opening between divine and human brings awareness of guilt.
Seeing the need of others awakens its own lack of concern, solved by an inclusive and relativized
standpoint of the church, as an expression of love on the part of the church, which the world needs55.
Adrian van Kaam proposes a concept of spiritual formation in which only the providential
love of God is relevant, based on a comprehensive theory free from the traditional jargon of theology
to talk about growth and spiritual life 56, which points to a spirituality more and more secular and
distant from institutional religion.
Nygren 57 states that agape is a distinctive and original product of Christianity, having no
relation to the commandments related to love existing in the Old Testament. Matthew, however,

49 Younghoon Kim, "A Solution for Great Peace in Agape of Luke’s Gospel," International Journal of Humanities and

Social Sciences 3, no. 1 (2015): 1.

50 Barrosse, 138.
51 Oord, "Love, Wesleyan Theology, and Psychological Dimensions of Both," 150.
52 Oord, Defining Love: A Philosophical, Scientific, and Theological Engagement. This relational-based theology

would correlate with scientific knowledge about perceived interpenetration in all of nature.
53 Nygren.
54 Nørager, 47.
55 Gibson Winter, "A Theology of Demonstration: An Expression of Love in the Struggle for Human Rights," The

Christian Century 82, no. 41 (1965): 1250, http://www.christiancentury.org/ (Publisher's URL:);

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0000695050&lang=pt-br&site=ehost-
live.
56 Jim Wilhoit, "Only God's Love Counts: Van Kaam's Formation Theology," Journal of Spiritual Formation & Soul

Care 1, no. 2 (2008): 181, http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001789300&lang=pt-

br&site=ehost-live.
57 Nygren, 61. According to this author, there are different perspectives dealing with the use of agape by the New

Testament authors. A first point of view assumes agape as an exclusively Christian product, representing a break with
Judaism and the originality of Christianity. From this point of view, it is imperative to know the Greek meaning and use of
agape, as well as the distinction of the words for love in the New Testament. Far from being a monolithic perspective, there
are a number of interpretive nuances. There are those who treat the distinction of agape as divine love and eros as human
love, it is possible to identify those who see a tension between agape and eros. For these, Augustine reads love in Paul,
mistakenly, from the notion of Platonic eros. A second form of treatment within this perspective is to assume that eros and
agape are continuous and complementary expressions of the same love, whose origin is in God, being less important the
study of the differences of use of the words for love in the New Testament, emphasizing the study of the love of God. A third

7
quotes in more than one occasion these commandments drawn from the Old Testament in the words
of Jesus (Matthew 5:43, 19:19, 22: 37-40). There is a clear continuity between the Old Testament
and the story recorded by Matthew, as exemplified by the great number of quotations and allusions
to the Old Testament in his book58. Matthew is basically a messianic document. This conviction is
fundamental and gives coherence to the whole narrative, reinforced by the great use of quotations
from the Old Testament 59.
If agape is a Christian product, a break with Judaism should be more evident in the Bible.
This does not seem to be the perception of the early Christians, not even of the Jews. The early
Christian community was treated as a sect of Judaism and Paul himself preached in the synagogues
and continued to attend the temple. In making a dichotomy between agape and eros, the term filia 60,
also used in the pages of the New Testament, is ignored by these authors 61.
Love has an element of acceptance, such as inclusive theology, of community, of universality,
sanctifier, but these are only partial visions. In fact, the love of God, as Barth asserts is universal. God
loved all, but not all were saved. Love is sanctifying, but there is an element of volition that cannot be
ignored by Reformed theology.

Love In Matthew
Love in its substantive form (ἀγάπη) appears in a single passage in the book of Matthew62,
however its verbal form, originating from the same root is more present.
The early Christian community was at first a Hebrew speaking Greek community, not a
group of native Greeks. When using the Greek language, they expressed their own way of thinking 63.
Therefore, in order to approach the meaning of love for this community, it is first necessary to seek
its meaning and use in the Old Testament, avoiding the trap of contaminating the concept of love
with ideas common to the Greeks, but foreign to the early Christian community.

group admits that in the impossibility of knowing God, human love (eros) becomes the parameter to know divine love
(agape), this ideal and unattainable.
58 G. K. Beale and D. A. Carson, Comentário Do Uso Do Antigo Testamento No Novo Testamento, trans. Robinson

Malkomes, 1 ed ed. (São Paulo: Vida Nova, 2014). The gospel of Matthew is the one the cites the Old Testament the most.
59 W. D. Davies and Dale C. Allison, Jr., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Gospel According to Saint

Matthew, vol. 1 (London; New York: T&T Clark International, 2004), 718.
60 The word philia would provide a better picture for the understanding of love in the New Testament. While eros

involves desire and agape liberation from the self, philia offers the term relationship (D'Arcy, 1954, 122). D'Arcy suggests
that this mutual love in community is lacking in the individualistic orientations of eros and agape. On the other hand, it may
also be said that the diversity of words used for love in the New Testament may be a clue to the difficulty encountered by the
Jews in covering all the nuances of the use of the word love in the Old Testament.
61 Colin Grant, "For the Love of God: Agape," Journal of Religious Ethics 24, no. 1 (1996 1996),

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1467-9795 (Subscriber access);

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62 Davies and Allison, 343. The words πληθύνω, ψύχομαι, and ἀγάπη are hapax legomena in Matthew, so the

author's suggestion is to try to understand agape from other contemporary books and writers, which disregards Matthew's
great use of the Old Testament.
63 Filon tried to make a connection between Judaism and Greek philosophy. Even the Sadducees were more

Hellenized and rejected the resurrection, this was far from being the commonplace in Jewish theology. The Jewish
interpretive tradition (talmude, midrash), the work of the scribes and zeal for the law of the Pharisees point to the concern
to conserve religion, the basis of Jewish society and culture.

8
 Christian love is not exactly new or an invention of Christianity, but a continuation of the
concept drawn from the Hebrew Scriptures. The New Testament authors have made massive use of
the Old Testament writings by quotation and allusion. On the other hand, in order to understand the
Bible, to arrive at its original message, the presuppositions must be drawn from the Bible itself. If
this is not the case, there is a risk of a reading charged of perspectivism.
Although there are a dozen words that can be translated for love, in Greek philosophy,
basically three words were used to distinguish all these forms, namely, eros, agape, and philia64.
While in Greek there are different nuances in the use of each of these words, there is controversy
over their use by the New Testament authors as to the correlation of these terms with Hebrew
words and the characteristic distinction of these words in the Greek language.
In general, the New Testament authors seem to use indistinctively agape and philia. Such
indistinction requires even greater care to identify its context in order to determine its use, avoiding
anachronisms based solely on the reader’s assumptions.
The verbal forms of love in Matthew point to the Old Testament:
• Beloved (agapetos): 3:17; 12:18; 17:5. These are passages with Messianic 65
characteristics, therefore not decontextualized from the Old Testament. Matthew 12:
18-21 is an allusion to Isaiah 42: 1-4 66.
• To love: 5:43; 5:44; 5:46; 6:24; 19:19; 22:37; 22:39. There is a relation to the Old
Testament: direct citation (19:19; 22: 37,39), enlargement of a commandment (5:
43,44,46), to love God (6: 24 // Dt 6: 5).
Faced with a question from a Pharisee about the greatest commandment (Mt 22:36), Jesus
refers to the Old Testament to answer it. Combining the commandment to love God (Mat 22:37 // Dt
6:5) and the neighbor (Mat 22:39 // Lv 19:18) quoted by Jesus, was not new to his audience. The
summary of the law in the form of these two commandments was not alien to the Jews at the time of
Christ67. The commandment to love is not only a summary of the law, according to Hillel 68, but on
these " hang all the Law and the Prophets" (Mt 22:40). Throughout the history of God's people,
prophets have denounced the danger of a formal religiosity without mercy or love, but they also
present the core of the true religion (Isa 36: 15-16, Mk 6: 8; Hb 2: 4). Likewise, Jesus, throughout

64 Oord, Science of Love: The Wisdom of Well-Being, 7.

65 There are a variety of echoes and different allusions, often below the surface of the text, which show that Jewish
traditions were widely known. For example, in the account of Jesus' baptism (Mt 3: 15-17), the word "beloved" does not
appear in the Hebrew text of Psalm 2 or Isaiah 42, but in LXX of Gen. 22: 2. Then again, since the rabbis had already gathered
the motives of the suffering servant of Isaiah 53 with Genesis 22 and with the Passover lamb, it is highly possible that there
is also a connection between the Johannine title of "The Beloved of God." In addition, there are a variety of passages in which
Genesis 22 is quoted in the New Testament in other contexts, as in references to the patriarchal promise (Acts 3: 25ss,
Heb.6:13ss) Brevard S. Childs, Biblical Theology of the Old and New Testaments: Theological Reflection on the Christian Bible
(Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2011), 329.
66 This text is of great Christological importance, in the context of Matthew, in affirming Jesus' authority and his

intimate relationship with the Father, just as he recalls that the one whom the people are at risk of rejecting is the chosen
one (the Messiah), the beloved Son of God (Beaton, 2004, p. 155).
67 Victor P. Furnish, The Love Command in the New Testament (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1972).
68 Alan F. Segal, "Matthew’s Jewish Voice," in Social History of the Matthean Community: Cross-Disciplinary

Approaches, ed. David L. Balch (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1991), 8.

9
Matthew 23, relegates the scribes and Pharisees to condemnation for the hypocrisy of their deeds.
Throughout God's people historu, prophets have denounced the danger of a formal religiosity
without mercy or love, but they also present the core of the true religion (Isa 36:15-16, Mk 6:8; Am
5:4; Hb 2:4). Likewise, Jesus, throughout Matthew 23, relegates the scribes and Pharisees to
condemnation for the hypocrisy of their deeds69.
Theologically, the maximal ethics of the commandment to love 70 can be based on three
arguments, emphasized by rabbinical Judaism as well as by primitive Christianity. The first of these
is equality between human beings, created in the image of God (Gen 1:26-27). The second refers to
the importance of doing good and being merciful (Hos 6:6); and thirdly, the challenge to imitate God
in His holiness (Lev 17:26, Sanh 9:11; Sifra, Qed 4:12; Gen. R. 24:7) 71. Love, for Matthew, is the
summary of the law (cf. 22:36-40) 72.
Obedience to God’s commandments was understood as a natural consequence and
expression of unconditional love for Him (Deut. 6:5) 73. Although they are not direct quotes from Lev
19:18 and Deuteronomy 6:5, Jesus is not the first to use the double commandment of love 74. “The
combination of both orders, to worship one God and to love one's neighbor, can be identified in the
Jewish traditions (cf. T. Issue 5.2, 7.6, T. Dan 5.3, Philo, Spec. Laws 2.63)” 75. There is, however, in this
fact, a consistent demonstration of the unity between the thought of Jesus and the Mosaic Torah.
Matthew is a Jew speaking to Jews about issues understood by his audience. They use the
Greek language to speak of what is their own. Therefore, it is highly unlikely that love has a meaning
other than the Old Testament and unrelated to its verbal form in the book of Matthew. To
understand love in Matthew necessarily means to understand it in the Old Testament.
In this case, there are two options: to ignore the evidence by using the word love to
represent something different from the verbal occurrences in Matthew, or indeed, to understand it
from the Old Testament. In Matthew, as in the other Synoptic Gospels, the theology of Jesus' love is
naturally anchored in the understanding of the Old Testament covenant. The covenant and its laws
provide the framework for the successful divine-human relationship76.

69 Warren Carter, "Love as Societal Vision and Counter-Imperial Practice in Matthew 22:34-40," in Bblical

Interpretation in Early Christian Gospels: The Gospel of Matthew, ed. Thomas R. Hatina, Library of New Testament Studies
(New York, NY: T&T Clark, 2008), 31.
70 Could love be a commandment? Does it make sense to commadn someone to love? Paul Ricoeur, takes this

question to philosophy and proposes that the commandment to love would be only a poetic imperative, in which the lover
addresses himself to the beloved, like Solomon's Song of Songs in David W. Hall, Paul Ricoeur and the Poetic Imperative: The
Creative Tension between Love and Justice, Suny Series in Theology and Continental Thought (Albany, NY: State University of
New York Press, 2007), 153. However, the repetition of these commandments in the Old Testament, makes it necessary to
search for its occurrences and to understand of what they meant to the audience of Jesus, formed largely by Jews.
71 Gerbern S. Oegema, "The Function of Ethics in the Non-Canonical Jewish Writings," in Sacra Scriptura: How

“Non-Canonical” Texts Functioned in Early Judaism and Early Christianity, ed. James H. Charlesworth, Lee Martin McDonald,
and Blake A. Jurgens, Jewish and Christian Texts in Contexts and Related Studies (London: Bloomsbury T &T Clark, 2014),
86.
72 Donald A. Hagner, Matthew 14–28, vol. 33B (Dallas: Word, Incorporated, 1998), 695.
73 Skip MacCarty, In Granite or Ingrained?: What the Old and New Covenants Reveal About the Gospel, the Law, and

the Sabbath (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2007), 148-49.
74 Birger Gerhardsson, The Shema in the New Testament: Deut 6:4-5 in Significant Passages (Lund: Novapress,

1996).
75 Beale and Carson, 402.
76 Jeanrond, 645.

10
Love in the Old Testament
In general, the Torah embraces a polarity between love and law, as in a nuptial 77 contract,
which establishes the relationship and its norms. For the Jew, the Torah is the law of His love.
Israel's obedience to God's will manifests love for His law. The observance of the law of God is the
main way in which the Jew manifests his love for God 78.
Deuteronomy deals with love more than any other OT book, it relates to Israel’s gracious
love for Yaweh, and to Israel’s obligation to love Yaweh 79. It is highly significant that in Deuteronomy
the word "to love", referring to God's love for his people or their need to love Him as well as to
others, occurs more often than in any other book in the Bible except Psalms, Hosea, John and 1
John 80. And this may sound strange to many, accustomed to seeing Deuteronomy just like a legal
book. The most common term in Deuteronomy to love is ‫אהב‬, which in the Old Testament occurs
more than 200 times in both substantive and verbal forms 81.
Although Deuteronomy is a kind of civil and religious code for Israel, it differs from current
codes that provide for the maintenance of social order. God's love for Israel and Israel's imperative
to love God are essential to the understanding of its content. Love in Deuteronomy consists
essentially of a cultic allegiance to Yaweh, which excludes the practice of worshiping any other
deity 82.
The word to love (‫ )אהב‬and its derivatives appear 22 times in Deuteronomy in 19 verses 83,
plus one in Dt 7:8 if a substantived form could be considered. The use of ‫ אהב‬in Deuteronomy is only
less than in Psalms and Proverbs. In fact, it is the book of the Pentateuch with the greatest number of
occurrences of this word84. In four of these occurrences, God is the subject of love (4:37; 7:13; 10:18;
23:6). In three others there is mention of the forefathers of the Jewish nation (6:5, 10:19, 11:1). In
three, the people of Israel are the subject (6:5; 10:19; 11:1). There is still a reference to a servant's
love for his wife (15:16), two to strangers (10:18; 10:19) and two to the beloved wife as opposed to
the unloved wife (21:15,16) 85.
Israel's love implies a relationship with Yaweh in terms of obedience to the law 86. Love is
expressed in actions. This is true in relation to God, to the stranger (Deuteronomy 10:18-19) and

77 Byron L. Sherwin, "Law and Love in Jewish Theology," Anglican Theological Review 64, no. 4 (1982): 468,

http://www.anglicantheologicalreview.org/ (Publisher's URL:);

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0000796605&lang=pt-br&site=ehost-
live.
78 Ibid., 471.
79 Jack R Lundbom, Deuteronomy: A Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 2013).
80 MacCarty, 145.
81 Theological Dictionary of the Old Testament, Revised Edition ed., s.v. "“‫אָ הַ ב‬,”".
82 Joseph Coppens, "La Doctrine Biblique Sur L'amour De Dieu Et Du Prochain," Ephemerides theologicae

Lovanienses 40, no. 3 (1964),

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0000670205&lang=pt-br&site=ehost-live.
83 Dt 4:37; 5:10; 6:5; 7:9,13; 10:12,15,18,19; 11:1,13,22; 13:3; 15:16; 19:9; 23:5; 30:6,16,20.
84 Logos Bible Software Infographics Lexham Press.
85 Ibid.
86 As Spicq suggests, the command to love in the Torah and in the synoptics corresponds to "to obey" or "to

serve."Ceslaus Spicq, Agape in the New Testament: , vol. 1 (St Louis: Herder, 1963).

11
even to the unloved wife (Deut 21:15,16). Also, good living coexistence guides the relationship
between the Israelite and his neighbor (Lev 19:18).
As a contract, the Torah is a legal document that specifies the mutual acceptance of the
duties and responsibilities of the two parties that come to an agreement 87 (Sherwin 1982, p. 468).
This alliance regulates the relationship and affects both parties. The covenant is not an ephemeral
commitment; on the contrary, it rests on God's faithful character. And to provide more trust to the
covenant (Deuteronomy 28: 15-19), it adds blessings and curses 88 that are connected to the nation's
disposition toward God. God does not change, the people do. The love of God, and compliance with
His rules should make Israel a better nation than its neighbors. The true Israelite is the one who
loves God and his fellows of pilgrimage 89.
Israel's manifestation of his love for God is the obedience to God’s law and His will.
Observing the commandments is religion in action 90. Israel's love for the Lord is demonstrated by
acts of love expressed in obedience to the law of Yahweh in simple daily-life chores (Deut 6:7-9). The
law is Israel's way to imitate Yaweh's love as experienced when Israel was redeemed from Egypt
(Deut 24:17-18).
Love for God involves loving the neighbor (Lev 19:18), and the need to avoid any act that
could be detrimental to the well-being of a neighbor or community. The Israelite must, therefore,
accommodate himself to the constitution under which he lives. He should happily observe the
various civil ordinances which, in Israel, as in any other well-ordered community, are necessary for
protection against bad practices and for regulating relations between members of the same
society 91.
Hosea, a post-exilic prophet who most often uses the term ‫אהב‬, adds two concepts in Israel's
relationship to God: conjugal love toward God and the concept of remnant. The main issue is the
infidelity of the people of Israel, so the marital illustration makes sense in this context, but not in
Deuteronomy. Hosea 4 presents a relationship as inversely proportional as that of Mt 24:12 between
the increase of the iniquity of Israel and the fulfillment of the law.

Love in the Intertestamentary Period and in Jewish Apocryphal Literature

The Book of Jubilees92, a pseudepigraph of the second century BC, refers to "each one love
his neighbor" (7:20b), and God, "love the God of heaven, and be joined to all of his commands"

87 Sherwin, 468.
88 Jon Paulien, Centered on God: (Meet God Again for the First Time) (Hagerstown, Md: Review and Herald
Publishing Association, 2001).
89 Samuel Rolles Driver, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Deuteronomy, 3 ed ed., The International Critical

Commentary (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1902), xxviii.

90 Sherwin, 471.
91 Driver, xxiii.
92 O. S. Wintermute, "Jubilees (Second Century B. C.)," in The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Expansions of the “Old

Testament” and Legends, Wisdom and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms, and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic
Works, ed. James H. Charlesworth (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, 1983).

12
(20:7). It also echoes Dt 7:9 when it states that God "will show mercy to hundreds and thousands, to
all who love him" (23: 31b).
On the other hand, combining the commandments of loving God (Deut. 6:5) and neighbor (Lv
19:18) is not something exclusive of the New Testament. In the Testaments of the Twelve
Patriarchs 93, a pseudo-epigraph also dated from the second century BC, consisting of a collection of
testamentary letters attributed to the twelve sons of Jacob, it is already possible to identify a partial
parallel with this textual construction 94:
• "Love the Lord and your neighbor" (Tes Iss 5:2a);
• "The Lord I loved with all my strength; likewise, I loved every human being as I love
my children. You do these as well, my children…” (Tes Iss 7:6b-7a);
• "Throughout all your life love the Lord, and one another with a true heart". (Test
Dan 5:3);
• "Now, my children, love the Lord God of heaven and earth; keep his
commandments... Fear the Lord and love your neighbor" (Tes Ben 3:1-3).
Hillel's teaching on loving people is his expression of the commandment to love one's
neighbor as oneself, based on Leviticus 19:18, which was not restricted to the Jews but to all human
beings. He identifies God's love with human love and believes that the most basic manifestation of
expressing love for God is to love people. Hillel taught that it is the duty of every Jew to love all
people and bring them closer to the Torah. It was love with a message and with a mission95.

The Problem With Literary Unity

To delimitate a unit of a biblical text is not always a simple task. Elements such as cultural
distance, literary genre, the way the text has been used throughout history and its interpretation96,
present obvious difficulties when defining the beginning and end of a pericope. This is a dimension
that is difficult to recreate.
About Matthew 24:12, there is no textual variation between the major New Testament
versions in Greek 97. While there are no major difficulties with the text, defining the boundaries of the

93 J. H. Charlesworth, The Old Testament Pseudepigrapha: Expansions of the “Old Testament” and Legends, Wisdom

and Philosophical Literature, Prayers, Psalms, and Odes, Fragments of Lost Judeo-Hellenistic Works, vol. 1, 2 vols. (Garden City:
Doubleday, 1983).
94 Maarten J. J. Menken and Steve Moyise, Deuteronomy in the New Testament, vol. 358, Library of New Testament

Studies (New York: T & T Clark, 2007), 35.

95 Yitzhak Buxbaum, The Life and Teachings of Hillel (New York: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, 1973), 95-100.
96 Stanley E. Porter, "The Influence of Unit Delimitation on Reading and Use of Greek Manuscripts," in Method in

Unit Delimitation, ed. Marjo C.A. Korpel, Josef M. Oesch, and Stanley E. Porter, Pericope: Scripture as Written and Read in
Antiquity (Boston: Brill, 2007), 45.
97 In Mt 24:12, only the Codex Cantabrigiensis records πληθυναι (Alford, 1976, p.238). In favor of the term

πληθυνθηναι, there is an agreement between a large number of manuscripts and other codices, as well as the record of
church fathers as Origen (186-254 AD) and Hippolytus (220 AD) (Tischendorf, Gregory, & Abbot, 2003 , 158) by quoting this
text.

13
perimeter brings its challenges. For most commentators, verse 12 is just one more in the sum of the
various signs previously recorded, so verse 13 would be linked to 14 98.
Contrary to the view that agape contrasts with the persecuting hatred of previous verses, the
word anomie used in 24:12 points to something that is inversely proportional to love. The greater
the anomie the smaller the agape. Since anomie means to live outside the law or without law, it is
clear that the counterpoint of love is to live in God's law, it is not the opposite of persecuting hatred
of verses 9-11, according to the meaning of agape from the Old Testament.
In this case, while verses 10 and 11 deal with persecution, 12-14 refer to the lifestyle and
message of the remnant people, based on the gospel.
καὶ διὰ τὸ πληθυνθῆναι τὴν ἀνομίαν ψυγήσεται ἡ ἀγάπη τῶν πολλῶν. ὁ δὲ ὑπομείνας εἰς
τέλος οὗτος σωθήσεται (Matthew 24:12 and 13). And it continues on verse 14 (καὶ κηρυχθήσεται
τοῦτο τὸ εὐαγγέλιον τῆς βασιλείας ἐν ὅλῃ τῇ οἰκουμένῃ εἰς μαρτύριον πᾶσιν τοῖς ἔθνεσιν, καὶ τότε
ἥξει τὸ τέλος): the gospel (τοῦτο τὸ εὐαγγέλιον) to be preached is the same as in verse 12, and in
which a remnant perseveres (ὑπομείνας), according to verse 13.
Ellen White uses Mt 24:12 in various commentaries, reinforcing the eschatological context of
Matthew 24 99, the relationship between love and the fulfillment 100 of the law, the risk of
contamination of believers with the world's licentiousness 101, identification of the remnant and their
lifestyle based on God’s law 102.
Curiously, Ellen White does not use verse 12 connected to verses 10 and 11, or even to the
previous ones, but only in connection to verse 13 103 and, at most, also to verse 14 104 in an
eschatological use.

98 Ulrich Luz, Matthew 21–28: A Commentary, ed. Helmut Koester (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg, 2005).
99 “The twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew gives an outline of what is to come upon the world. We are living amid
the perils of the last days. Those who are perishing in sin must be warned.” (TDG, 156). I have been shown that we live amid
the perils of the last days. Because iniquity abounds, the love of many waxes cold.” (1TT, 256).
100 “And because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold.” The very atmosphere is polluted with sin.

Soon God’s people will be tested by fiery trials, and the great proportion of those who now appear to be genuine and true
will prove to be base metal. Instead of being strengthened and confirmed by opposition, threats, and abuse, they will
cowardly take the side of the opposers. The promise is: “Them that honor Me I will honor.” Shall we be less firmly attached
to God’s law because the world at large have attempted to make it void?” (5T, 136)
101 “I have been shown that we live amid the perils of the last days. Because iniquity abounds, the love of many

waxes cold. The word ‘many’ refers to the professed followers of Christ. They are affected by the prevailing iniquity and
backslide from God, but it is not necessary that they should be thus affected. The cause of this declension is that they do not
stand clear from this iniquity. The fact that their love to God is waxing cold because iniquity abounds shows that they are, in
some sense, partakers in this iniquity, or it would not affect their love for God and their zeal and fervor in His cause.” (2T,
346)
102 “In these last days, when iniquity shall abound and the love of many shall wax cold, God will have a people to

glorify His name, and stand as reprovers of unrighteousness. They are to be a “peculiar people,” who will be true to the law
of God when the world shall seek to make void its precepts, and when the converting power of God works through His
servants, the hosts of darkness will array themselves in bitter and determined opposition....” (TMK,183)
103 “Watch, brethren, the first dimming of your light, the first neglect of prayer, the first symptom of spiritual

slumber. “He that endureth to the end shall be saved.” It is by the constant exercise of faith and love that believers are made
to shine as lights in the world. You are making but poor preparation for the Master’s coming if you are serving mammon
while professedly serving God. When He appears, you must then present to Him the talents that you have buried in the
earth, talents neglected, abused, misused—a divided love.” (4T, 124)
104 “In the prophecy of Jerusalem’s destruction Christ said, “Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall

wax cold. But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved. And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in
all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come.” This prophecy will again be fulfilled. The
abounding iniquity of that day finds its counterpart in this generation. So with the prediction in regard to the preaching of
the gospel.” (DA, 633)

14
 The Issue of Scatological Use

The Hebrew perspective sees humanity in relational terms and the individual human being
as an integral. In this case, iniquity (anomie) is something wrong with the whole man, not just his
body or his nature 105.
The increase of a wicked attitude and lifestyle, inside and outside the community of
disciples, would have a devastating effect. Just as "to love" (God and others) is the fundamental
principle of God's people lifestyle (22: 37-40), the "cooling" of this love marks the end of effective
discipleship 106. Love and iniquity are antithetical, for love fulfills the law 107.
Jewish tradition deals with the last days as "the time of the iniquity of Israel," which relates
to Daniel 7 and the ministry of the antichrist 108. The multiplication of iniquity refers not only to a
characteristic of this single generation but the continuum of wicked generations that led the people
of Israel into exile in the past and to destruction at the end of time. This generation has lived a
fragmented ethic and morality resulting partially from a tendency not to instruct the people of God
in the law of God as presented in the Old Testament109. It must be considered that love, for Matthew,
is the summary of the law (cf. 22:36-40) 110.
Before being an exclusive or indistinct community within a universalistic perspective of
salvation, the remnant is a missiological community, whose way of life must be something better
than the people around them as an enticement to fulfill the mission of preaching the gospel to every
nation, tribe, language and people.

The Same Hope

Matthew 24:12, thus, deals with the same covenant of God with His people, the everlasting
gospel (Rev 14: 6). The New Testament Church is a continuation of Israel in the Old Testament.
Loving and keeping the commandments are part of His message (Dt 7:9; Jn14:21). The Andrews
Bible recognizes a connection in the use of persevering between Mt 24:13 and Rev 14:12 111.

105 Wynkoop argues that the Augustinian perspective and its later developments regard salvation as a kind of

magic or psychological mutation that naturally removes one's sin. One criticism of Wynkoop's relational perspective is that
salvation presents itself as completely moral at its core in Mark K. Olson, "Strange Bedfellows: Reappraisal of Mildred
Wynkoop's a Theology of Love," Wesleyan Theological Journal 45, no. 2 (2010): 198,
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rfh&AN=ATLA0001805949&lang=pt-br&site=ehost-live. In fact,
there is a moral element involved in salvation, yet it can not be limited to this instance, nor at least put it in the center, since
salvation also seeks to reconcile humanity with God (2Co 5:18).
106 R. T. France, The Gospel of Matthew (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publication Co., 2007), 907.
107 Davies and Allison, 343.
108 Charles Caldwell Ryrie, Basic Theology: A Popular Systematic Guide to Understanding Biblical Truth (Chicago, IL:

Moody Press, 1999), 242.

109 Walter C. Kaiser Jr, "The Future Role of the Bible in Seminary Education," Concordia Theological Quarterly 60,

no. 4 (1996): 251.

110 Hagner, 695.
111 Andrews Study Bible Notes, ed. Jon L. Dybdahl (Berrien Springs, MI: Andrews University Press, 2010).

15
 Matthew anticipates the message of Revelation 14. The concept of the eschatological
remnant was not, therefore, a novelty for the Christian community in John's day. It was, above all,
the reaffirmation of a hope already shared by the emerging Christian church.
There is an eschatological element of Matthew 24 that goes beyond the destruction of the
temple and persecution promoted by the Roman emperors against Christians, pointing to the
consummation of the promise of God’s kingdom establishment.
Matthew 24 and Revelation 14 have some common threads:
• Persecution against the saints (Mt 24: 10-12, Rev 12);
• The preaching of the gospel (Mt 24:14, Rev 14: 6);
• The worldwide preaching (Mt 24:14, Rev 14: 6);
• Perseverance (Mt 24:13, Rev 14:12).
The audience for which each book was intended can explain the absence of direct parallels
between love in Matthew 24 and the keeping of the commandments in Revelation 14. Matthew,
turns to the emerging church within Judaism, makes connections with the Old Testament in which
the love and keeping of the commandments are equaled, while John writes to the gentile Christian
community of Ephesus, making a more direct statement regarding the keeping of the
commandments.
The preterist perspective that propels the authorship of the book of Matthew to a time after
the destruction of the temple fails to consider the later expectation at the consummation of the
kingdom with the second coming of Christ, something nurtured by Christianity already and echoed
in Matthew 24.
The remnant that waits for the return of Christ is the one who perseveres in loving or
keeping the commandments. The discourse of Jesus in the Gospel of Matthew consistent with the
restoration of Israel in post-exile, relates to the role of the remnant in this period to that of the
people of God in the last days, towards the proclamation of the coming kingdom.
Jesus' command to love God and your neighbor is a call to obey the will of God to manifest
the meaning and reality of the kingdom in one's life112. It is entering into a new relationship with
God, which means living the eschatological realm in advance.
Christians seem to have no trouble recognizing the eschatological character of their faith, but
they find it much more difficult to recognize the close connection between this belief and their daily
life 113. There is no room in the gospel for hypocrisy or cognitive dissonance. The remnant is invited
to taste the everlasting gospel, in a new relationship with God, with the neighbor and with the
creation 114.

112 Furnish, 195.

113 Werner G. Jeanrond, "Love and Eschatology," Dialog: A Journal of Theology 50, no. 1 (Spring2011 2011): 53,
http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-6385.2010.00581.x.
114 Paulien.

16
 It is by looking at the current context of permissiveness that makes Jesus' words sense: "...
the love of almost everyone will grow cold" (Matthew 24:12), a relational crisis based on a world of
scarce and relativized shared values, centered on patterns of selfishness, consumerism and
materialism. This way of life makes the unity sought by Jesus Christ to his followers even more
difficult (Jn 13:35,36). Christ's warning is as lively and necessary for the Latter-day Christian
community as it was in the days of His earthly ministry.

17
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