Love Cannot Be Pumped Up to Order
The tension between commandment and love seems irreconcilable. How can Christ command what must spring spontaneously from the heart? Maclaren pierces this paradox with surgical...
This is historical examples on the paradox of commanded love and indirect cultivation of affection, drawing on John 15:12-13.
The tension between commandment and love seems irreconcilable. How can Christ command what must spring spontaneously from the heart? Maclaren pierces this paradox with surgical precision: we cannot manufacture emotion by sheer will, yet we possess far greater control over our affections than we suppose. The cultivation of love is not direct—we cannot pump it up to order—but it is deeply indirect.…
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