Sabbath School Lesson for January 4-10, 2025
Introduction to Lesson 2, Covenantal Love
Memory Text: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him.’ ” John 14:23 NKJV
There have been misunderstandings about the Greek words for love–agape and phileo. It’s been thought that agape love is unique to God and phileo love is only among humans, a kind of brotherly love. But actually, they are used in the Bible interchangeably, depending on the situation.
For instance, Paul in 2 Timothy 4:10 uses agape love to describe an apostle who abandoned him because he “loved” the world. Also Jesus, speaking to His disciples, said in John 16:27, “for the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me”. Both times the word for love in this verse is phileo.
Knowing that God’s love is not unilateral (one-sided) and is deeply relational, whether it’s within the Godhead or among His created beings, helps us understand why the word “love” is expressed biblically in all its various forms and uses.
It’s important to know the kind of love the Father has for us. Although it is unconditional and unmerited, it requires specific actions on our part to reap the full benefits of a closer, covenantal love relationship with Him.
- Sunday: The Everlasting Love of God–God loves everyone unconditionally and His love never runs out.
- Monday: Covenantal Love–In order to have a close love relationship with God, we must show our love by obeying Him.
- Tuesday: Conditional Relationship–Our rejection of God doesn’t stop Him from loving us.
- Wednesday: Mercy Forfeited–Our rejection of God’s love causes us to miss the benefits of the close relationship He wants to have with us.
- Thursday: You Have Freely Received; Freely Give–We must love others, if we claim to love God.
Sunday: The Everlasting Love of God
Many times the Bible mentions the abundant love and mercy of God. It has no limit and it has no end. We can do nothing to stop Him from loving us, not even our rejection of Him. He has ample compassion for everyone in the universe. In addition, God wants all His erring children to have life. He doesn’t want anyone to perish (2 Peter 3:9) and has gone to great lengths to show us His love.
The nature of His love is not based on force or fear, however. He will never force us to love Him in return. Fear should be avoided when trying to convey God’s love. He does make us aware of the consequences of not loving Him, but our response must be to a loving God, not a fear-provoking, all-powerful Being we are afraid to disobey.
If God can love even the most despicable sinner, we should always consider how we relate to them as well. Knowing His matchless, boundless love for everyone helps us love others in our life, even those we find despicable.
Verses to discuss:
Psalm 33:5 and 145:9
- How far does God’s love extend?
- What can we still learn from the world of nature about God’s love, despite so many years of sin and suffering on our planet?
2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4, and Ezekiel 33:11
- What can we learn from these verses about God’s desire to save us?
Monday: Covenantal Love
Although we can rely on God to love us no matter what, there is a way that we can return His love, which allows us to actually draw closer to Him in a special kind of love relationship.
Like a business contract, the love covenant we have with God depends on certain conditions being met and promises being kept. We agree to love and trust God above all other gods, worshiping Him in the way He prescribes, and to love others as He has shown us in His law and by His example. At the same time, God promises to be by our side to strengthen, guide, and comfort us through all our trials, and to someday take us to live with Him forever in a beautiful sin-free universe.
The choice is ours to make. We can either enter into a covenant with God, or be independent of Him and reject His abundant mercy and grace. When we decide to accept Him as our Lord and Savior though, the spiritual blessings far outweigh the material, worldly ones we unfortunately treasure so highly.
Verses to discuss:
Deuteronomy 7:6-9 and Galatians 3:29
- Why were the Israelites called to be a special, holy people?
- How and why can Christians be partakers of this covenant with God?
2 Samuel 22:26, 1 Kings 8:23, and Psalm 32:10
- What can we do to keep our covenant with God?
Tuesday: Conditional Relationship
Someone has likened God’s love for us as sunshine. We can remove ourselves from the sun by going indoors or to some shady place, but that does not stop the sun from shining in the sky. It is always there for those who take advantage of its light and warmth.
Jesus tried to further our understanding of God’s love with a parable about a wedding feast (Matthew 22:1-14). A king, in arranging the marriage of his son, invited guests to the wedding. Many of the guests made excuses and refused to come, even harming and killing some of his messengers. The story reminds us that only those who accept God’s invitation to have a covenant, love relationship with Him, and who wear the wedding garment He provides, will be able to experience His close, covenantal relationship.
If we reject God’s love, we deprive ourselves of the special love He has reserved for those who trust and obey Him. Jude 21 warns us to keep ourselves in the love of God’s covenant, “looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life”.
Verses to discuss:
Matthew 22:1-14 and Isaiah 61:10
- What kind of wedding garment will we wear when we accept God’s special invitation to be saved?
Hosea 9:15, John 14:21, Romans 11:22, and Jude 21
- What causes God’s love to be cut off or removed from us, and what allows us to receive it?
Wednesday: Mercy Forfeited
The reason we are able to love God, and even others, is because God first loved us (1 John 4:9, 19). The prophet Jeremiah recognized that God’s abundant, everlasting love is what draws us to Him (Jeremiah 31:3).
We may try to love others without recognizing where that love comes from, and those efforts may even work moderately well for awhile, providing us with a good purpose for life and a good feeling about ourselves. But eventually, there comes a time when our love is challenged and without the Holy Spirit, our love for someone will be short-lived and inadequate.
Perhaps of more significance is the fact that rejecting the idea that God is behind our love for others causes us to forfeit, or miss out, on the peace and joy in our hearts that comes from knowing and loving God more intimately. Trusting God to bring an end to suffering and allow us to experience something beyond our mortal life brings us a special kind of peace that trying to love others on our own will not provide.
The parable Jesus told about an unforgiving servant illustrates what happens when we relate to others without recognizing the mercy and forgiveness only God can provide. See Matthew 18:23-35.
Verses to discuss:
1 John 4:16, 19
- Where does all love come from?
Matthew 18:23-35
- What did the unforgiving servant lose by not recognizing his master’s forgiveness of his own debt?
- What do we lose by not recognizing God’s forgiveness and mercy in our own lives?
Thursday: You Have Freely Received; Freely Give
Knowing that while we were sinners Christ loved us enough to die for us (Romans 5:8) should remind us that His love for us is freely given. We are loved before we ever do anything to return His love.
The only response God desires is for us to love Him in return, so our relationship with Him can grow deeper and stronger. We do this by trusting and obeying Him (John 15:14), which includes the command to love other people (John 15:12).
Jesus lived and preached the kind of love we should have for each other. He went about healing and blessing all kinds of people, whether they returned His love or not. He said that we should love and extend help to everybody, even our enemies.
In His worst suffering on the cross, Jesus begged His Father to forgive those who had unknowingly put Him there. His example showed us the way our love is to be freely given to others. It may take years of practice on our part, but it’s always worth the effort to love others freely, the way God loves us.
Verses to discuss:
Romans 5:8 and 1 John 3:1
- Why do you think God loves us so much?
John 15:12, 1 John 3:16, and 4:7-12
- What does God’s love for us compel us to do?
- What does this tell us about the quantity and quality of God’s love, and why we need His love in order to love others?
Friday: Final Thoughts
What a privilege it is for us to enter into a special, covenantal relationship with the Creator of the universe. We are reminded that we cannot weary or burden this all-powerful Being. He upholds the worlds, and yet has numbered the very hairs on our heads. He knows us more intimately than anyone else possibly can.
The Christian writer, Ellen White, expressed this relationship beautifully:
“Take to Him everything that perplexes the mind. Nothing is too great for Him to bear, for He holds up worlds, He rules over all the affairs of the universe. Nothing that in any way concerns our peace is too small for Him to notice. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read; there is no perplexity too difficult for Him to unravel. No calamity can befall the least of His children, no anxiety harass the soul, no joy cheer, no sincere prayer escape the lips, of which our heavenly Father is unobservant, or in which He takes no immediate interest.” Steps to Christ, p. 100.
We could never ask for a more faithful Friend than this. His invitation to befriend Him on this level should not be overlooked or belittled. What a blessed comfort it is to really “know” the Lord like this on a daily basis.
Next Week: To Be Pleasing to God
To read the Sabbath School Lesson Quarterly and see more resources for its study, go to
