Advent 2025 Fourth Sunday: LOVE

/ Eva Burkholder

This year, I’m pondering the traditional Advent themes—HOPE, PEACE, JOY, and LOVE—found in the apostle Paul’s letter to the Galatians (my recent Bible study). We’ve examined HOPE, PEACE, and JOY. Today we look at LOVE.

Advent 4: LOVE

We don’t typically think of Paul as the “love expert” but in his letter to the Galatians, he mentions love more frequently than our other advent themes.

Paul says love is the answer to legalism.1 To those who insist on obeying religious rules to gain God’s approval, he replies:

For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision has any value. The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love.

Galatians 5:6 NIV

Love also curtails license.2 To those who reject any guardrails or requirements, Paul says:

You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh; rather, serve one another humbly in love. For the entire law is fulfilled in keeping this one command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”

Galatians 5:13–14

Love is the reason Jesus was “born of a woman” (4:4, John 3:16). Love compelled him to give his life to rescue us (1:4, 1 John 4:10). When we follow his new law to love one another as he loves us (John 15:12)—serving humbly and laying down our lives for others (1 John 3:16)—we actually fulfill the whole law.

Paul’s words are echoed in the Christmas hymn, O Holy Night: “Truly he taught us to love one another. His law is love and his gospel is peace. Chains shall he break for the slave is our brother and in his name all oppression shall cease.”3

We can love this way only because the Holy Spirit produces love in us supernaturally. As we walk by, are led by, live by, keep in step with, and sow to the Spirit (5:16,18,25; 6:8), we will reap all the fruit4, including love.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace … 5:22

As Christmas day approaches, I pray that love will fill your hearts and your homes as you serve one another and love each other like Jesus loves us.

Remember, the One “born of Mary” redeemed us so that the blessing of Abraham would come to us through him and we could receive the promised Spirit through faith (3:13–14).

May we hope confidently, live in peace with others, express overflowing joy, and love humbly.

  1. “As a belief, legalism is the conviction that we can make ourselves acceptable to God by keeping rules. As a practice, legalism is the keeping of rules with a view to gaining merit with God.” Dr. Constable, SonicLight. ↩︎
  2. “freedom to behave as one wishes, especially in a way that results in excessive or unacceptable behavior” (Oxford Language Dictionary). ↩︎
  3. written by French poet Placide Cappeau in 1843 ↩︎
  4. Paul’s noun is singular here meaning that collectively the fruit will grown in us. Fruit are character qualities formed, not by our own efforts, but by the Spirit’s work in us. The other advent themes, peace and joy, are also included in the fruit. The first theme, hope, is not because hope is a state of mind, a belief, rather than a character trait. ↩︎

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