"The churches of Asia send you greetings. Aquila and Prisca, together with the church in their house, send you hearty greetings in the Lord. All the brothers send you greetings. Greet one another with a holy kiss. I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen."
After sending greetings to the Corinthians from various believers, Paul returns to the subject of love to close the book. He already spent the better part of a chapter teaching us what love looks like and helping us realize love's importance. But in these closing verses, Paul uses even stronger language than he did earlier in the book.
He says, "if anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed." In other words, love God or be damned. That's unsettling! How can we be given such an ultimatum? Well, I don't think it is an ultimatum. I think its a warning that if you don't love Him, you are not His.
When you come to understand how God revels Himself in the Bible, you must either love Him or hate Him. Those who love Him, love Him because they are His. And troubling statements will not cause them to stumble though they must wrestle through them at times. Those who have no love for him will simply reject Him and go into eternity as His enemy.
