Faith and Love: my first blog post

What follows is a note that I posted on Facebook on March 10, 2011, before I started this blog. However, it's similar in nature to a lot of the posts in this blog, so I plan to retroactively consider it my first blog post. Enjoy!

Faith and love are intrinsically connected.

26 verses in the New Testament contain both "faith" and "love"! Here they are:

1. 1 Corinthians 13:2
2. 1 Corinthians 13:13
3. 2 Corinthians 8:7
4. Galatians 5:6
5. Ephesians 1:15
6. Ephesians 3:17
7. Ephesians 6:23
8. Colossians 1:4
9. 1 Thessalonians 1:3
10. 1 Thessalonians 3:6
11. 1 Thessalonians 5:8
12. 2 Thessalonians 1:3
13. 1 Timothy 1:5
14. 1 Timothy 1:14
15. 1 Timothy 2:15
16. 1 Timothy 4:12
17. 1 Timothy 6:10 
18. 1 Timothy 6:11
19. 2 Timothy 1:13
20. 2 Timothy 2:22
21. 2 Timothy 3:10
22. Titus 2:2
23. Titus 3:15
24. Philemon 1:5
25. James 2:5
26. Revelation 2:19

In comparison, here are the number of verses that contain some other pairs of words:

1. "faith" and "grace" - 12
2. "faith" and "peace" - 9
3. "faith" and "spirit" - 13
4. "grace" and "love" - 6
5. "grace" and "peace" - 8
6. "grace" and "spirit" - 7
7. "love" and "peace" - 8
8. "love" and "spirit" - 9
9. "peace" and "spirit" - 8

Why do the writers of the New Testament connect faith and love so often? Faith is toward Christ and brings us into an organic union with Christ the Head. Love is toward other believers and brings us into a proper relationship with the members of the Body. Vertically, there is faith. Horizontally, there is love. But they are not separate matters! You cannot have faith without love, and you cannot have love without faith.