Faith and Works

Pr 1:7 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
Pr 9:10 The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding.
 
This means that love is rooted in faith, not the other way around.  Dead works cannot be made alive in order to make faith living; the cure for dead works is to abandon dead Gods for the Living God in Jesus Christ.  Faith is not rooted in love; love is rooted in faith. 

Paul said that, being justified by faith we have peace with God, for it is by faith that we have access into God's grace [Rom. 5].  The Holy Spirit is graciously given to us so we can will and do of His good pleasure.  By the Spirit, love is shed abroad in our hearts, the result of faith.

Hence, the human act is rooted in the divine act, not the other way around, for faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen, and it is rooted in the attributes of God, not our affections toward men.  Love for God is the First and Great commandment, and takes precedence over the Second Great Commandment which requires love for the image of God.  Without this work of God in the heart by faith, man is left only with the painted face and caricature of a "love" that has no foundation, used only to snare the foolish. Proverbs 5:3-5.

Fools despise wisdom and instruction.  You must be godly before you can do godly. The tree is an apple tree before it bears apples.

Isa 29:13 Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honor me, but have removed their heart far from me, and their fear toward me is taught by the precept of men....