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I had thought to myself, "what is the origin of the phrases "for Christ's sake" and "for the love of God"?". We use these phrases casually in conversation, yet there is such gravity to these words.
Jesus Christ the Son of God, a perfect man, died for us that we may be given eternal life in him:
>"For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life" John 3:16
The "love of God" is the passion of The Christ. God loves man so much that he became flesh to show us how to live; He suffered and died to expose the world's hostility to God who is the Truth. We are to live with zeal for God just as Jesus did himself. The human will in Jesus loved God so much that he would do the will of God over his own, even in the face of death:
>"After withdrawing about a stone's throw away from them and kneeling, he prayed, saying, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup [my suffering] away from me; still not my will but yours be done"" Luke 22:41-42, The Agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.
In the same way Christ acted for God's sake, we ought to act for Christ's sake, in every aspect of our lives.
In a situation when a man cries out, "O, for the love of God!" or "O, for Christ's sake!", it is a motion to recall how we should be acting - in the will of God - in contrast to how we are currently acting - committing sin. They are devices to bring us back under God's law.
