“Let all that you do be done with love.” (1 Cor. 16:14, NKJV)
We have spent the last few teachings studying what the Word says about love. The immense importance of love in the Old Testament was discussed in the teaching of Day 1379, and in the previous three, Day 1380 to 1382, we started looking at what the New Testament holds forth on this matter.
Throughout the New Testament the authors of the apostolic letters accentuate the importance of love. A few examples:
- “Let all thatyou do be done with love.” (1 Cor. 16:14)
- “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.” (Col. 3:14)
- “That their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love.” (Col. 2:2)
- “No one has seen God at any time. If we love one another, God abides in us, and His love has been perfected in us.” (1 John 4:12)
- “I speak not by commandment, but I am testing the sincerity of your love by the diligence of others.” (2 Cor. 8:8)
- “And let us consider one another in order to stir up love and good works.” (Heb. 10:24)
- “And above all things have fervent love for one another, for ‘love will cover a multitude of sins.’” (1 Pet. 4:8).
- “Greet one another with a kiss of love.” (1 Pet. 5:14)
- “My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.” (1 John 3:18)
The importance of love is clearly a constant theme throughout Scripture. It is obvious that all the New Testament writers consider it as the single most important marker of the Christian existence and functioning.
In the previous teachings we focused on the characteristic nature of God as Love; that the fullness of His love has already been poured out into us; that God expects that we love one another as He loves us and as God loves Jesus; and that all our actions in faith should clearly be grounded in this love, and especially that all our spiritual activities be known by it.
A related theme is that love enlarges to also include the Christ. Paul makes it clear from 2 Cor. 5:14: “For the love of Christ compels us …” Take note – the context in which we find this verse, speaks of the corporate Christ and not necessarily the single Saviour Jesus. Although it could be read this way, it means something different here. Also, here we are clearly not speaking about the love FOR Christ, but rather the love OF Christ. For our argument this distinction is important, as we are trying to understand the synergy and power of love in the Body, and this brings us a step closer to it, as Eph. 3:17-20 dramatically makes clear: “that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us …”
The power that collectively works WITHIN us is clearly the power of love! Various Scriptures fall back on this immensely important conclusion (1 Tim. 1:14; 2 Tim. 1:13, for instance). Through this wondrous power of love we are gradually fulfilled to the fullness of God! 1 John 4:17 then says: “Love has been perfected among us in this … because as He is, so are we in this world.” The powerful working of the Bride-in-love does not just become a mirroring of God-is-love, but functions, LIKE HIM, in the fullness of his love in this world. Please ponder this.
In his book The Fullness of Life in Jesus Christ, T. Austin-Sparks writes the following: “That such a Christ is really within us, and that we are a corporate part of Him gives almost unthinkable possibilities to our lives, and should – as it can – dismiss all fear, doubt, despair, and misgivings. We should be filled with hope and confidence, and the song of victory, actual and anticipated, should be more often in our mouths.” Take note of this – it is important.
In the light of this theoretical understanding of the fullness of the love of Christ within you, it is thus crucial to practice this love. How does one attempt this so that the practising of love is not a carnally driven action? To properly understand this, we will be drawing from 2 Pet. 1:3-10. Read this passage on your own, below we will discuss it with paraphrasing commentary.
This pericope begins with a frightening statement, but one that we should be well familiar with by now: “as His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness”. To really understand this all-encompassing gift of His life – that saves all facets of your life in all circumstances (Rom. 5:10), verse 3 continues by stating that you need knowledge on this issue. Obviously you do! He called you to live the life of Jesus in and through your identity, and that all-encompassing life of His carries the complete and perfect Godly fruit, within you. His glory and “excellence” (CENT) provides you with, according to verse 4, “exceedingly great and precious promises” that only have one goal – through this you gain “the divine nature”! What a bargain!
From verse 5 onwards we find an explication of how that divine nature WITHIN you gradually increases through a particular progression. The starting point is faith, to which certain things are added. The word “added” could easily sound like an add-on, as if this is a recipe with ingredients that just needed to be added. But it is much more than this. The Greek word for this is epichorēgeō and can be divided into two parts, epi + chorēgeō. The first literally means to superimpose onto one another, to press together so that the sum of the parts becomes a new whole. [The RYLT-NT refers to this as “super add”.] The MSG states it as: “each dimension fitting into and developing the others”.
According to Thayer the second part of the Greek word means “1) to be a chorus leader, lead a chorus 2) to furnish the chorus at one’s own expense 3) to procure and supply all things necessary to fit out a chorus 4) to supply, furnish abundantly”. All the components that are mentioned in 2 Pet. 1:3-10 must as entity become part of the greater whole, so that this spiritual conglomerate can become the divine nature. This then literally leads to “the secret chord” of your calling (Job 15:8), the tuning fork or song of your redemptive purpose. Within this is nestled the salvation of your soul. Salvation here should be understood as the “deliverance of your souls” (ABP), “the health of your souls” (TYN-r), as the “full measure” (2 Cor. 9:6, BBE) intended for the soul.
The progression of spiritual attributes that are to be added to faith, can thus be presented as a mathematical equation in this way: faith + virtue + knowledge + self-control + perseverance + godliness + brotherly love + love = the divine nature. Perhaps we should just point out a few things about these elements.
About faith one could write many things, and we will do that later, but the standard definition from Heb. 11:1 remains, historically, the most accepted formulation of this elusive substance of the spiritual life: “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” But actually this just points to faith as a sort of title act of spiritual property you have not yet received. Verse 6 establishes the importance of faith in more precise terms: “But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.” This is faith.
To faith gets added virtue. In various translations it is presented as “moral excellence” (ALTNT) or just “excellence” (NET), “manliness” (ANT), “goodness” (CEV), “integrity” (GW), “excellence of character” (LEB) or “a noble character” (WNT), “courage” (LONT) and “worthiness” (RYLTNT-r). These synonyms provide us with a more clear description of the term.
To virtue gets added knowledge. The word for knowledge here is gnosis, which derives from the root word ginosko, which means to experience intimacy of the highest/deepest kind, with God. The seed of this intimacy can be called revelatory knowledge. The immensity of this is that “grace and peace be multiplied to you” when acquiring this knowledge! These enlightened eyes of the mind come into being through “the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord”.
Self-control is added to knowledge. Strong defines this word as follows: “the virtue of one who masters his desires and passions, especially his sensual appetites)”. I like the more expansive interpretation that the Accurate New Testament presents in this case, namely, “moderation”. The JMNT interestingly enough translates it as “perseverance”.
To self-control is added the quality of perseverance (the KJV translates it as patience). Thayer provides the following: “in the NT the characteristic of a man who is not swerved from his deliberate purpose and his loyalty to faith and piety by even the greatest trials and sufferings”.
To perseverance is added godliness. This literally means “to worship well” and “to be very devout”. Vine’s Complete Expository of New Testament Words describes it as “that piety which, characterized by a God-ward attitude, does that which is well-pleasing to Him”. The ISBE in turn suggests that it is “character and conduct determined by the principle of love or fear of God in the heart”. We can summarise it as an earnest desire to please God. 1 Tim. 4:8 provides this key to the matter: “godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come”. This is a deeply founded truth!
Now we get to the main theme that is currently being discussed, namely love. To godliness is added brotherly love. In short this includes everyone born from the same womb, in other words, everyone who are born again. You need to honour everyone, says 1 Pet. 2:17, but “love the brotherhood”. John 13:35: “By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
This then obviously leads to brotherly love finally being enlarged with the addition of love. No fewer than 187 times specific laws and commandments in the Old Testament are presented around the love one should have for a neighbour. In James 2:8 the apostle refers to it as “the royal law”, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Along with the commandment, “you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart”, “all the Law and Prophets” (Matt. 22:40) hang onto this, in other words – the totality of everything that is presented in Scripture. Selah.
- Selah: Study the progression of these root elements of the perfected soul in your life.
- Read: 22-30.
- Memorise: 23:3-4.
For a more in-depth understanding: Read the book by T. Austin-Sparks mentioned above
