All posts in Faith, Hope, and Love

Lesson 14: Love as the Way

by Scott Noon on October 29, 2011 in Faith, Hope, and Love with No comments

Love characterizes Christian action. It is the way of the Church, the Way to the Kingdom, and the Way of the Kingdom. In fact, it could be considered the Way of God, the logos that John says makes the world go round.

It is first the Way of God’s Church. The Beloved Apostle says the world will know we are Christ’s people by our love (John 13: 35). Paul describes this love within the community as not insisting on our own way, but rather co-operating with others in God’s saving mission. Lately some of us have used unity as an excuse for avoiding responsibility for crimes. Paul was calling for a quite different understanding. His would encourage frequent discussions about how our diverse gifts complement each other in a division of labor.

Because this necessitates God’s help every step along the way, Christians have always gathered to receive the means of grace. We speak God’s word, baptize initiates, and share Jesus’ meal so God might pour his love into our hearts. We share our lives, constantly addressing one another as “beloved”.

Second, love is the Way to the Kingdom. Spreading the Gospel is not a means for increasing membership rolls or encouraging people to offer up some kind of Jesus Prayer. It is inviting all people to practice the loving relationships that heal God’s creation. The New Testament describes the love we extend to those outside the community as “returning good for evil”, recognizing love is the only way to make enemies into friends for God and ourselves.

And third, love is the Way of the Kingdom. I Corinthians 13 assures us love never ends. The love feasts in the future Kingdom will welcome all into the loving relationship enjoyed by the three persons of the Trinity. Long ago the Old Testament recognized that salvation is to live as God lives. We worship a God “who is not partial and takes no bribe, who executes justice for the orphan and the widow, and who loves the strangers, providing them with food and clothing”. The passage continues calling us to follow God’s lead as we, too, love even strangers (Deuteronomy 10: 12-22).

Last week I mentioned God’s people took care to express the radical features of this love, sometimes using special words such as the Greek agape or the King James’ “charity; sometimes using appropriate adjectives. Lupe suggested the Latin caritas might be another option in our time. However we do it, we want to emphasize that it is freely given grace and unconditional commitment.

This brings us to the end of our discussion of faith, hope, and love as the classic summary of the Christian life. Our faith in the God of the Bible’s story and our hope that He will fulfill the promises Jesus makes gives us the courage to love as much as we are able as we await the kingdom when all shall delight in love’s beauty.

I am going to take a break for a few weeks and then return July 6 with a completely different approach. I think you’ll find it very informative in a couple ways. First, it will give some insight into how our young people regard the faith. For decades my wife and I have hosted regular dinners and reading groups for thirty plus high school students, 15 to 20 Young Adults, and about 20 college students. At the end of their meeting, each group picks the topic they want to discuss the next time. The posts for our next class will be the one page papers I prepared as foundations for these discussions. Because all three groups usually want to discuss contemporary issues, the second benefit will be to compare ideas about “Faith behind the Headlines”. In hope that this might incite more discussion, Scott had updated the site making it easier to comment.

Lesson 13: Our Love for God and Each Other

by Scott Noon on October 29, 2011 in Faith, Hope, and Love with No comments

Bob and Lupe use some good arguments to qualify the way I interpreted God’s unconditional love. As Bob reports, some passages warn we should not use God’s love to excuse all. For instance, the whole point of Jude seems to be his insistence that false prophets will share eternal punishment with fallen angels and other evil doers. There is no way we can or should feel compelled to harmonize the many biblical traditions.

In fact, the same kind of question arises when we examine the unconditional love expected of us. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he allows no exceptions. The command is as unconditional as that telling us to forgive those who sin against us 70 times 7 times.

You see this in Jesus’ three surprises when asked which commandment he regarded as the greatest (Mark 12:28-34, Matthew 22: 34- 40, Luke 10: 5- 37). The first was responding with two. Those around him would have expected to hear the first, the great Shema, “Hear, O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your might (Deuteronomy 6: 4- 7). It is the first prayer a Jewish child is taught. Many Jews recite it at least twice daily. Parts are written on the small scroll inserted into the mezuzah. But Jesus also offered a second from Leviticus 19: 17, 18 and Deuteronomy 22: 1-4, “Love your neighbor as yourself”

The second surprise would have been how he interpreted this second part. In the Old Testament passages the neighbor was your kin or the person next door. Luke reports Jesus defined “neighbor” as a Good Samaritan, someone usually regarded as an enemy.

The third surprise was describing the two commandments as the same. To love God is to love your neighbor. I John 4: 20 goes so far as to say, “Those who say, ‘I love God’, and hate their brothers or sisters, are liars.”

You also see this call for unconditional love in the very careful use of the Greek “agape” when speaking of Christian love, either God’s or our own. Lupe pointed this out when she cautioned our modern English use of “love” can be misleading. Actually, the Greek offers many words to highlight various versions of love. The Christians used one in a very distinctive, almost inventive, manner to make their point. You see this in John 21: 15-19 when the Risen Christ asks Peter three times, “Do you love me?” The first two uses the Greek phileo that means brotherly or mutual love; the third used agape that means unconditional love. The writer is making an obvious point.

That point is reinforced in the many passages that claim the centrality of love. Galatians 5:14, James 2: 8, and Romans 13: 8-10 represent those that claim love summarizes the law. John offers only one commandment, “Love one another as I have loved you” (John 13: 34). Paul says things such as, “The only thing that counts is faith acting in love” (Galatians 5: 6) and “Let all be done in love” (I Corinthians 16: 14). And , of course, I Corinthians 13 claims all the other Christian virtues are nothing if they lack love.

All of this demands some contemplation. Do these passages mean we express our love for God solely by the way we love other people? Where does worshipping God enter into this? Is this simply a mental repentance where we come to see our neighbor as another for whom Christ died like ourselves (I Corinthians 8: 11) or is it a spiritual transformation that enables us to love? (Romans 12: 2)

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