Topic:
In Christ (Part 23)
Text Of Interest:
“But
ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly
Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and
church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of
all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect, And to Jesus the mediator of
the new covenant, and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things
than that of Abel.”
Heb
12:22 – 24 (KJV)
As Apostle Peter continues to admonish
us in the same chapter that we have taken our text from in verse seven it says
and I quote “And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness
charity.” (2 Peter 1:7). The last attribute we are asked to add is charity
according to this King James translation but I like the way New Living
Translation (NTL) puts it. It says that we should add “love for everyone”, so the
word charity is translated “Love for everyone”. This is very interesting
because it is a generalized statement without any preclusion in it, it doesn’t
matter who the person, the believer should be obliged to love him or her, race
and background notwithstanding. The ‘obligedness’ here as you permit me to use
it, is not the making of the believer, because left for him or her; he
shouldn’t be pleased to have a heartfelt compassion for another especially one
who is not of his or her race. But because he does not have control of himself
or herself again, as a result of his inclination towards the instruction of the
Holy Ghost residing in him, he finds himself living out the act of charity.
Having the love for everyone to a
believer in Christ, becomes a symbolic or an identity because it is the way it
should be and there is no other ways out. A believer, in this aspect doesn’t
just have any option rather than to have the love for everyone, and this
essentially makes him the believer he is called. Apostle Paul in his epistle to
the Corinthians wrote thus and I quote “Though
I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am
become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of
prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have
all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am
nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give
my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. Charity
suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself,
is not puffed up, Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not
easily provoked, thinketh no evil; Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in
the truth; Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things,
endureth all things. Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies,
they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be
knowledge, it shall vanish away.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-8)
Contained in the above quote is the
various ways Apostle Paul has tried to juxtapose the infallible quality of Love
to other qualities a believer may have possessed. This implies that, instead of
a believer going or adding these other qualities though necessary he or she
should first of all add or have love for everyone. Therefore, every other thing
is like a complement to this quality and without this quality, every other
thing is useless, though they are needed. Their needfulness therefore, is
anchored on the presence of Love, if love is not present or found in the life
of any believer, there is no point for him or her to possess and demonstrate
these other qualities because it amounts to nothing. It means that love or
charity becomes the pivot by which every other quality can revolve and operate.
This is to say that faith as essential as it is in the life of any believer can
only operate on love and its usefulness will be noticed and accepted.
Therefore, faith is not supposed to act alone and be effective, if it does, it
will become a futile exercise. However, let me take time to correct some
misconception that may arise if the love of charity use in this verse is not
understood. This love or charity is different from been human. Humans can do
certain things to other humans because they are humans and follow their
feelings and compassion as humans, not because of the knowledge of Christ in
them. This is the difference, a believer acts according to the knowledge of
Christ in him.
The same thing goes to self-control;
one cannot say that he has self-control without love, because self-control must
be rooted in love before its effectiveness is noticed in the life of a
believer. Any self-control outside love is a deception and must be checked. The
law of love is bigger and stronger than the law of knowledge that is why
knowledge should function around love in order to be able to execute its
purpose. If knowledge starts to push itself without love, there is going to be
a repulsive response from the recipients and it will not amount to anything
even if it is a brilliant ideology in display. If Knowledge is rooted in love,
it ingratiates into the hearts of the receivers and makes it easy for the
receivers to accept whatever that is offered and at the same time cause the
giver to have fulfillment in himself. Charity or love is the basis for every
other attribute to function effectively.
To be continued…..
Till I come your way again, keep on
basking in the Arena of Indubitable Truth!
Chukwuemeka C. Asiegbu
No comments:
Post a Comment