Discipleship Network Forum

This Week’s Question: Since too many have a romanticized view of love, what is love from a Biblical perspective?

Love is one of the three foundational pillars that Christianity is built upon, with faith and hope being the other two pillars. Unfortunately, many claim to be Christians based solely upon their love for God. Nevertheless, from a Biblical perspective these pillars work synchronously and cannot be dichotomized. To be more explicit, true faith is dependent upon love according to I Corinthians 13:2, “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, but have not love, I am nothing.” In the same vein, genuine hope must be fueled by love according to Romans 5:5, “Now hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.” Similarly, faith cannot be divorced from hope because hope is embedded in it according to Hebrews 11:1, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” In the final analysis, those who claim to have faith without also having hope and love are, in actuality, governed by superstition not faith. Similarly hope that is not accompanied by faith and love is only wishful thinking; and love that is disconnected from faith and hope is mere sentimentality.

In our last post we identified the fundamental element implied in James 2:1-9 to be love, and three reasons were discussed to justify its importance: (1) God commands His followers to love; (2) Love is the distinguishing characteristic that separates God’s children from satan’s; and (3) The motive behind a person’s love is more important than that person’s deeds. So what is love? Four types of love are described Biblically and they are: Eros – Sexual or romantic love; Storge – Natural mutual affection or familial love; Philia – Brotherly love that unites true believers; and Agape – The love God has for humankind. Although each has a place in scripture, agape is focused on in this post because it is the love God has for the world, and is the love that His disciples must have for one another for acceptance into His Kingdom. Paul makes this point very clear in Romans 13:8 when he writes, “Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law.”

So what essentially is agape love? Paul, beginning in I Corinthians 13:4 describes agape love beautifully: “4 Love suffers long and is kind; love does not envy; love does not parade itself, is not puffed up; 5 does not behave rudely, does not seek its own, is not provoked, thinks no evil; 6 does not rejoice in iniquity, but rejoices in the truth; 7 bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. 8 Love never fails…” Someone once said, “love is what love does,” which confirms the fact that love is not an emotion. Also, it is not rhetoric. Instead love is the mitigating force that controls one’s speech, thoughts, and works. By examining I Corinthians 13, it is evident that love forces true disciples to be patient, mild, and kind toward others. It also prevents them from being envious of or hating others; and keeps them grounded whereby they neither think too highly of nor feels the need to elevate themselves. Instead, proper behavior is the modus operandi for disciples because they are not easily provoked into behaving inappropriately. True love causes disciples, by their thoughts, to internalize Paul’s words in Philippians 4:8, “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy-meditate on these things.” Meditation, of this nature, prevents true disciples from thinking evil thoughts or gloating when another succumbs to sin. Instead that disciple is happiest when others also stand on God’s truth!

The bottom-line is since love never ends, it is infinite, has no bounds, cannot be measured, transcends time, and, unlike faith and hope, it is the only pillar that extends beyond this realm into eternity. Therefore, since love is infinite, disciples who have it withstand hardship and adversity because love bears all things! Since love is infinite, disciples who have it recite Romans 8:28 as their mantra, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose,” because love believes all things! Since love is infinite, disciples who have it do not allow their circumstances to dictate their actions because love hopes all things! Finally, since love is infinite, disciples who have it are confident of the power behind Philippians 4:13, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me, since love endures all things! To bring true love to life, love was the force behind the Civil Rights Movement because despite the murders, lynchings, jailings, protests, beatings, discriminatory laws, biased government officials, hosings, dog bites, and sheer humiliation; my forefathers, as a group, knew that love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails! They knew it, they lived it, and God delivered to us, as a community, several major victories because of our communal love for everybody!

Next Week’s Question: The Bible has many vivid examples of love, can you think of any? And if “yes” is your answer, can any Biblical principles be gleaned from them?

This Week’s Question: From a Biblical perspective, what is prejudice or discrimination?

James 2:1-9 is a great passage for answering this question because it uses four Greek words to define prejudice from God’s perspective. The dictionary definition is “a preconceived opinion that is not based on reason or actual experience.” Using this definition as a backdrop, James, in Verse 1, warns against showing partiality or having respect of persons. The Greek word in that context is prosopolepsia, and means “the fault of one who when called on to give judgment has respect of the outward circumstances of man and not to their intrinsic merits, and so prefers, as the more worthy, one who is rich, high born, or powerful, to another who does not have these qualities.” This definition summarizes America’s perpetual discrimination which transmuted Native Americans into pariahs on their native resource-rich soil; systemically relegates African-Americans to second class citizenship; and explains why Mr. Trump proposes limiting America’s nouveau immigrant population to the skilled, while heartlessly incarcerating indigents.

In Verses 2 and 3 James gives an example of someone giving preferential treatment to a well-dressed person, while showing disdain to another dressed shabbily. The Greek word contextually is epiblepo, and means to look up to or have regard for someone. This definition explains why the American government extends exorbitant benefits to the rich, while simultaneously curtailing or threatening to curtail necessary social programs by arguing that it has no resources to continue serving its poor, disabled, and elderly population. Based upon political norms, one can easily conclude that America has the best government money can buy!

In Verse 4 James describes the fault behind prejudice as partiality. The Greek word contextually is diakrino, which means, “to separate, make a distinction, discriminate, or to prefer.” Another definition is, “to separate one's self in a hostile spirit, to oppose, strive with dispute, or contend.” These definitions sound very much like the impetus behind America’s Civil Rights movement, which was a fight, led by African-Americans, for equal social rights. It also explains why Muslims (domestically and internationally), are under heightened scrutiny by America’s governmental agencies.

James sums up this partiality discussion in Verse 9 by categorically declaring that anyone who is partial toward others commits sin! The Greek word in that context is prosopolepteo, which means to respect the person (in reality it means respecting or discriminating against a person because of external characteristics). Unfortunately, almost 250 years after the following Declaration of Independence words were penned: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” From God’s perspective, the sobering reality (based upon American History), is these words are merely an empty phrase penned on parchment, and many discriminators who defied these self-evident truths by their discriminatory actions, have hell to pay since the wages of sin is death (see Romans 6:23)!

Next Week’s Question: Does the Bible refer to prejudicial or discriminatory actions in Scriptures other than James? If so, where, and what is the context?