Baptism/Amazing Grace: A Conversation Over Lunch, Part 17

I’m not sure if this is related, you know, but I think it might be. In Bible class the other day, we were studying 1 John, where John repeatedly tells his readers to love “one another.” But in other places, the Bible says to “love your neighbor.”

Those aren’t quite the same thing. Is there something different about our brothers compared to our neighbors?

I love teaching Bible class, and one reason is that so many people there ask the “wrong” questions, and lead us to new areas of study that the highly trained would never venture into — because they’ve learned all too well to ignore those questions.

Let’s start with “love your neighbor.” Jesus taught us this one, based on Leviticus, and illustrated with the Parable of the Good Samaritan. That parable plainly teaches us that our “neighbor” can be outside our national or religious group.

And Paul even teaches that “love your neighbor” is the entirety of God’s law!

(Rom 13:9-10 ESV)  9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”  10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

(Gal 5:14 ESV)  14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

Now, by “the whole law” Paul isn’t intending to replace salvation by faith. Rather, he’s discussing God’s ethical system, that is, how Christians are to live now that they are Christians. To live in this manner is to be like Jesus.

But Paul is hardly intending to erase the first 11 chapters of Romans or the preceding 4 1/2 chapters of Galatians on faith and hope! Both of these passages are found in the ethical instruction sections that tell us how to live out the faith that Paul had previously discussed in detail. It’s a colossal category mistake to replace faith in Jesus with “love your neighbor.”

Having said that, we need to contrast it with such passages as —

(1Jo 3:10-11 ESV) 10 By this it is evident who are the children of God, and who are the children of the devil: whoever does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor is the one who does not love his brother.  11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.

(1Jo 3:14 ESV) 14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.

(1Jo 3:16-17 ESV)  16 By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers.  17 But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him?

(1Jo 4:7 ESV)  7 Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.

(1Jo 4:11-12 ESV)  11 Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.  12 No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us.

(1Jo 4:21 ESV)  21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.

John seems positively obsessed with this instruction! That’s likely because he received it from Jesus —

(John 13:34-35 ESV) 34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.  35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”

And we see the same lesson in Paul —

(1Th 3:12 ESV) 12 and may the Lord make you increase and abound in love for one another and for all, as we do for you,

(1Th 4:9 ESV)  9 Now concerning brotherly love you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves have been taught by God to love one another,

(Rom 12:10 ESV)  10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor.

(Rom 13:8 ESV)  8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law.

In fact, in Rom 13:8, Paul argues that we should “love each other” from “love your neighbor”!

So this is no isolated saying. Indeed, it’s plainly at the core of John’s theology, because he says that our love for each other demonstrates our salvation.

So you’re saying we should love one another and no one else?

No, no, no! We must obey both commands.

Well, if we love our neighbors, we’ll also love each other. Doesn’t “love your neighbor” swallow “love one another”?

I used to think so, but that essentially reads a large piece of 1 John out of the Bible. You see, your interpretation ignores context and historical reality. Why would John over and over command love for one another as a test of salvation if the real test is love for our neighbors?

Wouldn’t his readers have gotten the wrong message? It’s not as though they had pocket copies of the King James Version with them to read the rest of the Scriptures and correct John’s severe understatement!

No, both statements are true and not in the legalistic sense that one overrides the other, making one a nullity. They must both be true — meaning they are speaking of two different things.

Love is love is love, right? What could be plainer?

No, not all love is the same. My love for blogging is very different from my love for my wife, which is different from my love for my four sons, which is different from my love for the congregation where I’m a shepherd, which is different from my love for Jesus.

We often use the same word for very different things, and Greek has a much smaller vocabulary than English (5,624 Greek roots vs. over 400,000 English words!) — and even English doesn’t really have as many words for “love” as we need.

And so to really understand the command, we need to investigate the difference between love within the church and Christian love for those outside the church.

This is starting sound very narrow-minded, even legalistic …

It’ll get worse. Our lead verse is the notorious —

(Gal 6:9-10 ESV)  9 And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.  10 So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.

I say “notorious” because a handful of Churches of Christ used to take the view that this meant it was wrong to do good for a non-member until all membership needs were met. And this means that those Churches refused all help to outsiders, claiming that God commanded it! And they earned a very low reputation for such absurd teaching.

But there is still clearly a preference for “doing good” within the household of faith. We can’t ignore the instruction. We just need to be careful not to take it with the wrong heart.

Or consider —

(Act 2:42-45 ESV) 42 And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  43 And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles.  44 And all who believed were together and had all things in common.  45 And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need.

The early church shared a certain “fellowship” with each other that they did not share with everyone. They were “together” with each other, not with every person in Jerusalem. They had “all things in common” among themselves, not everyone.

Now, it would be a mistake to suggest that the Christian sect was strictly exclusive, refusing to help or enjoy the company of others. That would plainly be contrary to the historical witness. They helped others. They were in community with others. But they especially helped their own. They were especially in community with with each other.

It’s like family. Family forms a bond that’s especially strong because of the time spent together, the sacrifices made for each other, the sufferings and pleasures shared, common values, common beliefs, and even common meals.

And we see the same dynamic in Scripture regarding the church. The church is God’s family, his household. We’re his sons and daughters. And although he loves the world enough to die on a cross for the world, he has a special, close, intimate relationship with his family that he does not share with the rest of the world.

Only family gets to call God, the Creator of the Universe, “Abba“!

(Rom 8:15 ESV)  15 For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption as sons, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”

(Gal 4:6-7 ESV)  6 And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!”  7 So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.