As some of you know, liL fytr is also my rapper moniker. And, as some of
you also know, I’m releasing a new song—a single that will stand alone—in five
days. I figure I’ll give you a peek at it in this post. One of the central
lines in the song says:
The goal of the Christian life is love to all
From the bedroom to the
mall to the Islamic radical
And
that line, by putting “bedroom” with “Islamic radical”, forces one to ask, “How
do you define ‘love’?” And my answer, hopefully made clear throughout the song,
is that it is the same in both cases. It’s a matter of thinking of others
before yourself. And, if your curiosity has been piqued, you’ll just have to
wait until Wednesday, February 8, 2017 when the song comes out. The point for
today is that Paul hits on the exact same theme in our Galatians passage.
Paul writes in Galatians 5:13-15, “For you were called to be free,
brothers; only don’t use this freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but
serve one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one
statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one
another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.”
Paul has thus far explained that the Law is not necessary for the
believer. He’s explained that the Law exists to point us to Christ—showing us
our need. He’s explained that all the Law is capable of is enacting slavery on
those who are under it. Finally, in 5:1, he said that Christ set us free for
the purpose of freedom. We are not to ever return to slavery. In 5:2-12 he
showed one side of the slavery that we are not to return to, and he hinted at
the true path of freedom (5:6). Here, in 5:13-15, Paul shows us the opposite
side of slavery that we are not to return to (5:13a), and elaborates greatly on
the true path of freedom (5:13b-15).
Paul begins by describing the other form of slavery that we are not to
return to. “For you were called to be free, brothers; only don’t use this
freedom as an opportunity for the flesh.” And thus he quickly sucks the life
out of any argument that would state, “If there’s no law, then we can do
whatever we want!” Paul holds that living by the flesh is just as enslaving as
the Law is enslaving, and Jesus agrees with him. Jesus said, “I assure you: Everyone who commits sin is a slave of sin” (John 8:34).
And I would point out that Jesus is not talking about the occasional
slip into sin. He literally says, “Everyone who is doing sin.” He explains in
verse 36 that there’s a difference between a slip into sin and being a sins
slave: “Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you really will be free.” First
John is helpful on this point. In 3:9 John writes what can be literally
translated, “Everyone who has been born of God is not continually doing sin,
because His seed abides in him; and he is not able, as a result continually to
sin, because he has been born of God.”
Thus, the one who is not born of
God is continually doing sin.[1] A literal translation of 1
John 2:1 highlights the difference, and explains what a believer’s sin looks
like: “If anyone might sin, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ
the righteous.” While unbelievers are
only able to sin—since they are slaves of sin—believers do not have to sin. While
unbelievers do sin—sin being the
thing that is done—believers simply occasionally sin. While unbelievers are not
born of God—not set free from slavery—believers are free, because they have
been born of God. The word translated “sin” in 2:1 is in the subjunctive
mood, which means it is not a necessary thing, which is why I translated it
with the word “might.”
The point being, if you’re a believer, you’re not a slave to sin. You
don’t have to continue in sin. If you do, and you enjoy it—thinking often about
it—you should question whether or not you really have been born of God and set
free. Just as much as it is slavery to submit to rules of Law, it is slavery to
feed your selfish passions and desires. One commentator explains, “Later, the
rabbis used various metaphors to describe the insidious enslavement of sin: ‘At
the beginning it is like a spider’s thread, but finally it will be like a
ship’s rope’ (R. Akiba, c. a.d. 135), ‘at the beginning it is like a guest,
later it will become the ruler of the household’ (R. Jicchaq, c. a.d. 300).”[2] Paul wants believers to have
complete freedom. Flirting with sin and/or following Law do not allow for
complete freedom.
As such, Paul lays out the path to true freedom in 5:13b-15. “But serve
one another through love. For the entire law is fulfilled in one
statement: Love your neighbor as yourself. But if you bite and devour one
another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.” (I could write a
whole dissertation on this theme, but I will control myself and limit my
discussion to the point of this passage within the book of Galatians.) Right
out of the gate Paul defines love. He says, “Serve one another.” This is the
kind of love that Jesus describes in John 13:35: “By this all people will know
that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”[3]
And, as a side note, all sin is a lack of love—whether to God or to man.
Fleshly living is loveless living. For
the unbeliever, whenever they say, “I love you,” to someone they care about,
they are actually lying, and are just proving again how badly they need Jesus.
Paul says that freedom doesn’t give an excuse to live by the flesh, and then
says that freedom does give us the opportunity to serve (love) others. A
practical application of what he’s saying is that for any sin you are trying to
defeat, you need to preach the lovelessness of the sin to yourself and look for
the loving alternative to it. (In my song that releases Wednesday, I give
examples of this strategy.)
Paul then sums up the Law of Moses by saying that it is fulfilled in one
statement: Leviticus 19:18. “Love your neighbor as
yourself; I am Yahweh.” Now before
explaining what this means, allow me to let John Calvin explain what it does
not mean. He explains that most teachers in his day held that: “The love of ourselves must always hold the first rank.” He then drops this bomb:
This is not to interpret, but
to subvert our Lord’s words. They are asses, and have not even a spark of
the love of their neighhour; for if the love of ourselves were the rule, it would follow that it is proper and holy, and is the object of the divine
approbation. But we shall never love our neighbors with
sincerity, according to our Lord’s intention, till we have corrected the love of ourselves. The two affections are opposite and
contradictory; for the love of ourselves leads us to neglect and despise others, — produces
cruelty, covetousness, violence, deceit, and all kindred vices, — drives
us to impatience, and arms us with the desire of revenge. Our Lord therefore enjoins that it be changed into
the love of our neighbor
(emphasis added).[4]
It’s
not a matter of loving ourselves more so we can love others better, but rather
of asking ourselves, “how do I want to be loved?” This is further explained by
Jesus Himself in the Sermon on the Mount when He says, “Therefore, whatever you
want others to do for you, do also the same for them—this is the Law and the
Prophets” (Matthew 7:12). And then, Martin Luther makes a mic-dropping
statement,
But what
more needs to be said? You cannot find a better or nearer example than your
own. If you want to know how you ought to love your neighbor, ask yourself how
much you love yourself. If you were to get into trouble or danger, you would be
glad to have the love and help of all men. You do not need any book of
instructions to teach you how to love your neighbor. All you have to do is to
look into your own heart, and it will tell you how you ought to love your
neighbor as yourself.
My neighbor
is every person, especially those who need my help, as Christ explained in the
tenth chapter of Luke. Even if a person has done me some wrong, or has hurt me
in any way, he is still a human being with flesh and blood. As long as a person
remains a human being, so long is he to be an object of our love.[5]
And
I know that given current events, people would love to quote me/Luther here and
say, “Trump’s executive order is anti-Christian love.” However, I’m going to
take that opportunity straight out of your hands. If you really want to do the loving thing, love others more than
yourself and actively love the oppressed Muslims in the seven banned nations,
rather than overly loving yourself and waiting for them to come here before
loving them; the whining and moping of Christians about Trump’s executive order
is foolish and telling.[6]
But back to Paul’s point: The whole Law is fulfilled in this statement. Assuming
for the sake of keeping this concise that the entirety of the Law is Exodus
20:2-17, the reason for the ten commandments is to protect our neighbors (and
us by extension). Paul explains in Romans 13:9-10, “The
commandments: Do not commit adultery; do not murder; do not steal; do not
covet; and whatever other commandment—all are summed up by this: Love your
neighbor as yourself. Love does no wrong to a neighbor. Love, therefore,
is the fulfillment of the law.”
How much easier is it to say, “Love your neighbor,” than, “Thou shalt not x, y,
z”? The burden of worrying about all
the things you need to do or not do are condensed down to the following
question: “What is the most loving thing to do in this situation?” MacArthur
explains, “When a Christian genuinely loves others he fulfills all the moral
elements of the Mosaic law.”[7]
Paul then concludes today’s passage with a warning. “But if you bite and
devour one another, watch out, or you will be consumed by one another.” When
love is lacking, this is the picture that emerges. The word translated “bite”
is often used of snakes. “Paul is . . . referring to conduct more fitting to
wild animals than to brothers and sisters in Christ.”[8]
Unfortunately, this verse describes a lot of churches today too well.
Sometimes, it’s due to theological disagreements, but other times (and more
contextually accurate for this post) it’s due to people not thinking of others
ahead of themselves. And here’s the thing: people are too good at preaching, “Love
others selflessly,” but not good at all at practicing what they preach.
(Confession: I have been guilty in the past three months of being
extremely bitter, jealous, angry, and hateful [for lack of a better word] towards
a brother [and sister] in my church.) And when I would confess as much to them
or to “counselors” at the church they would essentially tell me, “Love means
putting others ahead of yourself.” And I tried. I told the objects of the
sinful attitudes that I was working on the attitudes, that I wanted to support
them in their relationship, and that I believe in unity of believers and love
amongst believers. And they assured me that they wanted to include me in their
life (at least he did), but I consistently fell through the cracks, and at
church I was in the back—alone—while they publicly displayed their affection two
rows in front of me.[9]
If every member of Christ’s
church loved biblically—thinking of others first—then when someone starts
acting unlovingly he can be rebuked. You can’t rebuke a genuinely loving person
for starting to act unlovingly when no one loves him biblically. Now, by no means am I trying to justify myself
(or say that I love perfectly—may it never be!); my anger and bitterness is
still there, and it is sin, and I am working on rooting it out. However, my
point is that we can allow others to be bitten and devoured if we aren’t
serving them through love—it’s the passive way of biting and devouring which is
still just as wrong. Galatians 6:1 proves this; if we aren’t carrying others’
burdens, we’re allowing them to drown, and we’re not acting like Christ to them
(cf. Matthew 11:28-30).
Paul, through these three verses would equate not loving others—allowing
them either actively or passively to be bitten and devoured—with being fleshly.
The very last thing that freedom in Christ can possibly mean is freedom to
neglect actively loving others by serving them. Love is not a noun; it is a verb! We have to do it!
In conclusion, allow more lyrics from my
upcoming song to sum up this post:
Trust Him today, say you’re done with your sin
If you truly do this I promise you that He’ll come in
He’ll shovel out your filth, He’ll make you brand new
It
won’t be immediate change, but He’ll be living through you
We’ll
never love perfectly. That’s why the lyrics just quoted fit perfectly here.
Martin Luther explains, “Let nobody think that he knows all about this
commandment, ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ It sounds short and
easy, but show me the man who can teach, learn, and do this commandment
perfectly. None of us heed, or urge, or practice this commandment properly.”[10] Pray this week that God
would help you be more loving than you were last week. I know I will be praying
for this.
Til next time.
Soli Deo
Gloria. Solus Christus.
[1]
The discussion comes down to this: is sin an occasional action, or the thing
that you do daily?
[2] Colin
F. Kruse, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – John, (Downers Grove, IL:
InterVarsity Academic, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 208.
[3]
Proof of this is found in the fact that if we look at this verse’s wider
context, it is found in a passage where Jesus serves His disciples by washing
their feet. (Feet washing was cultural, and I would argue has zero business in
our churches today, but that’s a whole exegesis of John 13:3-15 in itself; it’ll
be a while before I get to it, but it’s on my list.)
[4] John
Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistles of
Paul to the Galatians and Ephesians.
[5] Martin
Luther, A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.
[6]
See Albert Mohler’s discussion here: http://www.albertmohler.com/2017/01/30/briefing-01-30-17/.
Let it be clear that this was not Mohler’s conclusion, but I drew my conclusion
from what he said.
[7]
John MacArthur, Galatians, 148.
[8] R.
Alan Cole, Tyndale New Testament Commentaries – Galatians, (Downers
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Academic, 2008), WORDsearch CROSS e-book, 209.
[9]
When only one member of a church is actively trying to love others biblically—ahead
of himself—no one should judge him when he “acts out” through his attitude,
thoughts, and ultimately by withdrawal from a specific fellowship.
[10] Martin
Luther, A Commentary on St. Paul's Epistle to the Galatians.
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