II Peter 1v7b “, and to brotherly kindness charity”
Charity/Love:
-
Benevolent goodwill toward or love of humanity
- Generosity and helpfulness especially toward the needy or suffering;
- The willingness to judge people in a tolerant or favourable way.
When used as an informal term of address
(Merriam Webster's Collegiate Dictionary)
-
Unselfish loyal and benevolent concern for the good of another: as (1): the fatherly concern of God for humankind (2): brotherly concern for others.
The number seven is known as God’s perfect number, or the number of completeness, of cause in the God sense. I will talk about the number seven in the final chapter.
In the final character-build the apostle Peter says add to your brotherly kindness charity/love, and straight away my mind was drawn to 1Corinthians 13, known as the Love chapter. In this chapter Paul gave the most informative insight and practice of charity in the entire Bible. But what made me more curios or inquisitive was the fact that he starts the chapter with a conjunction. This is of cause according to the King James Version. –
“Though I speak with tongues of men and of angels…” Now a conjunction is defined as the joining together or combining of two or more things, in this instance the joining of two chapters, which of cause is the previous chapter. Now the last verse of the previous chapter gave made me more inquisitive.
1Corinthians 12v31 “But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way” In this chapter (chapter 12) he speaks about gifts, callings, the administrations of gifts and callings. He also speaks about the order of operations, the profitability of gifts, the unity of the body of Christ and the entire governance of the work of God and the work of the Spirit in all these. After he gave a full outline of the operations of gifts, callings and the administrations thereof, he also encourages to desire or to go for the best. But then he says go for it and yet I will show you a more excellent way! It just so happens that what he (Paul) is saying is what the apostle Peter talks about, which is about what we have learned in the
“7 Divine Strengths That Makes Us”. So the adverb
“though” can also be defined as
“in spite of the fact that”, that what? That I might have faith as a base in my life and have added to my faith virtue, and knowledge to virtue, and temperance to knowledge and patience to temperance, and godliness to patience and brotherly kindness to godliness, and now I am a superb man? Hold it, not so fast. You are incomplete. That is pre-maturity. In most cases a child that is born premature functions at a much slower pace then a child that has been born maturely – a full nine months development. So is it with the development of the divine nature. You must have a full development to be mature in your complete spirit nature. The divine nature of a human being is the true self of a person. The outer appearance of a person is not the true self. I will discuss this in depth in our final chapter.
Lets take a closer look at 1 Corinthians 13 and see how Paul deals with the
7 Divine Strengths and makes Charity/Love the seventh strength the most important and vital characteristic of them all. All though the Apostle Paul doesn’t speak about it in the same sequence that Peter deals with it and even as we have laid it out, however he does deal with each of the 7 strengths. In 1Corinthians 13v2, he speaks about faith as the base, knowledge as the trait and the results that the Strengths produce. In my interpretation of this verse what Paul says is,
“in spite of the fact that I have the gift to make predictions and forecasts (prophecy) because I understand mysteries and have all information (knowledge) and have such faith to move mountains, (or to make huge acquisitions in life) and I don’t have charity/love – I am nothing.” 1) In the 3rd verse he speaks about how
unprofitable brotherly kindness and virtue can be when one lacks charity. Verse 3
“in spite of the fact that I donate all my possessions to feed the poor, and give/present my body as a living sacrifice to be burned, and I lack charity I would have gained nothing.” In the fourth verse he speaks about
patience, godliness and virtue. “Charity suffered long (patience), and is kind (godliness); envied not; charity vaunted (boasted) (the opposite of virtue) itself, is not puffed up,” 2) In 5th Verse he talks about
godliness, brotherly kindness and temperance-self-control. “Doth not behave itself unseemly (improper, rude- the opposite of godliness), seeketh not her own (selfishness – the opposite of brotherly kindness), is not easily provoked (annoyed- the opposite of self control).” 3) In the 7th verse he talks about
patience. “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”
Now 4) in verse 8th of this chapter he brings out two very important facts to our attention as he shows us
a) that it is not the gifts, callings and the administration of the gifts that makes us. b) He talks about the failure, the ceasing and the vanishing (declining, diminishing, weakening, disappearing) of these.
Now not everyone of our reader base believes in the speaking of tongues or prophecy. And the reason for the non-believe is mostly be because of this verse. Let us look at it.
1Corinthians 13v8 [KJV] “Charity never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall fail; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; and whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away”. First of all it is important that we understand the context of this chapter.
Having the understanding of the context of this chapter will proof that he does not speak of the total extinction of these gifts and administrations, but rather because of the weakness, lack and inappropriate development and use of the “7 Divine Strengths That Makes Us” will these gifts and administrations fail, cease and vanish within your life. As I said earlier
it is not the gifts, callings and the practices of the gifts that makes us, but it is the presence of “7 Divine Strengths” in our lives that makes the gifts and practices of the gifts and callings effective in our life and those around us.
So if you are gifted and practice any of the gifts or callings that Paul speaks about in 1 Corinthians 12 and you lack Charity/Love, which is proven to be the prime characteristic of the “7 Divine Strengths” he says you are nothing and it will profit you nothing (Verses 2&3). So when you lack charity or love your forecasts, predictions (prophecy) will fail (unsuccessful), tongues (dialect that you have with the Spirit) will cease and knowledge (information, facts. truths, principles, clear awareness) will vanish away. And sometimes we wonder if God has forsaken us because we are no longer so prosperous, and full of fire!
What can I say?
After you have done all, add Charity. It gives your faith Virtue (good value), and makes your virtue more (experienced, truthful, and principled) Knowledge. It will help you with your knowledge to practice Self-control/Temperance in the face of temptation, so that with your self-control you will know how to have Patience (the ability to endure waiting without becoming annoyed). And in that moment while you persevere calmly in your difficulty (patience), you will stay devoted and righteous with God (Godliness) as you practice or show Brotherly Kindness (sympathy and compassion).
“When these things are in you they make you.” – II Peter 1v8.
This is the Perfect Man. This is the man that was made in the Image and Likeness of God. It was not only in the physical, but it was also in character and personality. When Adam fell these 7 Divine Strengths was equally effected in the life and character of mankind. Jesus Christ - The Word was made Flesh and took on him the form of our sinful flesh so that He might destroy the works of the devil that has destroyed our character of Divine nature, so that we might be Born Again - through Jesus Christ - Romans 6v3-4; The Newness of Life.
The Newness of Life in Christ is characterized by these 7 Divine Strenghts. Study them! Pursue Them, Live Them.
No comments:
Post a Comment