A Puritan Meditation on Christian Love

There is an infinite distance and disproportion betwixt God and man; yet he came over all that to love man. What difficulty should I have then to place my affection on my equal at worst, and often better? There cannot be any proportionable distance betwixt the highest and lowest, between the richest and poorest, between the most wise and the most ignorant, between the most gracious and the most ungodly, as there is between the infinite God and a finite angel. Should then the mutual infirmities and failings of Christians, be an insuperable and impassable gulf, as between heaven and hell, that none can pass over by a bridge of love to either? ‘If God so loved us,’ should not we love one another? 1 John 4.11. And besides, when I consider that God hath not only loved me, but my brethren who were worthy of hatred, with an everlasting love, and passed over all that was in them, and hath spread his skirt over their nakedness, and made it a time of love, which was a time of loathing, how can I withhold my affection where God hath bestowed his? Are they not infinitely more unworthy of his than mine? Since infinite wrongs hath not changed his, shall poor, petty, and light offences hinder mine? That my love concenter with God’s on the same persons, is it not enough?

Hugh Binning (1627-1653), A Treatise of Christian Love

Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

1 Jn 4:7–12

“He made himself nothing”

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Philippians 2:5-8

A few words about humility.

It is true this passage is rich with Christological precepts and teaches us a great deal about the Incarnation of God in Jesus. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that Paul’s primary goal is pastoral not academic. God is more concerned about “your attitude” than your knowledge (though the former depends upon the latter). It is essential to understand what God is teaching us here, viz., that there is a vital relationship between what was accomplished for us by God Incarnate and our behavior toward others. To miss this aspect is to miss the entire teaching of 2:1-11!

Regarding Christ’s Humiliation (2:5-8)

• Verse 5: Paul links the previous exhortations to unity through humility by introducing Christ Jesus as our supreme example. This is the first instance of modeling (see 3:17; 4:9).
• Verse 6: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped”
  • This clearly points to the pre-existence of Christ with God (see, Jn. 17:5 where Jesus explicitly states that he shared the glory of God “before the world began.” See also, Heb. 1:3).
  • We cannot fully appreciate the last phrase “did not consider . . .” until we’ve acknowledged the magnitude of the first: Jesus the Man was truly God and as God he did not use his divine powers for personal advantage.
  • Equality with God did not mean “getting” but “giving.” In fact, being equal with God uniquely qualified Jesus for the humiliating task of suffering and the glorious redemption that followed.
  • Similarly, we share in the divine nature (2 Pt. 1:3-4), which makes us uniquely qualified and divinely equipped to humbly put others ahead of ourselves.
• Verse 7: “but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.”
  • The expression “but made himself nothing” (in Greek, kenosis ἐκένωσεν) literally means “he emptied himself.” However, this emptying does not mean that some/all of God’s attributes were removed or subtracted in order for Jesus to make room for becoming human.
  • Rather, “he emptied” himself is an idiomatic expression meaning Jesus voluntarily chose not to have the continuous use of all the divine attributes while being clothed in humanity. He selectively exercised the attributes of deity while here on earth in accordance with his Father’s will. This is the very essence of humility!
  • Bear in mind that being a “servant” (better “slave”) was repugnant to the Philippian community who prided itself on their Roman citizenship. This is Paul’s way of saying that “If being a slave is good enough for the Lord Who endured the cross for you, then it has to be good enough for you to assume the same attitude of humility toward one another!” (cf., Jn. 13:3-5).
• Verse 8: “And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death— even death on a cross!”
  • Christ Jesus reached the utter extremity of humiliation: Death.
  • That God Himself would become a nobody and endure the utter shame of public crucifixion for us who deserved to be in His place is humiliation beyond imagination!
  • The word “cross” was considered obscene amidst “polite” Roman society. Today we wear it as an adornment of jewelry, yet only when we view it as an instrument of death and humility does it have any real power or significance as we “lose our life” in order to save it (Lk 9:23-24).

Our Daily Renewal

Augustine understood that the same grace that saves is the same grace that sanctifies. Dependence upon God in yielding one’s own will over to God was a continual process that begins at salvation and extends throughout the believer’s life. Nowhere in Augustine’s writings is the balance between freewill after regeneration and the rule of God in the believer’s life more clearly seen than in this passage where Augustine reflects upon the imago Dei being renewed.

He who is thus renewed by daily advancing in the knowledge of God, in righteousness and holiness of truth, is changing in the direction of his love from the temporal to the eternal, from the visible to the intelligible, from the carnal to the spiritual; diligently endeavoring to curb and abate all lust for the one, and to bind himself in charity to the other. In which all his success depends on the divine aid; for it is the word of God, that ‘without me ye can do nothing.’

—Augustine, The Trinity

Spiritual or Carnal?

 Why are some “Christians” seemingly disinterested in the spiritual life? Does Scripture support two classes of Christians, carnal and spiritual? How long must I struggle with sin in my life? Consider:

1. Spiritual maturity is always a goal to be achieved, not a quality that we possess (Eph 4:13; Philip 3:12-16). Maturity is a process in you, not a character trait of you. Until we are glorified in Christ’s presence, we live between two tensions expressed in this phrase: “always aspiring but never attaining.” In this life we will always be aware of our sinful tendencies and inclinations (2 Cor 11:29; 1 Tim 1:16; Jm 3:2; 1 Jn 1:8), we will occasionally falter, but regularly seek forgiveness, and gradually grow by the power of God within us. That is the biblical reality of our human condition. We are a work in progress. But, we God’s work that will progress!
2. It follows, therefore, that while it is true every believer has been “washed” and “sanctified” (1 Cor 6:11), it is equally true that every believer is characterized by varying degrees of holiness and sinfulness. Hence, the terms “spiritual” and “carnal” apply in some measure to all of us.

Sin, for those truly born of God, is episodal not habitual (1 Jn 1:8-10; 3:9). In every case where sinful patterns persist, they are always condemned and never condoned (cf., Heb 5:12-14). Therefore, the popular designation “carnal Christian” may be true of genuine believers temporarily but not true of genuine believers indefinitely (1 Jn 2:4). If there is a group of “Christians” who are “carnal/worldly,” Scripture clearly does not support it or see it as the “norm.” It is an aberration from biblical standards (1 Cor. 3:1-4). Although sin never leaves us after regeneration(1 Jn 1:8), we have no excuse for being slaves to sin. What changes after regeneration is our relationship to sin. Before Christ we were dominated by sin, whereas after Christ we are now dominated by the Spirit (Rom 6:6-7, 14, 17-18; 8:12-14; Gal 5:22-24). We have a new master. The Spirit’s domination is not coercive, however, but graciously and lovingly subdues our wills to want to do the things that please God.

Listen to me!

The greatest display of God’s power was not at creation or in the daily sustaining of the universe. God’s power was comprehensively and supernaturally displayed in Jesus’ resurrection. It showed not only God’s ability to reconstitute your material body thus demonstrating his power over your mortal life (Rom 8:11), but the resurrection shows God’s power to wholly refashion the entire immaterial order of the universe thus demonstrating his power over your moral life as well. This is so important for us to realize that Paul asserts “Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? The sting of death is sin…But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor 15:54-56). And so God’s appeal to you is: “Since you have been raised to new life with Christ, set your sights on the realities of heaven, where Christ sits at God’s right hand in the place of honor and power. Let heaven fill your thoughts. Do not think only about things down here on earth. For you died when Christ died, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. And when Christ, who is your real life, is revealed to the whole world, you will share in all his glory” (Col 3:1-4, NLT; see also Eph 1:19-20). The same power that raised Christ from the dead is present in you right now to live the life God has called you to live. Christian, do you know who you are?

Taken from my “Our Strength, His Power: Who We Are and Why It Matters“