You Can Know You Have Eternal Life
#664
Man's Search for Inner Peace (78)
Life in the Most Unusual Kingdom (7)
by Jim Mettenbrink
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Becoming an honorable citizen in
Jesus kingdom is much more than stopping lying, stealing, murder,
fornication, etc... all of which spring from ones own selfish
pride. However, that is the beginning of being an exemplary
citizen. Citizens are to become like the King Himself in
their attitude and actions. The
apostle Paul exemplifies that and admonishes all citizens to
Imitate
me, just as I also imitate Christ
(1 Corinthians 11:1). Paul calls these Christlike
traits the fruits of the Spirit, which are love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control (Galatians 5:22, 23). Lets
begin considering the meaning of each of these.
When Paul wrote to the very divisive
and pride ridden congregation at Corinth, he wrote of the first
in this list love (1 Corinthians 13). At
the end of that chapter, he wrote, And now abide faith, hope, love, these
three; but the greatest of these is love
(1 Corinthians 13:13). Love is the epitome of citizenship.
The apostle John later wrote, He who does not love does not know God,
for God is love
(1 John 4:8).
There are four words from the original
New Testament language which are translated love. However,
these four words have very different meanings, but their common
ground is they have a sense of relationship, usually between
one person and another. The
word love in this verse (1 John 4:8) is agape (αγαπε).
Agape (and its various forms) appears about 300 times in
the New Testament. In contrast agape is rarely used in
classical Greek literature, but as a lofty ideal which seemingly
can not be achieved. Yet, God commands the citizen of Jesus
kingdom to strive to love.
John wrote if one does not love,
he does not know God (1 Jn 4:8), that is he hasnt known
God at all, implying a person does not have the knowledge of
Gods character. Since
God
is love and the
New Testament is the magnum opus of God and the attribute of
love, then we must necessarily study the it to know God and what
it means to love. The
apostle Peter admonished citizens to be diligent in learning
to love, the epitome of Christlikeness (2 Peter 1:5-7).
BTW, contrary to the implication
of American cultures political correctness, love is not
the current understanding of tolerance. So what is love?
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