READ or WATCH - God’s Love – Its Nature, Objective, and Import

John 13:34-35 – A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  (35)  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

This passage came into my mind during our Thursday night Bible class where we’re going over Christadelphian history. We’re basing it out of the yellow book “Christadelphians: The Untold Story” which is an excellent review, and we’ve of course been looking at the controversies and divisions which have taken place over the years. In truth, many of the divisions are justified and needed to be carried out because the principles in dispute were fundamental, but things were not always carried out as well as they could have been. 

Nevertheless, we are where we are today because of the past, and when we measure the household up to what Christ said about his believers being known for their mutual love, we must ask: is this characteristic true of Christadelphians? If someone were to attend one of our meetings, would they note the mutual love and care we have for our brethren? While there are certainly some exceptions, I believe we must say that we, as a whole, are severely lacking, and when we look back at all of the problems through the years and peel back the layers of personalities and principles, we find that the core issue is the lack of love for one another.

To be clear - this does not mean that we need to forsake doctrine and walk and make love the only thing that’s important, for saving truth is the thing that our love is built around. What I’m saying is that we tend to place everything else in such regard that we neglect the thing that the truth should engender: a community of loving, merciful believers. What we are lacking is the community aspect.

We know that this is at least part of the issue because many who have left the truth did so to attend a modern church because the community aspect. Some who understood the importance of correct understanding have left those churches and are Christadelphians, but have been so honest as to acknowledge that they miss the community aspect of their old church.

The allure of other Christian faith communities is almost entirely the community, and many place so much emphasis on this that they don’t even mention faith - just love and a community. A local church around here advertises itself by saying, “Looking for family? Looking to be loved?” By the message alone, it’s impossible to know that this is for a church because even the basic elements of faith is not part of the equation. This is, of course, an extreme end of the spectrum, but it’s increasingly the norm. To make matters worse, it seems that many of the churches of the world who do not have the essential elements for salvation have shown themselves to be better at showing God’s love than the very household of faith.

I therefore want to devote some attention to God’s love in relation to us as individuals, as ecclesias, and God in particular. We’ll consider some of the pillar passages which are misused and examine the nature of God’s love. But before we talk about love itself, I want to draw a clear definition of what I believe the issue is, what it isn’t, and how we even look at this subject.

Balanced Criticism

When we talk about God’s love, I notice in myself the tendency to stress the principles on which that’s based, and I think I do this because when I hear about “God’s love”, I think of modern Christianity which often focuses only on that. We hear statements about His love being unconditional and that He loves everyone exactly the same and as they are. The foundational principles of hearing, understanding, and believing God’s Word, and then repenting are left out. It therefore constitutes “another gospel” which cannot save as it is not of God (Gal. 1:6-7).

For example, I recall at a graduation event in Little Rock that there was a preacher who told his story, and he kept saying that “When I was in college I wanted to do what I wanted to do and I ran from Jesus. But he just wrapped me up and kept loving on me and saying ‘I love you man!’, and he finally won me over.” It was one of the most disrespectful “sermons” I’ve ever heard, and at least for me, it sums up the entire reason why we tend to shy away from emphasizing God’s love.

So what about us? We see the error in this thinking and know the importance God places on understanding, belief, baptism, and works, and seeing that many churches focus only on love, we aim to be different than that. Perhaps unintentionally, we overshoot the mark and go in the opposite direction and don’t talk about love at all for fear of being seen like those of the world. We see the one extreme, and in trying to do right, we in turn become the other extreme, when in truth we should be in the middle.

Yet love is foundational in God’s plan, and His love should be reflected in us. When we look at the Commandments of Christ in our statement of faith, many relate to love. But instead of simply doing these commandments regardless of what the world does, we can tend to look at what the apostate systems do and try to be the opposite. The result is that we’re letting the world define our conduct instead of God’s Word. Instead of comparing ourselves to the world, we ought to compare ourselves to Christ. I’ve found that this has been a latent mindset in me I’ve had to correct, and it seems it might have application to the household as a whole. So let us consider God’s love.

The Greatness of God’s Love

While God does have many characteristics, love is indeed a primary one.

1 John 4:7-8 – Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God.  (8)  He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

If we look at what happened in Eden, we see His love for the work of His hands. Having creating man and all of creation, He declared all “very good” (Gen. 1:31). He loved His creation, and we see His love for the race not only by making him in God’s own image and setting him as the chiefest among His creation, but also in the fall of man.

It is man who sinned against God, and given the nature of the Edenic law and how it fully condemned them, God would have been perfectly justified in slaying them both that same day as the law stated. Yet we see His love manifested in instituting a method to reconcile the world to Himself. The fact that the race lives today is because of God’s love.

Yet people will say, “If God is love, then why is He not showing it? Why is the world the way it is?” Not only does He uphold all life on earth each day, but Christ and the Bible are the great manifestations of His love. Christ is the key to man being able to return to favor with God and be reconciled to Him, and the Bible is the means of God sharing this news. He’s made it so people in any land and any language can learn His Gospel and that He offered his own son on behalf of the race:

1 John 4:10 – Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation (“atonement”) for our sins.

"God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself” (2 Cor. 5:17-19). Not that God was Christ, but that He was working in Christ – that He sent Jesus as the work of His hands in the fashion and likeness of the rest of the race so that man would have a fit mediator between God and themselves (Heb. 2:16-18, 1 Tim. 2:5, Heb. 9:15). Jesus then sent forth his apostles with “the word of reconciliation” to preach (2 Cor. 5:17). Whereas before baptism we “were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and without God in the world”, the wondrous opposite becomes true when we enter into Christ:

Ephesians 2:13-14 – But now in Christ Jesus ye who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the blood of Christ.  (14)  For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us...

When it says “he is our peace”, it’s not in the sense of “We have a feeling of comfort in Christ”, although that is true. Christ is our peace with God. And when we come into covenant, the blessings are not all in the future age. In Luke 12:22-29, Christ explains how his disciples shouldn’t worry about the temporary provisions of food and raiment because our Father knows we have need of those things. He says, “rather seek ye the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you” (Luke 12:31).

Such are just a few of the blessings God offers through Christ on account of His love, but it is just this – an offer. If it’s reconciliation that man seeks, man must submit to God’s requirements for reconciliation. While God is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”, He will not force them to do so (2 Peter 3:9).

God is love, but He is also “a consuming fire” and a jealous God who will not be mocked (Deu. 4:24, Heb. 12:29). He is holy, not in the sense which modern religions use the word which give it almost a “magical” meaning, but rather “sacred, set apart”. God is on a different plane than us and cannot be approached by just any means – certainly none of our own invention.

We can’t approach the US President or King of England as we would a common person due to their role, authority, and power. If these men are revered and must be approached accordingly, how much more so must the God of all things be approached correctly? As He says Himself, “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh me, and before all the people I will be glorified” (Leviticus 10:3).

This is the image of God we’re given in the Bible. He is a God of love, but He is not push over or teddy bear. His entire plan is built on love, and He has great things in store for the earth when Christ returns that He has offered anyone who is willing an active part in. They just have to do it God’s way, and this is only reasonable since God was the party that was offended. If we offend one our friends, we are in no position to define the terms of peace. Our friend alone has that right, and the same is true of God with the race of man. He gets to determine the means of reconciliation, all that man can do is either accept or reject it.

I want to turn our attention now to a few

Misused Passages

which we may not to refer to often because of how they are singled out and misused by others. I personally don’t refer to them as much as I should for that very reason. Nevertheless, they are part of God’s testimony and show beautiful truth, and we should never refrain from using them. The question is, what do they really teach?

There are two verses that come to mind: John 3:16 and 1 John 4:19.

John 3:16

John 3:16 – For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

This is commonly cited to teach that God loves everyone in the world and that Jesus was sent to save every person, but it ignores the rest of Scripture and even the context the verse is found in which show what a proper belief in the son of God will cause man to do.

Belief in Christ is indeed the foundation on which justification and salvation are based, but for it to be belief, it must firstly be belief in the things concerning Christ which he came to fulfill and perform, and it secondly, result in one being “born again”.

To confess a belief in Christ while not knowing what Christ himself professed is not faith. Why did God send him? What was he to fulfill? What is he going to do on the earth? If man doesn’t know these things, they quite literally don’t know Christ. The belief we must have in Christ is not the type of belief we have in George Washington or Napoleon where we know of them – it’s to know Christ and believe what God testifies of him. 

The logic that is commonly applied to the Bible would cried down as stupidity if applied to anything else. Many have their own image and understanding of him that’s based not on chapter and verse, but on either the doctrine of their preachers or their own imagined ideas. It’s a strange form of logic to believe that a book teaches a particular thing and to hold dearly to that belief without even having read the book or being able to point to where it teaches the idea. Whereas they profess to know Jesus simply by “hearing and feeling him in their heart”, the man they profess to know condemned those very people of his own day by saying, “Have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God…?” (Matt. 22:31, 12:3, 19:4, 21:16). His understanding was always established by a “Thus saith the Scripture…” or “Thus saith the Lord.” Rightly so, he condemned those whose beliefs about God’s word were not founded in God’s word.

I recall once talking with someone who believed that only faith was needed, and that baptism was optional. He didn’t explain what baptism was for or what it did, but he was certain that it was not essential. I showed him Mark 16:16 where Christ says that “he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be damned”, and the most puzzling look came over his face. “That’s not in the Bible”, he confidently said. He could not believe that Christ had said that, because the Christ he had been taught in church would never have said something like that. When I physically showed him it in the Bible, he was still in unbelief – “Is that the King James?” he asked. I shared it in multiple versions, but he still couldn’t believe that Christ had said this. If we can’t believe what Christ says, we can’t believe in him.

If we read and learn what Christ and the Scriptures taught, we find clear instruction: “Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God” (John 3:5). This is not just having a change of heart and acting like a new person as the phrase is commonly used today. It is being born again in God’s eyes as a “new creature”, and there are two phases here: one rebirth by water and the other by the Spirit. The first refers to baptism which man undergoes in this age and we will explain in a moment, and the second refers to the elevation of the faithful to the spirit nature when Christ returns, for as the Scripture says "flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption", and therefore, "this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality" (1 Cor. 15:50, 53). Our focus at this time is on the rebirth in baptism, which is also carried out by the spirit, just not yet in the physical sense. Baptism is our legal or constitutional rebirth, and we await Christ's return for the physical rebirth to take place which Scripture styles "the redemption of our body" (Rom. 8:23).

Baptism, as Paul explains, is the death, burial, and resurrection that we symbolically undergo with Christ as we go under and come out of the waters (Romans 6). This isn’t dunking and simply being born of water. We must be born of water “and of the spirit”. As we have said, this latter aspect primarily refers to the elevation to the spirit nature that will be carried out when Jesus returns, but the Spirit does work upon us as we go through the baptismal waters. It is the power of God that changes us in His sight and alters our relationship with Him. Having understanding and belief in the Gospel message, our old man in Adam “dies” in God’s eyes when we enter the watery grave, and just as Christ was raised from the grave to new life through God’s spirit power, so we arise out of the waters a “new creature” that has been born again. Paul explains,

Romans 6:3-6 – Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?  (4)  Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life (in other words, “born again” as a “new creature” – 2 Cor. 5:17).  (5)  For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:  (6)  Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

We’re no longer “dead in Adam” (1 Cor. 15:22), but are “alive in Christ”, and are thus commanded:

Romans 6:11-13 – Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.  (12)  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.  (13)  Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

This is the change required for man to be “nigh” to God, though it is not physical. It’s a legal or constitutional change, and this is what those who believe in the son of God undergo. In John 3:16 terms, it’s what “whosever believeth in him” will do. It’s not a mere confession of the lips, but the belief and following of the process God has instituted and wrought in Christ. When Christ and the apostles tell men to “believe”, this is part of that definition even though they don’t always explain the entire process every time it comes up (for good reason – it would take a long time!). Christ does sum it all up in

Mark 16:15-16 – Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.  (16)  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned (condemned).

Belief must be followed by action if it’s to be acceptable to God, and this is furthermore shown in James 2. If it doesn’t have any outward manifestation, the faith is said to be “dead”, meaning non-existent. Many of us are familiar with this passage and can tend to quickly skim over it, but pay close attention to it here and consider the bearing it has on belief and salvation:

James 2:17-18, 21-24 – Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.  (18)  Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works…  (21)  Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?  (22)  Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?  (23)  And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.  (24)  Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.

The example given here of Abraham is a perfect illustration of the works which an acceptable faith should produce. He was told that his seed would be called through Isaac (Genesis 21:12), yet God commanded him to offer Isaac as a sacrifice. How could this promise be realized if Isaac was dead? Abraham already God’s promise, but what if he didn’t go to offer him? Not only would this be disobedience to a Divine command, but it would prove that he didn’t really believe God. This is why God waited until “Abraham stretched forth his hand, and took the knife to slay his son” before calling out to him (Gen. 22:10). He wanted to see Abraham’s faith in action and be proved as true faith. “Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:24).

It’s in this same way that hearing the Word and the calling of God should work upon us. The Gospel is the good news of “the things concerning the kingdom of God, and the name of Jesus Christ” (Acts 8:12), and this has been offered out of God’s love. Yet to make this hope our hope, it requires man to repent and be justified and cleansed, things He has made possible through Christ.

Acts 2:38 – Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.

Such is the context in which John 3:16 is given, and the verses immediately following it tell us more to this end – that Christ did not come to condemn because the world is condemned already. 

John 3:18 – He that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Whether one hears the word and doesn’t believe or has never heard it at all, both classes “hath not believed in the name” of Christ, and they are “condemned already”. Thanks to man’s sin in the garden, the race doesn’t need anything else to condemn it (Romans 5:12). Adding further condemnation would be like adding another life-sentence to a prisoner who already has 100 life-sentences against him. What the world needs is something which can offer hope, and that is why God sent His son. It is a call to come out of the world and be His (Acts 15:14, Rev. 18:4, James 4:4).

While God has offered this out of love, He will not force individuals to answer the call. His Divine grace and acceptance is conditional upon man going through the steps of reconciliation that God has declared acceptable to Him, and it’s a great tragedy that these conditions are often either unknown or swept under the rug by modern Christendom.

1 John 4:19

1 John 4:19 – We love him, because he first loved us.

This passage is also grossly misquoted and used to teach that God loves everyone the same, and therefore our love for Him is simply to be reciprocal. The idea is, “God loves you, so you should love God back.” This is the mantra preached to the world, and it’s little wonder that few are moved by it because it lacks substance, definition, and a call. There are elements of truth in it, but it’s often over-applied and mixed with false ideas. We have to discern the woods from the trees and let Scripture teach us how to interpret it.

It is God’s love for His creation that brought about the plan of redemption, but like John 3:16, this verse is twisted to place all of the work and burden of reconciliation on God’s end and teach that man doesn’t have to do much except for claim belief in Christ to be saved.

But the love God first had for us is what it is assumed. Like all verses, context is essential. Like all three books of John, this letter is written to those who are already in covenant – people who have already answered the Gospel call and become sons and daughters of God. This verse teaches the same thing that John 3:16 does – that God loved His creation and therefore created a program to restore man to His favor through Christ, but that this is executed on the individual level.

This Gospel call that was born out of God’s love has gone out to the world, and 1 John 4 is saying that the righteous hear this Gospel, and they respond to it. When those who have “ears to hear” learn of the things God has done on behalf of His love for His creation and that He gave His own son on their behalf, it generates in this person the love of God. The love stems from understanding. It involves hearing the Gospel of salvation, realizing the dire state that we are naturally in, and understanding that God, out of His own goodness, created a program for us to escape the eternal death in the dust. There are better things coming on this earth that He will perform through Christ, and out of love, He has offered anyone who is willing an opportunity to partake in it.

God loved His creation and therefore acted to initiate reconciliation to Him. We hear what God has done out of love, it generates in us the love of God, and we likewise take steps of reconciliation. If we were to look at it on a spectrum, we’d see God at one end and man on the far opposite end with a large gulf between the two. God has breached the gap most of the way, but man must take a few steps in order for them to unite. With both parties (God and man), the love is followed by actions which show the love much like the relationship of faith and works. James says,

James 2:17-18 – Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead… I will shew thee my faith by my works.

Just as works are the result of faith and those without works don’t truly have faith, so Christ says that keeping his commandments are the result of loving him, and if one doesn’t keep his commandments, their love is “dead”:

John 14:21, 24 – He that hath my commandments (faith), and keepeth them (faith and works), he it is that loveth me…  (24)  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings…

So, as difficult as it might be to hear, God does not love every individual person. God gives clear information of the kind of people He does not love whom He calls “abominations” (Deu. 22:5, Prov. 11:20, 17:15). It’s for this reason that we find prophecies showing Christ conquering the earth when “the slain of the LORD shall be at that day from one end of the earth even unto the other end of the earth” (Jer. 25:33). It is the race that He created which He loves, and He instituted His plan on account of His love for the race. Man hears it and some participate in it, and then God’s intimate love of the individual takes place.

To modern Christianity, this sounds like a blasphemous concept and would probably be received how my friend received Christ’s instructions on baptism. Yet it is nevertheless the case, for this too we learn from Christ’s own lips. Note the process of how and when man obtains Divine love and favor:

John 14:21 – He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: (so if we either don’t have his commandments or don’t keep them, we do not love Christ) and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.

Man must first have the commandments which cause him to love God, then keep those commandments through action, and it is then that God and Christ will love the individual. We’ve already seen from Ephesians 2 that before we come into covenant, we are “without hope, without God in the world”, and so on, but the wide gulf that exists between God and natural man is so great and their ways so at variance with one another that man, before entering into Christ, is even called “an enemy” of God:

Romans 5:8-10 – But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us (the race and those who would partake in God’s plan).  (9)  Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.  (10)  For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.

Enemies - this is state of the natural relationship between God and estranged man, and it’s why the love Christ mentions in John 14 is in the future tense and is conditional upon keeping his commandments. His love and favor are conditional upon keeping the commandments because this involves us being born again in baptism and becoming the adopted sons and daughters of God and brothers and sisters of Christ (John 1:11-13, Matt. 12:48-50).

1 John 3:1 – Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God…

In baptism, God is literally adopting us. We become part of God’s spiritual family, and only then do we become benefactors of His love. If what Christ said is not enough to show this, he continues and says it again:

John 14:23-24 –  If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.  (24)  He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings: and the word which ye hear is not mine, but the Father's which sent me.

This is the truth of God’s love, but it’s largely not known to many who profess Christ. Multitudes are seeking atonement with their Creator but are misled by “learned men” – “blind leaders of the blind” – who themselves don’t know what God requires, and they therefore neither reap salvation for themselves nor for others (Matt. 15:14). It’s the modern version of the popular, widely accepted religious authorities of Christ’s day who taught the nation their own version of God instead of what God has declared of Himself. Christ rightly condemned them,

Matthew 23:13 – But woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye shut up the kingdom of heaven against men: for ye neither go in yourselves, neither suffer ye them that are entering to go in.

And having not understood what God’s love truly is and entails, it’s no surprise that the result and the fruit of this “other gospel” is cold or lukewarm dedication to Him and produced people who “honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.  (7)  Howbeit in vain do they worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men. (Mark 7:6-7).

If man can hear and understand what God’s love is and entails, those who have ears to hear will not need much convincing, for the Word of God will work upon them as it did the Thessalonians who “received the word of God… not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which effectually worketh also in you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:13).

The Scriptural Role of Love

Now, I want to end by talking about the relationship between God’s love for us and the role love should play for us as the ecclesia (the “called out”) of God. This connection is spelled out in

1 John 4:9-11 – In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him.  (10)  Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.  (11)  Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.

It all starts with God’s love for those who answer His call to come out of the world, but the love should not stop there. It is to be reflected and manifested in His servants. It is true that we are to “love our enemies” and “do good to those who despitefully use us”, but this here is particularly referencing the love the saints should have for one another (Matt. 5:44). It is here that, in my view, we as a household have much to work on, and the solution is likely not to just direct more focus on the household. It is likely the opposite.

As Christ is the Sun of righteousness, the ecclesia is likened to the moon. The moon, of course, has no light of its own, but simply reflects that of the sun. It shines into the darkness of this present night until Jesus returns so men might see the light of Christ while the sun is away. We know the verses about letting our lights shine before men, and all show that we are to reflect God’s love and character. We have no light within ourselves to shine, it is all of God (1 John 1:5-7). If we aren’t reflecting God’s light through our changed character and actions, then we aren’t conforming to His way. As Christ said, if we love him, we will keep his commandments. This brings us back to the verse we opened with:

John 13:34-35 – A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.  (35)  By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.

Christadelphians have known what God’s love is and entails, yet it seems that through the years this aspect has been diminished. Yet like most diversions from the right way, it was not done swiftly, but instead gradually over time. We are commanded to “hold forth the word of life” to our perishing neighbors (which is us simply reflecting the light of God), but with controversies came distrust. I’ve heard it said before that we need to focus all of our attention on strengthening the household that remains, but we find that this narrow focus on just the household is what has caused further division.

Controversy and fear of “contamination” raised up our defenses, and many became so fearful of contamination that the idea of conversing with and inviting our perishing neighbors to meet and talk about the truth became almost advised against.

“They have the Bible,” it is reasoned, “so they can learn the truth.” We expect people to be able to peel back the layers of false doctrine and assumptions which the apostacy has infused into people’s minds, and to do this all on their own, all the while many of us were brought in from the outside. It’s ironic that had their teachers had the same mindset that these brethren have, they themselves would not be in the truth today. As Ronald Reagan pointed out, “I've noticed that everyone who is for abortion has already been born.” It’s the same concept here.

No, it is unfair to just leave man whose mind is unenlightened by the word and expect him to find the light on his own. Most people are like the Ethiopian eunuch who, when asked by Philip “Understandest thou what thou readest?”, the man responded, “How can I, except some man should guide me? And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him” (Acts 8:30-31).

This is what the ecclesia is for – to reflect God’s truth upon the world. I was just reading in Elpis Israel the other day and came across a pertinent quote. Bro. Thomas said,

“To this ‘one body’… is committed the work of making known ‘the manifold wisdom of God’, as contained in the word; and of inviting the world to be reconciled to God. No member of this body is exempt from the obligation of co-operating in this work. It is the duty and privilege of every one in his own sphere to endeavour to turn men to righteousness…”

Elpis Israel, 14th Ed, pgs. 160-161

In no place does God show that certain people should preach the word and others are exempt. On the contrary, “freely ye have received, freely give” (Matt. 10:8). But focus has been pulled away from this, and because of our nature, when we totally cut off contact with the world, we lose a point of comparison for what is good and what is evil. We inherently look for problems, and when we our attention is focused only within the household, we begin to strain at gnats (Matt. 23:24). Things that were small or even non-existent issues before are now viewed as enormous problems because we lost the point of comparison. We’ve lost our love and regard for our fellow man, and it’s natural for this to eventually extend to our very brethren.

This is not a new problem. In the 1898 Advocate, Thomas Williams shares an observation,

“The older ones, who had hold of the helm when I used to visit Hamilton, seem now to stand back, possessed of a feeling of that it is no use trying to get the people (outside of the Truth) to listen, and seeming to be saying to themselves, ‘We will give our attention to ourselves.’ This is a mistake. We have always found it so. Long after some have concluded that ‘it is no use,’ many have come out of darkness into light. It is ours to go on with the work, regardless of present visible results; and generally speaking, attention to ourselves at the expense of the alien breeds crotchets, discontent and, at last serious trouble.”

Christadelphian Advocate, July 1898, pg. 203

Commenting on this, a 2018 article in the Advocate stated,

“The point that Brother Williams observed is that when ecclesias lose fervor for their mission as evangelists (bearers of the good news), they have time to give attention to things within, that “at last” breed “serious trouble.” To what extent have the challenges our ecclesias face in this century arisen because our focus has become overwhelmingly inward with little attention to connecting that message of the gospel with a dark and perishing world?”        

Christadelphian Advocate, January 2018, pg. 17

And again, in speaking about disputes that arise between brothers and sisters, Bro. Williams wrote,

“In many cases it is the result of dabbling too much with the machinery to the neglect of the work it is intended to perform. Dr. Thomas’ advice at one time, in a case of this kind, was in substance. ‘Drop the subject for twelve months, and proceed with all your might to teach the truth to your perishing neighbors. We will venture to say that where there is plenty of work of that kind to be done, if it is attended to, internal conflicts will be reduced to a minimum, if they do not cease entirely.’”                                           

Christadelphian Advocate, February 1886, pg. 284

This does not mean that we ignore things that are problems in the household, but rather that we are making problems out of things which shouldn’t be problems. It seems that we, at large, have still yet to learn this lesson. In short, the answer relates to love. Seeming to hit on this very issue, Paul says,

Galatians 5:14-15 – For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.  (15)  But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed one of another.

What a sad fulfillment we see in our not-so-distant past, and while we do see some signs of healing today, the problem largely persists. This is not to say that we must turn all of our outwardly, for we must be balanced, but the love of God should work in us to create this community of brothers and sisters who are known and characterized by their mutual love for one another. If someone were to visit our meeting, would they gain this impression from having spent a morning with us? Would they see a group of brothers and sisters?

One of the challenges many of the world face is the prospect of turning away from their natural family who doesn’t believe the truth. But Christ promises them,

Mark 10:29-30 – Verily I say unto you, There is no man that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, or wife, or children, or lands, for my sake, and the gospel's,  (30)  But he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, with persecutions; and in the world to come eternal life.

The promise to those who leave off these things for Christ’s sake is not just future – it is “now in this time”. The “hundredfold” brothers, sisters, mother, father, and so on is us – the spiritual household of faith. We – the body of Christ and the spiritual family of God, are part of what’s promised to the faithful. They can be part of this family. Yet when we visit Bible schools and see even our own brethren who we haven’t met before, we can find it difficult to even introduce ourselves even though these are the people we hope to spend eternity with. Lord willing, we will be their family far longer than we were ever members of our carnal families. It’s all in our perspective and where our hearts lie.

There is much work to be done, but we’ve been given all of the instructions and information on how to make the repairs, and love is truly at the core of it. While we yearn for the return of Christ, may we also appreciate and make use of what time we have remaining to tend to the things which are needful and manifest the love of God that He has so freely shown to us.

Philippians 2:1-5 – If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,  (2)  Fulfil ye my joy, that ye be likeminded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind.  (3)  Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.  (4)  Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.  (5)  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

In the Hope of Israel,

Tanner Hawkins