The Code of Love

Rom 12:14-21 “Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse.Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn. Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but be willing to associate with people of low position. Do not be conceited. Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone. Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: "It is mine to avenge; I will repay," says the Lord. On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. “

This passage in chapter 12 is the new code of conduct that the Apostle Paul is establishing for all Christians. It is not something that he came up with on his own. This code is based completely on the words and actions of Jesus. By this time in his ministry Paul had spent a considerable amount of time with Jesus’ disciples in Jerusalem. Undoubtedly they had shared with him, not only the teachings of Jesus during the three year span that He spent with them, but also who He was in private in those intimate times around the campfire. Not that He was anything but genuine or that He was one way in public and another in private. No, you get to know a person’s heart during those intimate gatherings. That is when you discover that the teaching He was proclaiming in public was who He was at His very core. The Apostle Paul was the beneficiary of this knowledge. They had shared with him freely because they knew that their Jesus had appeared to the murdering Saul and was the instrument of his transformation into the Apostle Paul.

It is with the benefit of this knowledge that Paul sets forth Jesus’ code of conduct which is representative of the new covenant. Gone is the “eye for an eye” of the Mosaic covenant. It is replaced with “turn the other cheek”. A beachhead for the kingdom of God has been established and with it come kingdom rules. The reign of Christ begins with the establishment of opposite world. Opposite that is, to those who have been born of the flesh into original sin. Not opposite, mind you, to the original plan of the Father as found in the Garden of Eden. It just seems like opposite world because we have been living upside down for so long. Now that everything is turned right side up it just seems wrong until our inner spiritual gyroscope finds its bearings.

The process of transformation through the renewing of our mind is ratcheted up to include things are completely anathema to the old man. “Bless those who persecute you”? “Do not repay evil for evil”? “If your enemy is hungry feed him”? This goes completely against our base instincts and that is exactly the point.

Revenge, jealousy and anger destroy. These are negative emotions that left unchecked lead to sin because they are contrary to the reign of love. Love is the central teaching of Christ.

Matt 22:37-40
 "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.'   This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'   All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." 

He goes even further when He describes what He wants to be the distinguishing characteristic of the followers of the way.

John 13:35
“By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." 

Things get out of whack with our doctrines as we latch unto those things that most represent our particular theological point of view. However, when we go back to the Bible and in particular to the words of Jesus we find that God puts things in the proper priority. It not about how many miracles we perform. It is not about whether we speak in tongues or not. It is not about how big our church is or what theological degrees we have. It is all about how much love we have in our heart and how that love is expressed. Even when it comes to the Holy Spirit in our lives it is clear from the Bible that the evidence of His habitation, (we shouldn’t settle for a visitation) in clearly set forth in the following passage:

Gal 5:22-23
“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness,  gentleness and self-control.”

Lest you miss it, the headliner of that list is love. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in tongues and it is a beautiful gift given for our edification, and while on many occasions it accompanies the baptism of the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, nowhere do I find in the teaching of the Apostle Paul or elsewhere that it is the evidence of that baptism. More to the fact, I find that Paul takes pains to instruct us on the fact that tongues are one of the lesser gifts. If Paul says that he would rather that we prophesy than speak in tongues, why do we seek to elevate it to the supreme position in the pantheon of spiritual gifts?

But I digress, this code of conduct centered on love is meant to radically impact the world around us. A world that the enemy has focused on self teaches that only love of self brings the kind of rewards that pleases self. In a world that revolves around Jesus, love of self is merely the example that teaches us to love God and by extension of His love, how to love others more than ourselves.

In fact, His love in its ultimate form is a sacrificial love.

John 15:13-14
“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command.”

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