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Monday, June 08, 2015

It Depends on Where You Start

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Paul's epistle to Rome. In that book we see the most expansive doctrine of "the problem"--Man's sin condition--and the clearest explanation of "the solution"--saved by faith apart from works. We see the beauty of "dead to sin" and the sublime chapter 8, culminating in "God causes all things to work together for good" along with all "good" means in that context. We see the power of the Word (Rom 10) and the mystery of being grafted into Israel (Rom 11). Lots and lots of good stuff. Paul concludes that epistle with four chapters of practical application. At the beginning of chapter 12, he says "therefore", one of the biggest "therefores" in Scripture. That is, "In light of all that I have just said, you should ..." Founded on all that spectacular doctrine, Paul says we ought to act. These last chapters are Paul's practical applications of deep truths.

Early in this accounting of what we should do, Paul says this:
Let love be genuine. Abhor what is evil; hold fast to what is good. Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality. (Rom 12:9-13)
This is only the beginning of this terse list, fired like bullet points in response to God's greatness and His grace and mercy. But it's the start of the list, the first things that came to Paul's mind. It included things like "show hospitality" (Do you do that?) and "be patient in tribulation" (Does that mark your life?). Paul urged constant prayer and joyful hope. Like Christ, Paul argued that Christians out to love one another (see John 13:35).

Paul starts this list with the call for genuine love. Then he says this: "Abhor what is evil." Clearly, Paul comes from a different era because today's culture would call that "hate speech". We aren't supposed to "abhor what is evil". We're supposed to embrace it. We call that "tolerance". Hating evil is intolerant and judgmental. Paul disagreed. He sought first for genuine love, and Paul assumed that this would include hating evil and clinging to good.

If you read farther down you'll see Paul says, in this same list of things to do in light of the truth, "Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. ... If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all." (Rom 12:16-18) Well, now, that's a bit odd, isn't it? Oh, not for Paul, of course, but for our modern sensibilities. Our society would tell us that you cannot hate evil and live in harmony. You cannot--nay, must not--hate evil and "live peaceably with all."

Why is that? Why the disparity in perceptions? Paul says we should both love and hate: love each other and hate evil. Live in harmony, associate with the lowly, be at peace with all people, and hate evil. Our society says it cannot be done and the only way to love is to embrace people for all that they are without seeing anything evil. Why are the two views so divergent? Could it be that Paul is basing his view on the truth of God and our society is ... not?

2 comments:

David said...

Oh silly silly Stan, of course society is right. We're much more evolved than those near-neanderthals. And how dare anyone try to tell us otherwise, because that wouldn't be loving.

Stan said...

Unrelated to this post, I had a conversation this morning with a (non-Christian) coworker. I asserted to him that it was perfectly possible to consider a particular behavior "a sin" (wrong, immoral, unacceptable, whatever) without hating the person doing the behavior. He was shocked ... baffled ... confused. He thought that wasn't possible. As we talked about it he realized he did it himself without a problem. "You're right," he said, "I don't always like the way my dad treats my mom, but I don't love my dad any less."

Most interesting to me was his initial shock at the suggestion and certainty that it couldn't be true. It's not possible to love someone while hating the evil they do.