love does what?!?
I read through 1 Peter this morning and have come to a halt because I simply have become confused over something that I have come to think of as a simple commandment...love. In chapter 4 verse 8 Peter writes, "Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins." (NASB) I'm really struggling with this 'love covering sin' idea. It almost seems like an abuse of a good thing. So to exegete a bit...first and foremost, I must be stretched out and continually and intensely be loving those around me-which is the definition of being fervent. This agape love here flows from charity, giving what is needed rather than what is wanted. To love is to provide for my brothers and sisters what they need truly to sustain themselves. Why? Because love covers a multitude of sins, it 'hides' sin according to this verse. And, Kalupto, or to cover, is really messing me up today. To paraphrase, love 'hides' a multitude of 'what causes us to miss the true scope of our lives.' Does this mean that by simply loving others we find grace in our other shortcomings? I'm in need of help because I am still wanting to figure this out. Peace.
posted by Levi at
9:31 AM
3 Comments:
oh i like this question...i don't have a definitive answer, but all i can speculate (and this is going to be really simple) is that since love is the highest of all command, sin is less prevalent in our lives when we love one another.
i like the question though...i'm going to keep thinking about this one!
ok, so i was just reading Luke 7:36-50 (The sinful woman who wipes Jesus' feet with her tears). In Luke 7:47 Jesus says, "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-for she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little." I thought this was an interesting correlation to the passage you read in Peter that talks about sin covering a multitude of sins.
The other interesting thing here is that Jesus is actually giving this teaching directly to Simon Peter. it seems he pulled that line directly out of this situation. really cool stuff.
I've often struggled over this verse as well. One of the things I've learned is that often we encounter brothers who are hurting, and in our love we cover them like a blanket. We still deal with the sin, but under the covering of love, not revealing their problems to others like we tend to do through 'prayer requests.' We blanket them and then bring healing under it - like God does with us. He doesn't expose us to the world when we come to Him in tears. He covers us, but deals with us under this covering.
Too often we embrace "uncovering" the sins of our brothers. This is not love.
Also - a church should operate the same way. When a brother is hurting, the church should cover the brother yet still deal with the issue. We don't toss him to the world.
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