Thesis 9- We must learn to love one another.
More important than minding your p’s and q’s may well be minding your we’s and you’s. That is, when the Bible starts using pronouns, we, that is, Christians, ought to be careful to know which nouns they are pointing to. Consider, for instance, Jesus promise, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another” (: 35). Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? People will know that Christians are Christians if people will love each other, right? That’s not what the text says. There are in this text three groups of people, the lovers, the loved, and the witnesses. The witnesses are those who are outside the kingdom. The lovers and the loved are inside the kingdom. Those outside (the world will know that you (Christians) are mine if you (Christians) love one another (Christians.). The call here isn’t to a generic love of humankind. (To be sure there is a sense in which Christians are called to love those outside the kingdom. We are, after all, called to love our enemies. But that isn’t the point in this text.) Instead this is a call to love within the body of Christ.
Do not miss the power here. Jesus does not merely say it is a good thing for brethren to dwell together in unity. He does not merely say the church will be a more joyful place when we love one another. The promise is that those outside the kingdom will know we are His. Jesus gives us here a potent apologetic, one born not out of an abstract philosophical argument, but one born out of our love. If we love one another, others will know the truth.
Love, however, isn’t so easy. The object of our love here is other Christians. Other Christians are sinners. They (see, we need to know our pronouns), that is, we are full of pride and envy, selfishness and malice. Wouldn’t it have made more sense if Jesus said they would know we are His by our love for Him? Jesus, after all, is easy to love. He redeemed us. He indwells us.
And He, the One who is easy to love, calls us to love one another. Jesus warned the Pharisees that you could not love the Father and not love the Son. In like manner, you cannot love the Son, and not love His bride. We can only do this, however, as we learn to see our brothers the way our Father sees them. Yes, in themselves, we are sinners. But we are not by ourselves. Our Father looks upon us and sees Jesus. We must do the same.
Christians are full of bad motives, bad theology and bad breath. We are likewise full of the Holy Spirit. We are covered by the Holy Son. We are beloved of the Holy Father. So let us love one another, even as we are loved. And maybe, just maybe, God might use our love to show forth His glory to those outside. Maybe by our love, some who are they will become we who are we.