April 17, 2016

What do you want most out of life? Most of us would rank healthy relationships high on the list. Except for knowing Christ and having eternal life, healthy relationships make life enjoyable perhaps more than anything else. Even if your health isn’t the best, if you have loving relationships, you can enjoy life. You can make a pile of money, but if your relationships are broken or shallow, your life will be empty. A poor man with a loving family and good friends is far richer than a rich man who is poor relationally.

The Bible ranks healthy relationships as the most important thing in life. A Jewish religious expert asked Jesus (Matt. 22:36), “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied (Matt. 22:37-40):

“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments depend the whole Law and the Prophets.”

A loving relationship with God is of first importance; but loving relationships with others is second. The Bible is all about these two important relationships.

Because the Bible emphasizes healthy relationships so highly, it’s sad that there are so many believers who have hurting or broken relationships. Many Christian homes have been shattered by divorce. Some who stay married are unhappy. Their homes are a tense battle ground, not a loving refuge. Many Christian parents are at odds with their kids and the kids with their parents. On the church level, some bounce from church to church, leaving a trail of damaged relationships behind. I know of Christians who won’t speak to other Christians because of misunderstandings, hurt feelings, and wrongs that have taken place. Sadly, the loving families, genuine friendships, and healthy relationships that we want most out of life often elude us.

In our text, Paul gives the prescription for healthy relationships. If you’ll consistently practice these qualities, you’ll have healthy relationships. But maybe you’re thinking, “But healthy relationships also depend on others, don’t they? It’s virtually impossible to have a good relationship with some people!” True. Paul acknowledged this when he wrote (Rom. 12:18), “If possible, so far as it depends on you, be at peace with all men.” Sometimes, no matter what you do, some people are hard to get along with. But often if you treat a difficult person with the qualities that Paul enumerates in our text, he will change for the better in how he relates to you. But even if some relationships never improve, if you relate to others as Paul describes here, most of your relationships will be healthy.

But this isn’t easy medicine to take, because to develop these qualities, you’ve got to kill all immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and greed (Col. 3:5). You’ve got to put aside all anger, wrath, malice, slander, abusive speech, and lying (Col. 3:8-9). And, you’ve got to put on “a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience; bearing with one another, and forgiving each other” (Col. 3:12b-13). The reason you should do this is because God has graciously chosen and loved you. Paul is saying,

God’s gracious, loving treatment of us is the basis for our treatment of others.

Paul first gives the basis for the commands which follow, namely, how God has treated us:

1. God has graciously chosen us in love to be set apart to Himself.

Colossians 3:12a: “So, as those who have been chosen of God, holy and beloved….” “So” (or, “therefore”) shows that verse 12 follows from what came before. The flow of thought is: Because we have laid aside the old man (what we were in Adam) and have put on the new man (what we now are in Christ, both individually and corporately), and because in this new corporate man old differences no longer matter, but Christ is all and in all, therefore, we should put on the qualities listed here.

Paul begins by stating that God has graciously chosen us. This means that if you’re a Christian it’s not because you first chose God, but because He chose you before the foundation of the world (Eph. 1:4-5). That truth should be a great comfort for every believer, but I realize that it causes problems for many. They don’t like it because it seems to deny our “free will.” It seems unfair of God to choose some, but not others. It seems to go against God’s love for the world (John 3:16) and His desire for all to be saved (1 Tim. 2:4). So, these Christians explain election as God’s choosing those whom he foreknew would believe in Him.

But if that were true, then our salvation would not be based on God’s grace alone, but on something good (our faith) that God saw in us. It also presumes that sinners have the ability to believe in Christ, which contradicts many Scriptures. For example, Jesus said (John 6:44), “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him.” (See, also, Luke 10:21-22; John 6:65; 8:43; Rom. 8:7-8; 9:16-18; 1 Cor. 2:14; 2 Cor. 4:4). Saving faith is a gift from God, not something that any sinner can do on his own (Eph. 2:8-9; Phil. 1:29). If God chose us based on foreseen faith, then it means that He made up His eternal plan based on what sinful people decided to do, rather than on His will (Eph. 1:11). It makes us sovereign, with God subservient to our will—a horrible thought!

There are solid biblical answers to the objections raised against the truth of election, which I don’t have time to present here. The main thing is to let God be God and submit to the truth and the balance of His Word. The truth is, if you believe in Christ, it’s because God appointed you to eternal life (Acts 13:48). He chose you for salvation (1 Cor. 1:27-31). The balance is, God’s sovereignty never negates the human responsibility to repent and believe (see my sermon, “God’s Sovereignty, Our Responsibility,” on Gen. 17:1-27, 9/15/96). They’re both true.

When I quit fighting what God’s Word clearly teaches and submitted to it, the doctrine of election became a source of great comfort for me. It’s a comfort because God’s sovereign purpose to save those whom He has chosen cannot fail (see, Rom. 8:28-39). It assures me, as Paul said (Phil. 1:6), “He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.”

“Holy and beloved” further describe what it means to be chosen by God. To be holy means to be set apart unto God, separate from the world. Beloved means that we’re the special objects of God’s love, just as a wife is to her husband. We often think of holiness negatively, as telling us what we can’t do. But it’s a positive concept. Picture a wife who is set apart from others for her husband who loves her. She delights to keep herself from others and to give herself exclusively to him because of his love. So we too should keep ourselves pure from this evil world and be exclusively devoted to Christ, who loved us and chose us as His bride.

But why does Paul mention that we are chosen by God, holy and beloved, in the context of talking about healthy relationships? For at least two reasons. First, it’s not easy to kill my selfishness and anger and to practice these Christlike qualities toward others, especially toward difficult people. But it’s easier when I remember how God loved me and chose me when I was not very lovely.

Second, seeing myself as the object of God’s gracious, sovereign love, set apart unto Him, frees me to love even those who are difficult to love. If I’m dependent on the other person’s response for my sense of security, I won’t risk loving someone who might reject me. But if I’m secure in God’s love for me, I’m free to love those who may not return my love. If someone insults me, I’ll feel hurt, but I don’t need to retaliate. I can give a blessing instead (1 Pet. 3:9), because I’m secure in God’s love for me.

That’s what Paul is saying here: God’s treatment of us is the basis for our treatment of others. God has chosen us in love to be set apart to Himself when we weren’t worthy of His love. Secure in His gracious, unfathomable love, we’re able to treat one another with the qualities listed here.

2. We should treat others with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness.

Actually, there are five nouns: compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, which are probably set in contrast to the five sins in verse 5 and the five other sins in verse 8. “Bearing with one another and forgiving each other” describe the way in which those five virtues are put into practice. But I’m going to treat forbearance and forgiveness as two additional qualities that help our relationships be healthy.

Before we look at these qualities, I have two observations. First, every Christian should have these character qualities, but there is freedom for different personality types. In other words, all mature Christians aren’t going to have the same generic personality. These qualities will take one form with a Barnabas, another with a Paul, and another with a Peter. Part of the glory of God’s creation is the variety of personalities which He has given us and that He has a special purpose for each one. While He knocks the rough edges off each type of personality, He doesn’t erase the differences. Whether you’re hard-driving or laid back, extrovert or introvert, people-oriented or task-oriented, God wants you to have these character qualities.

Second, all these character qualities are modeled in Jesus Christ. He was compassionate and kind (Matt. 9:36; 14:14), humble and gentle (Matt. 11:29), patient, forbearing, and forgiving (1 Pet. 2:23; Luke 23:34). He is our great example of how to relate to others. As we learn to put on these qualities, we’re really putting on the Lord Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:14) and becoming more like Him.

A. We should treat others with compassion.

The King James Version translates this, “bowels of mercy.” The closest English equivalent is what we mean when we say “heart.” So, “a heart of compassion” captures the idea. The main thing to grasp is that this is an emotional term. Being moved to compassion involves the feelings, not just the head. It means being touched by the needs of people so that we respond with appropriate action to help them.

Jesus used this word to describe the good Samaritan, who felt compassion for the wounded traveler and was moved to help him (Luke 10:33). He used it of the father of the prodigal son, who saw his wayward son returning, felt compassion for him, ran to him, embraced him and kissed him (Luke 15:20). He was stirred emotionally when he saw his son coming home.

Jesus felt compassion for the widow of Nain who had lost her only son (Luke 7:13). When Jesus saw the multitudes, He felt compassion for them (Matt. 9:36). On another occasion, Jesus and His disciples withdrew to a lonely place for some much needed rest. When they arrived by boat, they discovered that the crowd had arrived by land before them. Jesus saw them, felt compassion for them and healed their sick. The disciples saw them and said (as I would have said!), “Send them away!” (Matt. 14:14-15).

If you lack compassion, you’re too focused on yourself and not enough on others’ needs. Jesus saw the multitude and felt compassion because He saw that they were like sheep without a shepherd (Mark 8:34). The disciples saw the same multitude and didn’t feel compassion because they were focused on their own need to get away and rest. It all depends on your focus.

When you encounter a difficult person and you’re inclined to be irritated rather than to have compassion for him, ask him to share his story. Often, when you find out what the person has gone through, it helps you to overlook his irritating behavior and show the Lord’s compassion to him.

B. We should treat others with kindness.

To be kind means to be free from all which is harsh, rough, and bitter. This word was used to describe wine that had mellowed (Luke 5:39). It didn’t bite or leave a bitter taste. A kind person is not demanding and pushy. He gives others room to be imperfect without crawling all over them.

Joseph is a great example of kindness. His brothers had hated him and sold him into slavery. After being falsely accused of impropriety with Potiphar’s wife and imprisoned for several years, he finally rose to the top as prime minister of Egypt. He easily could have taken vengeance on his brothers, but instead, he forgave them and was generous with them. After their father, Jacob, died, the brothers became afraid because they thought that perhaps Joseph would now pay them back for what they had done to him. But when Joseph heard it, he wept and spoke kindly to his brothers, assuring them of his continuing love and care for them and their children (Gen. 50:15-21).

Jesus said that God Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men (Luke 6:35). Paul said that the kindness of God leads us to repentance (Rom. 2:4) Peter said that tasting God’s kindness should motivate us to long for the sincere milk of the word, that we may grow in respect to salvation (1 Pet. 2:1-3). If we’ll show kindness to those who are not kind to us, it will often motivate them to repentance and growth.

C. We should treat others with humility.

It’s often said that if you think you’re humble, you’re not. But I find that neither helpful nor correct. It’s not helpful because how can I obey the command to be humble if I can’t know when I am humble? And it’s not correct because Moses, Jesus, and Paul all claimed to be humble (Num. 13: 3; Matt. 11:29; Acts 20:19). So I think that we can know when we’re being humble so that we can obey this command.

Humility does not mean that when someone pays you a compliment, you look down and say, “It really wasn’t much!” Humility is not to dump on yourself. But then what does it mean? Literally, the Greek word means “lowliness of mind.” The Greeks did not see it as a virtue, but as a weakness. Biblically, there are three sides to it:

First, a humble person is Christ-sufficient, not self-sufficient. A humble person consciously relies on the Lord and recognizes that God has given him all that he has (1 Pet. 5:5-7; 1 Cor. 4:7). He knows that he is weak in himself, but he is strong when he trusts in God’s strength (2 Cor. 12:9-10; Phil. 4:13).

Second, a humble person has a proper evaluation of himself. Paul said (Rom. 12:3), “For through the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think so as to have sound judgment, as God has allotted to each a measure of faith.” He goes on to talk about using the gifts that God has given us to serve one another. A humble person doesn’t think that he’s indispensable in God’s program, nor does he think so lowly of himself that he neglects the gifts God has given him to use (Matt. 25:14-30; 2 Tim. 1:6-8).

Third, a humble person esteems others more highly than himself. As Paul said (Phil. 2:3-4), “Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.” He goes on to cite the example of Jesus, who laid aside His glory in heaven to take on the form of a servant and go to the cross for our salvation. He esteemed us more highly than himself.

D. We should treat others with gentleness.

The King James Version translates it “meekness.” There is no good single English word to translate the concept of the Greek word. It does not mean to be a mild-mannered, compliant milquetoast. The main idea is, “strength under submission.” It was used in classical Greek of trained animals, such as a horse which was strong and powerful in battle, but totally submissive to the warrior who rode him. The gentle person is not self-willed, but surrendered to do God’s will. Plato used the word of a gentle doctor who used only enough force (as in setting a broken bone) to bring healing. So the gentle person will sometimes be strong to confront sin, but only strong enough to bring healing (Gal. 6:1; 2 Tim. 2:25).

E. We should treat others with patience.

Kindness, gentleness, and patience are listed in the fruit of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23). The Greek word for patience literally means, “long-tempered.” It’s the opposite of having a short fuse. It means being tolerant of imperfections, differences and faults in others. The patient person gives others time to change and room to make mistakes in the process. It’s a virtue that’s especially difficult for those of us who are perfectionists!

F. We should treat others with forbearance.

This means putting up with someone’s faults and idiosyncrasies. We need to recognize that being different doesn’t necessarily mean being wrong. Let’s face it, a lot of areas aren’t black and white. Just because I’ve always done something a certain way doesn’t mean that everyone else has to do it my way. We must never be forbearing when it comes to biblical moral absolutes. But we must bear with others when it comes to things the Bible doesn’t clearly command.

G. We should treat others with forgiveness.

Rather than holding a grudge or harboring bitterness and resentment, we must forgive those who wrong us. Did you notice that many of these qualities are needed only when you have a complaint against someone? So you can’t excuse yourself by saying, “I’d treat him right if he would treat me better.” You wouldn’t need patience, forbearance, or forgiveness if everyone treated you well!

We are to forgive “just as the Lord forgave you.”  That’s a lot, isn’t it! The Greek word used here for “forgiveness” has the nuance of undeserved favor. We didn’t deserve God’s forgiveness, but He provided for it and granted it freely in Christ at great cost to Himself. God didn’t say, “Don’t worry about it; it’s no big deal.” He paid the price, but He doesn’t make us pay. God’s forgiveness means that He will never bring up our sins as evidence to condemn us. He never hauls out our past as leverage against us. Even though He legitimately could, the Lord doesn’t make us feel put down because He was so magnanimous as to forgive us. His forgiveness means total acceptance and restored fellowship with us.

While compassion involves our feelings, forgiveness is primarily a decision. You choose to absorb the wrong and not allow it to be a barrier between you and the other person. The feelings may follow. If you struggle with feeling forgiving after you’ve granted it, do something kind for the one who wronged you. While God never extends forgiveness until there is repentance, He showers those who have wronged Him with repeated kindnesses until they come to repentance. We must do the same, hard as it is to do.

Conclusion

So, because God graciously chose us in love to be set apart to Himself, we should treat others with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forbearance, and forgiveness. His gracious, loving treatment of us is the basis for our treatment of others.

Maybe you’re wondering, “Where do I start?” You may need to begin by focusing on your relationship with God. Have you trusted in Christ as your Savior so that you’ve truly experienced His forgiveness, mercy, and love? You can’t love others as you should until you’re rightly related to God.

Then, write these verses on a card and read them over every day. Take stock of which quality you most need to work on and put it on your prayer list: “Lord, make me a patient man.” That’s a dangerous prayer, because the Lord will give you some difficult people to practice being patient with! Act obediently, not on feelings. When you blow it, confess it to the Lord and ask the forgiveness of those you’ve wronged. You may need to begin by going to those you’ve already wronged to make things right. Make a habit of putting on these “new clothes” and you’ll enjoy the blessing, not of perfect relationships, but of substantially healthy relationships.

Application Questions

1. Does the doctrine of election give you comfort or cause you grief? If grief, how can you resolve this for God’s glory?
2. Are some Christian couples so incompatible that they never can have a satisfying relationship? Should they divorce?
3. Which of the seven qualities do you most need to work on? How will you work on it? What’s your plan?
4. Is it ever right to distance yourself from a person who has offended you, rather than trying to work things out? If so, when?

Copyright, Steven J. Cole, 2016, All Rights Reserved.

Unless otherwise noted, all Scripture Quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated Edition © The Lockman Foundation

Introduction

World War II provided us with some tragic illustrations of theological truth. When Nazi Germany attacked Poland the battle was essentially won within a week and was virtually over in a month. Winston Churchill described the valiant effort of the poorly armed Poles:

They were heavily outclassed in artillery, and had but a single armoured brigade to meet the nine German Panzers, as they were already called. Their horse cavalry, of which they had twelve brigades, charged valiantly against the swarming tanks and armoured cars, but could not harm them with their swords and lances.⁹⁹

Shirer sensed this same futility when he wrote:

Horses against tanks! The cavalryman’s long lance against the tank’s long cannon! Brave and valiant and foolhardy though they were, the Poles were simply overwhelmed by the German onslaught. This was their—and the world’s— first experience of the blitzkrieg: the sudden surprise attack; the fighter planes and bombers roaring overhead, reconnoitering, attacking, spreading flame and terror; the Stukas screaming as they dove; the tanks, whole divisions of them, breaking through and thrusting forward thirty or forty miles a day; self-propelled, rapid-firing heavy guns rolling forty miles an hour down even the rutty Polish roads; the incredible speed of even the infantry, of the whole vast army of a million and a half men on motorized wheels, directed and co-ordinated through a maze of electronic communications consisting of intricate radio, telephone and telegraphic networks. This was a monstrous mechanized juggernaut such as the earth had never seen. … Within forty-eight hours the Polish Air Force was destroyed. … In one week the Polish Army had been vanquished.¹⁰⁰

The victory of Germany over Poland can be principally explained by their superiority in weapons. Shirer described the rapid arms buildup of the Third Reich:

… the Army of the Third Reich had jumped from seven to fifty-one divisions in just four years. Among them were five heavy armored divisions and four light ones, a “modern battle cavalry” such as no other nation possessed. The Navy had built up from practically nothing. … From absolutely nothing, the Luftwaffe had built up a force of twenty-one squadrons with a personnel of 260,000 men. The armament industry, General Thomas said, was already producing more than it had during the peak of the last war and its output in most fields far exceeded that of any other country. In fact, total German rearmament, the General declared, was “probably unique in the world.”¹⁰¹

The weapons of Germany’s warfare played a significant part in the victories she won on the battlefield. One can only shudder at what might have happened if German technology had produced some of the weapons which were still in the developmental stages.

Having described the tremendous buildup of military weapons, Shirer makes a very interesting comment about the possibility of German victory: “Formidable as German military power was becoming at the beginning of the summer of 1939, the prospect of success in the war which Hitler was planning for the early fall depended on what kind of a war it was.”¹⁰²

Allow me to paraphrase and apply Shirer’s words to our passage in Galatians 5: the kind of war which is waged determines the success of the weapons employed. This same principle explains the failure of the legalism of the Judaizers to subdue the sins of the pagan Gentiles. The weapon of the Law was ineffective because of the nature of the war. In Ephesians 6, Paul demonstrates the need for spiritual weapons, based upon the fact that we are engaged in a spiritual warfare. Galatians 5 also describes a spiritual warfare, but it is a war within the soul of the saint, rather than the external war found in Ephesians. In Ephesians 6, spiritual weapons are needed because of the fallen angelic forces who are resisting the saints. In Galatians 5, grace is needed because of the fallen nature which is still within us, waging war against the Spirit.

The Judaizers erred in that they were attempting to fight the spiritual war with the weapons of the flesh. They erroneously believed that the only way to overcome the evils of the heathen society of that day was to arm themselves with the Old Testament Law. To seek to subdue sin by means of the flesh is like trying to put out a grease fire with water—it only makes matters worse. Paul’s argument in our text is intended to show that the nature of the spiritual war which is being waged within the saint is such that the Law promotes sin, while grace alone prevents it.

The purpose of this message is to expound this passage as a whole, especially in the light of the context. We shall then seek to find its application to our own lives. The next message will cover the same passage, focusing on the principles regarding the spiritual life. We will then survey some of the major views of the spiritual life in contemporary evangelism and evaluate them in the light of Scripture.

The context of our passage is crucial to our understanding of Paul’s words. Chapter 5 begins a new section. Chapters 1 and 2 are primarily written as a defense of Paul’s apostleship and his authority. Chapters 3 and 4 are intended to prove the superiority and priority of grace over the Law by developing the priority and superiority of the Abrahamic Covenant to the Mosaic. Paul shows in chapters 3 and 4 that the Law cannot produce righteousness, while chapters 5 and 6 show how righteousness is produced by grace through the Holy Spirit.

The first 12 verses of chapter 5 concentrate on the subject of freedom, the goal of our salvation (cf. 5:1). To be circumcised was to submit oneself to the Old Testament Law, thus exchanging freedom for bondage. In verses 13 and following, the goal of this freedom in Christ is expounded. Galatians 5:1-12 explains what the Christian is free from, and the remainder of the chapter expounds on what the Christian is free for.

If the broad context is that of the freedom of the Christian, the narrower context is that of the contention and strife which exists within the Galatian churches. You will notice that our passage is encircled, as it were, by strife and contention. In verse 15 we learn that the Galatian saints were “biting and devouring” each other. In verse 26, there is a final exhortation not to “become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.” The freedom which was granted at salvation was a freedom from servitude to servanthood. The Galatian saints were made free to serve one another. The practical problem was that they were so divided by friction and strife that serving one another was greatly hindered. The situation is similar to having a beautiful and expensive automobile, with a lifetime supply of gasoline, but without any oil for lubrication. Even the most precision engine (or perhaps I should say, especially the most precision engine) cannot function without oil. The unity and harmony of the Galatian churches was disrupted by strife.

Paul claims that such strife was the result of walking in the flesh, rather than of walking in the Spirit. Walking in the flesh was the direct result of the Galatians’ turning to another gospel, a gospel which added law-keeping to grace. Paul seeks to solve the practical problem of disunity by exposing its roots: legalism. He further attempts to convince his readers that legalism will only promote sin, rather than prevent it, because of the war which is being waged within the soul.

Freedom for Service
(5:13-15)

13 For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. 14 For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another.

Initially I viewed verses 13-15 as somewhat incidental, compared to the more important truths of “walking in the Spirit.”¹⁰³ These verses, however, are vital to understanding the realm in which “walking in the Spirit” is to take place. Paul is not discussing spirituality in a vacuum, but in a very practical context as described in verses 13-15.

For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole Law is fulfilled in one word, in the statement, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another.¹⁰⁴

Paul begins chapter 5 with the words, “It was for freedom that Christ set us free.” Verse 13 takes up the same theme but in a more precise way. Paul uses the term “only” to introduce a more restrictive view of the purpose of our freedom. The Judaizers reacted to Paul’s teaching because they feared that freedom would lead to license. A brief description of the evils of the Gentile world will help you understand the fears of the Judaizers.

The sexual life of the Graeco-Roman world in NT times was a lawless chaos. J. J. Chapman, describing the time in which Lucian lived, in the first half of the second century, writes: “Lucian lived in an age when shame seems to have vanished from the earth.” Demosthenes writes … “We keep mistresses for pleasure, concubines for the day-to-day needs of the body, but we have wives in order to produce children legitimately and to have a trustworthy guardian of our homes” (Against Neaera, quoted, Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae 573 B). … It is hardly possible to mention a great Greek figure who had not his hetaira, his mistress, and often these mistresses were the most beautiful and the most cultured women of their day. Alexander the Great had his Thais, … Aristotle had his Herpyllia, Plato his Archeaenassa, Pericles his Aspasia, Sophocles his Archippe. … “Chastity is simply a proof of ugliness” (Seneca, On Benefits 3.16.1-3). Innocence, says Seneca, is not rare, it is non-existent (On Anger 2,8). Juvenal paints the picture of the Roman woman passing the altar of Modesty with a cynical smile (Juvenal, Satires 6.308). “The greater the infamy, the wilder the delight,” said Tacitus (Tacitus, Annals 11.26).¹⁰⁵

This kind of depravity I would call “red-blooded Gentile immorality.” The unnatural vices, Barclay writes, were running rampant:

Still worse was the unnatural vice which was rampant. It began in the imperial household. Caligula notoriously lived in habitual incest with his sister Drusilla, and the lust of Nero did not even spare his mother Agrippina (Suetonius, Caligula 34; Nero 28).¹⁰⁶

The sin of homosexuality was even more prevalent in Paul’s day than it is today.

From the highest to the lowest society was riddled with homosexuality. This was a vice which Rome learned from Greece. J. J. Dollinger calls it “the great national disease of Greece” (J. J. Dollinger, The Gentile and the Jew, II, p. 239). … In one of his dialogues Lucian makes Lycinus relate: ‘It were better not to need marriage, but to follow Plato and Socrates and to be content with the love of boys’ (Lucian, The Lapiths 39). … Plato’s Symposium ranks as one of the great works of literature. Its subject is love, but it is homosexual love. Phaedrus begins the subject. “I know not,” he says, “any greater blessing to a young man who is beginning life than a virtuous lover, or to the lover than a beloved boy” (Plato, Symposium 178 D).

Gibbon writes: “Of the first fifteen Emperors, Claudius was the only one whose taste in love was entirely correct. Julius Caesar was notoriously the lover of King Nicomedes of Bithynia. ‘The queen’s rival,’ they called him and his passion was the subject of the ribald songs the soldiers sang. Nero ‘married’ a castrated youth called Sporus and went in marriage procession with him throughout the streets of Rome, and he himself was ‘married’ to a freedman called Doryphorus.”¹⁰⁷

Barclay draws the following conclusion: “It has been said that chastity was the one completely new virtue which Christianity introduced into the pagan world.”¹⁰⁸ With the prevalence of such immorality in the Gentile culture, it is easy to understand the apprehension of the Jewish legalist. To prevent such corruption they felt that the rigors and restrictions of the Law were best imposed upon the Gentile saint.

Nevertheless, the Judaizers were wrong. Paul’s words in verse 13 make it clear that the freedom which the gospel gives is not the freedom to sin, but freedom from sin. Biblical freedom does not cater to the flesh, but crucifies it (cf. v. 24). Indulging the flesh is merely slavery to it, and thus is not freedom at all (cf. John 8:34; Rom. 7:16). Whenever one is a servant of the flesh, one is in bondage to it. Paul asserts that there is freedom from bondage to sin. Biblical freedom is not freedom to serve sin. It is not a license to immorality and all of the Gentile paganisms of the day. Paul’s word to the Judaizers is “the liberty of the gospel produces what you want—freedom from sin. The Law can never have this result.” Rather than being an opportunity to sin, freedom is a call to love. Paul urges the Galatian believers to “through love serve one another” (v. 13). Thus servanthood is the goal of freedom. We are free from sin. We are free for service to one another; service that is in love, not sensuality.

Verse 14 further destroys the argumentation of the Judaizers. The Judaizers taught that men needed to keep the Law. Paul has been contending that anyone who places himself under the Law by submitting to circumcision is only destined for failure, because it is impossible to perfectly keep the Law. However, even though the Law is wrong as a means to obtain righteousness, it is a commendable goal. This point is of vital importance. The readers of Galatians assume that the Law has no value because they have misinterpreted statements about being free from the Law and having died to the Law. Paul corrects this misunderstanding and states that the Law, in terms of a standard of righteousness, is valid. The righteousness which the Law describes is still a standard for today. While Law is a valid standard it cannot be a source of righteousness. The Judaizers incorrectly taught that the Law was a source of righteousness. They assumed that they could be righteous by keeping the Law. The Law’s standard will be fulfilled by those who walk in the Spirit as Paul makes clear in Romans 8.

For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and death. For what the Law could not do (as a source), weak as it was through the flesh, God did sending His own son in the likeness of sinful flesh as an offering for sin. He condemned sin in the flesh in order that the requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit (Rom. 8:2).

Men fulfill the Law, not by submitting to it as the Judaizers advocated but rather by walking in the Spirit. Paul does not discard the Law. Instead he views it as God intended it—a standard of righteousness.

The goal of the Law, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (v. 14b) is rather ironic in light of verse 15. Paul summarizes the requirement of the Law in this way because of the conflict within the Galatian church. The readers of this epistle may have been somewhat perplexed at Paul’s crystallization of the Law in light of the teaching of Christ. Why does Paul not refer to “the great and foremost commandment” (Matt. 22:38)?

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And He said to him “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind” (Matt. 22:36-37).

Paul has been talking about devotion to Christ. His theme in these verses has not changed. Devotion to Christ is impossible without love for the brethren.

If someone says, “I love God and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from Him, that one who loves God should love his brother also” (1 John 4:20-21).

The great summary of the Law with regard to others was also stated by Christ, “The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matt. 22:31). Paul refers to this condensation of the Law because of the conflict in the church. Ironically, the Law under which the Gentiles placed themselves condemned them. The goal of the Law is brotherly love, yet verse 15 clearly indicates their failure in keeping this aspect of the Law. When the Law is promoted as the source of righteousness it has a boomerang effect. Instead of producing righteousness, it leads to selfishness. Rather than unity and harmony, rather than service one to another, the Galatians were biting and devouring each other. Like cats and dogs the Galatians were continually fighting with each other. Paul warned them that such action would eventually destroy them, “Take care lest you be consumed.” Rather than serving one another, they were sacrificing one another.

Initially I viewed verses 13-15 as a parenthesis, something to quickly read so that I could address the walk in the Spirit. After further reflection I am inclined to take these verses as the introduction. In fact, we will not understand the walk in the Spirit that Paul describes unless we understand as well the problem in Galatia. The church was riddled with strife and contention because they placed themselves under the Law, rather than fulfilling it by loving their neighbor as themselves. Thus walking in the Spirit is commanded in light of the goal of freedom, which is to serve one another in love.

Walking by the Spirit
(5:15-26)

15 But if you bite and devour one another, take care lest you be consumed by one another. 16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh. 17 For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law. 19 Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, 21 envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you just as I have forewarned you that those who practice such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.

Verses 16 and 17 are vitally important. Paul writes, “But I say, …” which I take to be a contrast to the biting and devouring one another in verse 15. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh” (v. 16).

Paul previously argues in verse 13 that we are not freed in order to serve the flesh. However, in verse 15, Paul describes the Galatians as doing precisely this. They were serving themselves; that is to say, they were serving the flesh. They were not serving one another. Thus in verse 16, Paul capsulizes the solution to their selfishness. He asserts that fleshly desires are combatted by walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit results in serving one another through love.

Verse 17 explains the crux of the conflict by describing the nature of the war within. “For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please.” Within us rages a battle between the flesh and the Spirit. It is critical to have a correct understanding of “the flesh.” The ancient Greeks believed that the real problem was a battle between the mind and the body. Thus some have incorrectly identified “the flesh” with the body. It is not entirely true and is an error still propagated today. One misguided teacher has called the body the “carton,” and he says it is the source of evil. This identification is incorrect because the body is to be presented to God as a holy, living sacrifice. We do not present something evil to God. The body is something which is to be transformed. As a matter of fact, our body will be transformed and glorified (Phil. 3:21). The body is not evil; the flesh is evil. The flesh does refer to our bodily appetites. The flesh is our fallen humanity, our fallen humanness. It is what we are apart from Christ.

We received the Spirit as a result of faith in Christ, and the Spirit is opposed to the flesh. Paul laid this foundation for the Galatians previously in chapter 3.

You foolish Galatians, who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Christ Jesus was publicly portrayed as crucified? This is the only thing I want to find out from you: did you receive the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by hearing with faith? (Gal. 3:1-2).

In the above verses, Paul refers to the initial reception of the Holy Spirit that comes at conversion. He asked, “How did the Spirit come? Did the Spirit come by law-works? Did it come by submitting yourself to the Law? Did it come, so to speak, when you were circumcised?” No. The Spirit came by faith alone, as found in the example of Abram. Paul continues: “Are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh?” (Gal. 3:3).

Do you notice that those are two opposing forces—flesh and spirit? The following verses continue the dichotomy between the flesh and the Spirit. “Did you suffer so many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain? Does He then, who provides you with the Spirit and works miracles among you, do it by the works of the Law or by hearing with faith?” (Gal. 3:4-5).

A distinct relationship is revealed, the relationship between faith and the Spirit, the Law and the flesh. Faith is related to the Spirit. Faith receives the Spirit of God, the agent of both salvation and sanctification. Law-keeping relies upon the flesh. When Paul speaks about the flesh and Spirit being at war one with another he writes, “For these things are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please” (v. 17b).

What exactly does Paul mean when he says, “… you may not do the things that you please”? In the light of Romans 7, I believe that Paul means we are unable to do the things that we want to do, that is, the things that we know are good. In other words, I believe it is those things which the Law requires, the standard of righteousness. Thus we are unable to do righteousness because the flesh and the Spirit are opposed to one another. The Galatians had opted to resist sin by submitting to the Law. However, Paul has demonstrated that submitting to the Law and adopting works results in surrendering faith. When the Law is not only the standard but the source of righteousness, there is only one means through which to keep it; that is, through the flesh. Since the flesh and the Spirit are opposed to one another, the Spirit doesn’t empower men who are under Law. The Spirit empowers men who live by faith. Thus Paul reasons, you cannot do the things which the Law requires. You cannot keep the standards of the Law in the power of the flesh because the flesh is opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit is opposed to the flesh. Consequently, if you are under Law your only power is the flesh, yet walking in the Spirit is the only means to serve one another in love. Men are defeated in their good intentions by submitting to the Law. To place oneself under the Law is to place oneself in a position where only the power of the flesh and the desires of the flesh are operative. Trying to overcome sin with Law is something like trying to put out a grease fire with water. All it does is multiply the problem. It makes sin grow rather than reducing it.

In verses 18 and following Paul characterizes the man who walks in the Spirit as a man who is not under the Law. “But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the Law” (v. 18). The elaborate description of the works of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit are given to demonstrate that if you are led by the Spirit you are not under the Law. We will address further the deeds of the flesh and the fruit of the Spirit in my next message. But I do want you to notice that the things which are described as the deeds of the flesh and the works of the Spirit are not all inclusive. These are not all of the things which are the works of the flesh, nor are they all of the things which are the fruit of the Spirit. Most of us probably assume these lists are complete and use them to assess our spiritual condition. Notice the wording of verse 21, “Those who practice such things …” Thus the works of the flesh that are listed are a mere sampling. Again, notice the wording in verse 23 in reference to the fruit of the Spirit: “against such things there is no law.” The fruits of the Spirit which Paul lists are mere examples.

The fruits of the Spirit and the works of the flesh which Paul has listed, were chosen because of the particular problem of the Galatians. The church was beset with strife, described as biting and devouring one another. When Paul recounted the deeds of the flesh, immorality, impurity, sensuality, I honestly believe that the Galatians were saying “Preach it brother, preach it! Oh, that’s the Gospel! Wow, look at him, coming down on sin!” It must have really tickled the ears of the Galatians because Judaism despised immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, and sorcery (vv. 19b-20a). Those were the “filthy five.”

They agreed with Paul that the “filthy five” shouldn’t be practiced. What they weren’t ready to hear was the rest of the list: “enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these …” (vv. 20-21a). Paul grouped them together as from the same source. Paul categorizes the Galatians “socially acceptable” sins with those that they would abhor committing. He wants to impress upon the Galations that they are acting in the flesh. Jesus severely dealt with the scribes and the Pharisees because of the same issue. The scribes and the Pharisees were basically law-abiding citizens. With, or around whom would you rather live? In what town would you rather live? A Pharisees’ town or a Gentile pagan town? I would choose the Pharisee town any day. However, the Lord reprimanded the scribes and Pharisees, “You white-washed sepulchres, you blind leaders of the blind, you snakes!” Yet He counseled the woman caught in the act of adultery, “Go and sin no more” (John 8:11). Their socially acceptable sin is abominable in God’s sight because it comes out of a self-righteous heart. In our churches today we sometimes tolerate “socially acceptable” sin, while condemning those which are unacceptable (to us, at least).

Just as the deeds of the flesh were selected to address the problem in the Galatian church, the fruits of the Spirit are also samples relating to this strife. I see a relationship between the gifts of the Spirit and the fruit of the Spirit. Let’s call the gifts of the Spirit charisma and the fruit of the Spirit character. They are both manifestations of grace. Is not the source of the fruit of the Spirit grace and not works? The word for spiritual gifts, charismata, is derived from the word for grace, charis. Let us compare spiritual gifts to gasoline and the fruit of the Spirit to oil. Even though gasoline makes a car run, without oil to lubricate the engine it would go nowhere. In the same way, spiritual gifts are a manifestation of God’s grace in the life of a believer, but without the fruit of the Spirit such gifts accomplish nothing.

An unbelieving psychiatrist, Victor Frankel, has given me further insight into this text, although his subject matter vastly differs. He describes the pursuit of happiness in the following words: “As for the pleasure principle I would go even farther in my criticism. It is my contention that in the final analysis that the pleasure is self-defeating.¹⁰⁹

Victor Frankel is talking about the pursuit of pleasure as a goal. “The more one aims at pleasure, the more his aim is missed.”¹¹⁰ In other words, the very pursuit of happiness is what thwarts it. Then he continues: “And that is why one need not pursue happiness, one need not care for it once there is a reason for it. But even more, one cannot pursue it. To the extent to which one makes happiness the objective of his motivation, he necessarily makes it the object of his attention.”¹¹¹

Later in the book he addresses the topic of the status drive. He gives the illustration of himself seeking something selfishly. He had published sixteen books, however one book was written anonymously. In an agreement with the publisher the German translation would be published anonymously. He purposely wrote it anonymously to conceal his identity, and the book turned out to be his bestseller.

Let me relate Victor Frankel’s theory about the pursuit of happiness to the message of the book of Galatians. The primary reason that the Galatians were deceived into pursuing legalism was because “being spiritual” became their goal. I believe that spirituality is never a legitimate goal. Take for example, the life and ministry of our Lord and the disciples. The disciples were concerned about spiritual status. In my estimation, in Christian circles today we attempt to become “spiritual” to attain status in the church. In the world, wealth gives prestige, in the church spirituality gives status. Do you understand why the disciples were concerned about who was going to be first in the Kingdom of God? They were status seekers. They looked for spiritual success to gain prestige. The Lord’s response to this kind of thinking was, “Whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant” (Matt. 20:26).

Verse 13 of our passage contains the same message that our Lord conveyed to the disciples. Service, not spirituality, is our goal. I maintain spirituality, like happiness, is something that is unattainable when pursued. It cannot be a legitimate goal. This helps us to understand why our Lord Jesus said to His disciples, “Abide in Me.” The goal is abiding in Christ, and the results are fruit-bearing. We have reversed the goal and the results. We have made fruit-bearing the goal because we think that is spiritual. We look at abiding in Him as the necessary evil, or the necessary mechanism to achieve fruitfulness.

When spirituality becomes our goal one of the consequences is that we become self-centered. We begin to ask ourselves, how am I doing? This is why we are so preoccupied with self-image. I suggest that self-image problems are the result of improper orientation. We are self-centered in orientation instead of being service-centered. In our passage Paul states that our goal is to serve one another.

Think through the Book of Philippians, in the light of what I’ve been saying about servanthood with regard to one another. Servanthood is the goal, not spirituality. When we seek spirituality as the highest aim, we look at distinctions as the basis for elevating ourselves above others. This problem was prevalent in Corinth, for example. When we seek to serve, we see distinctions as the opportunity to minister. We see that the differences in the body are designed by God so that the body can minister to itself in love.

Paul wrote the Book of Philippians in prison. In chapter 1 he sets forth the problems related to his imprisonment, two of which were his uncertain future and the fact that others were preaching the gospel in such a way as to distress Paul. How would you feel, and how would you respond, especially if you were preoccupied with being noted as spiritual? You can imagine the response of the other preachers who preached Christ out of selfish ambition. They said to their congregation, “We really need to pray for Paul. It’s obvious he’s under divine discipline. He’s in jail. God has taken away his ministry. God is rebuking him. Let’s pray for Paul that God would restore him.” Paul’s response to his situation was totally different, “Nevertheless Christ is being preached, and in that I rejoice.” Paul responded this way because he was a servant, not a status-seeker who wanted to be esteemed as spiritual.

Later in the chapter Paul writes that his uncertain future may include either life or death. If death was the outcome he would go to be with Christ. If not, Paul stated that he would labor on and continue to serve the saints. Paul had a servant’s heart, and was willing to do whatever advanced the cause of Christ. Paul drew his example from Christ, described as the suffering servant in chapter 2. I’ve always resisted the interpretation of the passage which says, “Let each one of you esteem others better than himself.” It has always troubled me whether the words in Greek mean “more important than,” or “better than.” I finally see the wisdom of the word “better.” What is the mentality of a servant? He sees others as over him. What is the mentality of one who chooses to be spiritual? He aspires to leadership. He aspires to have people serve him. The mentality of a servant is the mentality that sees others as better than and more important than himself.

In Philippians chapter 3 Paul is renouncing the error of the teaching of the circumcisers that men must submit to the Law to obtain righteousness. These men aspired to achieve their prescribed standard of spirituality. Instead Paul sought only to know Christ and Him crucified, the power of His resurrection. I suggest that one of the greatest problems in the church is that we’ve been seeking spirituality and not servanthood. Our focus is shifting from Christ, and we’re beginning to ask, “How spiritual are we?” We really cannot answer that question. I think that’s why Paul said in 1 Corinthians “I don’t judge myself” (cf. 1 Cor. 4:4). Spirituality is God’s business. Abiding is our responsibility. Serving is our responsibility. Whenever we shift our focus from Christ, even to such a pious-sounding commodity as spirituality, we begin to emphasize outward, external standards. This is the essence of legalism.

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99 Winston Churchill, The Second World War: The Gathering Storm (Boston: The Houghton Mifflin Company, 1948), p. 443.

100 William Shirer, The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1960), pp. 625-626.

101 Ibid., p. 489.

102 Ibid.

103 This thinking was not helped by the heading provided by the editors of some Bibles and by the way some commentators divide the chapter. The NIV is an exception, taking verses 13-15 as the introductory words of Paul under the category of “Life by the Spirit.”

104 I am quoting from the NASV because I prefer its more literal renderings of this passage, especially in the light of the need to carefully understand the meaning of technical terms such as “flesh,” which the NIV renders more loosely “sinful nature.”

105 Quoted by William Barclay, Flesh and Spirit: An Examination of Galatians 5:19-23 (Grand Rapids: Baker Book House [paperback], 1976), pp. 24-25.

106 Ibid., p. 26.

107 Ibid., pp. 26-27.

108 Ibid., p. 27.

109 Viktor Frankl, The Will to Meaning (New York and Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, n.d.), p. 33.

110 Ibid.

111 Ibid., p. 34.

While giving instructions and important advice to the believers at Corinth because of their many and varied disorders, Paul reminds them of the high value and necessity of faith, hope and love, the last of these being the most significant:

For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. (1Cor. 13:12-13)¹

Chapter 13 of First Corinthians lies in the midst of a discussion concerning spiritual gifts and godly living (chs.12-14). Having pointed out the diversity of gifts available to believers and the necessity of maintaining unity among themselves (ch.12), before moving on to a discussion concerning the superiority of prophecy to the gift of tongues (ch.14), Paul turns to the key subject of love (chs.12:31-13:13).

Paul begins by pointing out the necessity of love, declaring that underlying the successful use of spiritual gifts and their great value is the character quality of love (13:1-3). Having then discussed some of the characteristics of love (vv. 4-6), Paul concludes that love, “bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things: (v.7). Paul then goes on to assure his readers of the permanence and superiority of love (vv. 8-13). As Hodge points out,

What Paul wishes to impress upon the Corinthians is, that the gifts in which they so much prided themselves, were small matters compare to what is in reserve for the people of God…faith, hope and love. These are the three great permanent Christian graces, as opposed to the mere temporary gifts of prophecy, miracles and tongues. ²

In the midst of his discussion in chapter 13 Paul has touched on the subjects of faith (v. 2) and hope (v.7), while emphasizing the subject of love. He now brings that discussion to its climax by declaring that love is indeed vastly superior to faith and hope (v. 13).

In the following study we shall examine the nature and high quality of faith, hope, and love before making some concluding applications for living a more rewarding Christian life.

The High Value of Faith

In viewing the many emphases of faith throughout the Scriptures, whether in the Old Testament or New Testament, one thing is certain: faith is a basic and necessary quality of the believer. Moreover, true faith

in the vocabulary of Christians is not only belief and trust, but also faithfulness and loyalty. Put technically and linguistically, ‘faith’ is both active and passive in sense. It is not only the inspiration of all religion but is also a moral excellence.³

Such was expressed and maintained long ago by the prophet Habakkuk: “The righteous one will live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4b; HCSB). So important was this text that it was cited three times in the New Testament, twice by Paul (Rom. 1:17: Gal. 3:11) and once by the author of Hebrews (Heb. 10:35-39). In Romans 1:17 Paul emphasizes as did Habakkuk that the person who is justified by faith is the one who truly lives. Moreover, Paul “emphasizes that man’s right standing before God is not based on works (cf. Eph. 2:8), not even those of the law (cf. Gal. 3:11), but only on genuine faith.”⁴ The author of Hebrews employs Habakkuk’s text in a distinctive manner, which mirrors Habakkuk’s emphasis on a faith that is truly faithful.

Quoting the text of the LXX [The Greek Septuagint] (though reading “my” after “righteous one” and inverting the final two words of the verse: “My righteous one will live by faith[fulness]”) the author of Hebrews applies the outworking of the believer’s faith to his living in the certain hope of Christ’s [second] coming.⁵

Thus he says,

In a very little while,
The coming one will come and not delay.
But my righteous one will live by faith;
And if he draws back,
My soul has no pleasure in him. (Heb. 10:37-38).

In all of this we see that true faith is more than just an emotional feeling or even a belief. True faith is a whole-soul commitment to God.

Such is evident already in the David’s words to the people of Israel in the well-known wisdom psalm, Psalm 37.⁶ Wisdom psalms do indeed contain significant advice for today’s Christians. They have many crucial features such as: (1) The exaltation of God-given wisdom in the face of life’s difficulties; (2) Prescriptions for the godly life, while describing contrasts between the righteous and the wicked; (3) Suggestions for the righteous as to how to struggle with the problem of the apparent successes and prosperity of the wicked, perhaps even while they endure difficulties and suffering; (4) The importance of faith and obedience and trust in the Lord; and (5) The need to study and learn from God’s Word.

Psalm 37 is reflective of such wisdom, for it contains collected observations on life, its rewards and punishments, both now and in the future. It provides instruction in wise living for the reader. The Psalm may be outlined in the following fashion:

I. Opening contrast between the wicked and the righteous (vv. 1-7)

A. Counsel against overreacting concerning the wicked (vv. 1-2)

B. The importance of total trust in the Lord (vv. 3-7)

II. Further contrasts between the wicked and the righteous (vv. 8-22)

A. Additional counsel against overreacting concerning the wicked (vv. 8-15)

B. The advantages of the righteous (vv. 16-22)

III. The high value of being righteous before the Lord (vv. 23-40)

A. The blessings enjoyed by the righteous (vv. 23-34)

B. Concluding contrast between the righteous and the wicked (vv. 35-40)

The focus in this study concerning Psalm 37 is on verses 3-7 in which genuine faith is explained:

Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and cultivate faithfulness.
delight yourself in the LORD;
and He will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the LORD,
trust also in Him and He will do it.

…

Rest [Be still] in the LORD and wait patiently for Him. (Ps. 37:3-5,7a; NASB)

True faith may be defined as a whole-soul committal to God: (1) The believer’s intellect must encase complete trust in the Lord; (2) His emotions must desire what God designed and desires for him; and (3) His will must involve a complete commitment to the Lord. Thus he is one whose will “is thoroughly blended in love” with God’s will.⁷ When such is the case, God will increase the believer’s righteous nature with the result that he will “wait patiently” for the Lord. Interestingly enough, within the psalmist’s presentation of the nature of true faith one may notice some accompanying rewards. God will richly reward believers whose “Hope is in the LORD” (v. 9; NIV) and will keep extending His love toward them “and will not forsake his faithful ones” (v. 28; NIV). ⁸ Thus,

The believer who has a firm, unreserved belief in the Lord, one which involves absolute trust, will find his “delight” in the Lord, and devote himselfto God’s will and purposes for his life. This kind of faith begins and ends in a total trust, which finds such complete confidence in the Lord that the believer can rest his entire life and future in the Lord.⁹

As the hymn writer declares concerning complete trust in Jesus Christ:

My faith has found a resting place—
Not in device nor creed:
I trust the Ever living One—
His wounds for me shall plead.¹⁰

Having explored the nature and value of faith, we turn to those associated with hope, before turning to their climax in love.

The High Value of Hope

The psalmist builds upon the theme of hope in God in a series of refrains in the psalm that appears in the collection of psalms known as Psalms 42 and 43. Thus he says,

Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why are you disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise Him,
my Savior and my God. (Ps 42:5; cf. v.11; Ps 43:5; NIV).

This psalm is often understood as a prayer psalm and to be sure, it does praise God. Yet, it also contains the distinctive features of a worship psalm. Thus the psalmist expresses a strong longing for God as well as the psalmist’s fond remembrance of his own past ministry for the Lord (42:1-4). This longing also features the psalmist’s lament as he deplores his present condition (vv. 6-10) even though he remains certain that God is available to him:

By day the LORD directs his love,
at night His song is within me—
a prayer to the God of my life. (v. 8)

Accordingly, he goes on to pray to the Available One for vindication and restoration to his former status (Ps. 43:1-4).

In addition to the refrain in which the psalmist praises God in full assurance of hope and declares the Lord is “My Savior and my God” (42:5, 11; 43:5), he also praises the Lord first, as “The Living God (42:2); second, as the “the God of my life” and “my Rock” (42:8-9; and third, as “my joy and delight” (43:4). This psalm is a firm reminder that the hope of salvation is centered in God alone (cf. Ps 62:5-7; NIV). Moreover, the Lord is the one sure hope of safety and deliverance in times of danger. Accordingly, Paul testifies to the Corinthians that in his ministry for Christ he has experienced this and is confident of God’s continued deliverance in whatever lies ahead: “He delivered us from so great a risk of death, and he will deliver us. We have set our hope on him that he will deliver yet again” (2 Cor. 1:10).

Indeed, the believer’s very hope is based upon his salvation. It is a salvation that comes via the grace of God (cf. 2 Thess. 2:16). The Lord has granted salvation through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ:

We must stay sober by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation. For God did not destine us for wrath but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are alert or asleep we will come to life together with him. (1 Thess. 5:8-10; cf. 1 Tim. 1:1).

It is a glorious salvation that has brought the believer into an eternal living union with Jesus Christ, one that may be described as “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). As we have noted elsewhere,

As united to Christ the Christian has not only a sure hope of a glorious future but an ever present source of strength in his spiritual service (2 Cor. 12:9). As believers await the assured hope of their eternal destiny with Christ, not only do they have the stabilizing influences of joy and peace, but they have the high privilege of serving him in their earthly walk. It is to be a labor of love (Eph. 4:15-16).¹¹

Accordingly, in Ephesians 1:18-19, Paul encourages each believer to understand “the hope to which he has called you, the spiritual riches that await the saints in glory, and the spiritual power that is available to the saints now.”¹²

This salvation is indeed an assured salvation that is not only based on the believer’s union with the resurrected Christ, but gives the believer an assured hope of his own resurrection from the dead (Acts 23:6; 26:6-8). It is a hope reserved for and guaranteed only to believers. Thus Paul declares that unbelievers “have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). Ah! But what a blessed hope lies ahead for the believer:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven with a shout of command, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trumpet of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will suddenly be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will always be with the Lord. (1Thess. 4:16-17)

Meanwhile the believer is to live “a life pleasing to God,”¹³ which includes a holy life, loving association with fellow believers, and to live an active, honorable, respectable life before all men (1 Thess. 4:1-12).

Peter points out that Christ’s resurrection provides for the believer a “living hope” (1 Pet. 1:3) to be part of the Lord’s everlasting family, “who by God’s power are protected through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time” (1 Pet. 1: 5). As English declares,

Here is a hope that is real; it is living. Because Christ arose from the grave, from among the dead, we know that His death satisfied the justice of a holy God; we know that we are justified; we know that He conquered the grave and death; we know that we, too, shall be raised; we know that His Word is sure and that He will come again. This hope is our present possession.¹⁴

Ours is indeed an assured heavenly hope. Thus Paul says to the Colossian believers that,

We heard about your faith in Christ Jesus and the love that you have for all the saints. Your faith and love have arisen from the hope laid up for you in heaven, which you have heard about in the message of truth, the gospel that has come to you. (Col.1: 4-6).

Once again we see that hope has a vital connection with faith and love. Both have provided for the believer “a confident hope,” which not only gives assurance of a heavenly future, but which enables the believer to live a godly life here and now. As Bruce remarks, “ The phrase ‘faith in Christ Jesus’ indicates not so much that Christ Jesus is the object of their faith as that he is the living environment within which their faith is exercised.”¹⁵ As Baxter summarizes it,

Then let me sanctify each day
By prayerful service while I may;
Until at last I share with Thee
The hope “laid up in Heaven” for me.¹⁶

On the basis of Christ’s finished work the believer has a confident hope of an eternal life with God. Death does not end it all for the believer, because in God’s kindness and love He has provided salvation “through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that having been justified by his grace, we might become heirs having the hope (NET, “confident expectation”) of eternal life” (Tit. 3: 6-7; NIV).¹⁷ So it is that the believer may lead a fully satisfying life here and now in eager anticipation of an eternity with the Lord.

However greatly a believer may enjoy and profit by matters in this life, no matter how satisfying, it is only a foretaste of a greater, fuller, more abundant and blessed life in eternity with God through the finished work of Christ. As the hymn writer expresses it,

His grace has planned it all—‘Tis mine but to believe,
And recognize His work of love, and Christ receive.
For me He died, for me He lives;
And everlasting life and light He freely gives.¹⁸

Fanny Crosby declares,

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

Accordingly, this “confident expectation” should lead the believer to a life of faith and faithfulness, eager to be “engaging in good works” (v. 8; NET; cf. vv.1-2), while he waits with anticipation the trip to Heaven and of the return of Christ (cf. Tit. 2: 11-14). For as Jesus himself promised his disciples, “If I go and make ready a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, so that where I am you may be too” (John 14:3).

In sum, as Barclay said, “The Christian hope is not simply a trembling, hesitant hope that perhaps the promises of God may be true. It is the confident expectation that they cannot be anything else than true.”¹⁹

Faith, hope, and love are indeed prominent in the Scriptures. Faith and hope appear together at the onset of the great faith chapter in the book of Hebrews (Heb. 11). On the basis of a settled, active, and confident faith in God, the believer can live a life of assured hope; “Now faith is being sure of what hope for, being convinced of what we do not see” (Heb 11:1). Here, “The author gives not so much a definition of it. Faith, he contends gives reality… to ‘what we hope for’ and firm evidence…‘of things we cannot see’.” ²⁰ Lightfoot suggests that both “are probably to be taken together, forming one declaration: faith is the full assurance and inner conviction that gives men the power to stake their lives on unseen realities.”²¹

Thus the believer may enjoy life even now whatever the difficulties, because his faith produces a settled life of hope for a far better land and life.

As the hymn writer declares,

My hope for eternity rests in Thy hand,
My heart deeply longs for that far better land,
Where one day complete in Thyself I shall stand;
My hope is in Thee.²²

The Great Value of Love

Having considered several aspects of faith and hope, we turn to the theme of love. We should note first of all that, like holiness and truth, love has its origin in God’s attribute of perfection. By it the Lord communicates himself, as so often expressed by his mercy and grace toward man (e.g., 2 Cor. 1:3; Eph. 2:4. Titus 2:11-12). Like faith and hope, for man to love involves the whole soul. As Barclay rightly points out, “It takes all of a man to achieve Christian love; it takes not only his heart; it takes his mind and his will as well.”²³ As Paul encourages the Colossian believers,

As the elect of God, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with a heart of mercy, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience, bearing well with one another and forgiving one another. If someone happens to have a complaint against anyone else, just as the Lord has forgiven you so you also forgive others. And to these virtues and love, which is the perfect bond. (Col. 3:12-14)

Having been redeemed by God’s perfect love through the sacrifice of his beloved Son, Jesus Christ (John 3:16), guided by the indwelling Holy Spirit (cf. John 16:7-8) the believer is able to go on to greater spiritual perfection. As the Apostle John observes, “If we love one another, God resides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we reside in God and he in us: in that he has given us of his Spirit” (1John 4:12-13).

Although the term “love” appears in various ways in the Scriptures, whether in the Old Testament or the New Testament, our concern is in its relation to faith and hope as developed by the Apostle Paul in 1Corinthians, 12:31-13:13. In this classic discussion of love Paul points out that love is the ultimate spiritual gift. It is a “way that is beyond comparison” (1Cor. 12:31). As Paul begins to depict the superiority of love, he points out that however valuable and powerful faith may be, it is overshadowed by love; “If I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing” (1 Cor. 13:2). The faith that Paul discusses here is not saving faith. Rather, it denotes the believer’s trust in God to be able to accomplish whatever is necessary in serving the Lord. Truly, it is an active faith. Nevertheless, the exercise of this gift of faith is impossible without God’s superintending and enabling love. Both the deed and its doer are valueless without love. As MacArthur remarks, “Even with this wonderful gift from God---of making the impossible possible—Paul says a Christian is nothing if he does not have love.”²⁴

With such love, however, the believer may be confident that faith can and will produce good works for the Lord. Citing verses two and three Hodge adds, “Neither intellectual gifts nor attainments, nor power, without love, are of any real value...All outward acts of beneficence are of no avail without love.”²⁵

Thus active faith has its origin in and is encased in God’s bestowal of love and does accomplish a ministry for the Lord. It is for the Lord; it is not designed to embellish pride or self-glorification, nor does it operate through personal power or self-confidence. True faith is a gift from a loving Lord given in order to accomplish his will and contributes to the believer’s spiritual growth. Therefore, a believer should live in a whole-soul faith that decides, desires, and determines to think and act immersed in the outpouring of God’s love.

Having shown that whole-soul faith is encased in God’s love, Paul moves on (vv. 4-7), building on the fact that without love, “I receive no benefit” (v.3). With God’s love in control many benefits do accrue and become active in the believer’s life, such as patience and kindness and truth. Moreover, as the believer lives out his life he is not self-seeking or self-centered. Quite the contrary, “love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things” (v. 7). As Baker points out in this statement the two outer words,

“bears” and “endures” are nearly synonymous in depicting love as rising out of the real-life struggles that people face. The two inner words, “believes” and “hopes” overlap in describing the character quality that emerges out of the present struggles wherein one trusts that these struggles move toward a more meaningful future.²⁶

The realization that verse 7 is written in a chiastic format underscores the fact that belief and hope are central to the message contained in this verse. The believer’s whole-soul assured hope is the result of being the recipient of God’s love. Such love produces a settled, confident hope that enables the believer to face whatever comes to pass in this life with eager anticipation of a far, far better future. As Verbrugge observes,

“Love “Always hopes”; loving people keep looking ahead to better days, for they know that God has sent his Spirit to work out his will in his people (cf. Php. 2:12b-13; 3:14). Love “always perseveres”; loving people stand firm in the midst of trials and hardships and do not give up the ship.²⁷

As the hymn writer points out,

The King of love my Shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am His
and He is mine forever.

…

And so through all the length of days
Thy goodness faileth never;
Good Shepherd, may I sing Thy praise
within Thy house forever.²⁸

In addition to the virtues, values, and excellencies of love mentioned in verses 4-8, Paul goes on to point out that, unlike those gifts that are designed for the believer’s good and spiritual growth in this earthly life, “Love, never ends” (v.8). Even knowledge will give way to a more perfect understanding of reality (v. 12). Paul then sums up his discussion by saying, “And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love” (v. 13). As great and wonderful as a whole-soul commitment in faith and the confident expectation of a glorious future hope are in this present age (and surely they are), love is the greatest spiritual attribute. This is true, “For love covers not only what we experience in our relations to others but what we experience from God himself.”²⁹ To this conclusion MacArthur adds that love is especially important,

not only because, even in this temporal life, where we now live, love is supreme. Love already is the greatest not only because it will outlast the other virtues, beautiful and necessary as they are, but because it is inherently greater by being the most God-like. God does a not have faith or hope, but “God is love” (1 John 4:8).³⁰

Yes, as Paul goes on to discuss in 1 Corinthians 14, the ability to communicate God’s truth in many languages can be valuable, and even more so the gift of prophecy, yet love is by far the best. As we have noted above, this is because love is an attribute of God himself.

Whether faith and hope will exist in the believer’s after-life has been debated by many scholars. Our point simply is that whether this is the case or not, they are crucial to our present earthly life because they are immersed in God’s love, which is itself an essential, revealed character attribute of God’s perfection. As I have remarked elsewhere, “True Christian love reflects and acts in accordance with God’s own love. For a Christian’s whole-soul attitude toward others is to love others and seek their highest good—no matter who or what—just as God does (Matt. 5:43-48).”³¹ May we, therefore, so live our lives that the love of God is reflected in and through us. Just as God loved the world so much that he gave his Son, Jesus Christ, to die in order that people may have eternal life, so may we in love desire to see our fellow man become part of God’s everlasting family. May they join us in singing,

I’m so glad I’m part of the family of God—
I’ve been washed in the fountain, cleansed by His blood!
Joint heirs with Jesus as we travel this sod—
for I’m part of the family, the family of God.³²

Concluding Observations and Applications

Faith, hope and love occur together in many contexts as the following examples demonstrate. Thus the author of Hebrews points out that these three virtues can work together effectively saying,

Let us draw near with a sincere heart in the assurance that faith brings, because we have had our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed in pure water. And let us hold unwaveringly to the hope that we confess, for the one who made the promise is trustworthy. And let us take thought of how to spur one another on to love and good works. (Heb. 10: 22-24)

His stress is on the importance of an active faith, which should undergird all of our doings even as he goes on to say, “Faith is being sure of what we hope for; being convinced of what we do not see.” (Heb. 11:1; cf. Heb. 6: 10-12). Indeed, faith in Christ’s finished redemption should provide an impetus to hold fast (cf. 3:6, 14) to this assured hope regardless of life’s difficulties or opportunities (cf. 1 Pet 3:15). As Bruce expresses it, “Our hope is based on the unfailing promise of God; why should we not cherish it confidently and share it boldly?”³³ Both faith and hope should spur the believer on so as to be an example, encouragement, and support to an active life lived in God’s love. Moreover, believers should seek to love others even as God loves them. This is especially true for the believing community. As Hughes points out,

It is important … that the reality of Christian love should be demonstrated in the personal relationships and mutual concerns of the Christian community. And it will be found that not only does love promote fellowship but also that fellowship stimulates love, because it is by meeting together as a true community that Christians have the opportunity for encouraging one another by mutual support, comfort, and exhortation.³⁴

In sum, Michaels observes, “Hope in Hebrews is a faithful or persistent hope, and love is a faithful or enduring love. All three rely on the faithfulness of God.”³⁵

The Apostle Paul employs the triad of faith, hope and love several times. Thus in Romans 5:1-5 he stresses the fact genuine faith brings the believer to peace with God through the finished work of Christ and a life of faithfulness. Such faith gives the believer a conscious sense of joyful hope of a glorious life in God’s love given through the Holy Spirit. Such hope does not disappoint, for as Moo says, “Paul is asserting two things at once: that God’s love has been poured in our hearts in the past, and that this love is now within us. And this love is conveyed to our sensations by the Holy Spirit, who resides in every believer.”³⁶

In Galatians 5:5-6 Paul’s emphasis is that the faith that produces hope is produced by “faith working in love,” which enables the believer to be led by the Holy Spirit for “the hope of righteousness” (v.5). As Borchert remarks, believers, “will attain their hope by faith and through the Spirit.”³⁷ Living in accordance with God’s love is the means by which the believer lives a righteous life, free from sin’s dominance, and resting in the hope that comes by “faith working through love” (v.6).

Interestingly, Paul reminds the Colossian believers that an active faith and love give assurance of the reality of their heavenly hope (Col. 1:5). Would that all believers would have such faith, for God’s boundless love is ever available to the faithful believer. How amazingly great is God’s love! For by it he gave his Son in order that man might live in assured hope.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How marvelous and strong!
It shall forevermore endure—
the saints’ and angels’ song.³⁸

In writing to the Thessalonian Christians, Paul tells them that he and his fellow workers for Christ, “Recall in the presence of our God and Father your work of faith and labor of love and endurance of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Thess. 1:3). Here again we note that true faith operates within the bounds of God’s love. Thus Paul commends the Thessalonian believers for their faithful ministry for the Lord. It is a constant ministry that gives “hope in the Lord Jesus Christ” both now and for the future. We noted above that as believers do so, they are spiritually clothed in such a way as to live in full assurance,

by putting on the breastplate of faith and love and as a helmet our hope for salvation. For God did not destine us for wrath but for gaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ. He died for us so that whether we are alert or asleep we will come to life together with him. (1 Thess. 5:8-10)

Not only is the believer protected from sin’s eventual punishment for the unbeliever, but the Spirit-led believer can live in the fond hope of heaven. But there is even more: an even better life awaits him in that great climax in the second coming of Christ. As Morris points out, “Death is only final and decisive when we speak in worldly terms. For the believer the whole concept has been transformed. For him it holds no terrors. In life or in death he is in Christ.”³⁹ As Walvoord further explains,

Whether we “wake,” that is, are living in the world at the time the Lord comes, or whether we “sleep” and our bodies have been laid in the grave, though our spirits have gone to heaven, when Christ comes back for his church there will be a wonderful reunion—both a translation of the living saints and a resurrection from the dead. It is all based on the hope of the death of Christ.⁴⁰

We have noted above that faith is a whole-soul committal to God. A believer’s intellect, emotions, and will all combine to live so as to realize fully the surety of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27). The believer can and should live each day basking in God’s love and confident of his presence not only in this earthly life, but because of his union with Christ, have a confident expectation (a true hope) of an eternal life with God.

Faith, hope, and Love are indeed prominent in the Scriptures. Paul reminds us that love is the greatest of these because it has its source in God’s attribute of perfection, which is realized constantly through his grace and mercy. Therefore, like faith and hope a believer should love the Lord and do his best to live in his revealed will in his Word. Moreover, as does the Lord the believer should desire to share God’s love with others either for their salvation or as an encouragement to their spiritual growth. All through his earthly life and ministry the faithful believer may live in joyous anticipation of a blessed eternity with God both in heaven and on a renewed glorified earth.

Genuine faith, hope, and love are all real, and should be exercised, but “The greatest of these is love” (1Cor. 13:13).

God’s love—it’s from eternity.
So great was God’s love, Jesus went to Calvary.
God’s love—it reaches to you and me;
by knowing God’s love, it makes us family.
God loves us; it’s salvation’s message plain;
God loves us, echoes back the glorious strain.
Because God loves you, you can start your life anew,
for Christ died alone, for you and me, to live with him eternally.

---

¹ Unless otherwise noted, all citations are taken from the NET.

² Charles Hodge, An Exposition of the First Epistle to the Corinthians (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1956), 274, 275. For a full discussion of 1 Corinthians 12-14, see, D. A. Carson, Showing the Spirit: A Theological Exposition of 1Corinthians 12-14) (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987).

³ Nigel Turner, Christian Words (Edinburg: T. & T. Clark, 1980), 158.

⁴ Richard D. Patterson, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah (Richardson, TX: Biblical Studies Press, 2003), 202.

⁵ Ibid., 203.

⁶ Psalm 37 is also in alphabetic format, each letter of the Hebrew alphabet being expressed in coupled verses (with the exception of vv. 27-29 in which two letters of the alphabet are attested.

⁷ Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Psalms, trans. Francis Bolton, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1955) 2:12.

⁸ See further, the extensive discussion concerning faith by Otto Michel in The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology, ed. Colin Brown, 3 vols. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1979) 1:587-605.

⁹ Richard D. Patterson, “Faithful to the End,” Biblical Studies Press (2015), 5.

¹⁰ Lidie H. Edmunds, “My Faith Has Found a Resting Place.”

¹¹ Richard D. Patterson, “Foretaste of Glory,” Biblical Studies Press (2012), 7.

¹² NET text note.

¹³ See NET section heading for 1 Thess. 4:1-12.

¹⁴ E. Schuyler English, The Life and Letters of Saint Peter (New York: Publication Office “Our Hope,” 1945), 159.

¹⁵ F.F. Bruce, The Epistles to the Colossians, to Philemon, and to the Ephesians,” in The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1984), 41.

¹⁶ J. Sidlow Baxter, Awake My Heart (Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1994), 194.

¹⁷ See further, Andreas Kȫstengerger, “Titus,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, eds. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, 13 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2006) 12: 623.

¹⁸ Norman J. Clayton, “My Hope is in the Lord.”

¹⁹ William Barclay, More New Testament Words (New York: Harper 1958), 46.

²⁰ J. Ramsey Michaels, “Hebrews,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, ed. Philip W. Comfort, 18 vols. (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 2009) 17: 431.

²¹ Neil R. Lightfoot, Jesus Christ Today: A Commentary on the Book of Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1976), 205-206.

²² Ava M. Christiansen, “My Hope is in Thee.”

²³ Barclay, More New Testament Words, 16. For a deeper understanding of the many occurrences and uses of this Greek term for love, whether as a noun or a verb, see Barclay’s full discussion, pages 11-24.

²⁴ John F. MacArthur, Jr., The MacArthur New Testament Commentaries: 1 Corinthians (Chicago: Moody Press, 1984), 334.

²⁵ Hodge, Corinthians, 268.

²⁶ William Baker, “1 Corinthians,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, ed. Philip W. Comfort, 18 vols. (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 2009) 15: 192.

²⁷ Verlyn D. Verbrugge, “1 Corinthians,” in The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, eds. Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland, 13 vols. (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2008) 11: 373.

²⁸ Henry W. Baker, “ The King of Love My Shepherd Is.”

²⁹ Verbrugge, “1 Corinthians,” 375.

³⁰ MacArthur, 1 Corinthians, 367.

³¹ Richard D. Patterson, “God So Loved the World” Biblical Studies Press (2010), 2.

³² Gloria and William J. Gaither, “The Family of God.”

³³ F.F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Hebrews in The New International Commentary on The New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964), 252.

³⁴ Philip Edgecombe Hughes, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977), 415.

³⁵ J. Ramsay Michaels, “Hebrew” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, ed. Philip W. Comfort, 18 vols. (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 2009) 17:421.

³⁶ Douglas Moo, The Epistle to the Romans in The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996), 305.

³⁷ Gerald L. Borchert, “Galatians,” in Cornerstone Biblical Commentary, ed. Philip W. Comfort, 18 vols. (Carol Stream: Tyndale House, 2007) 14:315.

³⁸ Frederick W. Lehman, “The Love of God.”

³⁹ Leon Morris, The First and Second Epistles to the Thessalonians, in The New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 162.

⁴⁰ John F. Walvoord, The Thessalonian Epistles (Findlay, OH: Dunham Publishing Company, 1955), 86.

I grew up in a Christian home. I came to Christ at five and was baptized at six. My family was committed to the local church. My dad faithfully taught Sunday school, led small groups, and was even an elder. My mom was always involved in ministry as well. I grew up attending Sunday school, Royal Ambassadors, and Awana. As a teenager, I was the model youth group kid, a student leader in high school, and a ministry intern as a senior, even committing my life to full-time vocational ministry before I graduated.

Then I met Dr. David Lane.

It was my freshman year in college and the course was Philosophy 101. Dr. Lane systematically dismantled the Christianity I grew up with. In class. In front of everyone. And I was not ready. But why not? I had spent the first eighteen years of my life in the church. Wasn’t that enough time to prepare me to engage the world for Christ?

Sadly, the majority of our Christian students aren’t ready either. They’re not prepared for the serious intellectual challenges awaiting them, let alone the barrage of moral challenges from an increasingly secular culture. It’s a huge reason why we continue to hemorrhage youth from our churches.

Thank God I discovered apologetics amidst Professor Lane’s intellectual assault on my Christianity. Apologetics helped rebuild my faith in Christ, and I became convinced of its absolute necessity for student discipleship. That’s right, I said necessity. Apologetics is not optional in a post-Christian culture. It’s not just for the nerdy youth group kid “who’s into that kind of stuff.” God is a rational God, and we are made in His image. Therefore, every student is rational by design, instinctively gathering reasons and evidence as they seek to make sense of the world around them and form a coherent set of beliefs about reality. As the church equips a new generation for the cause of Christ, we must begin with the conviction that apologetics is an indispensable tool.

Now, I’m under no false pretense that if we simply give students apologetics we’ll automatically secure their faith in Christ for a lifetime. Human beings are not just thinking beings; we’re emotional, experiential, and volitional as well. That’s why 1 Peter 3:15 (nasb)—the apologist’s theme verse—begins and ends with two very important phrases. Peter starts with this reminder: “But sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” Apologetics should be done amidst a certain kind of life, one where we surrender more and more of ourselves to Christ. When we do this, He transforms us. A life transformed by Christ is the requisite context for making “a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you.” Peter ends the verse with a picture of such an apologetic: it is gentle and respectful.

So, while apologetics training is necessary to disciple the next generation, it is not sufficient by itself to form fully devoted followers of Jesus. However, this does not minimize its necessity. The mind plays a prominent role in our spiritual transformation—“be transformed by the renewing of your mind” (Romans 12:2 nasb)—and, therefore, we ignore the minds of the next generation to our own peril.

Maybe you’re already convinced but wondering, “How can we effectively equip a new generation with apologetics?” Let me share some ideas that are borne out of my own experience teaching students as a youth pastor for eleven years, as a parent now for eighteen years and as Stand to Reason’s Student Impact director for the last twelve years. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in all three roles, but my experience has allowed me to hone an approach that can be effective at home, at church, at youth group, or in a Christian school.

Back to the Future

Before we look forward in the formation of the next generation, let’s first look to the past. If we can lay aside what C.S. Lewis called chronological snobbery—“the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate common to our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that account discredited”  ¹—we will discover long-forgotten insights to help forge a path forward. So for a moment, I want you to lay aside modern educational models and contemporary youth ministry approaches and programs and consider an ancient model.

As our oldest daughter approached the junior-high years, my wife and I began to rethink our views on educating and discipling our kids. We were dissatisfied with things we were seeing in her life, not only academically, but also spiritually and morally. In that process of reevaluation, we discovered an ancient approach to education called “classical education,” stretching back to the Classical Greeks and Romans and formalized in the Middle Ages. Educator Susan Wise Bauer offers a concise description of this approach:

Classical education depends on a three-part process of training the mind. The early years of school are spent in absorbing facts, systematically laying the foundations for advanced study [Grammar Stage]. In the middle grades, students learn to think through arguments [Logic Stage]. In the high school years, they learn to express themselves [Rhetoric Stage].  ²

While not an exhaustive definition, it gets us started and highlights the three-stage pattern of classical education called the trivium. In the early years of elementary school, called the Grammar Stage, children’s minds are like sponges. There is a natural wonder at the world around them and a corresponding love of learning. Young children are primarily interested in the what questions. They want to know facts about the world, and they absorb and memorize them with ease.

Nearing the middle-school or junior-high years, a student’s mind grows in its ability to analyze and think abstractly. During this phase, called the Logic Stage, students are asking the why questions. Many adults perceive such questioning to be a direct challenge to their authority, but often it’s merely the outworking of our natural inclination to sort things out for ourselves. At this stage, students want to know if there are good reasons to believe the so-called facts they were given at younger ages and to see if those facts provide a coherent picture of the world.

As students approach high school and enter the Rhetoric Stage, they grow in their ability to communicate. During this stage, students build on the first two stages by taking the what and the why and communicating what they’ve learned through the how-to of writing and speaking. Research, writing papers, giving speeches, debating and the like force students to articulate what they’ve come to believe as true.

The medievals believed this trivium pattern corresponded to the universal human experience of learning. It accurately captures the manner in which young minds are best trained.  ³ Thus, we should take this ancient approach to education and breathe into it new life for our modern context. Indeed, the trivium provides us with a three-stage approach to discipling the next generation:

Stage 1: Teach the What—Grammar Stage (primary focus of grades 0–4)

Stage 2: Teach the Why—Logic Stage (primary focus of grades 5–8)

Stage 3: Teach the How-To—Rhetoric Stage (primary focus of grades 9–12)

Outlining a general approach is vital. First, it keeps us from getting lost in the details of training. Without the big picture, we may wander aimlessly, looking for the latest and greatest video series or searching for that one comprehensive curriculum package. Certainly, individual tools are important, but we need to understand the larger strategy within which our tools fit and make sense. Second, it brings to light the requisite context for effective training. Apologetics is the why, but there must be an appropriate foundation of the what in place first for the why to secure it.

So first, we must be convinced of the necessity of apologetics, and second, we must have a larger discipleship framework in place into which we fit apologetics. Now we’re ready to explore the practical how-tos.

Stage 1: Teach the What

Before we can teach our students how to defend what we believe, they must know what it is we actually believe. They must first engage theology, the study of God. Apologetics is properly understood as a sub-branch of theology; theology is its foundation. When should theological training begin? As soon as our kids can speak.

From the youngest of ages, we need to teach children God’s attributes, Trinitarian doctrine, the deity of Christ, the meaning of the cross, the nature of Scripture, the nature of man, and the nature of the church. Grab any standard systematic theology and its table of contents will give you an overview of theological topics to teach. Of course, we need to communicate theology in an age-appropriate manner, so a child’s first exposure will be basic, but it will also be foundational. Just as learning language during the Grammar Stage of classical education provides the building blocks for all future learning, learning the language of theology builds a foundation for future training in apologetics. Here are three practical steps for this stage.

1. Reading.

Read, read, read. I cannot emphasize this enough. Start by reading to them. Read children’s Bibles, individual biblical stories, classical stories, and any Christian children’s books you can get your hands on. Read to them at home, at church, and at school. Reading is an indispensable tool in teaching theology. It’s no accident God gave us His Word in written form and not on a DVD. We want our students’ learning to be primarily from words, not images.

2. Catechism.

A catechism is simply a summary of Christian doctrine. It is generally laid out in question-answer format and is a fantastic tool to build a theological foundation in our kids. My wife and I are currently working our way through a children’s version titled First Catechism  ⁴ with our three-year-old son and seven-year-old daughter. We ask them a catechism question—“Who made you?”—and they memorize the answer—“God.” Trust me. You will be astonished by your preschooler’s ability to memorize large portions of information. By having our kids memorize the catechism, we are pouring into them the raw theological material we will build upon in later years. My wife and I also teach the class for two- and three-year-olds at our local church and are taking them through this catechism as well.

3. Memorization.

Capitalize on your kids’ capabilities by having them memorize significant theological pieces. In addition to the catechism, have them memorize important passages of Scripture and the great creeds of the church. Singing praise songs and hymns is a great way to memorize theological content as well. Here is a list of ten important items to have children memorize:

First Catechism

Apostles Creed

Nicene Creed

Attributes of God

Ten Commandments

Lord’s Prayer

Psalm 23

The Beatitudes

The Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-39)

The Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20)

Sadly, this is where much of our Christian education stops. Whether it’s children, youth, or adults, we just keep teaching the what and never equip our people with the why.

I recently role-played an atheist with a group of adults at a local church in Southern California. An older gentleman began to engage me while I was “in character” as an atheist, telling me he had been a Christian for more than thirty years. He then began his defense of Christianity with the “God-said-it-I-believe-it-that-settles-it” approach, stating emphatically that the Bible was the Word of God. I simply responded, “Why do you think the Bible is the Word of God?” Silence. He had no answer. He was stuck in the what and could not answer the why.

Laying the theological foundation in stage one, the Grammar Stage, is just the beginning. Now we must move on to the apologetics training in stage two.

Stage 2: Teach the Why

Around fourth or fifth grade, a student’s mind grows significantly in its capacity for abstract thought. As their ability to reason grows, they begin to transition from what questions to why questions. Don’t be surprised if they begin to question you and challenge your answers at this stage. And don’t be threatened by it either. Instead, capitalize on it. They’ve reached the Logic Stage and are now ready for a good dose of apologetics.  ⁵

This is the time for arguments for God’s existence, evidence for the resurrection of Jesus, and reasons why the Bible is not only historically reliable, but also divinely inspired. In addition, we must help them overcome objections to Christianity, such as the problem of evil and suffering, moral relativism, religious pluralism, and challenges to the Bible. When we equip them with “the reason for the hope” we have in Christ, we help secure the theological foundation of stage one and strengthen their confidence that Christianity is objectively true. Here are three practical steps for this stage.

1. Ask them questions first.

Don’t wait for students to raise questions and challenges; be proactive and provoke their questions. Question the theological training you provided in stage one: “You believe God is all-powerful and all-loving, but how do you know He exists in the first place?” And then wait. Let them struggle to answer, and then question their answers. Struggling can create some healthy internal motivation for our students to care about the questions and seek out satisfying answers.

2. Never shut down their questions.

Create a safe space for students’ doubts by allowing them to ask any and all questions. And when they ask, affirm them in their questioning. According to recent research by the Fuller Youth Institute, students who were free to express their doubts during high school showed greater faith maturity in college.  ⁶ If you shut down their questions, they won’t stop questioning, they’ll just seek answers elsewhere—without you.

3. Answer four key questions.

The case for Christianity is a cumulative one. That means there is no apologetic silver bullet, no single argument that establishes the entire case. Instead, we must help students identify the key components of our cumulative case and supply them with the supporting reasons and evidence. Have them answer these four key questions to establish the truthfulness of Christianity:

Does truth exist?

Does God exist?

Does God act (miracles)?

Does God speak (Scripture)?  ⁷

By the time a student graduates from our home or our ministry, she must move beyond merely believing the truth to actually knowing the truth. What’s the difference? Philosophers generally define knowledge as justified true belief. If I know something, not only do I believe it to be true, but it’s supported by adequate reasons. The theological training of stage one supplies the true beliefs of Christian orthodoxy and the apologetic training of stage two provides the reasons and justification. Together they furnish our students with knowledge of the truth.

Stage 3: Create “How-To” Experiences

In the Rhetoric Stage—high school age, roughly—it’s time to get the theological and apologetic training out of the classroom and into real life. The best way to learn something is to teach it to someone else, and the rhetoric stage forces students to do just that. Students must learn to take the what and the why of Christianity and communicate it in a coherent and reasonable manner. We need to create experiences in which students have the opportunity to articulate what they believe and why they believe it. Here are three practical examples.

1. Role-play.

I love being invited to an unsuspecting youth group to role-play an atheist or Mormon. By interacting with my non-Christian character, students are forced to explain and defend their Christian views. Unfortunately, most Christian youth are ill-equipped to do so. Worse, they don’t know how ill-equipped they are. After I thoroughly dismantle their responses through the role-play, the students’ eyes are opened and many are motivated to learn the what and the why. Over time, continued role-play can help students hone their ability to articulate the truth.

2. Invite guests.

Don’t just role-play non-Christian characters with your students, invite the real thing. After teaching your students about the Trinitarian nature of God, invite Jehovah’s Witnesses into your home or youth group to discuss the topic. Teach your students about the nature of salvation and invite Mormon missionaries over for a conversation on the matter. Once you’ve equipped your students with arguments for God’s existence, ask your atheist neighbor to discuss the topic with them. When students are forced to have real-time conversations with real-life people, their learning increases exponentially.

3. Visit another religious site.

As a youth pastor, I would teach my students about other religions. I knew they would eventually encounter a friendly Hindu neighbor, a kind Muslim classmate, or some other person who held opposing beliefs, but I wanted to be the one to expose them to those ideas first. My strategy was inoculation, not isolation. So after teaching about a religion like Buddhism and offering a biblical and philosophical critique, I would arrange a field trip to the local Buddhist temple. A monk gave us a tour, explained their basic beliefs and practices, and answered students’ questions. Everything the students learned in the classroom prior to the field trip came to life as they engaged a Buddhist monk in the flesh. The encounter was exciting, and it gave students an opportunity to get the theology and apologetics out of the classroom and into a real conversation.

Again, they were forced to articulate the truth, and in doing so, they learned the truth in a deeper and more meaningful way.

Training Must Be Intentional

It’s time to stop bemoaning the exodus of students from our churches and start doing something intentional to stop it. The world is certainly serious about stripping students of their Christian faith. Atheist Daniel Dennett speaks for many when he said, “They will see me as just another liberal professor trying to cajole them out of some of their convictions, and they are dead right about that—that’s what I am, and that’s exactly what I am trying to do.”  ⁸ They’re intentional out there in the world. We’d better get intentional here in the church.

This three-stage plan of training provides a practical strategy that can be implemented immediately. Take it and use it. Build on it and add your own ideas. But do not wait to start training up the next generation. Too much is at stake.

This is excerpted from A New Kind of Apologist: Adopting Fresh Strategies, Addressing the Latest Issues, Engaging the Culture, edited by Sean McDowell, Harvest House Publishers

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¹ C.S. Lewis, Surprised by Joy (New York: Harcourt Brace & Company, 1955), 207.

² Susan Wise Bauer, “What is Classical Education?” Available online at http://www.welltrainedmind.com/classical-education/.

³ It’s certainly not the only, or even primary, indicator of academic “success,” but standardized test scores from the Association of Classical and Christian Schools indicate classically trained students clearly outperform their publicly educated counterparts: http://www.accsedu.org/what-is-cce/statistics_at_a_glance.

⁴ It is a short 38-page booklet of theological Q & A for kids, published by Great Commission Publications. You can order it online at http://www.gcp.org/ProductDetail.aspx?Item=020030.

⁵ Of course, this doesn’t mean they won’t begin asking “why” questions earlier or that you cannot begin teaching apologetics at younger ages. But generally speaking, they are most definitely ready to begin apologetic training in fourth or fifth grade.

⁶ The research was conducted by Kara Powell & Brad Griffin. Read more online at http://stickyfaith.org/articles/i-doubt-it.

⁷ Norm Geisler and Frank Turek wrote an excellent book answering these four questions entitled, I Don’t Have Enough Faith to Be an Atheist (Crossway, 2004). I suggest every high schooler read this book before they graduate. There is also an excellent starter apologetics book for middle school students entitled, Living Loud: Defending Your Faith (B & H Publishers, 2002), that Geisler co-wrote with Joseph Holden.

⁸ Daniel Dennett, Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon (New York: Penguin Group, 2006), 53.