Academically Speaking

By Harold W. Ford

[Page 28]

     The thirteenth chapter of First Corinthians discusses a product of Christian faith without which all other accomplishments, whatever their worth may be, not only fade into nothingness but may in fact produce evil. The chapter is concluded by its author, "Now abides faith, hope, and love, but the greatest of these is love." Granted faith, love governs our relationship to our fellows, to our God, and to ourselves, or that relationship is less than it ought to be and certainly less meaningful than it could or should be.

     One wonders whether this is the ingredient we have somehow lost, and whether its loss has all but destroyed the influence of Christianity in the world. Even faith without love is unproductive. One may well consider whether faith is really faith under those circumstances, however. We really understand love because of faith, and we may well wonder about calls for love which do not allow that love to be defined by the one in whom we believe. Love, really, becomes something less than scriptural love if this is the case. Faulty faith cannot produce true love, but without the latter faith itself must be adjudged faulty.

     This certainly is what Alexander Campbell was driving at in the first of his answers to the celebrated lady of Lunenburg, Virginia, in the Millenial Harbinger, when he wrote that if he were called upon to make a choice between the legalism then rampant in the area of Virginia and the genuine love of an unbaptized denominationalist, he "could not hesitate a moment in giving preference of my heart to him that loveth most." This was immediately interpreted by the brethren as a surrender of baptism to those who disclaimed it, but the careful student of Campbell would assert that it was actually the reverse. It was not love instead of faith and obedience for which he called. It was love and faith and obedience, as it should be.

     As Mr. Campbell went on to say, "It is the image of Christ the Christian looks for and loves, and this does not consist in being exact in a few items, but in general devotion to the whole truth as far as known." The fact of the matter is that those who claim to know the most about faith and doctrine are under obligation to demonstrate the most in the development of love in all relationships both to God and men. Academically speaking, people still will not hesitate one moment in giving the preference of their hearts to the one loving the most.

     (Editor's Note. Harold W. Ford is Dean of Pacific Christian College, and the above is from his column in the November issue of the college bulletin. We deeply appreciate this message from the pen of our friend and brother).