With Brotherly Love
W. Carl Ketcherside
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We have arrived at that place in our study of the Holy Spirit where we must close our remarks for the year. I am thankful that we may do so by talking about our feelings toward one another. Unless the indwelling Spirit transforms our hearts until we can truly love one another, all else is in vain. Strange as it may seem after all of the fighting and tending, the debating and division, we will not be judged by our orthodoxy, but by how we treated the least of the brethren.
One may be quite ignorant of the finer points of those doctrinal issues which we have thrust up as walls to separate God's precious children, but if he loves his brethren he can be saved. On the other hand, though he may be enlightened in all of the arguments and contentions of the warring parties, he abides in darkness and there is no light in him, if he hates the brethren.
It is not knowledge, but love, which covers a multitude of sins. It is not legalistic conformity but love which keeps no account of wrongs, which bears all things, believes all things, and endures all things. It is love which validates all things, and if one had such strong convictions that he would go to the martyr's stake rather than relinquish them, without love it would be an empty and profitless gesture.
One is not true to the faith which is in Christ Jesus because he defends party shibboleths, but because he ignores them all. It is not strengthening factional barriers, or piling arguments upon them to make them higher, which will gain the approval of heaven, but simply going through them as if they were not there. And for the one who does this, they will not be there. The time has come to burst through our paper curtains and to lose all fear of the "paper tigers" who are the party "somewhats."
Of all that has transpired through the agency of the Spirit in my unprofitable life, I am happiest for the fact that he has poured out the love of God in my heart. I can now love all of God's children, and even my enemies. Since I started loving, there are a lot more of the former and a lot fewer of the latter. This makes it infinitely easier. I feel a deep sense of compassion for those who must repeat falsehoods to justify their animosity. But I shall never again be trapped by Satan into hatred for any of them.
I can now go anywhere and share with anyone who loves my God. Our differences are never as great as the welding power of his blood. I will not thwart the work of the cross to have my way. No opinion, no method of work, no interpretation of some subtle point of doctrine is as precious to me as my brother. I will hold my opinions in my mind and my brethren in my heart. I cannot give up my opinions as long as they are mine, but I will not give up my brothers as
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"Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil: cleave to that which is good" (Romans 12:9).
Dissimulation refers to pretence or sham. It is hypocrisy, which is a transliteration of hupokrites, to speak under, or from behind a mask. The Greek dramatists did not portray emotions with their own features. They had masks which exhibited all of the various sentiments from hilarity to deep grief. The performers selected a mask which corresponded with their lines, and held it over their faces while they spoke. Thus, the word hypocrite in the new covenant scriptures means a stage-player, one who puts on an act.
The opposite of hypocrisy is sincerity, a word which, in its Greek origin means "to examine in the sunlight." Ancient bazaars in the marketplace were dark crannies, and the clever purchaser of a fabric would insist upon taking it out in the open sun for closer inspection. That which passed the test was branded "sincere." Sometimes love is feigned. It will not stand up when subjected to the full glare of close inspection.
Evil is any destructive force, whether affecting the physical, moral, or spiritual realm. Since anything which disrupted or destroyed the natural course of things was labeled as evil, there was a difference between evil and sin. All sin was evil, but not all evil was sin. A hurricane was an evil, but not a sin. Perhaps the word here refers to that which rends the fabric of fellowship, and if so, it is especially appropriate to the theme under discussion.
Evil is not to be simply discounted or regarded as an aggravating problem. It is to be hated with such intensity that we neither embrace nor condone it. We must turn away from it with such abhorrence that we make no apology for it. To cleave to the good is to cling to it with unrelaxing grasp, never loosing our hold and never allowing it to slip from our fingers.
"Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love: in honor preferring one another" (Romans 10:10).
The influence of William Penn and the Friends, or Quakers, is preserved in the United States by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania, a word which means "Penn's Woods," and which was bestowed upon this area when it was covered with forest. Philadelphia is the Greek term for brotherly love, as used in our text, and indicates the dream of peace-loving people who sought to found a place where all men could be received as brothers, and dwell together in mutual respect and harmony.
It is my contention that the only true city of brotherly love is the "city of the living God" (Hebrews 12:23). Its citizenry is composed of those who "esteem the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt," and who have received a kingdom which cannot be moved. One of the supreme tragedies of the ages is that the hated have become haters, and the persecuted have become the persecutors.
Just as there is no dynamic to compare with brotherly love, so there is no hatred so bitter and intense as that which is shown when brethren turn against one another. I have personally observed those who met around the same table for years, singing and praying together, helping each other in time of need, and shedding the sympathizing tear, but experiencing a complete change when a root of bitterness sprang up among them.
Sometimes an issue has been introduced by a visiting preacher, who, under the guise of preaching the gospel, creates a faction around his pet opinion, making it appear that the fate of the whole kingdom of heaven throughout all ages, world without end, depends upon "taking a stand" with his partisan cohorts and himself. Preachers who labored faithfully in the past, and have built up the community of saints, are branded and stigmatized as compromisers and liberals because they refuse to shiver the body to splinters over the newest mental aberration. Families are riven apart, brethren no
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And no one is more dangerous to the peace and purity of the kingdom of grace than the self-appointed, egotistic, would-be champions whose goal is to line up a personal following, even if it means the ruthless carving of the body into bloody bits. The one who is manifestly approved when sects and parties arise is the one who ignores the whole mixed-up mess and refuses to give his allegiance to any segment or group. Such a person sees all of the deluded and partisan victims as his brethren, and refuses to become a factional stooge or party hack.
It is ridiculous to confine the term "brotherhood" to a little group of believers whose test of loyalty is some issue ballooned into prominence by the editor of a "faithful" journal. We now have as many "brotherhoods" as we have parties. I belong to none of these. I am a part of the brotherhood of all the saints. Every saved person on this earth is a member of it. Anywhere my Father has a child I have a brother. I am sick of the polarization of men and women around clannish totems. I renounce the whole sordid bit for my life. I have been set free by the grace of God, and I intend to allow no religious politician or "con man" to ever again make me a cat's paw to pull factional chestnuts out of sectarian flames which he has fanned.
I want to visit all of my brothers. I want to learn from them, to gain their insights, to share in their thinking. I want to show kindly affection to them, regardless of their past allegiance or present predicament. I have no desire or intent to proselyte them to my thinking. One cannot evangelize saved persons and he ought not proselyte them. You evangelize for the sake of the person, you proselytize for the sake of your party. Evangelizing is the work of the Holy Spirit, proselytizing is the fruit of the party spirit.
Perhaps one of the most difficult things to do is to prefer one another in honor. Most of us like to receive acclaim and recognition. A man who seldom reads a newspaper will purchase a dozen copies if his name appears in the fourth paragraph of column three on page eleven. To step back and allow another to take the applause which is due ourselves requires more generosity than a lot of us possess. But this verse clearly indicates that we should be willing to "play second fiddle" if the cause will be enhanced. Someone has pointed out that it is amazing how much can be accomplished if one does not care who gets the credit.
With this we bring to a close our series on the work of the Spirit in the book of Romans. Those of you who came in late will be able to read the entire study for the year in the 192 page clothbound volume which will soon be ready under the title "One Great Chapter." It will contain every issue of the paper for 1971, and will be beautifully bound, so that it will make an excellent gift. You may send your order now for as many as you wish at the price of $2.95 per copy. We will bill you with the books when you receive them.