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The International Order of St Luke the Physician

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The Strange Thing about Christian Love

By The Ven. Larry Mitchell

          The Christian Gospel is about God's love for us and our love for God and how we express that love to God and to one another. How we feel has little or nothing to do with either our ability or our desire to express Christian love.  As followers of Jesus we are called to love our neighbours as we love ourselves and the reason is simply because God loves us.  We love God and one another because we choose to do so and that decision is not dependent on our human feelings.  The strange thing about Christian love therefore, is that no matter how we feel about someone we choose to love them because God loves them.  In the Gospels Jesus teaches this new and radical concept of God's love which is that all people are loveable because all people are loved by God and we are called to love those whom God loves. 

            In Paul's first letter to the Corinthians we learn the meaning, the experience and the power of this strange thing called Christian love.  This amazing letter gives us an insight into the process of becoming a church in the days even before there was a New Testament.  Paul had a great love for the Corinthian church, but it was this church that caused him much anguish and trouble.  What precipitated this letter was a report that Paul had received with regards to disturbing irregularities in the conduct of some of the believers within the Corinthian congregation.  The problems included factions within the church, a case of incest, members suing each other, problems of sexual impurity, and the spread of a quarrelsome and critical spirit.  Paul's purpose in writing this letter was to bring some reform to the witness of the Gospel in this troubled congregation and to set them back on track.

            One of the major issues that Paul addressed was the growing misuse of the gifts of the Spirit within the Corinthian congregation.  He stressed that the gifts are nothing and anything we do in the church is worth nothing unless it is done in and out of love.  What Paul was trying to teach the members of this church, was that when a member or members of a congregation do or say things that hurt or destroy other members within the fellowship, and when things are said and done that do not build up or encourage people in living their faith, those who say and do those things are walking outside of the way of love, are grieving the Holy Spirit and are bringing condemnation upon themselves.

            For Paul, in order for the church to be the church, all that it is and everything it does must be immersed in love.  Love must become the default by which everything is judged and done.  If what is done or said opposes or contradicts the principle of love then those who have done or said it are walking outside of the Spirit of God.  The author of 1 John stated plainly that the one sure way of knowing whether a person was really a Christian was to look at how that person loves others.  "Everyone who loves,” the apostle writes, “is born of God and knows God.  One who does not love does not know God, for God is love."  Paul tells us that Christian love is a love that reaches out to those who do not deserve it; it is a love that puts the interests of others first; it is a love that forgives people and starts over with them; it is a love that accepts people with all their faults and irritations and it is a love that sacrifices itself for others.  It is a love that heals and makes whole all who experience it.  It is through and because of this strange thing called Christian love that healing can flow freely and nonstop into our world.

            Paul argues for the absolute necessity of love as the first principle of the Christian life.  He saw that in the Corinthian Church and is true in every religious controversy or dispute within a congregation, that when a conflict occurs, it is love that leaves first, opening up the way for destruction, hurt and pain.  In the issue regarding the gifts of the Spirit Paul's point was that to exercise the gifts of the Spirit without love reduces one's worship to little more than an empty pagan rite.  In all the disputes within the fellowship of believers, Paul always returns to his central point which is that no matter what is being done or no matter what gift is being exercised, if it is not done in and with love, the result of one's efforts is zero.  However when things are done in and with Christian love, the presence of love enhances the gifts and our actions and even makes up for our inadequacies and weaknesses.

            The Corinthian church not only had to deal with this test of love within their life as a church, they also had to look in the mirror of their individual lives in order to see how they reflected God's love in their relationships with each other.  The test of love is not confined only to the Church at Corinth but is for all that bear the name of Christ.  People who live in Christian fellowship are to lay their life as a church and their lives as individuals alongside Paul's description of this strange thing called Christian love in order to see if they are, or are not, walking in the Spirit of God.

            For Paul, love is the most essential gift and without it a Christian is not a Christian and a Church is not a church.  What worried Paul about the church in Corinth was the danger that if they lost the gift of love they would also lose the gift of the church.  The most important principle that Paul wanted this church to learn was that a church that is immersed in this strange thing called Christian love is a church that can survive and bring healing to any and all disputes, conflicts and misunderstandings that might exist or arise within the context of the life of that community.

            He ends this passage with a word not only to the Christians in this fledgling church, but to all Christians in all churches from his time until now that of those things that will abide forever, such as faith, hope and love, the greatest of these is this strange thing called Christian love.

The Ven Larry Mitchell is past North American Director, of The International Order of St Luke the Physician.  Larry still reponds to invitations to lead healing conferences and missions.  He and his wife, Betty, live in Saskatoon SK, where Larry also serves as honorary assistant in his former Anglican parish of St. Stephen's.  He has recently joined the parish's music ministry and now sings in the choir of the parish.  Larry has been instrumental in bringing OSL Canada into being and continues to be actively involved in shepherding that important work.