Old Testament Theology according to Walter Brueggemann Part 1 > > Home

Knowing God or Loving Others

Posted Wednesday, May 07, 2008 by Brian Beers
Categories: New TestamentCulture and Theology  

In last Sunday’s sermon, we were challenged to love others, and I realized that I thought that a person could know God and yet lack love for others.  I believed that the knowledge of God didn’t necessarily bring me to love others–that it could be ineffective. The invalid assumptions necessary to believe this are blatant and embarrassing, but I am not stuck in my former disregard for God.

1 John 4:7-8 opened my eyes to my mistaken thinking.

Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.  8 Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. 

The first half of verse 8 is cut and dried compared to my mental model. My thinking was that if I didn’t love a co-worker, I just needed to try harder. I didn’t consider the possibility that I didn’t know God. In effect I believed that God was incompeten; that he was incapable of leading me to love someone he loves.

This may be simplified and horrific, but I don’t think that I am alone in blaming God for my own lack of love. In our non-judgmentalism we often take someone else’s claim of being a Christian at face value –even if they do not love others. And since Christians know God, God doesn’t necessarily lead everyone to love others. Therefore one can love God without loving others, or so the thinking goes. All that is left is for me to apply this logic to myself, and being a Christian becomes convenient. I become the scribe or the pharisee in the parable of the Good Samaritan.

But if I cut to the heart of John’s doctrine, then knowing God necessarily results in loving others. If I do not love others, I must challenge my premise that I know God. This makes Paul’s admonition to “work out my salvation with fear and trembling” (Philippians 2:12) an immediate reality in my life. I also consider Peter’s instructions ending with “For if these qualities [brotherly affection, love, etc.] are yours and are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 1:3-8). This gives me a principle of growth which is consistent with God’s patience and love.

This principle of growth negates any absolute standard that I might achieve and then allow myself to relax. My love for others should be deeper, fuller, or more complete than it was before—whether that was last week, last Sunday,or  last Christmas. And there are no objective criteria which tell me how to love my neighbor next month. Instead I seemingly muddle through repeated failures. But each realization of failure actually proves growth. This happens in my life whenever I realize how my love once again came up short. But each time I learn that my latest effort to love was tainted by selfishness, my vision has improved, and I have increased in “these qualities” in Peter’s list.

But these realizations come through my growing familiarity with God. “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence” (2 Peter 1:3). This increase in love in my life is the work of God by his divine power which is truly capable and effective in my life. He is successfully changing me to be like him. For my part, I try to discern what he is doing in and around me. I refrain from judging events by how well they fit my expectations, and I choose instead to look for how God is revealing himself to those around me. And as my vision improves I can then draw another’s attention to God’s revelation of himself. And this is love. This is knowing God.

Login to add comments