Working Through Love

“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith working through love.” Gal. 5:6. “And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing.” 1 Cor. 13:2.

From this we see how central love is, and that together with faith it can accomplish mighty things. In the church of the living God, we experience a powerful preaching of faith, and faith comes from preaching when it is based on the word of God. Rom. 10:17. Why is it, then, that I have achieved relatively little after hearing the word of God for many years? I have not received a love of the truth. Had I done so, faith would have been much more effective, because faith can work miracles. By faith Noah built the ark; by faith Abraham sacrificed; by faith Sarah received strength; and by faith Isaac blessed.

All these obtained a good testimony for their faith, and it was the love of God working within them that led them to carry out these acts of faith. Faith without works is dead, and James strongly rebukes those who think they have faith but have no works. Jas. 2:14-20.

When the word of God is preached in spirit and truth, the Spirit will convict people of sin—their own sin. John 16:8-11. The truth is often that things are worse than you thought. Here we face a choice. Those who receive a love of the truth experience that the word works in them, judging the hidden thoughts and intents of the heart. Heb. 4:12. There, deep within the chambers of their heart, the most crucial decisions are made—decisions that only God can observe—yet it is there that the foundation is laid for progress in God and growth in the virtues of Christ. A love of the truth makes faith effective, and God can create what wasn’t seen before. A glorious development in grace and knowledge.

The Thessalonians had been taught by God to love one another, so there was no need for Paul to write to them about brotherly love. 1 Thess. 4:9. Their love was warm, heartfelt, and burning. Their encounters with God had taught them that His mercy was exceedingly great, and they had learned to deal with their brothers as God had dealt with them. They had become wise unto salvation. They fit in as members of Christ’s glorious body.

The faith of the Romans had been spoken of throughout the whole world, because Paul had preached the obedience of faith to them. Rom. 1:8. He proclaimed that they had to follow in the footsteps Abraham left behind when he sacrificed his son on the altar. At that time it was likely that the Christians were being persecuted in Rome, and many of them lived in caves and desolate places, and had to flee their homes to save their lives. Their faith was put to the test, and it became widely known. Paul writes in Ch. 8:18: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.”

It was his love for God that enabled Paul to see things that way, and he met his end with confidence. He was able to say: Follow me, just as I have followed Jesus. 1 Cor. 11:1. The faith of his brothers in Rome had become effective through love, and this enabled Paul to exhort them as he does in Ch. 12.

Let us follow those who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Heb. 6:12.