Articles
“Love: A Stalwart Guardian of Unity”
“Hatred stirs up strife,
but love covers all offenses.”
Proverbs 10:12
Our fellowship with one another in Christ is sacred and beyond price. God made peace only through the blood of the cross (Eph. 2:11-22). Therefore unity is no achievement of ours but a costly blessing from God. This is why Paul urges Christians to strive to maintain that priceless unity Jesus died to create (Eph. 4:1-3) and speaks so severely against those who would disrupt it (Rom. 16:17-18). “How good and pleasant it is when brothers dwell in unity!” (Psa. 133:1)
How does division occur within the church? Sometimes it is caused by valid doctrinal disagreements. But many other times division can traced back to certain people and the cause of strife is due mainly to attitudes not issues. Hence the proverb, “Drive out a scoffer, and strife will go out, and quarreling and abuse will cease.” (Prov. 22:10)
Usually strife within the church can be traced back to someone with a contentious spirit. If that person is removed, suddenly there is peace. The challenge and command of God is that we would be the kind of people who have the opposite, positive leavening effect on the church. We want to refresh others, not drain them; to build up and heal, not tear down and destroy; to encourage, not demoralize others. The primary way we do this is through loving one another as God loves us. Love is the stalwart guardian of our Christian unity.
Consider Proverbs 10:12 above. The proverbs in the Bible are written using poetic parallelism where the second line of the proverb reinforces the first. Proverbs 10:12 uses antithetical parallelism where line A and line B are opposites. Line A tells us what hatred does while line B tells us what love does instead.
How does love “cover” sin? Certainly not by hiding sin through deceit nor by ignoring sin through neglect (1 Cor. 13:6). To understand the proverb, consider Psalm 32:1 which communicates the same concept in a slightly different way: “Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.” David uses synonymous parallelism here: transgression being forgiven (line A) is synonymous with sin being covered (line B). Therefore, love “covers” sin through forgiveness. Let’s bring that reasoning back to Proverbs 10:12. Whereas hatred looks for trouble and investigates the weaknesses of others and broadcasts their faults, with love there is a willingness to forgive others their faults and show mercy.
The apostle Peter quotes Proverbs 10:12. “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.” (1 Pet. 4:8) Peter says our love for one another must be a muscular, diligent, thorough and committed love (the word translated “earnestly” was used of athletes straining toward the finish line). When we love one another “earnestly” we refuse to allow sin to divide us through hatred, bitterness and resentment. We will deal with sin in a discrete, kind and merciful way. In other words, we will “be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave [us].” (Eph. 4:32). Any grievance we have with each other is insignificant compared to what we’ve already been forgiven by God (Mt. 18:21-35).
James also quotes Proverbs 10:12. “My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins.” (Jas. 5:19-20) When we seek to restore the spiritually wayward we are demonstrating what love covering a multitude of sins looks like. Leading a soul back to the Lord and being a peacemaker is the most loving and Christian thing we could do: Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Lk. 19:10).
Years ago a Christian family from Kentucky lost their son in a car crash caused by a drunk driver. The parents, overwhelmed with loss, went to every court hearing of the man responsible until the husband finally realized his hatred was consuming him. He decided instead to meet the man and offer to study the Bible with him. To his surprise, he agreed and as the studies progressed, the man was receptive and converted to Christ. He served his sentence in prison but when his time was up he had nowhere to go. Amazingly, the very family who had lost their son through the sinful actions of this man welcomed him into their home. They sought to bring good out of a disastrous situation and their love covered a multitude of sins. We need this kind of faithful love if we are to “maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
