AN APOSTOLIC EXHORTATION
‘Let brotherly love continue.’
Brotherly love had been a conspicuous feature of the early Church (Acts 2:44-46; Acts 4:34-35; Acts 11:27-29; Hebrews 10:32-33). But in the perilous times foretold, ‘the love of many would wax cold’; hence the call to continuance. This love is described in 1 Corinthians 13. as very different from mere friendliness of disposition. And this, so contrary to our natural tendency, may reveal where, above all, the battle of our spiritual life must be fought.
‘Let brotherly love continue.’ Why?
I. It is necessary for the well-being of the Church.—Love is the bond which keeps Christians together. Love is the only atmosphere in which Christian life can flourish. Love raises the fallen, cheers the sorrowing, encourages the timid, and restrains by affectionate concern the wavering and tempted. Love is the element in which the Divine Spirit can do His work, for love is of heaven, and God is love.
II. It is necessary for the fulfilment of our duty to one another.—Gather together the laws which describe our treatment of one another: ‘Forbearing one another’; ‘Forgiving one another’; ‘Let each esteem other better than himself’; Envying not’; ‘Seeking not our own, but others’ good’; ‘Bear ye one another’s burdens’; ‘In honour preferring one another,’ etc. These lofty, comprehensive commands, embracing thoughts as well as deeds, are wholly impracticable save to the man who has learnt to love. Love is the motive-power of all right feeling and action towards our brother: ‘Love is the fulfilling of the law.’
III. It is necessary for our personal deliverance of self.—Love is an old form of the word to live: to love is to live; we never truly live till we have learned to love. Until love possesses us, life is little more than a sepulchre, or, at best, a dungeon. He who only loves himself must be a lonely man, and live in a narrow place. The depressed, miserable, complaining (except those made so by disease) are those wrapped-up in themselves. To be imprisoned in oneself is to have a dreary home: love is the hand that opens the doors and admits us into liberty.
IV. It is necessary for the vindication of our Christian standing.—‘Give diligence to make your calling and election sure’ (1 John 3:14; John 13:35; 1 John 4:7; 1 Corinthians 13:1-3). Can we stand the test?