What do Christians believe? In simple terms, that is a fairly easy question to answer. But how should Christians live together? This question is much more difficult because it shows the discrepancy between Christianity as an intellectual project and Christianity as a lived reality.
I have been contemplating these questions in light of November’s presidential election. The seams of our republic feel like they are at a breaking point, and there are Christians on both sides of a widening divide.
Should Christians devote themselves to the rule of local governments and laws? Or is there a higher standard for Christian life? Should we seek unity and the common good or hold to our beliefs no matter what? To whom should we be accountable — God, the state, each other, the vulnerable, ourselves? I suggest that we have much to learn from Jesus’ example and our text from 1 John 3. But first, I want to offer some background.
One of the main metaphors in Scripture to describe God’s rule and reign is that of a kingdom. However, the language of “kingdom” is laden with monarchical and patriarchal baggage. Kings (and queens) rule, literally “lord over,” the subjects under their authority. Asking God for a king did not end well for the Israelites. The cautionary tale teaches us that when we put our trust in earthly rulers, we will always be disappointed.
Much of the New Testament language used for Jesus is “Lord.” “Jesus is Lord!” was the central affirmation of the early Christian movement. As N.T. Wright writes in How God Became King, “If Jesus is Lord, then Caesar is not.” However, this language reinscribes the “Master/Slave” dynamic and power differential operative in the Greco-Roman world. Jesus was a very different kind of “lord” from Caesar.
Scripture shows another way to live in God’s realm. In the Gospels, Jesus calls God “Abba,” which suggests a familial relationship (Mark 14:36). At his baptism, Jesus is affirmed by God’s belovedness (Matthew 3:13-17; Mark 1:9-11; Luke 3:21-22). Jesus is God’s son, the firstborn among others in God’s extended family (Romans 8:29). Jesus also calls his disciples “friends” (John 15:15). He loved the people, even unto the end (John 13:1).
The early church was tied together by the bonds of family and friendship that Jesus taught. They became distinctive because of how they devoted their lives, dedicating themselves to daily gatherings and prayer and taking seriously Jesus’ instructions to love God and their neighbor as themselves. Selfless love was the marker for following in the way of Jesus. And it still is.
1 John 3 begins with God’s lavishing love. This love is heaped on God’s children and as a result, makes us more like God. The proverbial apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree. There are a few things we can note about love in this passage:
- God does not love us like subjects or servants but as children. Like a doting parent, God cannot help but love because, as the author of 1 John says in the next chapter, “God is love” (1 John 4:16). When we are named as children of God, we recognize and love others as our family. There is no “outside” of God’s love or domain. Neither should there be an “outside” for our love.
- God’s love is not limiting or conditional. There is no distinction between God’s love for the children and the love that we have for others. Later in the chapter, verse 17 reads: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses help?” Love sees others’ needs and responds.
- Love is equated with righteousness (justice) and contrasted with sin (vv. 5-8). The passage has strong language for those who sin, claiming that they belong to the devil (figuratively the “accuser”). The text does not imply we will never sin. Rather, it is suggesting that love and sin cannot exist together.
- Love is the guiding principle, both the means and the end of life in Christ. Augustine of Hippo writes: “Whoever, then, thinks that he understands the Holy Scriptures, or any part of them, but puts such an interpretation upon them as does not tend to build up this twofold love of God and our neighbor, does not yet understand them as he ought” (On Christian Doctrine, Ch 36). Our very best interpretations and ideas mean little to nothing without love. (Hear the clanging cymbal Paul references in 1 Corinthians 13:1!)
Cuban theologian Ada María Isasi-Díaz suggests using the word “kin-dom” instead of “kingdom.” She first heard the term from a Franciscan nun and friend named Georgene Wilson. I think this language change is more than semantic; it changes the dynamics of our life in God and reveals that we are all family –– the kin in God’s kin-dom.
As children of God, we are claimed by God’s love. However, that isn’t the end, but the beginning of Christian life. That love transforms us to be more like God. We have been created in the image and likeness of love. And Jesus shows us the way that love is lived out in and on behalf of the world.
Now is the perfect time to live into that good news.
Questions:
- What would Christian life look like if we let love be the guiding principle, hermeneutic and practice?
- What are the differences between kin-dom and kingdom?
- What are the things that hinder the rule of God’s love?
- How should Christians live together in the here-but-coming reign of God?
