Love before knowledge

If someone loves God, he has been recognized by Him. For Paul, who writes these lines, it is an example. For as God puts love before knowledge, so should the Corinthians do among themselves.

In the church in Corinth there were different insights about very practical things from their everyday experience. They disagreed on important issues. Should we now judge each other according to our own knowledge? Should we devalue or exclude others just because we see things differently? Here Paul writes “If anyone thinks he has known anything, he has not yet known it in the way it should be known. But if anyone loves God, he has been recognized by Him”.

This describes the interaction with each other. Believers, according to Scripture, are not homogeneous in what they believe or recognize, but what unites us is the same vocation. We may have different insights, but that should never be central. We may disagree on points that have great significance for ourselves. However, this should not lead to demarcation and exclusion of others.

For the church, there is a unity of spirit. This is not created by conformity, but is given by God. Recognizing and preserving them is our task. We should merely keep the unity of the Spirit, Paul writes elsewhere, through the bond of peace(Eph. 4:3).

Paul turns the perspective around here. It shows God’s perspective. If we love Him, then we are known by Him. How good it would be if we also chose this perspective in our dealings with one another – that we recognize the love of God in the other, and respect this commonality far more importantly than different insights. This is what gives a liberated Christianity for God’s glory.

Deepening

• What builds up? What not?
• How do I respond to others when I don’t share their insight?
• How does my community respond to diversity in recognition?
• How can I look at the people around me from God’s perspective?
• Do I feel like a victim or a perpetrator in my interactions with others? How can I get out of this feeling?
• What can I do to help preserve the unity of the spirit?