Philadelphoi: Love One Another

Sometimes it's hard to love our siblings and to
say good things about one another. 

Scripture:

1Pet. 3:8    Finally, all of you, have unity of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart, and a humble mind. ⁹ Do not repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse; but, on the contrary, repay with a blessing. It is for this that you were called—that you might inherit a blessing. ¹⁰ For

“Those who desire life

and desire to see good days,

let them keep their tongues from evil

and their lips from speaking deceit;

¹¹ let them turn away from evil and do good;

let them seek peace and pursue it.

¹² For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,

and his ears are open to their prayer.

But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Observation:

Peter brings this discussion on Christian witness to a conclusion by mentioning five actions. They can be arranged in this way:

Unity of Spirit  — this is about having the same mind. It’s about how you think. 

Sympathy — this is how you feel.

Love for one another — this is Philadelphoi and it is the very center of what he is talking about. 

Tender Heart — again, this is about how you feel.

A humble mind — this is again about having the mindset of Christ — it’s how you think. 

Therefore mindset and feelings surround the central theme of love for one another. This is what he wants the people to truly understand — that having the same mind as Jesus Christ unites the brothers and sisters in a unique way. The result is sympathy, or even empathy toward one another, which results in God’s holy love within the community of faith. This can be seen by their tender hearts, or sensitivity toward the needs and concerns of one another, and finally, the humble mind is again the reflection of being united with Christ. 

Being entirely filled with the mind of Christ changes everything within the community of believers. No matter what social strata they may come from, nor the different opinions, they work together and seek harmony so that they can reflect unity to the world. Powers tell us, “the relationship of believers with God affects every other relationship, inside and outside of the family. But the converse is also true. Ruptured and inappropriate human relationships endanger our relationship with God” (NBBC). 

Finally he tells us how to respond when we feel threatened. When we experience evil, we do not respond with evil. When there is abuse, we do not respond with abuse. The response we are to have is one of blessing. The blessing was traditionally good words that were said about someone. When you speak good words over someone, you are inviting good words to be spoken over you. 

These are ethical exhortations — words that encourage the believers to live for Christ. These are followed by a quotation from Ps. 34:12-16. Ultimately, Peter is saying that Christians are to walk like those of the Old Testament who sought to be blameless and upright. We are to be a people who actively seek and pursue peace with all, while God sets his face against the evil-doers.

Application:

Love one another. This is what is to define the Christian community. Over and over again we read that the community is to be united. This is not unity or conformity of opinion, but it is always unity in Christ. The unity of the Spirit and the humble mind are all about being “in Christ.” This is the very core of our holiness message for, to be entirely sanctified, we are to be entirely “in Christ.” When that happens our behaviors change and we do not all suddenly conform to becoming alike, but we are united because we are all in Him. The beauty then is unity in diversity. 

The question is whether the church is able to show unity in her diversity these days? This unity is supposed to cross all human barriers, as demonstrated by Peter’s earlier comments. The church of the first century is united in Christ while made up of people from every level of society. They are a group of refugees, slaves, servants, women, and male leaders. What a divergent group of people, most of whom have never been empowered with moral responsibility. In Christ they are now made whole, placed on equal footing and expected to be united and show love for one another. Can you imagine how counter-cultural that would have been? 

If it was that counter-cultural then, it is still counter-cultural today. It is in the church that we learn to love one another, even when we have entirely different perspectives on life. That is the shocking presence of the church in the world. Our world is becoming increasingly divided and there is a great need for the church to reflect this same spirit and attitude for which Peter prayed in the first century. The witness to the power and presence of Christ would be magnified if the church would practice Philadelphoi. 

How is this to be done? Peter outlines it well. First, may we all pray that our relationship with the Lord will be deepened. May we earnestly seek the face of God and ask God to help us have the mind of Christ. Then, let’s practice sympathy. Before jumping to conclusions, take time to honestly think about the other person’s perspective. This will allow us to reflect God’s holy love, which will, in turn, help us to have a tender heart. A tender heart is open to the nudging of the spirit. The tender heart is slow to cast judgement and is willing to listen. The humble mind reflects the humility of Christ when he shared his power for the betterment of others. 

Finally, the language of blessing is very poignant for us. This is intentionally speaking good words over others. Our world would be changed if people spoke positively about one another with the intention of blessing. Peter tells us that this blessing will come back to us, if we make it a part of our practice, and it will lead to loving one another. 

Prayer:

Lord, we need your help to be united. Draw us closer to you and pour out your Spirit among us. Amen.