The Bible is full of difficult teachings that are seen as unpalatable to the modern person. But even in Jesus’ day, people at times responded to his teaching unfavorably. Here’s a sampling: “this is a hard teaching, who can accept it?” (John 6:60). Or, “You have a demon!” (John 7:20). On multiple occasions, the audience picked up stones to stone Christ (see John 8:59 and 10:31). And even Jesus himself acknowledged that many people would not be able to accept his difficult teachings (Matthew 19:11).
Whatever time and place we find ourselves in, the Bible has things to communicate that challenge the audience. God says those who truly desire to know him and to understand his ways will receive it nonetheless. The book of Proverbs repeatedly emphasizes this: “whoever loves discipline loves knowledge, but he who hates reproof is stupid” (Proverbs 12:1). Those who fear God should not despise his discipline because it is a mark of his love, the writer of Proverbs teaches (Proverbs 3:11-12).
Paul’s letters are a place where we regularly find unpleasant teachings that challenge modern assumptions. One such passage is 1 Corinthians 10. This passage gives a warning to the Corinthian church that they are acting like Israel’s during their wilderness wanderings. Paul says even though Israel enjoyed a unique relationship with God their position did not shelter them from all the consequences of sin; “God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness” (verse 5). Apparently some of the Corinthians thought that their Christian liberty was so great that there was no need to be mindful of the peril their actions might represent to themselves, or the “weaker” believers in the Corinthian fellowship. “Therefore,” says Paul, “let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall” (verse 12). Yikes! Paul seems to be saying “if God dealt with the Israelites that way, why do you think he won’t do the same to you!”
However, like so many of these difficult passages in the Scriptures, we find them in the context of love. For example in this difficult passage in 1 Corinthians, I stumbled across the words “my dear friends” in verse 14 (as in the NIV). The New American Standard renders this phrase “my beloved” because the word here for “dear friends” (or “beloved”) comes from the Greek word agape, which means love, or “Christian love” (as the Aland Greek New Testament dictionary, 4th edition has). The King James has a combination reading of the phrase: “my dearly beloved.” The author of the most definitive commentary on 1 Corinthians I’m aware of to date writes that the popular translation “my dear friends” should be strengthened a bit; he suggests “my very dear friends.”
In the midst of a firm warning, there is tenderness.
Too often we read our definition of love into many Biblical passages and the result is either a distrust of the Bible itself, or a skewed theology and practice.
Our culture here in America largely defines love as affirmation. While love may at times need to be affirming, it also sees a place for warning and even rebuke. The Bible never condones truth without love (Ephesians 4:15).
But the reverse is true as well. Love shares truth.
Next time we read a difficult biblical passage in the Bible, we need to remember the loving God that stands behind them. We need to remember that often the words of warning or rebuke are preceded by words like “my very dear friends.”
