Love Made Real

Scripture: 2 Corinthians 6:1-10

As we work together with him, we entreat you also not to accept the grace of God in vain. ² For he says,

“At an acceptable time I have listened to you,
    and on a day of salvation I have helped you.”

Look, now is the acceptable time; look, now is the day of salvation! ³ We are putting no obstacle in anyone’s way, so that no fault may be found with our ministry, ⁴ but as servants of God we have commended ourselves in every way: in great endurance, afflictions, hardships, calamities, ⁵ beatings, imprisonments, riots, labors, sleepless nights, hunger; ⁶ in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness, holiness of spirit, genuine love, ⁷ truthful speech, and the power of God; with the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and for the left; ⁸ in honor and dishonor, in ill repute and good repute. We are treated as impostors and yet are true, ⁹ as unknown and yet are well known, as dying and look—we are alive, as punished and yet not killed, ¹⁰ as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing and yet possessing everything.

¹¹ We have spoken frankly to you Corinthians; our heart is wide open to you. ¹² There is no restriction in our affections but only in yours. ¹³ In return—I speak as to children—open wide your hearts also.

Questions

1. What does it mean to accept God’s grace in vain?
2. Why does Paul bring up his own example, how are we meant to learn from it?
3. What does kindness look like in daily life, how does it relate to near synonyms like “nice”?

Background

Related Scriptures: Joshua 2:1-14; Romans 2:1-11; 1 Corinthians 13; Galatians 5:16-26; Titus 3:1-11

“Grace” in verse 1 should be understood as “gift” and “in vain” should be understood as “worthless”. The point is that to not develop our character to be like God is treating God’s gift of Jesus as though he is worthless.

Origen of Alexandria: You can recognize the riches of God’s kindness if you consider how many evils men do every day on earth. Almost everyone has fallen away and become worthless, traveling down the wide and broad way of perdition, ignoring the narrow road that leads to eternal life. Yet God lets his sun shine daily on all of them and sends them rain, however much they may blaspheme him.… Therefore if anyone despises God’s kindness and forbearance and patience, he does not know that he is being encouraged by these things to repent.^[1]

Kindness is tied to patience in verse 6/ Patience is the ability to endure what others do to you, and kindness is how we treat others.  Both of these are meant to show how Christians respond when others are mistreating us.

Kindness means both being upright and moral and being generous with others, specifically from a desire to see their benefit. Kindness is the how love is demonstrated in the world.

Reflection

Entering this week I though “kind” meant nice or polite and really did not think of kindness as a virtue but more of a temperament or disposition. Then reading this passage from 2 Corinthians I did what I frequently do—read a little about the Greek terms used in the passage. And this one struck me (χρηστότητι) kindness. It struck me because the definitions seemed all over the place: helpful, good, generous, upright. In English these concepts are not often synonymous, and I wondered how there was one Greek term to bring them together. What is the concept Paul is trying to articulate in this sentence and why do we translate it with such a mild word. Thinking about this I began to look at every verse where this term is used and I noticed that the word is used frequently in lists of virtues and even more shocking it is often paired with patience.

There are at least half a dozen times that patience and kindness are tied together in the same verse in the New Testament. These two virtues are often paired together because they demonstrate how love is put into action with others. Patience is an ability to tolerate the unloving actions of others. And kindness is the ability to show love to others even when that is difficult. This is why there were so many definitions for kindness when I looked it up. Kindness does not refer to a single trait, it refers to a heartfelt desire to treat someone well. Kindness is love in action. Whether that love is your love for the person you are treating well or simply an outgrowth of your love for God.

I think about this in the context of Paul’s larger theme in 2 Corinthians 6 and I am amazed. In this passage Paul is talking about all of the mistreatment he has experienced within Romand society as he proclaims the Gospel. He has had to demonstrate considerable patience with the people who have repeatedly mistreated him. Not only has he endured the mistreatment he has responded with kindness. Even enduring mistreatment with ambivalence is impressive to many. Being able to tolerate harm from another person without response is the limit for many. Paul though, did not simply endure, he turned the other cheek and showed generosity out of a place of love. I think about his treatment in Philippi where he was beaten and thrown into prison. Yet rather than escape when the opportunity presented itself, he chose to show kindness to the jailer and remain in his place after an earthquake freed him. The result of this love put into action was the jailer and his family found faith in Jesus.

Paul wants the same response from the Corinthians; he wants them to demonstrate the love in their hearts in practical ways. It is this combination of patience and kindness that demonstrates they have truly accepted God’s grace. In this congregation that has so many issues and disagreements, Paul wants them to understand that others will see God’s work in their lives through their ability to act like God. Reading these words from Paul I cannot help but this of Jesus’ words, “if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile.” (Matthew 5:41). As I think about this, I cannot help thinking that the first mile shows patience with the person mistreating you, the second shows kindness in the midst of difficulty. Our world needs this kind of behavior from Christians; society needs people who are willing to show generosity and help at all times.

This verse makes me think about the strength involved in showing kindness and reevaluate cliched phrase like, “In a world where you can be anything, be kind.” In a world where many doors are open to me, am I choosing the ones that value putting love into action with everyone I meet? This idea no longer represented trite sentimentality, rather it is a daring call to resist evil at every turn. The question is am I developing the grace of the Holy Spirit in such a way that I have the strength to live this out? My goal needs to be to develop a desire to live out a life of kindness. I know that if I commit to showing kindness to the world around me my witness will grow and far outstrip my words.

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^[1] Gerald Bray, ed., Romans (Revised), Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture 53.