2 Thess 1:3, Love Is Kind – God’s Kindness Is the Cross.
Sunday June 18th, 2023
1Co 13:4
Love is patient, love is kind
Chresteuomai – (pres mid ind) kind. God’s gracious acts and attitudes towards sinners. (only used here.)
Rom 2:1-4
Therefore you have no excuse, everyone of you who passes judgment, for in that which you judge another, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. 3 But do you suppose this, O man, when you pass judgment on those who practice such things and do the same yourself, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
Eph 2:4-7
But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
Luk 6:35-36
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men. 36 "Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.”
Tit 3:3-8
For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another. 4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind [philanthopia] appeared, 5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, 7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. 8 This is a trustworthy statement; and concerning these things I want you to speak confidently, so that those who have believed God will be careful to engage in good deeds. These things are good and profitable for men.
In all three passages, the kindness of God is directly related to the cross of Christ. God saving sinners through giving His innocent Son as a sacrifice for sin.
Used of God’s kindness towards us it comes to mean a comprehensive fulness of Christian salvation, much like grace and righteousness.
Luk 7:36-50
Now one of the Pharisees was requesting Him to dine with him, and He entered the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table. 37 And there was a woman in the city who was a sinner; and when she learned that He was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought an alabaster vial of perfume, 38 and standing behind Him at His feet, weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears, and kept wiping them with the hair of her head, and kissing His feet and anointing them with the perfume. 39 Now when the Pharisee who had invited Him saw this, he said to himself, "If this man were a prophet He would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching Him, that she is a sinner."
40 And Jesus answered him, "Simon, I have something to say to you." And he replied, "Say it, Teacher." 41 "A moneylender had two debtors: one owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 "When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?" 43 Simon answered and said, "I suppose the one whom he forgave more." And He said to him, "You have judged correctly." 44 Turning toward the woman, He said to Simon, "Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave Me no water for My feet, but she has wet My feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 "You gave Me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss My feet. 46 "You did not anoint My head with oil, but she anointed My feet with perfume. 47 "For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." 48 Then He said to her, "Your sins have been forgiven." 49 Those who were reclining at the table with Him began to say to themselves, "Who is this man who even forgives sins?" 50 And He said to the woman, "Your faith has saved you; go in peace."
When Paul commends chrestotes to Christians in the lists of virtues in his epistles, we do not interpret either this word or the related virtues correctly if we only see them as the world does. Thanks to philosophies like Stoicism, words like love, patience, kindness, goodness are all heralded, recommended, and known as good achievements for a good life. Like human love, there seems to be enough overlap with God’s love to call human love good enough and even godly. But these words (love, patience, kindness, etc.) in the world’s eyes are all missing a very important factor – the cross.
The kindness of agape in us is always related to the Holy Spirit.
The Scripture is expressing the great experience that God's love works out from God’s people. Through the Holy Spirit, the love of God is poured out in our hearts (a component of eternal life) and by that same Spirit the people of God express kindness, but not the world’s kindness, but the cross’ kindness.
Gal 5:21-22
those who practice such things [the terrible deeds of the flesh] will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness …
In 2Co 6 we find patience and kindness alongside the Holy Spirit in an amazing list of virtues that our God who saved us gave us by grace. Read carefully and you will see that just as love and kindness are a part of eternal life, so are all the virtues of goodness. We are not attaining them, but they are a part of the life God has given us. It is for us to mature them by knowledge and faith.
Kindness of God toward us manifested in the cross. It is doing good to another.
The adjective chrestos has a variety of meanings. It was used in similar ways to the Greek word “good” (agathos) but more relationally, as in good for another, quality service, and came to mean worth, decent, honest, and upright. Look at its use in Luk 5:39.
Luk 5:38-39
"But new wine must be put into fresh wineskins. 39 "And no one, after drinking old wine wishes for new; for he says, 'The old is good enough.'"
The believer in this age is the new wine, God’s new creation. We are to do good to others as God has done good to the world through the cross. That is the meaning of kindness. It is not just acting sweet and nice, it is doing good to others, including your enemies, in a sacrificial way if necessary.
We are not to show the kindness that has been for centuries heralded as a good thing by philosophies like Stoicism. We are to show God’s kindness that is shown on the cross.
The disconnect between hearing and living this agape is faith that moves us.