|
News for the Pews |
Home
21st November 2025
FridayReflection
************************
John Piper
founder and teacher of Desiring God.org
"Love One Another with
Brotherly Affection"
.... Romans 12:10
Love one another warmly as Christians, and be eager to show respect for one another. GNT
Our focus this time is on the two exhortations in verse 10.
These are addressed to the church.
The "one another" is not everybody, but fellow believers in the church.
This doesn't mean you can't have affection for an unbeliever.
You surely can.
And it doesn't mean you shouldn't honour unbelievers. You surely should
(1 Peter 2:7).
But the focus here is on the church. Wherever else you have affection, have it here. And whomever else you honour, show honour here.
What is affection toward fellow believers, and what does it mean to honour each other? Why is this commanded? Why is it important?
And finally, how to you experience it?
How do you have affection for a believer you may not even like?
How do you honour believers who may do dishonourable things?
What is affection? And what is honour?
Both of these words (in v. 10a), "love" and "brotherly affection," are emotion-laden words.
They ruin immediately the stoic, Christian notion that we don't have to like people but we should love them.
Of course, it's true that you can love someone (in one sense) you don't like.
That is, you can do good things for them.
You can help them and treat them respectfully, even if coolly.
But that is not the kind of love Paul is talking about here.
There are two implications in these words for love.
One (philostorgoi = love) is the comfortable at-homeness you feel with a favourite old sweater or a 13 year-old dog, or the chair you've sat in for decades, or a friend that you feel so easy with there's not the slightest thought of self-consciousness about keeping the conversation going or worrying about times of silence.
The other word, "brotherly affection" (philadelphia), is just what it says.
It's the affection of a family that comes with long familiarity and deep bonds.
Of course you can have squabbles and get mad, but let some bully pick on your brother, and the family affection shows a powerful side.
Or let one of the family members get a life-threatening sickness or even die, and there will be a kind of tears that do not come for others.
This is what we are supposed to have for each other in the church.
Don't react by saying, "I can't do that.
There are too many weirdoes and goofballs and emotional misfits in the church."
Since when are the commands of God supposed to be doable in our own strength?
"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible"
(Matthew 19:26).
What about showing honour?
Verse 10b says, "Outdo one another in showing honour." What is that?
Honor is different from affection.
You can honour a person for whom you have no affection.
Paul doesn't want you to choose between these.
Do both he says. But they are different.
Honouring someone is treating them with your deeds and your words as worthy of your service.
They may not be worthy of it.
But you can do it anyway. Some honouring means treating people better than they deserve.
For example, Paul says to Christian slaves,
"Let all who are under a yoke as slaves regard their own masters as worthy of all honour"
(1 Timothy 6:1).
They may be scoundrels, but you can "regard" them as worthy of honour.
You can count them worthy, the way God counts you righteous.
That doesn't mean you don't see their faults.
But you act and you speak to honour them.
What does it mean to "outdo one another in showing honour"?
I think it boils down to "prefer to honour rather than be honoured."
If you try to out honour someone it means you love to honour more than you love to be honoured.
You enjoy elevating others to honour more than you enjoy being elevated to honour.
So don't be giving energy to how you can be honoured, but how you can honour.
Put to death the craving for honour. Cultivate the love of honouring others.
><(((°>
This is an edited version.
The full article and Bible references are avaiable on request
'John Piper'
is founder and teacher of Desiring God and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota.
He is author of more than 50 books, including Desiring God: Meditations of a Christian Hedonist
and most recently Foundations for Lifelong Learning:
Education in Serious Joy.
During the Interregnum
March 2025 to ....
Contact the Benefice Office
E-mail:
thebeneficeofbhkandr at gmail dot com
Contact the Benefice Office
Sunday School Rooms, Church Lane,
BUGBROOKE, Northampton, NN7 3PB
Land Line: 01604 830373
E-mail:
thebeneficeofbhkandr at gmail dot com
Mon., Tues., Wed., Thur.
9:00am to 11:30am
For Baptism bookings (Christenings)
to arrange an appointment please contact
the Benefice Office.
For Wedding bookings:
please contact the Benefice Office to arrange
an appointment.
Who Made This?
Seeing as you asked, if you can give helpful
advice or report factual corrections and
'deliberate mistakes',email:-
regparker3 at gmail dot com
Email addresses shown using words in an
attempt to avoid 'spam',
Type the email address replacing 'at' with '@',
and 'dot' with '.'
|