A Love That Covers A Multitude Of Sins | Dr. Madana Kumar, Phd

A Love that covers all Sins

Arvi and Aarav (our grandchildren) are happier children in the past week. One of the reasons for their extra joy for the past week has been the presence of Neville and Supriya (our son and daughter in law) at our home. But I am sure that their pet dog Bowie contributes much more to their joy. They just love Bowie.

Leslie (my wife) on the other hand is not a dog lover. She has always vetoed any idea that anyone had about keeping a pet in our home. The children have tried their best in the past to make Leslie agree to keep a pet at home with absolutely no success. But she has come to accept Bowie as part of our home now to the extent that she even does not get upset when Bowie jumps around on the bed. I am sure all of you have guessed it by now, it is the love that she has for Neville, and now extended to include Supriya that makes her accept something that she has opposed in the past. It is this transformation in Leslie that led me to today’s sermon topic. I have titled the sermon A Love that covers all sins.

In 1 Peter 4:8, Peter exhorts us : And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” (NKJV). This verse is a very loaded verse. I see three things that we learn from in this verse.

1. The first highlight of this verse is a Love that is above all things. If we look at 1 Peter 4:7 we will notice that he is talking about “being serious and watchful in our prayers”. And then immediately he shifts focus and starts the next verse with “above all things”. May Bible scholars argue that this could be interpreted as a command to hold love even above praying. A study of Paul and the teachings of Jesus himself will convince us that this is actually true. Jesus put love right at the top when He answers the pharisees’ question about the greatest commandment. In Mathew 22:36-40 He goes to explain love as the greatest of all commandments. He goes to the extent of saying that love is the fulfilment of all laws and prophesies. Paul confirms this in several passages. In 1 Corinthians 13:13 he passionately declares that “the greatest of all is love”. And he was comparing love with other Christian virtues including tongues, prophesy, knowledge, faith (a faith that can move mountains) , charity to the extent of giving away everything you have , even self-sacrifice, to the extent of giving your body to be burned. He says all this is nothing if we don’t have love. He confirms this further in Colossians 3:14 “But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection” Here Paul is putting love above virtues like mercy, kindness, humility, meekness, patience, bearing with each other, forgiveness etc. In Romans 13:8-10 Paul affirms this further by saying that love is the fulfilment of all the laws, and love is the only debt that we owe to each other. You get the point. There is a clear argument in the Bible to put love above all things. Yes all things.

2. The second highlight of the verse 1 Peter 4:8 is the Fervent nature of love : Peter is not talking about just love. He is talking about Fervent love. To understand the real meaning of the word fervent in this context, it is good for us to do a Greek word study. The Greek word used here for fervent is (ektenes), meaning "earnest," "stretched," or "intense." This word implies a deep, sincere, and consistent kind of love that is continuous and goes beyond mere affection. We actually see this word used to describe Jesus’s prayer in the garden of Gethsemane. Luke 22:44 – "And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly (ektenesteron), and His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground." In this verse, a related form of the word, ektenesteron (the comparative form), describes the intensity of Jesus’ prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane, indicating a deeply earnest, fervent prayer under extreme distress. This is the same word that is used to describe the prayer of the church for Peter in the book of Acts. Acts 12:5 – "So Peter was kept in prison, but earnest (ektenes) prayer for him was made to God by the church." Here, ektenes is used to describe the intense and continuous prayer offered by the church on behalf of Peter. This context highlights a fervent, all-consuming type of prayer. This is the term that Paul uses in his address to King Agrippa , later in the book of Acts, to describe the devotion that the Isreal’s tribes had for YHWH. Acts 26:7 – "The promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly (ektenes) serve God day and night." Here, the tribes of Israel are described as serving God "earnestly" or "intensely" (ektenes) as they await the fulfillment of God’s promise, conveying a sense of committed, unrelenting devotion. So the love that Peter talks about in 1 Peter 4:8 is not simple love. It is a fervent love , earnest love, consistent love, sincere love, intense love.