Irenic Thoughts

Irenic. The word means peaceful. This web log (or blog) exists to create an ongoing, and hopefully peaceful, series of comments on the life of King of Peace Episcopal Church. This is not a closed community. You are highly encouraged to comment on any post or to send your own posts.

4/30/2008

Love and Faith are both verbs

Peace be to the brethren, and love with faith,
from God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
—Ephesians 6:23

At God's Table has an interesting word study from scripture on the word with in the verse above. Answering the question of how one can love with faith, the study says in part:
Love in Hebrew (ahav) is the full engagement of a person on behalf of someone else. It is the application of my mental, emotional and volitional abilities to assist, support, encourage—even to sacrifice—for another. It is the fulfillment of the commandment to care for my neighbor as I care for myself. If I do that, I automatically produce faith (‘emunah). How is that possible? Don’t I have to sign some creed or something? No, you don’t. You have to read Habakkuk 2:4 and Deuteronomy 32:4. You will discover that faith is nothing more, or less, than the truthfulness of God’s character and actions. When I get in alignment with those, love erupts from what I am doing – and you can’t tell the difference between the two.
The full text of the study is here: James and Paul.

"Look at the proud! They trust in themselves,
and their lives are crooked;
but the righteous will live by their faith."
—Habakkuk 2:4

"He is the Rock; his work is perfect.
Everything he does is just and fair.
He is a faithful God who does no wrong;
how just and upright he is!"
—Deuteronomy 32:4

Labels:

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home