Discipleship in Community: Spiritual Formation and the Church

Transcription

1 Discipleship in Community: Spiritual Formation and the Church SF501 LESSON 23 of 24 John R. Lillis, Ph.D. Experience: Dean and Executive Officer at Bethel Seminary in San Diego, CA. In this session, we want to continue with our discussion of the description of love, the functional description of love that Paul provides in 1 Corinthians 13. We now come to the phrase in verse 5 that the New American Standard Bible translates love does not take into account a wrong suffered. There s not a little disagreement as to the meaning of this phrase. It s because there is some confusion as to the meaning of the words that s obvious as you look at the various English translation of this phrase. One translation says bears no malice, while another never reckons up her wrongs. Others, keep no score of wrong, love is not resentful, love does not keep account of evil, loves does not take into account a wrong suffered, love does not register the evil, love does not think evil, love does not take account of evil, love does not calculate evil. The literal translation of the Greek words that we have here might be rendered love does not consider the evil. The verb is the one that is causing the problem, logizetai. It is not the standard word for to think, although the word can have that meaning. Also, we have with evil the definite article in the Greek, the presence of the word the in English. And that is not so common in the Greek, either, so we have love does not consider, love does not logizetai the evil. The confusion arises because of the various shades of meaning which the word came to have in biblical usage through the influence of the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament, as contrasted to the classical and koine Greek usage of the time. The Greek idea, especially during the later Greek era, of logizetai, the verb here that I ve said is consider or think, was used with the idea of an intellectual or rational sense in the word. And it focused on the logical objectivity of the pure intellect, so that in the classical Greek usage, the idea was merely thinking or reasoning about something or someone. As such, it could be used in a bookkeeping sense. Second Timothy 4:16 provides an example 1 of 14

2 of usage of the word which is more characteristic and consistent with the classical Greek usage. Paul says here, 2Timothy 4:16, At my first defense, no one supported me, but all deserted me. May it not be counted against them. And so there the focus is on the idea of merely thinking or reasoning about something or someone. It s very objective. There s not a lot of emotion in that, May it not be held to their account. The Old Testament usage, however, is slightly different. There s more emotional content to the Old Testament usage. There are 12 times, in fact, in the Old Testament in the Septuagint, and 9 of those in the Prophets, where the verb is used with the exact same word that we have here in 1 Corinthians 13:5 for evil, kakon; so that we have almost the exact same phrase 12 times in the Old Testament that Paul uses here in 1 Corinthians 13:5 when he talks about love does not consider the evil. In many places in the Old Testament the word is used to speak of someone, God or man, planning or plotting or devising to do something which the recipient will consider as evil or bad. A good representative passage of the Old Testament usage is found in the book of Zechariah, in 8:17. We read, Also, let none of you, and here s the phrase in the Septuagint, devise evil in your heart against another. And do not love perjury, for all these are what I hate, declares the LORD. Eleven other times in the Old Testament that phrase that is translated here in the New American Standard, devise evil, and which is basically the same words that we have used in 1 Corinthians 13:5, logizetai and kakon. Eleven other times in the Old Testament, the Septuagint translation, that phrase is used. What happens is that the word logizetai in the Old Testament, the verb to consider, takes on a subjective emotional and willful sense versus the intellectual rational sense that was found during the later Greek era, as we mentioned earlier. The logical objectivity of the pure intellect, again from the Greek era, is replaced in the Septuagint by the feeling of the heart conditioned by individual personality. So there s this subjective aspect to it, an emotional aspect. Whereas in the classical Greek usage, the idea was merely thinking or reasoning about something or someone, now the thinking is directed against someone, again with strong emotional content. So that we might translate the idea and the sense that Paul has here, and I obviously believe that Paul was influenced by the Septuagint rather than the Greek 2 of 14

3 usage of the time, that he s reflecting the usage of this phrase in the Septuagint. The idea that he has in mind here when he says love does not consider the evil, is that love stores up no resentment and bears no malice. When there is no question that it has received an injury or that it has been wronged, love plans no evil in return for the evil which it has received. So when we say that love keeps no record of the wrong, or love does not take into account a wrong suffered, as the New American Standard translates it, we mean that it does not remember a certain person as the one who has done something bad to it. That is, it does not bear a grudge. It does not plan and plot to do something in return for the injury that it has suffered. It does not ponder and plan the ways to do someone harm. It forgives and it forgets. We want to come back to that in a moment and talk about what we mean by forgiving and forgetting. It s an important aspect of this phrase. How does this aspect of love apply to our corporate life together as brothers and sisters in Christ? How is it worked out in this mutual/interpersonal/relational/spiritual formation that we undergo together, as we are growing up together with each individual part doing its work? First of all, we must guard against those smoldering roots of bitterness that can arise when there is conflict between individuals in the body. Not only are we to resist immediate responses of anger, as we mentioned earlier in the phrase in the last session; but we must also guard against the feelings of resentment, the feelings of bitterness and malice, which can build up in our hearts when we have been wronged. A good example of this in the Old Testament that I think was on Paul s mind as he wrote this passage, because he s referred to this both directly and indirectly earlier, is in Genesis 34. We looked at this passage earlier when we were talking about that which was unseemly or that which was unbecoming or crude behavior. Again, this was the rape of Dinah by Shechem the son of Hamor, the Hivite, as you see in Genesis 34. Now Dinah the daughter of Leah, whom she had borne to Jacob, went out to visit the daughters of the land. And when Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her, he took her and lay with her by force. He was deeply attracted to Dinah the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the girl and spoke tenderly to her. So Shechem spoke to his father Hamor, saying, Get me this young girl for a wife. 3 of 14

4 Their sister had been wronged, the sister of Simeon and Levi, the daughter of Jacob, had been wronged by this act, obviously. We see that in Genesis 34:6-8, that Hamor the father of Shechem went out to Jacob to speak with him. Now the sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it; and the men were grieved, and they were very angry because he had done a disgraceful thing in Israel by lying with Jacob s daughter, for such a thing ought not to be done. But Hamor spoke with them, saying, The soul of my son Shechem longs for your daughter; please give her to him in marriage. So there had been a provocation. There had been an act in which this family was clearly sinned against. They had been wronged, no question. The Shechemites offered to make amends. In verse 11, Shechem also said to her father and to her brothers, If I find favor in your sight, then I will give whatever you say to me. Ask me ever so much bridal payment and gift, and I will give according as you say to me; but give me the girl in marriage. So there was a request for forgiveness, a request to make things right with the family. Now it s interesting, as we go on in verse 13, But Jacob s sons answered Shechem and his father Hamor with deceit, and spoke to them because he had defiled Dinah their sister. Now in the initial response they did not respond initially with anger. They were not provoked to an act of rage and indignation initially. However, there was something else going on, as we see. They registered the evil. They considered the evil. They took into account the wrong that they had suffered and then plotted against the Shechemites. In verse 25 we see the result of this. You know the story in between. They said, Well, first of all, all of your men have to be circumcised. And then in verse 25, after the circumcision, Now it came about on the third day, when they were in pain, that two of Jacob s sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah s brothers, each took his sword and came upon the city unawares, and killed every male. So they didn t respond initially. They weren t provoked to anger and rage initially. Rather, they sat back, they registered this wrong which had been done to them, and then they plotted and they schemed. They spoke with deceit and devised a plan for revenge. We have God s judgment upon that entire act represented in the blessing. Simeon and Levi lost their blessing, as we see in Genesis 29, when Jacob had summoned his sons and was giving his blessings upon each one. In Genesis 49, beginning at verse 5, he said, Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are implements 4 of 14

5 of violence. Let my soul not enter into their council; let not My glory be united with their assembly; because in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they lamed oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. So they lost their blessing because of this act. And their brother Joseph, who had maybe similar reasons for responding in the same way, did just the opposite in his own life. And it is recorded such in the very next chapter of Genesis, over in Genesis 50:15. Jacob has just died. When Joseph s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, What if Joseph should bear a grudge against us and pay us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him! Now it s very natural for them to think that way, because that s the way they acted, as we ve seen with Shechem earlier in this example that we ve just given from Genesis 34. That s the way Simeon and Levi and perhaps the others operated. That s the way they thought. When you were wronged, maybe you don t respond initially; and certainly Joseph didn t respond initially with anger. He wasn t provoked when he had the opportunity initially, but now they re concerned that he has considered the evil, that he has taken into account the wrong that was done to him. That is, that he is acting or has acted throughout the years in a manner exactly opposite of that which we re describing in 1 Corinthians 13, when we say that love does not consider the evil. So we read in Genesis 50:16, So they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Your father charged before he died, saying, Thus you shall say to Joseph, Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong. And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, Do not be afraid, for am I in God s place? And as for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive. So therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones. So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. In other words, Joseph responded to his brothers in love, a love that is characterized by not considering the evil. He says that 5 of 14

6 literally there. He s not considering the evil, that which they meant for evil against him; but rather, he comforted them and spoke words of kindness to them. This is how we are to live together, as brothers and sisters in Christ. Not only are we not to be provoked against one another, responding and lashing out in anger immediately; but we re also to guard against those smoldering roots of bitterness. We re not to consider the evil that someone has done against us within the church. Unfortunately, this does not happen. How many examples can we think of, of brothers and sisters in Christ, members of the church, who haven t spoken to one another in years because there was some difficulty? There was something that was done; and when the action occurred, they didn t lash out at one another. They weren t provoked to acts of rage and indignation immediately and initially. However, each party, or perhaps one of the parties, has considered in their hearts the evil that was done against them. They ve thought about that, in terms of maybe someday getting back. It happens in families, husbands and wives, when one spouse says or does something to us which hurts or angers us. And, again, we don t lash out. We don t allow ourselves to be provoked, but we sit and we think about that. We wonder about that. We smolder about that and allow that to build up. And we begin to think about how we can get even. We begin to store up resentment and bear malice towards the individual who has wronged us. That is not living in love. Love stores up no resentment. Love bears no malice. Love does not consider the evil which has been done against it. In fact, when injured or wronged, we must forgive and we must forget. Orr, in his commentary on 1 Corinthians, says that Love absorbs evil without charging it against the other person and deals with evil by forgiving it. And we have no greater example than that of our Lord Jesus Christ and the treatment that He received at the hands of those who hated Him and who crucified Him. We see that in Luke 23, for example, one of the crucifixion accounts, beginning at verse 32, talking about the crucifixion: And two others also, who were criminals, were being led away to be put to death with Him. And in verse 33, When they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. But Jesus was saying, Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing. And they cast lots, dividing up His garments among 6 of 14

7 themselves. And the people stood by, looking on. And even the rulers were sneering at Him, saying, He saved others; let Him save Himself if this is the Christ of God, His Chosen One. The soldiers also mocked Him, coming up to Him, offering Him sour wine, and saying, If You are the King of Jews, save Yourself! And on and on, Now there was also an inscription above Him, THIS IS THE KING OF THE JEWS. And one of the criminals who were hanged there was hurling abuse at Him, saying, Are You not the Christ? Save Yourself and us! We know that Jesus, in light of who He was, could have called a legion of angels, and He could have subsequently turned His back on the human race. Yet He didn t. What He did, He did to provide for our salvation. And in verse 34, going back to that, He says, Father, forgive them. Forgive those who were crucifying Him, for they didn t know what they were doing. There was no bitterness. There was no malice. There was no resentment harboring, but rather, He did what He did for our good. So often our own so-called forgiveness is shallow and temporary. Often, when we say to someone I forgive you, it simply means that we are not going to get angry right then. It simply means we re not going to allow ourselves to be provoked to an angry response at that point. And certainly that is good, but far too often what it does mean is that we are going to nurse a root of bitterness. We are going to carry a grudge against that person. We are going to keep a record of that wrong. We are going to bear resentment and malice towards them. We are going to consider the evil; and we will plan somehow, some way, to get even. So that when we say I forgive you, what we re saying is I m not going to get you now, but you better watch your back, because one of these days I am. And maybe our revenge will be nothing direct that would be obvious. Maybe we ll just be a little less friendly, or perhaps more aloof, or less helpful to that person who has wronged us. Maybe it s not anything violent or drastic; nonetheless, we are very much keeping record of the wrong that has been committed of us. And our behavior towards that individual has drastically changed. Well, you see, we have not really forgiven them. We have not forgiven them as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven us. And we re told to forgive one another that way. Paul tells us that in Colossians. We read that verse earlier. Forgive one another, as God in Christ Jesus has forgiven you. And how has He forgiven us? Well, in the Old Testament we know that He has forgiven us in that He has 7 of 14

8 forgotten our sins. Our sins are as far away as the east is from the west. They re removed. Now what does that mean, to forgive and forget? Does it mean that we no longer can objectively remember the facts? No. You know that s impossible. It s impossible for you to put that totally out of your mind. To forgive and to forget, as God forgives and forgets, means that we no longer remember the consequences of that sin, that we no longer count that sin against that individual, that it no longer impacts the relationship that we have with that person. It s a formal forgetting, if you would, that in our relationship with that person we treat them, 100 percent, in all ways possible, as if they had not sinned against us. The sin has no bearing upon the relationship that we have with that individual. When we forgive in that way, we are loving. We are forgiving and expressing the fact that we no longer count the evil that has been done against us. We are no longer considering the evil that has been done against us. And that s what we mean, and what Paul means, in 1 Corinthians 13:5 when he says, Love does not take into account a wrong suffered. It goes beyond merely resisting the urge to be provoked to anger initially and immediately. It means putting the episode completely and totally aside, not bearing a grudge, not bearing resentment and malice towards the individual. Forgiving and forgetting, interacting and dealing with the person as if that sin had not happened, allowing the sin to have no impact, no influence on their relationship with us. To fail in any of these aspects in our relationships with others is to fail to live in the love which should characterize those who are the children of God and the followers of the Lord Jesus Christ. Think with me, for a moment, about the impact of not doing this in the body of Christ. As we are growing and living together, as we go back to the model of Ephesians 4:16, each individual part does its work. Again, we are a body. We re an organism knit together, dependent upon one another functionally, according to the variety of gifts that God has given us. We are very dependent upon one another for our full spiritual maturity together, that we might grow up into that corporate spiritual man that God would have us to be. And if there are those members which are harboring grudges and bearing malice and resentment towards one another, not truly forgetting in their forgiveness, then the body is going to be stunted. The body is not going to realize and enjoy the growth in love that God intends for it. And so we won t realize the growth 8 of 14

9 and the maturity together that God would have for us. As we go on in our consideration of this functional description of love, we ve seen that love is patient, love is kind, it is not jealous; love does not brag, it is not arrogant. Love does not act unbecomingly; it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered All of these are very critical, both positively and negatively, in terms of our mutual and corporate growth and life together. We come now to verse 6 and a description of that which love does not rejoice in and that which loves does rejoice in. Verse 6 says, Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness, but rejoices with the truth. As we look at this phrase, what do we mean, first of all, by the negative phrase? Love does not rejoice in unrighteousness. Again, here we have the definite article included in the Greek. As you know, that s not a common occurrence. Love does not rejoice in the unrighteousness, or the iniquity. The word that we have used here, coupled with the article, gives us the idea of unrighteousness in general, with an emphasis on the outward characteristics that define the unrighteousness. It s very interesting here. Notice that it is love that does not rejoice in the unrighteousness. We re not speaking of just our attitude towards unrighteousness. It s not saying Don t love unrighteousness, but to love means not to rejoice in that which is unrighteous. It is not a loving act for someone to rejoice in iniquity in any way. Now, how does that apply to us? How can we exercise love in this way? What does it mean to say that love does not rejoice in the unrighteousness? I think, in terms of the application and implications that we want to draw concerning our life together in this mutual process of spiritual formation, there are two possible perspectives that we can take in applying this aspect of love. Those two perspectives are the perspectives of the doer and the observer. What I m talking about is the doer of iniquity and unrighteousness and the observer of iniquity and unrighteousness. As we look at this and develop this, we ll see that in both cases one can rejoice in unrighteousness and thereby not be engaging in loving behavior. Let s look, first of all, at the perspective of the doer. This is from the perspective of the one who might be committing the iniquity or the unrighteousness. As we look at what was going on at the church in Corinth, we see that indeed there were plenty of people 9 of 14

10 in this church who were committing various forms of unrighteous acts. Not only are such actions sin, but they also are demonstrating a lack of love; and this goes against the idea that our sin hurts only us or, at best, a small number of people. We ve talked briefly about this in earlier sessions in this course. We want to develop it more fully now, because Paul develops it in this sense of it being a characteristic of love. Now to understand how a rejoicing in iniquity is a form of hate, a form of unlove towards other Christians, we need to understand the biblical concept of community and unrighteousness and, in particular, how that concept is developed in the Old Testament. Because that concept, I believe, is very much a part of Paul s thinking as he develops these ideas of corporate spiritual formation and spirituality. As you will recall in the Old Testament, an individual s sin affected much more than the individual. Individual sin often was portrayed as affecting the whole community and impacting the whole community. An example that we re all familiar with is the story of Achan in the Book of Joshua, as they had taken the city of Jericho. And they were told, explicitly and specifically, not to take any of the idols and the gold and so forth. And Achan did, and as you ll recall, as they went into battle with the next city, the nation suffered defeat. The entire community suffered because of Achan s sin. There was this corporate concept of unrighteousness and how that impacted community. Of course, another well-known story would include the story of David and his sin with Bathsheba and how that impacted not only David, but ultimately impacted many in his kingdom and many in his court throughout his life. Israelites were told time and time again, throughout the Old Testament, to purge the evil from their midst, to be rid of the evil from their midst because it would impact the entire community. And a related concept is found in the New Testament, and we ve talked about that concept. In 1 Corinthians 12, for example, as Paul develops the idea that we are all members of one body. First Corinthians 12:12 says, For even as the body is one and yet has many members, and all the members of the body, though they are many, are one body, so also is Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and we were all made to drink of one Spirit. 10 of 14

11 And as he develops that, both here and in other places, he talks about the fact that if one suffers, all suffer. In verse 26, And if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it; if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. Now you are Christ s body, and individually members of it. When one rejoices, we all rejoice. When one mourns, we all are to mourn. One member living in sin, and even rejoicing in that sin, is like a cancer in the body. That individual is not fulfilling their role in the body. So, from one aspect, they re not doing what they are to be doing because of the gift that God has given them. Their sin has impacted their own individual effectiveness. And, as we ve seen in Ephesians 4:16, that impacts the whole body; because the body will only grow as each individual part does its work. So when one individual is rejoicing in their iniquity by continuing in that iniquity, they re impacting the whole Body. From that perspective, it s like a cancer. They are actually destroying the body. So an individual who continues in sin, such as sexual immorality, vindictive and hateful spirit, gossip, hot temper, the variety of sins that evidently were going on in the church at Corinth; as they continue in that, they are hurting the whole body. They are not loving the rest of the body as they continue in that sin. I think to fail to see sin as exceedingly sinful is equivalent to rejoicing in it. To choose to continue in a particular sin is to rejoice in that sin. For the individual to do that, it lessens their effectiveness. That lessens the design and desired impact that God has for that individual member in the body. Now remember the overall context here in 1 Corinthians 13. Everything that the Christian does is to be done in love, Paul has said in those first three verses. To be rejoicing in a given iniquity is not to love. It s not to live in the love that God would have us to live in, because it s impacting the entire body. So that s the perspective of the doer the one who is doing the sin, the one who is practicing the unrighteousness, and how that is not a loving act. It is not a loving act, because to continue in their sin, to willfully and deliberately choose to continue in sin, impacts all of us; because they are not what God would have them to be, they are not fulfilling the individual role that God would have them to fulfill. Let s begin to look at the other perspective. This is the perspective of the observer, the perspective of the Christian who sees his or 11 of 14

12 her brother or sister commit iniquity and then rejoices in it. Now there are several ways that this might happen. There are several ways that we might rejoice in someone s iniquity. There is the case where a person would rejoice that a brother or sister that they were jealous of or envious of had fallen into sin, someone that the person didn t really care much for anyway. I think this was going on in Corinth. You will recall the variety of divisions that existed in the church, those who said they were of Paul, those who said they were of Peter, those who were of Apollos, and so on and so forth. So there were the jealousies, the envies that were going on between people; and perhaps there was a case where one brother or sister would fall, and the other would rejoice in that fall, would rejoice in the iniquity that had occurred in that individual s life. I think it s fairly obvious that that is not an act of love. To rejoice when someone falls into sin is not to love that individual. Sometimes will people will cry what we call crocodile tears, and we often hear this in prayer requests. Well, pray for so-and-so. You know, they have fallen into sin. And then all the lurid details are graphically described and almost in a joyful manner, because the individual that s describing it was not all that sad that this individual had fallen into iniquity. That, I think, again, is fairly obvious. There s a second way, however, that I think is not so obvious that we need to look at, and that is to rejoice by failing to say anything to the brother who sins. Perhaps we feel that we are too sophisticated to be bothered by rules and regulations, or perhaps we want people to think we are too sophisticated to be bothered by rules and regulations. So as we observe someone involved in sin we don t say anything to them. I think this was going on in Corinth, where we had the church there and the man who was sleeping with his father s wife. And Paul is dismayed that they are allowing that to go on; and by allowing that to go on, they are, in a sense, rejoicing in the iniquity. They are failing to say what needs to be said, failing to say anything to the brother or sister who sinned. A live and let live philosophy is not an act of love. Often we think that if we love someone, we won t say anything to them about the wrong things that they are doing. The idea here is that love does not include scolding or rebuking, but you give someone the freedom to do whatever it is they want to do. There are some contemporary ideas of child raising and child disciplining that go 12 of 14

13 along those lines: that it is a more loving thing to allow the child to continue in a certain path or avenue of wrong behavior. Discipline is not an unloving action. Pointing out sin is not an unloving action. The goal of such actions of love, pointing out sin, saying something to the brother or sister who sins, is to restore someone to the proper relationship with God. The purpose and point and goal of discipline is to restore someone to a proper relationship. We have the example of God Himself in the Scripture. The writer of Hebrews, for example, talks about God s discipline and how this is manifesting His love. In Hebrews 12, beginning at verse 5, And you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons, My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, Nor faint when you are reproved by Him; For those whom the Lord loves He disciplines, And He scourges every son whom He receives. It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? And so he s talking here about the fact that as God disciplines us, He is showing His love towards us. And we are exhorted to do the same thing for one another and thereby to demonstrate our love for one another. Galatians 6, we read verse 1 in a prior session, Brethren, even if a man is caught in any trespass, you who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness; each one looking to yourself, lest you too be tempted. Bear one another s burdens, and thus fulfill the law of Christ. For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Notice that by this disciplining; pointing out sin to one another, gently correcting one another, we are fulfilling the law of Christ. And what is the law of Christ? What is the commandment of Christ? To love one another, as we ve seen in John 15. Now there are some precautions in that endeavor, however. Note again those three verses in Galatians 6. We are to restore the individual gently. This is not punishment, but loving restoration. Sometimes people are not considerate of other persons feelings. Remember love is patient, kind, it s not rude; it s not easily angered. So we need to, in this discipline, make sure that it is loving discipline and that 13 of 14

14 we do follow the pattern here. In the next session, we want to continue our discussion here of 1 Corinthians 13:6. Having looked at what we mean by the fact that love does not rejoice in iniquity; the fact that we have two perspectives, one from the doer, and one from the observer; we now want to look in the next session at the positive aspect of this, the fact that love does rejoice in the truth. Christ-Centered Learning Anytime, Anywhere 14 of 14