THE MOST EXCELLENT WAY #11

The Temple Mound

The eleventh in our looks at Paul's description of love in I Cor. 13 brings us to this definition: "...love..." "...is not self-seeking..."(I Cor. 13:5)

Jesus made reference to loving God and our neighbor. He said "...There is no greater commandment than these."(Mk. 12:30-31)

The word greater here is meizon. Paul used this same word in I Cor. 13:13 when referring to faith, hope and love. He said "...the greatest of these is love..."

It is not surprising then that love is "...the most excellent way..."(I Cor. 12:31)

Matthew Henry's comments on the fact that love is not self-seeking were

"Charity is the utter enemy of selfishness..."

Do we hear someone say that we are supposed to love ourselves. That is true. But Jesus said remember "...love your neighbor as yourself."(Mt. 19:19; Mt. 22:39)

James, the brother of Jesus quoted the same scripture "...Love your neighbor as yourself."(Ja. 2:8) The context of James's writing was that of forbidding favoritism. And he tells them his readers "...if you show favoritism, you sin..."(Ja. 2:8)

When one combines "...love your neighbor as yourself..." with "Do to others as you would have them do to you...'(Lk. 6:31) a whole vista of possible positive relationships among folks occurs.

And when one truly accepts the fact that true agape love will not permit and promote selfishness, then it is that we truly permit others into our little worlds.

Paul had earlier written to the Corinthians "Nobody should seek his own good, but the good of others."(I Cor. 10:24) And he practiced what he preached.

"...I am not seeking my own good but the good of many..."(I Cor. 10:33)

The Amplified says it well. "...Love..." "...does not insist on its own rights or its own way, for it is not self-seeking."

A relevant word to this idea and one that conveys the results of self-seeking is authades. It means, according to Zodhiates, "...one who is pleased with himself..." "...and despises others..." Zodhiates gives us a characterization of such a person when he says that such a person is one who "...obstinately maintains his opinion or asserts his own rights but is reckless of the rights, feelings, and interests of others." Do you know anybody like that? Peter uses this word in II Pet. 2:10 when he calls such a a work of the flesh as "...self-willed..."

Another word akin to this idea of being self-seeking is philautos. Arndt and Gingrich and Vine tell us that this word is "...loving oneself..." Zodhiates adds the meanings of "...self-centered..." "...selfish..." A sign of the last days, according to Paul is "...people will be lovers of themselves..."(II Tim. 3:2)

Other words akin to "...self-seeking..." are what Barclay calls "The Words of Impious Pride". These words are hubris and hubristes. And they relate directly to why some folks cannot live in unity with others. They love themselves so much they have no problem mistreating others.

Zodhiates defines hubrizo as "to act insolently or spitefully toward someone" "to treat shamefully" "to abuse". He defines hubristes as "an insolent persecutor of others who mistreats them for the pleasure which the affliction of the wrong brings to him."

Paul gives this tendency a place among those things that are characteristic of those who "...did not think it was worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God..."(Ro. 1:28-30)

Barclay gives a complete discussion of these words in his book New Testament Words. Some of the statements he makes about them accentuate the fact that in their presence love cannot exist. "...thirst for power which drives a man headlong on the path to unbridled self-assertion..." "It provokes...the feeling of righteous indignation...in his fellow men." "arrogant contempt which makes" one "trample on the hearts of his fellow men."

Ultimately there can be no unity produced by such behavior. James capsulates it for us in James 3:14-16..."...if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil." "For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice."