What Is Love?

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● Col 3:18 . .Wives, submit to your husbands, as is fitting in The Lord.

NOTE: Here's a new word for your vocabulary: Womxn. You know what that is? It's the latest desperate attempt by man-hating women to avoid identifying themselves with men in every way possible. I suppose they'll next revise the spelling of their gender to look like this: femxle.

Anyway: in a nutshell; the submission we're talking about here is entirely positional.

For example; we ought to respect senior citizens not because they themselves have done anything to earn it, rather, because it's a respect that their age deserves. (cf. Lev 19:32)

Back when Queen Elizabeth II became monarch, her husband Philip felt humiliated to have to kneel to his own wife till she explained to him that he wouldn't be kneeling to her, rather, to the crown.

In other words: it's the position that deserves the respect rather than the person in it. So, wives give your husbands the respect due to their position in the home rather than the blokes they are.

"Wives, submit to your husbands as to The Lord." (Eph 5:22)

That's a pretty tall order for Christian wives in a modern culture that constantly pressures them to be strong and masculine rather than soft and feminine; to be superiors rather than subordinates; and to be assertive, confrontational, and defiant rather than reasonable, peaceable, and cooperative.
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● Col 3:19 . . Husbands, love your wives and do not be harsh with them.

Harsh can be defined a number of ways.

1• Abrasive
2• Abusive
3• Critical
4• Unfriendly
5• Uncivil
6• Rough
7• Oppressive
8• Cruel
9• Hostile
10• Loud
11• Demanding
12• Intolerant
13• Impatient
14• Insensitive
15• Unyielding

Those behaviors are very effective at making a Christian wife's existence bitter, i.e. a living hell; especially a Christian wife who's making an honest effort to comply with Col 3:18.
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● Col 3:21 . . Fathers, do not embitter your children, or they will become discouraged.

The koiné Greek word for "discouraged" is athumeo (ath-oo-meh'-o) which has to do with breaking the spirit. Really bad cases of embitterment can cause a child to lose the will to excel; sometimes even the will to live, i.e. suicidal.
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● Col 4:1 . . Masters, provide your slaves with what is right and fair, because you know that you also have a master in heaven.

The master in heaven is providential. In other words: Christian masters have a sacred obligation to house their slaves in decent accommodations, clothe them with adequate garments, and nourish them with good food too because slave masters are a father to the souls in their house; they depend on him to care for them; there's no one else; and according to Gen 1:26-28 and Matt 12:11-12, people deserve to be treated better than an animal.

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● 1Thess 4:3-7 . . It is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality; that each of you should learn to control his own body in a way that is holy and honorable, not in passionate lust like the heathen, who do not know God; and that in this matter no one should wrong his brother or take advantage of him.

"wrong his brother" refers to adultery.

● Heb 13:4 . . Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral.

Christians commit adultery with Christians? Haw! Does that even need to be answered? Of course they do; and it goes on all the time, even among church officers; who by all rights should be setting the example for the rank and file.

My wife was once friends with the wife of a counselor in a very big church in San Diego. She confided with my wife (on the QT of course) that it was amazing the number of church officers and their wives who were messing around. She couldn't reveal their names of course due to confidentiality considerations.
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[Isilwen]

I wanted to say it's an old White Snake song from the 80's, but then I remembered where I was.

J/K!

Good stuff!!

 

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● 1Thess 4:18 . .Encourage each other with these words.

Below are the words to which Paul referred

● 1Thess 4:13-17 . . Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to The Lord's own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of The Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep.

. . . For The Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet The Lord in the air. And so we will be with The Lord forever.

In other words: when non Christians and such lose a non Christian loved one, the loss is assumed permanent; but when Christians lose a Christian loved one, the loss is presumed temporary.
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[joshua 1 9]

So, wives give your husbands the respect due to their position in the home rather than the blokes they are.

"The LORD God said, "It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him." (Genesis 2:8) It is always good to go back to the beginning and start there. We are told that Eve was to be a helper. Adam was the head of the home but that is not what we are talking about here. Because Eve also is a strong person and a head in the home. The middle letter for the word: "helper" represents a weapon. For this reason there are people that believe the Hebrew word should be translated: Ally. Adam and Eve are to be allied, they are to be united together as one against a common enemy. In this case the serpent. We know they have to be united and in agreement because a house divided can not stand. If they are enemys, if they fight against each other then the house can not stand and the marriage is a failed marriage.

 

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● 1Thess 5:11 . . Encourage one another, and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Building up is just the opposite of tearing down. Christians in Galatia were busy doing just that.

● Gal 5:15 . . But if you bite and devour one another, take heed that you be not consumed one of another!

Biting and devouring one another describes cannibals and carnivorous beasts.
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● 1Thess 5:12-13a . . Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in The Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work.

Real men respect real men. When church officers are mice; then 1Thess 5:12-13a becomes a challenge for real men to obey; but regardless; comply they must.

● Heb 13:17 . . Obey them that have the rule over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your souls, as they that must give account, that they may do it with joy, and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for you.

I would say that if the officers in your church are just too impossible for you to respect then it's time to abandon ship. Don't mutiny though because mutiny is just as much a sin as heresy. The rank and file aren't called to reform church officers; but to cooperate with them. If they can't cooperate with them; then I sincerely believe the rank and file should leave and find a church where they can because Christ isn't pleased with grudging compliance; rather, with whole-hearted compliance. (cf. Mark 12:30)
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● 1Thess 5:13b . . Live in peace with each other.

In this instance, "each other" probably refers to fellow believers.

The category of peace Paul is talking about is social; viz: harmony in personal relations. The Hippies and the peace-nics failed to achieve peace primarily because they couldn't be civil among themselves unless they were high on mood-altering drugs.

Peace can be defined as: calm, pacific, tranquil, at rest, quiet, and free of trouble and strife.

A lack of peace is characterized by war, quarrelling, debating, vendettas, hostility, grudging, fault finding, nit picking, chafing, competition, rivalry, cold shouldering, factions, taking sides, cliques, hostility, militancy, disorder, antagonism, fighting, conflict, struggles, et al.

NOTE: Never assume that everyone you meet in church is a fellow believer. Going to church on Sunday is just what some people do, and probably have done ever since they were kids. There was a time when going to church on Sunday was considered good citizenship; and quite a few people were there for no other reason; i.e. church sort of fills out their social résumé. And then some people attend church because they're lonely and wanting to meet some new friends; etc, etc, etc, etc.
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● 1Thess 5:14b . . Comfort the discouraged

A discouraged person is someone who's given up all expectation that a situation will improve or change; viz: despairing.

In order to obey that directive, it's necessary to become personal with the people with whom you attend church. Too many Christians are like little islands of humanity in church. They warm a pew on Sunday morning and then get up and leave without bothering to spend even one minute mingling. They don't attend Sunday school because in Sunday school you meet people-- you associate with them; you get to know them, and they get to know you.

As disagreeable as that might be for private types of Christians, Sunday school is the best place in church to go for sympathy, for encouragement, and for support. Unfortunately, not many Christians can deal with negativity; and tend to distance themselves from people down in the dumps.

NOTE: In Dr. Laura Schlessinger's book "Ten Stupid Things That Men Do To Mess Up Their Lives" she lists men's propensity to fix things. In other words: instead of simply lending a sympathetic ear to people's problems, some men tend to see people with problems as "broken" and in need of repair; and then of course they take the initiative to begin offering unsolicited remedies. No; the idea is to console the discouraged rather than "fix" them.
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● 1Thess 5:14c . . Support the weak

That could probably be stretched to mean any number of things; but I should think it includes care for your church's aged and/or infirm; viz; people on crutches, people getting around in wheel chairs, people who can no longer drive a car, people lacking enough health to even leave their residences and go shopping on their own, people stuck in assisted living: that sort of thing.
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[iamchance]

This sums up love pretty well:

• 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
• 1 John 4:7-21

 

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● 1Thess 5:14d . . Be patient with everyone.

The koinè Greek word for patient is makrothumeo (mak-roth-oo-meh'-o) which has little to do with getting fed up with people. In James 5:7-8 it speaks of giving things space to happen in their own good time.

I would say that in this case, makrothumeo speaks of giving people a chance to either catch on or catch up. For example: we all perfectly understand what we're saying while those hearing may need to have us restate ourselves in different words in order to clarify a misunderstanding.
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● 1Thess 5:15 . . See that none render evil for evil unto any man; but ever-follow that which is good, both among yourselves, and to all men.

Christian conduct isn't a temporary uniform kept in the closet just for Sunday mornings like the rather odd patrons who wear costumes at Star Trek conventions.

No, Christian conduct is every-day wear: in the home, on the job, at school, at the beach, at the mall, at the park, at the beach, in restaurants, in amusement centers, at the zoo, at the circus, on the internet, et al; in other words: ever-followed; not just at church on Sunday morning; which makes ever-following that which is good somewhat stressful at first; until it becomes second nature, i.e. a habit.
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● 1Tim 5:1a . . When speaking to an older man, appeal to him respectfully as though he were your own father.

There's probably nothing more humiliating to a parent than to be treated like dirt by their children-- except maybe to be treated like dirt by a spouse.

Americans have the right to a trial by a jury of their peers. Well, a child is not a parent's peer; he's not even the parent's equal let alone his peer. Parents are not children's peers; no, parents are their betters, not their equals. It's a thoughtless, wicked, insolent dunce who treats their parents with no more respect than a college beer buddy.

I was in a Sunday school class one morning where a young fellow substituted for the regular teacher. After practically every sentence during his lecture, the fellow would pause, tighten his lips, turn down the corners of his mouth, squint his eyes into narrow slits, and look around the room with a fierce scowl on his face; and better than half that room was older than he was. I don't know about the rest of the group, but as a man easily twice his age; I deeply resented the looks that youngster was giving us.
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● 1Tim 5:1b . .Speak to the younger men as you would to your own kin.

In this case, the "kin" would be sort of like a man's younger siblings; viz: his kid brothers. Young boys look up to their big brothers; who by all rights should be setting the example as role models that a growing boy can be proud of. Big brothers ought to be available too, and not treat their younger siblings as excess baggage and/or uncool nerds and morons who are beneath their dignity to be seen with.

Church officers who grew up in dysfunctional homes, where human relationships were an ongoing cold war, are going to find that 1Tim 5:1b is very difficult to obey in a manner that exemplifies peace, love, and understanding. Were they to speak to the younger men in church the very same way that they're accustomed to speaking to their own kin; it would produce disastrous results.
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● 1Tim 5:2a . . Speak to the older women as mothers,

Speaking to older women as mothers means doing so in compliance with the fourth of the Ten Commandments.

● Ex 20:12 . . Honor your mother

Honoring one's mother means giving her the respect that her age and her maternal position deserve. It means watching your language, and it means keeping a civil tongue in your head. It means speaking to her as a grown-up instead of a child. It means treating her as superior and you as subordinate. It means deferring to her wishes instead of demanding your own.
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● 1Tim 5:2b . . and the younger women as sisters, in all purity.

The koiné Greek word for "purity" is hagneia (hag-ni'-ah) which means: cleanliness; viz: chastity
Webster's defines "chastity" as: abstention from unlawful sexual intercourse and/or purity in conduct and intention

Church officers are sometimes admired as celebrities; ergo: they're in an advantageous position for meeting star-struck women; thus opportunities for trysts abound.

Officers should especially avoid speaking to the young women in church as if hanging out in a beer joint or a bowling alley. These days it's all too easy to inadvertently pick up inappropriate speech habits due to the proliferation of vulgar language in television and Hollywood movie scripts.
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