Lead:

What does the “transitive property of equality” have to do with relationship and 2 Corinthians?

Intro:

If A = B, and B = C, then A = C.

Don’t ask me why I remember that. I learned it as the transitive property of geometry, but I think now it’s referred to the transitive property of equality. If A = B, and B = C, then A = C.

And that, my friends, is what I’m going to lay on you in today’s All Our Minds segment. Not math, but a couple ideas that connect, how Twitter was involved, and maybe even how that relates to 2 Corinthians and the whole point of 2 Corinthians.

Today we finish up the book of 2 Corinthians and the long journey through Psalm 119. Paul does a bit more boasting of his weakness, and that would have been shocking in the Greco-Roman world where that would have no place culturally. And since it’s for us even if not written to us, I think it’s all a good time to be thinking about our own successes and failures why we shouldn’t be defined by what did or didn’t happen yesterday.

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Bible:

Passage: 2 Corinthians 12-13
Translation: NCV (New Century Version)
Verses: 35
Words: ~765

All Our Minds:

One of the things to be careful about is confusing numeric success with correctness. But recently I shared something on Twitter that just came from my heart that I would defend as true, and it apparently resonated with a bunch of people. It was the most retweeted thing I’ve shared in a long time. Remember, If A = B, and B = C, then A = C. I’ll say it a couple times.

You don’t know how to love someone else ‘til you know how to love Jesus. And you don’t know how to love Jesus until you know how He loves you.

I may have even mentioned this a couple days ago, but here’s why I want to dig a little deeper today. One of the main theological themes of 2 Corinthians is the importance of restoring relationships and the utter importance of Jesus’s ministry in all that. So today is about getting our heads to give our hearts a little encouragement, starting with some other words from Paul.

Ephesians chapter 5 starts with Paul saying, “You’re God’s kids, and He loves you, so try to be like Him.” How? Paul rattles off a long list of things which, broadly speaking, are instructions for holy living…living and loving more like Jesus. And what’s the basis for that? God’s way of doing things will bring you flourishing. And God kinda knows what He’s talking about. And this is before Paul then talks about spiritual warfare. That’s important.

Included in this part on trying to be live like Jesus is that part many people love to hate on about wives and husbands. And check out what Paul says as part of this, talking to husbands:

He who loves his wife loves himself. 29 For no one ever hated his own flesh, but nourishes and cherishes it, just as Christ does the church, 30 because we are members of his body. 31 “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and hold fast to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh.” 32 This mystery is profound, and I am saying that it refers to Christ and the church (Eph 5:28–32, ESV)

You don’t know how to love someone else ‘til you know how to love Jesus. And you don’t know how to love Jesus until you know how He loves you.

Let me go in reverse order. How does Jesus love us? Sacrificially. To the point of the ultimate sacrifice in His case. A mystery for Paul, and he’s a smart dude. So how do we love Jesus? Are we too busy? Does it cost too much? Time? Reputation?

The bottom line

Kinda like Paul to the Corinthians, love includes holy buttkickings sometimes. This goes for me, too. There is not a single person on the planet that isn’t bent toward our own independence and selfishness in some way. But God says, “I know how you will really flourish if you will follow me, fall in love with my ways.” You don’t know how to love someone else ‘til you know how to love Jesus. And you don’t know how to love Jesus until you know how He loves you.

Wisdom:

Passage: Psalm 119:145-176
Translation: NCV (New Century Version)
Verses: 32
Words: ~525

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

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The new translation we’re trying this week: New Century Version

Not used today, but stuff I like:

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993). <—this, and it’s OT companion, are great commentaries if you like something more than a study Bible and less than a set of 66 books — they add a lot of interesting details. Keener’s a killer apologist, too.

The Story of Reality, Greg Koukl — Love this book. A killer intro to the Christian worldview that is philosophically and theologically sound while being accessible to all readers.

#938: 2 Corinthians 12-13 | How He loves us | Psalm 119:144-176