From now on, don’t let anyone trouble me with these things. For I bear on my body the marks that show I belong to Jesus.
Gal 6:17
We continue the investigation into Galatians 6:17 as I respond to the question: What does it mean in Gal 6:17 “The Marks of Jesus”? What are the marks of Jesus?
In the previous Nugget we looked at the mark of “Suffering” What did you conclude? Could Paul have been referring to the ‘mark of suffering’?
- Was this a Mark of Jesus?
- Was this a Mark that Paul bore on or in his body?
- Could this be what Paul is referring to?
- What’s your conclusion?
- Is this a Mark which characterises you?
So could the Mark of Suffering have been what Paul was referring to?
- Yes, it was a Mark of God and Jesus in that Jesus Himself told us we need to be prepared to suffer. If He, our exemplar, suffered, it would be likely that we his followers would too.
- Yes, this was certainly a mark which Paul had on his life. I imagine Paul’s body was covered by the marks of suffering given all he endured in Jesus’ name.
- Yes, it could well be.
- In fact a careful read of Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians will reveal that Paul is arguing that suffering is mark of an apostle as opposed to the false apostles all throughout both letters to the saints in Corinth. True apostles are not marked by wealth, smooth words, a certain life style, an absence of bad things happening to them as the pharisees and false apostles claimed. Rather Paul indicates that it is likely a true apostle (or indeed follower of Christ) is likely to be ‘marked’ by persecution, beatings and other physical and spiritual attacks. If you want more proof of this view just ask me, but a careful read of 2 Corinthians should supply all the proof you need.
- What about you? Have you suffered in Jesus’ name?
The Marks of Love
This Nugget we are looking at the Mark of Love. In this case there was no mark on the body in New Testament times which equated with the Mark of Love. But Jesus and others spoke much about the mark of love on our lives. In our modern world we have a multiplicity of symbols for love. We wear necklaces with “LOVE” written on them or a heart or other symbols which characterise love. Some get tattoos on their body to immortalise the name of the one they thought was their One True Love, only to realise later there was no commitment with the love they thought they’d found. With all of these modern day examples there is a sentimentality about them that does not equate with how Jesus or Paul meant for us to love one another. Love is not a light fluffy feeling with little birds flying around. It is not a Disneyland concept or an idealistic Hollywood take on love. Jesus’ love / New Testament Love is gutsy, self-sacrificial love that sets a Christian apart. It is epitomised in the willingness of someone to lay down their life for their friends.
Jesus told us our lives should be characterised by love. We should love in such a way that it sets us apart.
A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.
John 13:34-35
Let me share some other verses with you which I believe will expand our concept of the Love of God and the love Jesus intended us to display, even practise, which will serve to add further dimensions to the kind of love we should show.
Love those who love you. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Luke 6:31
Therefore, whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone–especially to those in the family of faith.
Galatians 6:10
Love your neighbour as yourself.
Mark 12:31
Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.
Luke 6:27-28
Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.
John 15:13
Did you notice there is a progression to these verses?
- Love those who love you
- Love one another (fellow disciples, fellow church members, fellow Deeper Biblers)
- Love those in the household of faith (fellow Christians)
- Love your neighbour
- Love your enemies
Do you realise the ability to love goes deeper and deeper with increasing maturity in Christ. Jesus tells us if you do not love you don’t have Christ’s Holy Spirit. In John’s letters he tells us there is a test as to whether you are a Christian or not: the depth and intensity of your love. Your ability to love is a measure of your maturity. They will know you are disciples by your love.
Here are the levels:
1. Loving those who love you
Everyone does this; the secular heathen world does this. I will love you if I think I can get something back in return: either love or something else. My mother used to call that cupboard love. Loving in order to get what you want. As soon as the other person stops giving or loving, your love fades. It is the shallowest love there is between humans beings.
2. Loving fellow disciples
Loving like-minded people or those who think and act like we do is the next step up. I can love you because you are like me or at least we are going in the same direction. I can love you as long as you agree with me and we are on the same page but if you move pages my love ends. If you suddenly go to another church my love for you is over. The moment you dare to disagree with me my love ends. Really? Our love for fellow believers should not be based on whether they are agree with us or not.
3. Loving the household of faith (all Christians)
The ability to love all parts of Christ’s body is something we should be able to do but often times find so hard to do. They are believers too but they don’t believe like we do. Can you set aside your differences in order to love them? Can you overlook their eccentricities or their “error” and still love them despite the fact they think differently than you do and yet call themselves a Christian. What is the limit that will make you reject them and cease to love and accept them?
4. Loving your neighbour
Now we move outside of the household of faith into the world of unbelievers. The word for “neighbour” in the Parable of the Good Samaritan is “your at-the-elbow-one”. The one who is closest to you but different from you. These are not believers who live next door but non-believers – heretics, atheists, those who don’t believe as we do. In the example of Jewish ~ Samaritan relations it was caused by past actions and grievances which continued unresolved and remained unforgiven. What about your relationships with your “neighbours”. I trust you realise how broad that term is biblically speaking, enough to embrace the one at your elbow, over the back fence or your political, religious or otherwise different neighbour.
5. Loving your enemies
The last group are those who actively hate us, curse us or spitefully use and abuse us. We tend to apply the rule “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” to these people. Did you know the purpose of this Old Testament was likely not to allow revenge but more to limit revenge. I.e. no more than “an eye for an eye”.
Christ’s standard is to raise the bar on our ability to love.
The last verse I shared above with the verses on love is John 15:13. Our standard of love should be that we are willing to pay the price of loving. Our love should cost us something. Are we willing to spend ourselves on behalf of the other person, even to paying the ultimate price and laying down our lives for them? Read Romans 5:6-8- that is Jesus Love.
Do you realise the progression of these verse gives us a continuum one which to measure ourselves? So often we are prone to say., “God loves me; I love everybody.” Stop and think. You can’t love everybody. You have to love one person at time. So ponder how far down the continuum you can go while truly loving others. That will give you a good indication on your ability to love.
- Those who love me
- Those in my group
- All Christians
- The people closest to me in time and space
- My enemies
Before the next Nugget spend some time thinking about this connection to the Mark of Love and work your way through the above FIVE QUESTIONS for this option to Paul’s use of stigmata.