On this episode of Real Israel Talk Radio – Season 2, Episode 70, Program Part 6 – the biblical definition of love – we are going to continue with 1 Corinthians 13:4 of the New Covenant – “…Love suffers long, is kind; love does not envy…” Love is not something that can be acquired, earned, merited, or deserved, for if it could then it would no longer be something that is freely given; rather, it would be like a wage that is earned.
Far too often, we read Paul’s statement on love and come to the conclusion that it is up to us to perform deeds of love towards everyone and if we fail to do what is expected of us then the onus is on us to immediately take corrective action and fix the problem before the Almighty Eternal One of Heaven and Earth steps in to make our life miserable until we learn our “love lesson.” I think this is generally how most people understand “Christian love” whether it’s expressed in so many words as I have explained it or not.
However, remember that Paul was a Jewish scholar of his day and with this, he studied in Hebrew and in Aramaic and he knew the linguistics of the languages that he grew up with. Consequently, he certainly had to know that in Hebrew and Aramaic, “long-suffering” is biblically defined from the Hebrew word “erech,”which is an enduring action with no end; that to be “kind” is defined from the Hebrew word “tov,” which means something that is ultimately beneficial; that “envy” or “jealousy” is defined from the Hebrew word “kana,” which means to acquire or to purchase something. Each word has its own level of nuance that needs to be understood in its Hebraic context if we truly want to understand how divine love is structured.
If we are forced in any way to generate our own expressions of love rather than to receive this attribute as a gift from above, the result will be complete failure to love on our part along with no shortage of guilt and shame to go along with our failures.
On this episode of Real Israel Talk Radio, we will look at 1 Corinthians 13:4, which will give us some foundational definitions of how love works and how YHVH expresses this attribute through us.
Join us for this week’s podcast on Defining Biblical Love – PART 6 from 1 Corinthians 13 with Avi ben Mordechai from the outreach ministry of Cominghome.
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