Dis-counting
[Love] does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffered, 1 Corinthians 13:5 NASB
A wrong suffered – The Greek word is kakon (evil). There is a significant difference between the way this word is used in the New Testament and its usual Greek usage. For the Greeks, kakos expressed a lack of something. It was not a positive concept. It showed incapacity or weakness. Thus, kakos is used to mean unserviceable, incapable, unhappy, bad, morally corrupt, wicked and weak. For the Greeks, kakos is the result of ignorance. The lack it expresses and the evil that results from it is because of an ignorance of virtue and an ignorance of divine providence. Therefore, for the Greeks, overcoming the evil of kakos is exclusively the role of knowledge. It is knowledge of virtue that leads men to be good. It is knowledge of deity that leads men to see their proper place in the universe. And it is knowledge of love (eros) that leads men to identify the divine reflection within them, calling them away from the susceptibility of the material world to perfect contemplation of the divine. For the Greeks, the soul is still divine even though it has been buried in the kakos of this world. The soul always retains its impulse toward divinity and requires only to be freed from its misconceptions and ignorance in order to become its true self. Thus, kakos is not a mark of true being but rather the hallmark of being in ignorance of itself.
This conception of evil is completely undone in the New Testament understanding of kakos. Based in the LXX, the New Testament carries an understanding of evil associated with the words for sin and unrighteousness. Instead of a lack of enlightenment, kakos is seen as the opposite of agathos (holy). In this respect, evil is a foil that demonstrates God’s power and glory. Evil is not privation of good. It is not lack of true understanding. Rather, evil is first the result of God’s punishment for sin, and secondly, the condition from which God redeems His people. God uses evil to bring His people to acknowledge their true condition before Him.
For the New Testament, kakos is not the result of ignorance of the divine reflection within Man but rather the continual product and eventual culmination of all of Man’s efforts without God. It is the ruin that comes upon Man both temporally and eternally as a result of sin. Kakos is not a lack of understanding. It is the deliberate choosing to be godless, to replace the rightful glory of the Creator with the usurping infamy of the created. It is the conscious and intentional denial of true fellowship with God.
What does this say about the character of Love? How can the idea of evil help us to see what true Love is? Paul says that Love does not impute to itself the demonstration of Man in opposition to God. It is not quite enough to say that Love does not keep score. Logitezai tells us that there are no accounts being kept. But it is more than just pretending to not make entries in the accounting book. It is throwing away the accounting book of deliberate, intentional wrongs. Into the garbage. Trashed. Gone!
We might want to pat ourselves on the back by saying that we don’t keep track of those minor mistakes, those small accidents that happen between any two people in relationship. We are spiritually enlightened, so we show empathy for those unenlightened souls who sometimes act inappropriately. They don’t know better. We can help them become more virtuous if we overlook those errors, scratch them off the scorecard and let them play again with a new sheet. If we think this way, we are essentially Greek – full of self-pride and entirely wrong. This is not love. This is intellectual (and foolish) arrogance. This is the idea that bad behavior is a matter of lack of understanding.
God says something very different. He says Love overcomes evil, not through enlightened reason or illuminated intellect, but because Yeshua’s death and resurrection declared the final verdict on all acts of sedition against God and godliness. Love overcomes Man’s deliberate self-will, his intentional self-aggrandizement and his wanton disregard for holiness by stepping into the place of liability itself. Love takes the burden of sin upon itself, not dismissing it but bearing it. Love does not erase the other’s scorecard. Love replaces the other’s scorecard by accepting the deserved punishment for the deliberate act against it as though the scorecard belongs to Love itself. To not reckon a wrong to itself is not to push it aside but rather to bear the full weight of this sin and accept the consequences for this sin in place of the one who caused the sin. Love takes a two-step motion: first, it does not hold the evil act against another (it does not even count it), and secondly, it bears the weight of the evil act as though the Lover were to blame.
Do you love? If you do, you will not simply forgive. You will not simply provide a new, blank card for someone to start over. If you love God’s way, you will take the other person’s punishment as if it were yours. You will give them your blameless card and carry their card of mistakes – just as He did for you.
Topical Index: love, blame, forgive, 1 Corinthians 13:5
Want to read about the whole “love” passage. Try going here.
I’m having a very difficult time understanding how this looks in my life. Messiah paid the price for sin. I will give an account of my own sin at some point and realize that the account has been paid in full. I don’t see how I can take someone’s sin on myself and give them my clean account. That is something they must do/accept for themselves. Only Messiah can and has express that kind of love.
We aren’t clear on this same point. Bearing the consequences of sin committed against us graciously in forgiveness is not unfamiliar to us. Is that what you’re talking about Skip?
Yup. And bearing the consequences of sin committed against others too. In other words, just as Yeshua stepped in and bore the consequences of our sin, so we step in and bear the consequences of another’s sin. This is NOT the same as dealing with the guilt before God. This is action at the human level, not the divine. But it is nevertheless a reflection of the divine in the gratitude we express for being forgiven in word and deed.
You’re right. You cannot take on another person’s GUILT. But you can take on the punishment the other person deserved. For example, someone lies and causes harm to another. You can step into that tragedy and bear the consequences for the one damaged. You can also bear the consequences that should have accrued to the liar. Someone steals. You can repair the loss and then cover the consequence that the thief should have had. What would forgiveness be if all that it required was words! Yeshua acted on our behalf. Are we not to do the same? Guilt is God’s issue, but the consequences of sin can be shared by those who are innocent.
I’m still not getting it. Here is the situation for real: A dear friend was severely abused as a child by her father and her mother. They are both dead at this point. She has NO idea how forgiveness looks for these people that should have loved her, but instead left her with deep wounds that are yet to heal. When she asks me how she can forgive them, I have no answer for her. The wounds are literally killing her. What can/should I tell her?
Tell her that you are there to bear the wounds for her just as Yeshua bore your wounds. Let her pour out her tragedy on you. Carry her and the consequences she inherited. Stand before her as her parents in need of forgiveness and repentant, and weep for the transgressions brought upon her by YOU (the symbol of her parents) so that she may see in you the ones she needs to forgive.
That is HORRIFIC! What a powerful, powerful image of what my Redeemer has/is doing for me! I should be with her face-to-face in a few weeks. I will try to be Messiah’s arms to help in her healing. Thank you. **tears streaming down my face**
Bonnie, I have done something similar to what Skip suggested except I didn’t pour out my soul to another person. I was still working through forgiveness with some issues with my late father and I really needed to pour out my soul and get things off my chest. So, I took an empty chair and pretended he was sitting there. Then I just said everything that was on my heart that I was never able to say while he was alive. It was very liberating to do that. Plus, it’s something I can repeat if needed or if I receive new revelations from Adonai. I’m not sure if it could help your friend, but it did help me. I think your offer to be Messiah’s loving arms for her is a picture of deep friendship, love and compassion. I pray she will be open to what you are offering. May she be made whole and filled with the shalom that passes all understanding.