The Other and Respect for Persons
December 12th, 2005
There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.Galatians 3:28
And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.Mark 12:31
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We have just finished speaking about God's order, our preface for talking about how God views the 'other' , the 'other person' in this mind of Christ which we are commanded to 'put on'. Before we can understand why it is so important, we need to understand that God's order causes peace, rest, excellence and His Plan to prevail, and hence, the salvation of souls and His Glory to be made manifest. When we are walking in His order and light, in His way, we fulfill what He has called us to be. When the rich young ruler asks Jesus what are the two greatest commandments, Jesus replies that the first, as we should expect, is to love God with all our hearts and minds and souls. When we do this, His commands are not a burden or a 'have to'. We run to them to delight a Heavenly Father who delights us and delights in us. In the center of His Will is in the center of His Love, and most true Christians are very uncomfortable in this world being away from either.
The same Jesus, though, right after noting our complete and utter relationship to and obligation to our Father, God, notes the second greatest commandment: To Love Others as Ourselves. This is given cursory attention in today's Church and world: we all acknowledge that it is good to 'love one's fellow man' but so do all other religions: what makes the love of the other person so different in the Kingdom of God? In the Mind of Christ? It is because one cannot have the Holy Spirit Agape Love, without it innately reaching out to 'others as ourselves'. When it is missing, something is terribly wrong and we are not in fellowship closely with God either: we quench the Holy Spirit, because it is God's nature to Love.
We all fall short of our love towards others, though, and while most of us love God alot, and occasionally get very mad at Him when things don't go our way, we are far more likely to fall out of love with other people than with God. To be in God's order, though, is to be in love with God and with those He created, especially in the Ikklesia, or Church.
The first scripture above starts the premise of how we are to view other people in the Church. It notes that there are no differences between Jew and Greek, or male or female. (to be continued
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