Christians are divinely mandated to “forbear one another in love”

Christians are divinely mandated to “forbear one another in love”

With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love. (Ephesians 4:2)

The Christian calling is dwelt on the culture of love. Love has not only become a way of life to the believer but a virtue resident in the spirit of the believer by virtue of his association with Christ. The actions of the believer should be backed by the love of God. The giving of the Lord Jesus Christ by the Heavenly Father was solely premised on love as John perfectly describes in John 3:16.

When a person comes into Christ, scripture recognizes the transition that occurs where the person is translated from the power of darkness into the kingdom of light and also passed from death to life. His new virtue is not an upgrade of his old nature but a total newness of life. The man in Christ is now to operate from inside out by default. In Romans 5:5, the scripture said, “……the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given to us”. The prophetic utterance by Ezekiel concerning the man in Christ was, “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will cause my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes ….” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Waling in the statutes of the Lord becomes implied by virtue of the spirit poured within the believer. Hence, the Lord instructs all those in Christ to deal with all meekness and humility to forbear one another. Forbearance is not a matter of “prerogative” but a “mandate” which needs to be fulfilled. The word “forbearance” in the Greek “anecho” which means “to hold up, to bear with, endure, to refrain from doing something”. So, the Lord is instructing the believer to exhibit meekness and lowliness in enduring with one another.

To continue in brotherly love, one must forgo all pain caused by another to live peacefully with others in the faith.