(Charity) Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth.
As we read the sixth verse of chapter 13, we find that love does not rejoice in iniquity. While there are many different Greek words which were translated into the word “iniquity.” This specific instance denotes “unrighteousness” or “evil.” The word rejoice makes us think of a celebration or happiness. So here we the Holy Spirit through the pen of Paul instructing that love does not celebrate unrighteousness. We don’t have to look very long in our society to see the opposite of this verse all around us. Whether in our schools, media, or sadly even in some churches that profess the name of Christ, we see the open embrace of sinful behavior, and not only that, we see an encouragement or celebration of those who do such things. This is the flesh with its mask off and we read about this in Romans.
Romans 1:32
Who knowing the judgement of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.
So, as those who are alive from the dead because of our Lord Jesus Christ, we should not be participating in or glorifying sinful behavior.
Before we go on to look at how love rejoices in the truth, we wonder if we can’t glean at least one more application for our lives from the first phrase of this verse. Many times in the Old Testament when iniquity or evil was said to have happened to someone, it denoted that some calamity happened to them. When we meditate on this and think again of love not rejoicing in iniquity, we can see that when the love of Christ dwells in us we will not rejoice or celebrate at someone’s downfall even if that person has been contrary to us. Throughout scripture we are exhorted to love our enemies as our self and if our enemies hunger to feed them. In this age of grace we realize that we fight not against flesh and blood, so those who oppose us or our various ministries in the Lord are not really our enemies but rather pawns of the powers and principalities operating in spiritual wickedness. So if we see someone who has been contrary to us, and something bad happens to them we should not rejoice in this. The flesh wants to celebrate and reason that they deserved it, but Christ’s love working in us, would rather desire to help the individual and views the event as an opportunity for God’s grace to be manifested. We see such an excellent example of Christ’s love working in this fashion when we read of our Lord’s arrest prior to the cross. Let’s go to the Mount of Olives and see what happens. There we see that our Lord has been betrayed by Judas who comes with a multitude to arrest Him. And then we read…
Luke 22:49 -50
When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword? And one of them smote the servant of the high priest, and cut off his right ear. And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.
As we read this we note that as the Lord was with His disciples, some enemies came to arrest Him. We immediately see the disciples ask if they should fight them, before our Lord answers we see Peter cutting the ear off of one of the enemies. As we consider this and consider ourselves, we must ask the question, do we sometimes encounter enemies that oppose the gospel of grace which we preach, and in those specific instances, we may through prayer and study of God’s Word ask how to handle them, but do we sometimes not wait long enough for our Lord to answer and end up cutting off the enemies ear, or prematurely reason that they will never hear the gospel and come to a saving knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ? Do we sometimes judge before the time?
Unfortunately, I’d have to answer yes I’ve done that before; but when we read of Christ’s love and His response we see something different. We see an enemy who was intent on arresting the Lord, with his ear cut off and bleeding. Now anyone in the flesh might celebrate this as a little victory and think he got what he deserved. But love does not rejoice in iniquity. What does love do? Well, we see our Lord Jesus Christ healing the servant of the high priest. One of the individuals who came to arrest and ultimately have our Lord crucified was the last individual whom Christ would heal and perform a miracle on before He endured the cross. From Genesis to the gospels we see the various types and examples in scripture which pointed to the cross, and once again here we see this pointing to what our Lord accomplished for us on the cross. What amazing love our Savior displayed, I don’t even think our minds can completely comprehend all that He has done for us and how much He loves us, all glory, honor, and praise to Him!
So as we live in this age of God’s amazing grace and mercy, may we seek to have the love of Christ dwelling and working in us. When we encounter individuals that oppose the Lord or the ministries He has given us, may we then seek His counsel through His Word and prayer and wait upon Him. We may just see Him heal someone’s ear so that they hear might hear the good news of God’s grace and upon hearing might believe in the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we know that our Lord could come back any moment may we seek to be empowered by Him in the inward man so we might not participate in sin that so easily can beset us and might not rejoice in iniquity, but rather rejoice in the truth of all He has done for us and given us.
In the Lord Jesus Christ,
Derrick
A study of the Sword 