-
Love, the “Perfect Bond of Union”The Watchtower—1982 | December 15
-
-
Love, the “Perfect Bond of Union”
“But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.”—COLOSSIANS 3:14.
1. Why is the command at Colossians 3:14 a challenging one today?
IN THE midst of a hate-filled, disunited world the command that comes to Jehovah’s Witnesses today from God’s written Word at Colossians 3:14 is indeed a challenging one. It seems almost an impossible one, for it commands them: “Besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.” Just the same, that inspired command is being carried out, to his glory.
2. What appears to be the uniting bond between the sects of Christendom, and of what does this make Christendom a part?
2 Undeniably, love as a perfect bond of union does not exist in Christendom, for she is divided up into hundreds of conflicting religious sects and denominations with differing religious beliefs and practices. Notably, the things that seem to serve as a uniting bond for the church systems of Christendom are their hatred and their opposition toward the Christian congregation of Jehovah’s dedicated, baptized people, his witnesses of today. (Isaiah 43:10, 12) By expressing such hatred and opposition, the religious organizations of Christendom make themselves part and parcel of the world that is under the suzerainty of Satan the Devil, “the god of this world.” (2 Corinthians 4:4, Authorized Version) This is just as the Founder of Christianity said that it would be. When giving his final discourse to his faithful apostles, after the departure of the traitorous Judas Iscariot, Jesus said: “These things I command you, that you love one another. If the world hates you, you know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were part of the world, the world would be fond of what is its own. Now because you are no part of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, on this account the world hates you.”—John 15:17-19.
3. What question arises as to the target of the world’s hatred?
3 In the face of Jesus’ words, the question logically arises, What religious group is it today that the world, not excepting Christendom, hates and views with antagonism? Human history, particularly since World War I, helps any honest inquirer to identify them unmistakably.
4. To whom does Paul’s command at Colossians 3:14 apply, and who is the common spiritual Father of such ones?
4 From the opening words of the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians, Jehovah’s Witnesses of today know that his command applies directly to them: “Clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.” We read: “Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through God’s will, and Timothy our brother to the holy ones and faithful brothers in union with Christ at Colossae: May you have undeserved kindness and peace from God our Father.” (Colossians 1:1, 2) Well, now, who was the common heavenly Father of those first-century Christians in the city of Colossae, Asia Minor? It was the Father of their spiritual Leader, Jesus Christ, and his Father is the God who is “the Most High over all the earth” and “whose name is Jehovah.”—Psalm 83:18.
5. The ones to whom Paul addresses his letter must be worshipers of whom, and how was this illustrated by Jesus and the apostle John?
5 Ah, then, the ones to whom Paul addresses his letter must be worshipers of Jehovah God, just as Jesus Christ himself is! On the mountain of temptation Jesus refused the Devil’s offer of the whole world if only Jesus would bow down and worship him. Jesus promptly dismissed the Tempter and quoted the inspired command: “It is Jehovah your God you must worship, and it is to him alone you must render sacred service.” (Matthew 4:8-11; Luke 4:8; Deuteronomy 6:4, 5, 13) In imitation of Jesus his disciples must worship the same God that he himself has always worshiped, Jehovah. (John 20:17) Conformably to this, when the apostle John fell down worshipfully before the angel that transmitted the Revelation to him, the angel objected, saying: “Worship God; for the bearing witness to Jesus is what inspires prophesying.”—Revelation 19:10; 1:1.
6. After what course of Christendom did the command at Revelation 18:4, 5 become more urgent, and who have acted upon that command, and with what result?
6 After the God-dishonoring record made for herself during World War I by Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion, the divine command as set forth in Revelation 18:4, 5 became more urgent than at the time of the December 1880 issue of the Watch Tower magazine or earlier, namely: “Get out of her, my people, if you do not want to share with her in her sins, and if you do not want to receive part of her plagues. For her sins have massed together clear up to heaven, and God has called her acts of injustice to mind.”a In obedience to that command those who wanted to be the “people” of Jehovah God got out of Babylon the Great and flocked together in behalf of Christian unity, to develop that love, which is a “perfect bond of union.” They took seriously to heart the words of the apostle at 1 Corinthians 14:33: “God is a God, not of disorder, but of peace.” So, as we look at the more than forty-three thousand congregations of the witnesses of Jehovah of today, we are impelled to voice the words of Psalm 133:
“Look! How good and how pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity! It is like the good oil upon the head, that is running down upon the beard, Aaron’s beard, that is running down to the collar of his garments. It is like the dew of Hermon that is descending upon the mountains of Zion. For there Jehovah commanded the blessing to be, even life to time indefinite.”—Psalm 133:1-3.
7. Whose obligation is it today to maintain this unity, and for what purpose did God preserve his witnesses through World War I?
7 As with the congregation at Colossae during the first century of our so-called Christian Era, it is the obligation of the present-day witnesses of Jehovah to maintain this admirable unity of organization amid this disunited world. It is especially so since the end of “the appointed times of the nations” in that war-wracked year of 1914! (Luke 21:24) The first world war threatened the very existence of Jehovah’s Witnesses as a truly Christian organization. But for the sake of the preaching of ‘this good news of the kingdom in all the inhabited earth for a witness to all the nations’ the Almighty God did not let the combined enemies in Christendom and in pagandom wipe out all of his anointed witnesses from the earth. (Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10) In the first postwar year of 1919 C.E. Jehovah God freed them from their restraints and sent them forth to the preaching work among all the nations.
8. Since he has failed to break up this Christian unity by external means, how has Satan proceeded in order to try to do this?
8 Satan the Devil had failed to destroy Jehovah’s Witnesses by external means and agencies, and so he has since endeavored to break up their united structure in a subtle way, by boring from the inside, from within the organization. To this effect it was foretold in Revelation 12:17, in these words: “And the dragon grew wrathful at the woman, and went off to wage war with the remaining ones of her seed, who observe the commandments of God and have the work of bearing witness to Jesus.”
The Personality With Which to Concern Oneself
9. Against what infection do Jehovah’s Witnesses need to guard themselves, and what does Psalm 91 have to say about this?
9 The hatefulness with which the wicked world is infected is spreading, just as Jesus Christ himself foretold in his prophecy on “the conclusion of the system of things,” saying: “And many false prophets will arise and mislead many; and because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off. But he that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved.” (Matthew 24:3, 11-13) The spirit of hatred is very contagious, and so even the members of the visible organization of Jehovah God need to guard against being infected. How we can do this the inspired psalmist indicates, saying: “Anyone dwelling in the secret place of the Most High will procure himself lodging under the very shadow of the Almighty One. I will say to Jehovah: ‘You are my refuge and my stronghold, my God, in whom I will trust.’ You will not be afraid of anything dreadful by night, nor of the arrow that flies by day, nor of the pestilence that walks in the gloom, nor of the destruction that despoils at midday. A thousand will fall at your very side and ten thousand at your right hand; to you it will not come near. Only with your eyes will you look on and see the retribution itself of the wicked ones.”—Psalm 91:1, 2, 5-8.
10. How shall we avoid having a personality that makes us look like those of the world, and how does God view us in contrast with the dead world?
10 Divine protection is assured us, but we must stay within the set conditions attached to it. If we avoid the spiritually death-dealing intimacy with the sick world, we shall not be clothing ourselves with the personality that will make us look like people of the world. We shall not be clothing ourselves with the hatefulness of the world. The diametrical opposite of hate is love, love of Jehovah and of his Christ and of our Christian brothers and sisters. The personality that exhibits this quality is the personality that the inspired apostle Paul tells us to put on as disciples of Jesus Christ. If we do this we shall be recommending ourselves to others as God’s ministers by a “love free from hypocrisy.” (2 Corinthians 6:4-10) This love originates with God, and our possessing it means that we have come into relationship with him through our turning our backs upon the world as far as being heart and soul in tune with it is concerned. God views the world as dead and those who are part of it as also dead; certainly they are not alive to him. In God’s view we dedicated, baptized disciples of Jesus Christ live; yes, we live as a part of His organization, in which love obtains. It is therefore no exaggerated statement that 1 John 3:14 makes when it tells us: “We know we have passed over from death to life, because we love the brothers. He who does not love remains in death.”
11. Into what brotherhood does love admit us?
11 We thus see that love admits us into a brotherhood in which Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is our older brother. This Christian quality is a vesture, or clothing, by means of which we should indicate or display just what we are, without hypocrisy. It is the crowning feature that God’s Word says we must cultivate and practice.
12. What steps must be taken to attain to that love, and must the things that comprise those steps thereafter be dropped?
12 Understandably there are certain steps that an obedient disciple needs to take in order to attain to the genuine kind of love. To those who have set before them the glorious prize of the divine nature in heaven, 2 Peter 1:5-8 says: “Yes, for this very reason, by your contributing in response all earnest effort, supply to your faith virtue, to your virtue knowledge, to your knowledge self-control, to your self-control endurance, to your endurance godly devotion, to your godly devotion brotherly affection, to your brotherly affection love. For if these things exist in you and overflow, they will prevent you from being either inactive or unfruitful regarding the accurate knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The several things that are added must not be dropped after the crowning quality of love has been attained. No, but faith, virtue, knowledge, self-control, endurance, godly devotion and brotherly affection must remain as integral parts of our fully rounded out personality. They must abound along with love. In that case those who have such permanent personality traits will receive the prize at God’s hands in his due time.
13. How does Paul enlarge upon those preliminary steps at Colossians 3:12-14?
13 As an enlargement on the things that we need to do to ourselves in order to gain an appropriate reward, there may fittingly be mentioned here the qualities that the apostle Paul says we must wear as an expression of our personality. Before he points out what is the perfect bond of union, Paul says: “Accordingly, as God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with the tender affections of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness, and long-suffering. Continue putting up with one another and forgiving one another freely if anyone has a cause for complaint against another. Even as Jehovah freely forgave you, so do you also. But, besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.”—Colossians 3:12-14.
A Contrast With Those Not United
14. What sort of persons were the members of the Christian congregation before their acting on the instructions of the apostles?
14 Those instructions of the apostles indicate the kind of persons that the members of the Christian congregation should be. Formerly they were part of the unlovable godless world with all its devilish qualities. So what sort of personalities were they then? At 1 Corinthians 6:9-11 the apostle Paul points this out, saying: “What! Do you not know that unrighteous persons will not inherit God’s kingdom? Do not be misled. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men kept for unnatural purposes, nor men who lie with men, nor thieves . . . will inherit God’s kingdom. And yet that is what some of you were. But you have been washed clean, but you have been sanctified, but you have been declared righteous in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ and with the spirit of our God.”
15. Why do worldly persons not have the “bond of union” that persists?
15 It would be hard for worldly persons of the above description to have something of an unselfish, pure kind to serve as an unbreakable, perfect binder for them. Indeed, they have no “perfect bond of union.” Hence, human society outside in the old world is not holding together. For a while things of common self-interest may hold them together. But in course of time, when these things of common self-concern are taken away, worldlings lose interest in one another. Binding ties are dissolved. So, finally, they merely endure one another as unavoidable fellow humans in a community.
16. When free from things that temporarily unify, to what do worldly persons revert, and why?
16 Nationalism! Patriotism! Religious sectarianism! Racism! Such emotion-stirring things, when whipped up to a fever heat, will overwhelm involved ones with a sense of duty and obligation. But, after all, humans remain the same persons with whom self comes first. So, when off duty, when free to indulge themselves according to their individual likes and dislikes, they will betray themselves to be the same old self-serving persons. Although because of outstanding worldly services, or because of unswerving devotion to a world cause, persons who are conformed to this world may be lauded to the skies and may be pronounced deserving of heavenly honors and glorification, they cannot, according to the Bible standards, be counted worthy of a place in the heavenly Kingdom of Jehovah God to reign with Christ.
17. God’s Kingdom calls for what on the part of those who are seeking it first, and what is it that helps them in this behalf?
17 God’s Kingdom has no partnership with this world and its devotees. In the face of the colossal failure of the world under Satan to unify its adherents, God’s Kingdom under Christ calls for unified action and service on the part of those dedicated, baptized Christians who are seeking it first. This Kingdom is the product of God’s love. The very spirit of that celestial government is love, above all a love for God and a hatred for his chief enemy, Satan, and the world of which he is “the god.” Despite all the disruptive efforts on the part of Satan, this love that emanates from Jehovah God, the heavenly Father, continues to function as the “perfect bond of union” for all those who adhere to his visible earthly organization, yes, for all the family of God both in heaven and on earth.
[Footnotes]
a On page 6 this issue contained an article entitled “Babylon the Great.”
-
-
Love as a “Bond of Union” Proves to Be “Perfect”The Watchtower—1982 | December 15
-
-
Love as a “Bond of Union” Proves to Be “Perfect”
1. In what way can Jehovah be compared to a forger, and in what way does every family owe its name to him?
THE greatest Forger in the universe, Jehovah God the Almighty, can forge a “bond of union” that will hold firm forever. Family ties, even those on earth, can be very strong; and Jehovah God is spoken of as “the Father, to whom every family in heaven and on earth owes its name.” (Ephesians 3:14, 15) Since the global Flood of the days of the patriarch Noah every human family has descended from that faithful man whom God approved of as worthy of being preserved with this family through that world-engulfing inundation. Owing to this fact, every human family now on earth owes to Noah its “name,” that is, its being alive to bear a name. In the past, Jehovah God has been responsible for the giving of certain names to individuals on earth, but he has not directly given names to human families. Yet they owe their name to him, for they could never have come into existence as a family with a name were it not for him as the universal Life-Giver.—Genesis 5:1, 2, 32.
2. How did the rebel against God’s family become father to a family, and so what question is it appropriate that each one of us ask ourselves?
2 There has been a human breakaway from the universal family of the heavenly Father. This was induced by a superhuman rebel against the angelic family of God in the heavens, the rebel who came to be named Satan the Devil. By gathering followers to his side in the heavens he became, so to say, a father, but it is not love that binds the members of his family together. On one occasion Jesus Christ, the outstandingly faithful member of Jehovah’s universal family, said to his opposers of Jewish descent: “If God were your Father, you would love me, for from God I came forth and am here. . . . You are from your father the Devil, and you wish to do the desires of your father. That one was a manslayer when he began, and he did not stand fast in the truth, because truth is not in him. When he speaks the lie, he speaks according to his own disposition, because he is a liar and the father of the lie.” (John 8:42, 44) In this regard each one today can ask himself: By this standard, who is my “father”?
3. How does Satan’s situation since World War I differ from that before this time, and what prayer especially needs to be answered in behalf of all adherents to God’s organization?
3 At his rebellion Satan the Devil was cast out of the universal family of Jehovah God, and later on so were his demons under his fatherhood. At the garden of Eden he presented himself to humankind as the Tempter, and he was permitted, even after that, to go to and fro throughout the earth in his campaign of wickedness and opposition to the truth. (Job 1:7; 2:2) But now, since the foretold “war” after the birth of God’s Kingdom in the heavens, following the end of “the appointed times of the nations” in 1914, Satan the Devil and his demons have been cast out of heaven from immediate contact with the heavenly angels and down to the earth. Never again will they gain entry into the angelic heavens. So we can well understand the rage that Satan has against Jehovah’s universal organization and the loyal members of it. (Revelation 12:1-12; Luke 21:24) This, therefore, is the time of all times for the loving prayer of the apostle Paul, as recorded at Colossians 1:2, to be answered in behalf of the loyal adherents to Jehovah’s organization who are now on earth, namely: “May you have undeserved kindness and peace from God our Father.” This prayer for peace among them cannot be realized if there is no unity within their ranks. Peace calls for internal harmony inside the visible organization of the God who gives peace, yes, cohesion of the organization members to one another.
4. For what do the unified witnesses of Jehovah thank him, and in what do they need to keep on walking?
4 For the organizational unity with resulting peace that distinguishes the organization of Jehovah’s Witnesses worldwide today they can be doing what the Colossian congregation members were told to do, be “thanking the Father who rendered you suitable for your participation in the inheritance of the holy ones in the light.” (Colossians 1:12) We need to keep walking in the increasing light, and in these “last days” of the old system of things an especial effort has to be made to keep ourselves “suitable” for further enlightenment and for whatever will be our inheritance in the new system.—2 Timothy 3:1.
United as “One Flock”
5. From what have Jehovah’s Witnesses today been drawn despite all the potentially disunifying features, but why has the “one flock” of the “one shepherd” held together?
5 Today Jehovah’s Witnesses are found to be drawn from more human families than was the case with the first-century Christians. In view of that, they are drawn from all races of mankind, from all skin colors and from all walks of life. These noticeable things could have acted as a disunifying factor among Jehovah’s Witnesses. But not so! They recognize that, regardless of race, color, language, nationality and social level, they all have one common source of their existence and of the light of truth. Among Jehovah’s Witnesses of this late date there are a remnant of spirit-begotten Christians who have heavenly prospects and a “great crowd” of those whom the Fine Shepherd, Jesus Christ, called his “other sheep.” (John 10:16; Revelation 7:9-17; Matthew 25:31-46) Nevertheless, the long-range forecast of Jesus Christ has not failed, even though it said: “And they will become one flock, one shepherd.” The Fine Shepherd has shown his skill in keeping all his peace-loving sheeplike followers “one flock,” notwithstanding the difference in hopes for the future. They all unitedly love their “one shepherd,” who lovingly sacrificed his human life for all of them, and they are loyal to him.
6. Why have the remnant with heavenly hope not held back from publishing the Bible truths that pertain to the “other sheep”?
6 The Biblical “truth” that all the sheep of today love so strongly has much to say about the Paradise hope for the constantly growing “great crowd” of the Shepherd’s “other sheep.” So, as lovers of the whole “truth” of God’s Word, the spiritual remnant are not envious so as to hold back anything profitable from those “other sheep” but have lovingly published worldwide that grand earthly hope, particularly since the year 1935. The remnant know that they are now living in “the times of restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time.” (Acts 3:21) For the remnant the revelation of this truth has been part of their “inheritance of the holy ones in the light.” From the start of the publication of this magazine, The Watchtower, in July of 1879, it has been God’s instrument for reviving this grand Paradise hope for redeemed humankind. The other publications of the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society have all combined to strengthen and confirm that hope in which the “great crowd” of “other sheep” delight so greatly today, with loving appreciation for the remnant.
7. In 1935, what hope besides their own did the anointed remnant lovingly set forth, and why did they allow for the baptism of those with this other hope?
7 Down to the spring of 1935 the dedicated, baptized witnesses of Jehovah had entertained in true faith the “one hope” that was set before them in Ephesians 4:4-6, as follows: “One body there is, and one spirit, even as you were called in the one hope to which you were called; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all persons.” But in that memorable year of 1935, at the convention held in Washington, D.C., the “great multitude,” as visualized at Revelation 7:9-17 (Authorized Version), was identified as being composed of the Fine Shepherd’s “other sheep” of John 10:16. The anointed remnant who still held on to their valid “one hope” rejoiced greatly over this advancing light upon the Holy Scriptures and set themselves to act wholeheartedly in the gathering of those “other sheep.” They did not feel that the “other sheep” were infringing on the “one baptism” by themselves getting immersed in water, for the baptism of such “other sheep” was as much a symbol of their dedication to Jehovah God through Christ as that of the anointed remnant had been. The love with which they had clothed themselves now widened out to embrace those lovable “other sheep” of their own Shepherd.
8. To whose love, in the days of ancient Israel, may the love existing between the two classes in the “one flock” be compared?
8 A mutual love has developed and deepened among all the sheeplike ones of the “one flock” under the Greater David, Jesus Christ. This uniting bond of love corresponds with that unbreakable, undying love of the anointed king-elect David of the tribe of Judah toward unselfish lovable Jonathan, the son of the then reigning king Saul. (2 Samuel 1:25-27) Shortly before their final parting from each other, “Jonathan swore again to David because of his love for him; for as he loved his own soul he loved him.” (1 Samuel 20:17) On learning of Jonathan’s death with his father in battle, David was impelled to chant a dirge and to climax it with the words: “I am distressed over you, my brother Jonathan, very pleasant you were to me. More wonderful was your love to me than the love from women.” (2 Samuel 1:26) Their mutual love was a “perfect bond of union.” Only death did them part.
9. By whom were the “other sheep” there pictured, and how will those of the two classes eventually be parted, but with no lessening of mutual love?
9 Jonathan foreshadowed the “other sheep” of the present time. Some future day after “the war of the great day of God the Almighty” at Har–Magedon the surviving Jonathan class will be parted from the remnant of the David class. (Revelation 16:14, 16) This will be only because the beloved remnant will be taken away by death, they being “caught away,” as it were, “in clouds to meet the Lord in the air,” by means of their instantaneous resurrection in the spirit out of death. (1 Thessalonians 4:17) They will continue to love the “other sheep” left behind on earth. In fact, their love then will be more powerfully expressed!
“The Greatest of These Is Love”
10, 11. Why is it that faith and hope are not so great as love, as stated in 1 Corinthians 13:13?
10 This reminds us of Paul’s words at the close of his magnificent description in 1 Corinthians chapter 13, namely: “Now, however, there remain faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13) How is that so? Well, consider first what is said in Hebrews 11:1: “Faith is the assured expectation of things hoped for, the evident demonstration of realities though not beheld.” Certainly, then, the hope for such things is only for the time that they are not “beheld.” Take Abraham, for instance. He demonstrated faith in Jehovah God and in His ability to raise the dead. So he waited confidently for things that he did not behold before his death. So Jehovah’s Witnesses of today, due to strong faith in Him, hope for things not yet beheld and so wait for them. When, in time, they behold the “things hoped for,” their faith and hope respecting such things end, having been fulfilled. This is indicated by what Paul further says in Romans 8:24, 25, where we read:
11 “For we were saved in this hope; but hope that is seen is not hope, for when a man sees a thing, does he hope for it? But if we hope for what we do not see, we keep on waiting for it with endurance.”
12. In what way have Jehovah’s Witnesses seen the “restoration of all things,” as stated in Acts 3:21, and so in course of time what qualities will cease but what quality will not?
12 Likewise, since the postwar year of 1919 Jehovah’s Witnesses on earth have seen the “restoration of all things of which God spoke through the mouth of his holy prophets of old time.” They have seen Jehovah’s visible organization recovered from the death-dealing blow of World War I and then rebuilt. It is again worshiping Jehovah God, in a spiritual paradise right here at the earth. (Isaiah, chapter 35) Deliverance has been gained from Babylon the Great, the world empire of false religion. (Revelation 18:1-4) Many of the things foretold in Revelation, the last book of the Bible, have been fulfilled or are undergoing fulfillment. Thus faith and the hope based on such Biblical faith are serving their purpose, and once their purpose has been fully met, they will cease. Ah, yes, but what about love? It has remained and will remain. Whereas the world is in a state of disintegration and the world elements are about to melt due to the intense heat, the “bond of union” based on love from God does not get dissolved. It still holds intact toward God and his approved organization and between the remnant of the “little flock” and the welcome “great crowd” of the “other sheep.” It proves to be “perfect.” Love as the “bond” is a fruit of God’s spirit.
13. Why will love never die?
13 God is the personification of love; and since God never dies, love will never die. It is correctly said, “God is love.”
14. What truth can be restated as to the unifying power of love?
14 As regards the unifying power of love, the inspired truth stated at 1 John 4:8, 16 can be repeated and enlarged upon: “God is love, and he that remains in love remains in union with God and God remains in union with him.”
15. When creating man, by what was God motivated, and why can man appreciate and react properly to that motivating force?
15 Accordingly, when God produced the first human creature on earth, he was motivated by love to do this. As Genesis 1:27 reports on this: “And God proceeded to create the man in his image, in God’s image he created him.” Not that the first man had God’s bodily shape, but that he was gifted with qualities such as God himself has, these mental, spiritual and heart qualities differentiating him from the lower forms of creature life on earth. For this reason this gifted human creature could appreciate the love of his Creator toward him and could react toward that love in a proper way, like a son toward his father. There existed a family tie between them that was made realistic by regular communion with each other in spite of the fact that the Father was invisible to the earthly son, inasmuch as no man can see God and yet keep on living. This fact God stated later on to Moses: “No man may see me and yet live.” (Exodus 33:20) This rule was not changed, for more than fifteen hundred years later the apostle John wrote to fellow Christians: “No man has seen God at any time; the only-begotten god who is in the bosom position with the Father is the one that has explained him.”—John 1:18.
16. With what did John and his fellow disciples respond to God’s fatherly love, and how has the “bond of love” proved to be with regard to the anointed remnant and the “other sheep”?
16 As a spirit-begotten son of God, the apostle John was in a family relationship with Jehovah God and with his Son, “the only-begotten god,” Jesus Christ. John and his fellow Christians responded to God’s fatherly affection with a filial love. That love was a “bond of union” between them and their invisible heavenly Father. It also cemented the spirit-begotten ones together as the spiritual sons of God and as Christian brothers and sisters. As we examine that “bond of union” today we see that it has proved to be “perfect,” for the members of the anointed remnant cleave together inseparably as fellow worshipers and witnesses of Jehovah God. This love keeps them in the family of God and in the Christian brotherhood. Noteworthily, their fellow worshipers at God’s temple, the “great crowd” of Christ’s “other sheep,” display the same unquenchable love that binds Jehovah’s Witnesses of today together so perfectly. Determinedly, may we share the conviction of the apostle Paul that no “creation will be able to separate us from God’s love that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”—Romans 8:38, 39.
-
-
Clothing Ourselves With Love and Wearing ItThe Watchtower—1982 | December 15
-
-
Clothing Ourselves With Love and Wearing It
1. What is the thing with which to clothe ourselves, and when is the greatest test of it to come?
SINCE love is a “perfect bond of union,” it is the all-important quality with which to clothe ourselves unhypocritically. We must wear it constantly in all sincerity. It is no cloak that disguises one’s real self. For our counsel today the inspired words have been preserved: “Let your love be without hypocrisy. . . . In brotherly love have tender affection for one another.” (Romans 12:9, 10) The greatest test of the genuineness of our love, this “bond of union,” is yet to come—in the near future.
2. Is love attainable without anything preliminary?
2 Now, then, is the opportune time for us to cultivate that love. All the steps that lead up to the attainment of that quality must be taken now. That is why the apostle Paul crowns his recommendation of various things that the dedicated, baptized disciples of Jesus Christ needed to do, by saying: “Besides all these things, clothe yourselves with love, for it is a perfect bond of union.” (Colossians 3:14) So what are “these things” besides which we must clothe ourselves with love?
Overcoming Divisive Factors
3. According to Colossians 3:9-13, what are the steps that need to be taken toward the attainment of love?
3 Back there in the days of the apostles Paul and John there were features, or factors, that might have served as grounds for division. But those onetime valid grounds had now to be ignored, devalued as to their importance and weight. The Christians were all one congregation, one corporative unit under the one spiritual Head, Jesus Christ. All fleshly bases for making divisions had to be brushed aside. The unifying spiritual facts had to be kept to the fore. In keeping with this, the apostle Paul proceeded to say: “Strip off the old personality with its practices, and clothe yourselves with the new personality, which through accurate knowledge is being made new according to the image of the One who created it, where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, foreigner, Scythian, slave, freeman, but Christ is all things and in all. Accordingly, as God’s chosen ones, holy and loved, clothe yourselves with the tender affections of compassion, kindness, lowliness of mind, mildness, and long-suffering. Continue putting up with one another and forgiving one another freely if anyone has a cause for complaint against another.”—Colossians 3:9-13.
4. Why was there need to get along with one another in the first-century congregation, and on what basis might certain things have been ignored?
4 With all the above-mentioned differences in national extraction and religious background, social standing, racial and color features, there were difficulties in getting along with one another in the congregation. There was need for understanding and for making allowances with regard to one another. For, though those things may have mattered with fleshly men, they certainly did not matter with God and with his Son Jesus Christ, who died for all mankind at a time when all these differences had grown up and still persisted. Of course, broad-minded men might, out of their own generosity of soul, have overlooked such differences, doing so on general principles. To do so might even have been good policy, no, rather, plain, downright humanity. Yet pure, unselfish love might be lacking.
5. Beyond what things of an ordinary human kind must Jehovah’s Witnesses go when ignoring divisive things, and thus demonstrate that they are in union with whom?
5 For that reason we dedicated, baptized followers of the One who gave his perfect human life in behalf of all sorts of men must go beyond mere formality, agreeableness, niceness, mannerliness, humane feeling; we must be motivated by sincere, disinterested love as a fruit of the spirit of Jehovah God. This fruit seeks the benefit and the gain of others. It is glad to make a contribution to the spiritual well-being and happiness of others. It demonstrates that we are in union with God, who is the embodiment of love. There is a drawing power in this love. In line with this 1 John 4:19 states: “We love, because he first loved us.”
6. By what are the members of the “one flock” attracted to one another, and on what is the fruit of God’s spirit not based?
6 Consequently, when the varied elements that make up the “one flock” under the “one shepherd” express love toward one another, it draws them tightly together and offsets the divisive influence of the various backgrounds of the members of the “one flock.” They are attracted to one another because of having clothed themselves with the “new personality.” They all have the “one spirit” that emanates from the one divine Source, the God and Life-Giver of all. The heartwarming fruit of his spirit is a love, not based on sex or selfish lustful desire, but based on the heartfelt appreciation of the godlike qualities of the “new personality.” It alone functions as a “perfect bond of union,” preserving harmony and cooperativeness.
United for a Special Work
7. Since 1914 there is need for what on the part of Jehovah’s Witnesses, and this in behalf of what work?
7 At this late date in “the conclusion of the system of things” since 1914, there is need for concerted action on the part of Jehovah’s Witnesses, who are no part of this system of things. It is incumbent upon them to give a worldwide witness to the most important development in all human history. (Matthew 24:14; Mark 13:10) The situation must take on the outstanding feature that the apostle Paul mentions as notable in his day. Calling attention to this at Colossians 1:23, he said: “The hope of that good news which you heard, and which was preached in all creation that is under heaven. Of this good news I Paul became a minister.” And now, all you ministers of the good news today, what about a similar creation-wide preaching of the good news that has been reserved for our own crucial time?
8. We today see the carrying out of what vision portrayed by John in Revelation 14:6-12?
8 We today see the carrying out of the fulfillment of the vision that was given to the apostle John, which he described in Revelation 14:6-12 in these words: “And I saw another angel flying in midheaven, and he had everlasting good news to declare as glad tidings to those who dwell on the earth, and to every nation and tribe and tongue and people, saying in a loud voice: ‘Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of the judgment by him has arrived, and so worship the One who made the heaven and the earth and sea and fountains of waters.’ And another, a second angel, followed, saying: ‘She has fallen! Babylon the Great has fallen, she who made all the nations drink of the wine of the anger of her fornication!’ And another angel, a third, followed them, saying in a loud voice: ‘If anyone worships the wild beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he will also drink of the wine of the anger of God that is poured out undiluted into the cup of his wrath, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulphur in the sight of the holy angels and in the sight of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and day and night they have no rest, those who worship the wild beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name. Here is where it means endurance for the holy ones, those who observe the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.’”
9. When was it that Jehovah’s Witnesses saw the carrying out of the vision of the apostle John, and why were they now free to tell the good news everywhere?
9 Has the anointed remnant that was pictured by the apostle John seen the modern-day equivalent of that angel flying in midheaven with “everlasting good news” that was to be declared to all earth’s inhabitants, yes, to every nation, tribe, language and people of whatever color? Yes, from the summer of the postwar year of 1919 onward. Then it was that the mandatory prophecy of Jesus at Matthew 24:14 began to be carried out. Did the surviving remnant then have “everlasting good news” to declare in all creation that is under heaven? Yes, indeed! There were the glad tidings for them to tell about the establishment of God’s Kingdom by Christ in the heavens as having taken place at the end of the Gentile Times in 1914. And, oh, what thrilling good news it was to the remnant of spiritual Israelites to be informed by postwar developments that the oppressor of them in particular, namely, Babylon the Great, had fallen, losing its power over Jehovah’s Witnesses! They were now free to proclaim this major item of good news to all peoples in religious bondage, to tell them to get out of Babylon the Great and to help them do so.—Revelation 18:4.
10. With what have those who have got out of Babylon the Great associated themselves, and into what bond of union have they come?
10 Already a “great crowd” of freedom lovers have responded to the “everlasting good news” and have acted upon the timely call to get out of the Babylonish worldwide empire of false religion. They have flocked to the side of the liberated remnant of spiritual Israelites. Thus they have associated themselves with Jehovah’s visible organization and have themselves become Jehovah’s Witnesses. They have come within that “perfect bond of union,” the love that is a fruit of the spirit of Jehovah God.—Colossians 3:14; Galatians 5:22.
11. The love practiced by Christendom has been for whom, and when will Jehovah’s Witnesses exultantly take up the words of Revelation 19:1, 2?
11 The dominant part of Babylon the Great is the so-called Christendom. Despite her name she does not practice true Christianity, and her hundreds of millions of members are not held together by the “perfect bond of union,” as witness her disunity in the form of many hundreds of religious sects and denominations. The love with which Christendom has clothed herself is the love for the paramours of Babylon the Great, the political and social elements of this world, with whom she has committed religious fornication. Great indeed will be the joy when, not just the fall, but the utter destruction of Babylon the Great, including Christendom, takes place at God’s time for settling accounts with her. Then his witnesses will exultantly take up the words of Revelation 19:1, 2: “Praise Jah, you people! The salvation and the glory and the power belong to our God, because his judgments are true and righteous. For he has executed judgment upon the great harlot who corrupted the earth with her fornication, and he has avenged the blood of his slaves at her hand.” Her destruction as by fire will be endless, “forever.”—Revelation 19:3.
12. Till Babylon the Great’s destruction the situation calls for Jehovah’s Witnesses to exercise what quality, and what kind of front must they present against the foes of the light?
12 In the meantime, during the continued existence of Babylon the Great by Jehovah’s permission, the earthly situation of those “who observe the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” obliges them to exercise “endurance.” (Revelation 14:12) They have reason to apply to themselves Jesus’ words in his prophecy on “the conclusion of the system of things,” at Matthew 24:13, namely: “He that has endured to the end is the one that will be saved.” Those words followed immediately on Jesus’ preceding statement: “Because of the increasing of lawlessness the love of the greater number will cool off.” (Matthew 24:12) Love on the part of Jehovah’s Witnesses will enable them to endure to the end of this old system of things. The more that they exercise love among themselves and toward those seeking to come into relationship with Jehovah God the stronger that “perfect bond of union” becomes. So onward, you witnesses of Jehovah, with the worldwide witnessing to the Kingdom in the 205 lands in which you are already working, with other lands in view into which to expand! It is the time to present a united front to the enemy. We must close ranks and unitedly battle against the forces of the darkness of this world.
13. What agency used by God merits our continued loyal support?
13 For nearly a century now the Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., has been a unifying agency that Jehovah has used in behalf of his witnesses. It has been a mighty instrument that the “faithful and discreet slave” class has used to give Jehovah’s Witnesses their spiritual “food at the proper time.” (Matthew 24:45-47) Jehovah’s blessing is manifestly upon it with its 95 branch organizations throughout the earth. It continues to merit our loyal support and cooperation for as long as Jehovah God is pleased to use it. How indebted we are to that instrument!
Keep United by Love
14. What kind of clothing should we keep wearing, and so by what quality must Jehovah’s people show that they are his witnesses?
14 Satan the Devil and his hostile world will keep on trying to break up our ranks, but the love that is the dominant fruit of God’s spirit will continue to prove its perfection as a “bond of union.” In putting on the “new personality,” we clothe ourselves with love, as the apostle Paul told us to do, and we must wear it continually as a part of our personality that bears the image of God. When giving final instructions to his disciples, the Son of God said: “I am giving you a new commandment, that you love one another; just as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are my disciples, if you have love among yourselves.” (John 13:34, 35) How appropriate those words were from the Son of God, for his heavenly Father, Jehovah, is love personified, and we must make known to all mankind that we are truly His witnesses by cultivating the fruit of His spirit, which is love!
15. In expression of their love for God, whom also must Jehovah’s Witnesses love?
15 To be consistent with our love for Jehovah, we must love our fellow witnesses. In verification of this, 1 John 4:20, 21 reminds us: “If anyone makes the statement: ‘I love God,’ and yet is hating his brother, he is a liar. For he who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot be loving God, whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him, that the one who loves God should be loving his brother also.”
16. Why can Jehovah’s Witnesses not keep from loving one another, and why will love never be stamped out of the earth?
16 In exemplification of that principle, Jehovah’s Witnesses of today, regardless of whether they belong to the spirit-begotten joint heirs of the King Jesus Christ or they belong to the “great crowd” of the “other sheep” with their earthly Paradise hope, sincerely love one another. How could we keep from loving those who are lovers of Jehovah God and his beloved Son Jesus Christ? We do love them and by this we are bound together with that “perfect bond of union.” Despite all that Satan the Devil and his wicked world may strive to do to destroy this fruit of Jehovah’s spirit, love will never be stamped out of the earth. Those who keep clothed with love down to the destruction of this devilish system of things will be protected by their loyal God through the “great tribulation” such as this earth has never yet experienced. (Matthew 24:21; Galatians 5:22) In this way only lovers of God and of his family, his organization, will survive and enter into the cleansed earth that is to be transformed into a glorious Paradise. That Paradise will never be wiped out but will evermore be inhabited and beautified by human personifications of love. Love will gain an eternal triumph to the glory of the divine Source of love, Jehovah God.
-