Charity 4 - 1 Corinthians 13:6

Charity:

Rejoiceth not in iniquity – There isn’t a lot of commentary on verse 6 so I have to think of it all myself. This statement seems pretty obvious, but when I think about the inverse of it, which is “charity rejoiceth in iniquity” there is a little bit of clarity there. I’m trying to think about a time when one person would “rejoice” in the sins of another and there are some that come to mind. First would be when we view someone as being “better” than us or render a judgment against them that they are petty or stuck up or holier than thou or something like that. When we think about someone in this way, when they do something wrong or are affected by the wrongdoing of someone else, a person who is in a negative state of mind might inwardly be a little bit happy that the other person isn’t as “perfect” as we thought they were. Of course, the other person never was perfect, but our perception was warped in a way that we might think that they “deserve” something bad happening to them.

Another way that I think of someone rejoicing in iniquity might be when someone does something contrary to the laws of God and we celebrate it. I guess that this is a very sticky situation because if we consider this aspect when it comes to gay marriage or gender transformations, we could turn into monsters who ostracize others with our “righteous” attitude. There seems to be such a fine line between being supportive of people in a way that Jesus would and not “rejoicing” in iniquity.

I think that at this point, I’m of the opinion that my responsibility for not rejoicing in iniquity is to do what I can to avoid it myself, meaning that I shouldn’t get married to a woman or transition to being a man, or become promiscuous, etc. But I have not been called to preach repentance to others, I have not been put into positions of stewardship over them, but what I have been called and commanded to do is to love people, to be kind, to treat everyone with dignity and respect. There is enough heartache and anxiety in the lives of people who have to deal with same gender attraction and gender dysphoria that they don’t need anything negative from me compounding their lives. If I am approached or asked my opinion, I can render my views on the eternal perspective and happiness coming from following the laws of God, but that’s the extent of my admonishment of others for their struggles.

Finally, the last way that I can imagine rejoicing in iniquity could be in the context of a relationship between people who feed off of each other into negativity. I am definitely one of those people who easily will feed off of the energy of others, and while that can be a good thing depending on who I surround myself with, it can also be a bad thing for the same reason. I remember an incident specifically where my best friend and I were at church and we were irritated for some reason and we finally had devolved into constant sarcastic remarks and just negativity all the way around. Finally, we looked at each other and said, “this is not right, let’s pray for better attitudes.” And we did, and it was better. I think it takes a special type of friendship that allows you to reflect on attitudes and energy like that and turn to Jesus to make it better. I’m really grateful to have her in my life. But in the context of Paul’s statement, I can take it as a warning to not “rejoice” or devolve with my friends into negativity or bad energy.

Rejoiceth in Truth – Because this is in the same verse as the “rejoiceth not in iniquity,” I wonder if the two concepts are opposites of each other. In a way, yes, I can see that they would be because iniquity is the antithesis of truth because the truth is that happiness comes from following God’s law, and by not participating in the “iniquity” part of the statement I am finding happiness in the truth. There is a paragraph explaining these concepts from the website gotquestions.org which says, “true love rejoices in what is right and good. Anything that covers up sin or seeks to justify wrong doing is the polar opposite of godly love. Love does not sweep sin under the rug. Love does not try to find ways to get away with bad behavior, and it does not put up with injustice. Instead, it treasures truth, celebrates good behavior, and promotes virtue.” When I was reading this, I couldn’t help but come from the perspective of judging or not accepting what other people are doing, but about half way through I realized that I needed to change the focus from others to myself. This means that I don’t try to excuse myself when I commit sin, that I admit to and repent of the wrong things that I do. If I truly love God, then I understand who he is to me and who I am to him, which means that I recognize the way to happiness is through obedience to His laws. And by trying my best to keep His commandments, He teaches me what it means to love others the way that he does.

The article continues, “basically, to exhibit God’s kind of love, we must have God’s perspective on sin and righteousness. The better we understand love, the more we will sorrow over those who commit sin. The more we love the truth, the better we can love those around us.” I feel like this falls firmly in the “remove the beam from your own eye, then you will be able to see properly to remove the dust from your brother’s eye.” God gives us the commandments so that we can govern our own behavior, not so that we can keep track of how other people live their lives. There are, of course, exceptions to that such as the prophets, bishops, etc. who are given stewardship over people and who are required to teach the law, but for the most part, that’s not the job of the rest of us. Our job is to love and be friends. 

The truth is that we should keep the commandments, but it’s also truth that everyone makes their own choices and we are not allowed to judge that. I guess the question is, would Jesus attend a gay wedding? It’s hard for me to think about this because I’ve always been so pro gay rights or trans rights or really, anybody. I’m a firm believer that as long as everyone involved is a consenting adult, then people should be allowed to do whatever they want. So the concept that we should oppose someone getting married or being in a relationship or anything like that is just so foreign to me, so the question, should we attend a gay wedding is the most obvious “if you’re invited, then of course you should attend.” I’ve really had to reflect on what my own beliefs are that are natural to me and what the laws of God dictate and how it all fits together.

I guess in order to work out the answer about what Jesus would do is to think about other situations that are similar. If two people of different ethnicities were getting married and I believed that “everyone should stick with their own kind” like my grandma used to say, I would be wrong to not attend their wedding and show love and support. I guess it doesn’t have to say “I think you’re making a good choice,” just saying, “I love you and want you to be happy.” I don’t know, I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere with this right now. I guess I just want to do what is right according to God, but also to love people and be friends with them.