Love Covers a Multitude of Sins

Love Covers a Multitude of Sins

God is love. God is light (truth, righteousness). Therefore truth and love belong together. Hence it is written that love rejoices in the truth. 1 Cor. 13. Love labors and bears all things in its work, in its endurance, in its hope, and in believing the truth. Its goal is to get the truth into people, to get them to love the truth (God), or: its goal is to bring salvation from God. 2 Thess. 2:10-13; 1 Thess. 3:12-13.

The way of life and the ministry unto life is hardly understood because people do not keep the goal of love in mind even though they ought to know better. Therefore this word of Scripture is misused extensively; namely, that love covers a multitude of sins. All things have their opposites here in life; therefore we need to decide first in which direction something is going so we can understand it properly. Here we see one opposite: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble. The same principle applies with regard to covering a multitude of sins. God (love) will not unmercifully reveal all of a person’s sins who will humble himself by acknowledging the truth even though he is as wretched as he could possibly be. He will rather cover them, expecting that the truth will gain abundant entrance into that same person. Those who follow Jesus act in the same way. It is a different matter, even the opposite, when a person will not acknowledge the truth (and at the same time his own departure from it, or his own darkness), and thus in his arrogance resists his help, that is, God. God resists such a person, and He will let such a wretched person’s condition be made manifest in His time. See 2 Timothy 3:8-9. Consider Jesus—as the Scriptures exhort us to do—and you can observe the opposites according to the stand people had taken. We do not hear that He spoke harshly to people who were heartbroken and had humbled themselves by truly acknowledging their condition. Not at all! But do we find that He spoke harshly to anyone at all? Did he speak hard words, this Jesus who loved every person so that He gave His life—this gentle and meek Man?

Yes! Never have I heard any man speak such hard words as He did. The light was strong; thus the judgment was harsh and the words were hard. Therefore: Woe unto him who resists the light; woe unto the rich and full in heart, those who think they have become rich and are in need of nothing despite the fact that they are pitiable and wretched and have gone astray in thought and word. But the poor in spirit, the humble—blessed are they! See Matthew 23:13-33.

The person who is in Christ cannot speak hard words to a person who sins because of his ignorance and weakness, when his soul has a desire for God so that he bows in acknowledgment. However, he has to resist strongly—if he is to be true to God—hypocrites and enemies of the truth, enemies of the cross of Christ who do not want to acknowledge the light and be converted to it. He has to reprimand and expose them for their own sake and especially for the sake of those who listen to them and have confidence in them.

There is therefore always grace for the humble to find salvation, love, affection, mercy, comfort, compassion, and fellowship of the Spirit in the light in the bonds of peace—even an unspeakable joy in glory, in spirit, and in truth.

On the other hand, the arrogant only treasure up the judgment of wrath against themselves until they fall.

Everyone who calls on the Lord ought to take this to heart, for everyone who desires to stand firm and advance in the Lord must have anointed eyes so he can see and judge in various matters and always choose the good. There is affection of love for everyone who walks and desires to walk in the light whether he is weak or strong. If a righteous person falls and repents, he will be raised up again—with compassion, mercy, and comfort; he will be washed and cared for with love in the fellowship of the Spirit. On the other hand, the arrogant plunge into corruption and often draw many down with them.

As we can see, love covers a multitude of sins in a person who desires to repent of his sin. This means quite simply that a person corrects his brother out of his love for him, and if he regrets what he has done he is forgiven, and the person hides it from others instead of revealing the matter to everyone. See Luke 17:3.

This is in general; but if anyone sins in the church with several people witnessing it, he must be rebuked so that all can hear it “in the presence of all, that the rest also may fear.” 1 Tim. 5:20.

This, then, is the situation: the person who sins openly must also be rebuked openly. Gal. 2:11, 14. If anyone sins secretly and someone knows about it, he must cover it in love if the sinner regrets it. If he does not listen to his brother and does not acknowledge his sin, then the brother shall take one or two others with him so that every matter shall be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses; but if he does not listen to them it shall be mentioned to the church. If he does not listen to the church either, he shall be considered an outsider until he repents and is converted. Matt. 18:15-17; 2 Thess. 3:14-15; 1 Cor. 5:11-13.

There is still one more important point concerning this matter. If the person who has gone astray is a preacher for others, a leader of the people, all those who have understanding in this matter must warn the people against following him and according to the grace and light God gives, instruct them as clearly as possible as to the nature of the deception, just as our forerunner, Jesus Christ, the captain of our salvation, has done: “Beware first and foremost of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy.” He also told them what was wrong. They received honor from one another; they wanted to be considered the most excellent ones, but they did not want to be that in truth because then they had to humble themselves and suffer all kinds of evil. They said much that was true, but they did not act accordingly, etc.

The expression “first and foremost” teaches us that it is a weighty matter, even the weightiest matter of all! First and foremost! We can also easily understand it when we consider life. It is a fact that there are some leaders and then there are many people who follow them. Consequently, such leaders represent immense values. Therefore, you who lead souls, make sure that they advance on the way of life, and consider your responsibility. And the person who follows must be on guard as to what he is following!

What we need in these days is that every one in particular must open his eyes and investigate the conditions. It is evident to all those who are caring that the conditions are in a sad state. Liberty is being preached by those who are themselves slaves of unrighteousness. Those who are viewed to be the most excellent ones and who, if they were that, should be the slaves and servants of all (those who should bear the burdens of many, those who exhorted, prayed, instructed in the truth that is according to godliness, who toiled and suffered) are not found to be like that. And what is even worse, they teach that they are not supposed to do all this work; they shall only preach and the Spirit shall serve. They have this kind of liberty! At the same time they have the liberty to “make themselves comfortable” as well as they can in this world. A consequence of this aberration of life is that they must necessarily find a doctrine that can cover this aberration. So they preach that we shall not labor and toil, we shall not investigate the condition. On the contrary, God has to do it without our knowledge. The Spirit has to take care of it, and so the flesh is so very conveniently let off! Yet God be praised; their cover, which is sweet words about love and peace and good days, will no longer hide them, and their cover will be too short and too narrow with which to cover themselves. The true light is already shining into these conditions, so that those who hunger for salvation will be filled with it. And all this confusion, this wretched darkness and deception, is fed by this satanic doctrine that the body of sin can be removed from us! People who have strayed from the fear of God, who are full of folly, conceit, love of money, flattery, and much misery, these people preach that they do not have a body of sin! Where does this folly come from?