Christian Living: Paul on Love and Faith

Christian Religious Studies · WAEC and JAMB · SS2 and SS3

Paul's letters turn Christian belief into daily conduct, covering love, salvation by faith, life in the Spirit, relations with government and honesty in work. WAEC examines this area through 1 Corinthians 13, Galatians 5, Romans 12 and 13, and questions usually end by asking how the teaching applies to Nigerian society.

What you need to know

In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul addresses a church proud of its spiritual gifts and tells them that without love, tongues are a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal, prophecy and knowledge and mountain-moving faith are nothing, and even giving away all one's goods or one's body profits nothing.
Paul then describes love by what it does and does not do: it is patient and kind; it is not jealous or boastful, not arrogant or rude; it does not insist on its own way, is not irritable or resentful, does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the truth; and it bears, believes, hopes and endures all things.
Love never ends, while prophecies pass away, tongues cease and knowledge passes away, because our present knowing is partial, like seeing in a mirror dimly; faith, hope and love remain, and the greatest of these is love. The love Paul describes is agape, a deliberate commitment to the good of another that does not depend on attraction or on being loved in return, which is why a Christian can be commanded to show it where mere affection could not be commanded.
Paul's doctrine of justification holds that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God and are justified freely by His grace through the redemption in Christ Jesus. In Ephesians 2:8-9 salvation is by grace through faith, the gift of God, not of works, so that no one may boast.
Paul uses Abraham to prove the point in Romans 4: Abraham was counted righteous before circumcision and before the law was given, so righteousness comes by faith and not by ritual or by descent. James 2 adds that faith without works is dead, and the two are complementary, since Paul also insists that those justified by faith must walk in newness of life.
Galatians 5 contrasts the works of the flesh with the fruit of the Spirit. The works of the flesh include immorality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, anger, selfishness, dissension, party spirit, envy and drunkenness, and Paul warns that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God.
The fruit of the Spirit is a single cluster of nine qualities: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control, against which, as Paul says, there is no law. Christian character is grown by the Spirit, not produced by rule-keeping.
Romans 12 opens the practical section by appealing to believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is their reasonable service, and not to be conformed to this world but transformed by the renewal of their minds.
The same chapter governs relationships: think of yourself with sober judgement, use your gift whether prophecy, service, teaching, exhortation, giving, leading or showing mercy, love without hypocrisy, be fervent in spirit, contribute to the needs of the saints, practise hospitality, bless those who persecute you, weep with those who weep, never avenge yourselves, feed your enemy if he is hungry, and overcome evil with good.
Romans 13 requires submission to governing authorities as instituted by God, including the payment of taxes, revenue, respect and honour. Paul then says that love does no wrong to a neighbour and therefore fulfils the law, summing up the commandments in the instruction to love your neighbour as yourself.
On work and honesty Paul tells the thief to stop stealing and labour with his hands so that he may have something to share with the needy, instructs the Thessalonians that anyone unwilling to work should not eat, and tells slaves and masters alike to act as serving the Lord. He supported himself by tentmaking so as not to burden the churches.
On giving, 2 Corinthians 8 and 9 present the Macedonian churches who gave beyond their means out of deep poverty, and lay down that each should give as he has made up his mind, not reluctantly or under compulsion, since God loves a cheerful giver, and that whoever sows sparingly will reap sparingly.
Philippians 2 grounds humility in Christ, who though in the form of God did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped but emptied Himself, took the form of a servant and became obedient to death on a cross, and was therefore highly exalted. Paul applies this by telling believers to count others better than themselves and to look to the interests of others.
On disputed matters Paul warns the strong not to despise the weak and not to let food or any disputed practice destroy a brother for whom Christ died, telling the Romans that whatever does not proceed from faith is sin and the Corinthians that knowledge puffs up but love builds up.

Key terms

Agape: Self-giving love that seeks the good of the other regardless of merit or return, the love described in 1 Corinthians 13.
Justification: God's act of declaring a sinner righteous on the basis of Christ's work, received through faith and not earned by works.
Grace: God's unearned favour towards sinners, the ground of salvation according to Ephesians 2:8-9.
Fruit of the Spirit: The nine qualities of Galatians 5:22-23 produced in the believer by the Holy Spirit.
Works of the flesh: The sinful practices listed in Galatians 5:19-21 that belong to the unredeemed human nature.
Living sacrifice: Paul's image in Romans 12:1 for offering the whole of one's daily life to God as an act of worship.
Sanctification: The ongoing work of God by which a believer is made holy in character and conduct after being justified.

Worked examples

Outline Paul's description of love in 1 Corinthians 13 and show its relevance to the Church in Nigeria today.

Start with the context: Corinth was a gifted but divided church that valued tongues and knowledge above character.
Give the first section, that gifts without love are worthless, listing the examples Paul uses.
Give the qualities of love as a list, positive and negative, because the examiner marks them individually.
Give the permanence of love over gifts, then apply it to named situations in Nigerian church life.

Answer: Paul wrote to a Corinthian church that was rich in spiritual gifts but torn by factions, lawsuits and rivalry over whose gift was greatest. He told them that if he spoke in the tongues of men and of angels but had no love, he was only a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal; if he had prophetic powers, understood all mysteries and all knowledge, and had faith to remove mountains but had no love, he was nothing; and if he gave away all he had and even delivered up his body but had no love, he gained nothing. He then described love: it is patient and kind; it is not jealous or boastful; it is not arrogant or rude; it does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrong but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things. Love never ends, whereas prophecies will pass away, tongues will cease and knowledge will pass away, because we know in part and see in a mirror dimly until the perfect comes. Faith, hope and love abide, and the greatest of these is love. Relevance today: (i) churches that measure spirituality by loud gifts while members quarrel and compete are the Corinthian problem exactly, and Paul's verdict is that such gifts count for nothing; (ii) love that is not jealous or boastful rules out the rivalry between ministers and between branches that disfigures Christian witness; (iii) love that does not insist on its own way is the cure for the leadership tussles and property disputes that drag churches into court; (iv) love that bears and endures calls believers to keep forgiving across ethnic and denominational lines rather than splitting at every offence; and (v) since love outlasts every gift, Christian training should give at least as much attention to character as to performance.

State Paul's teaching on the Christian's attitude to government and to his neighbour in Romans 13, and explain its application in Nigeria.

Give the principle that authority is instituted by God and the duties that follow from it.
Set out the specific obligations Paul names, including taxes and honour.
Give the second half of the chapter where love is said to fulfil the law.
Apply both halves concretely, and note honestly that Paul also expects authorities to serve good, so obedience is not approval of wrongdoing.

Answer: Paul instructs that every person be subject to the governing authorities, since there is no authority except from God and those that exist have been instituted by God, so that whoever resists the authority resists what God has appointed and will incur judgement. He describes the ruler as God's servant for good, who does not bear the sword in vain but is an avenger who carries out God's wrath on the wrongdoer, and says that one must be subject not only to avoid wrath but for the sake of conscience. He therefore commands the payment of taxes and revenue and the giving of respect and honour to whom they are due. He then says that the Christian should owe no one anything except to love one another, for the one who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the law: the commandments against adultery, murder, theft and covetousness are summed up in the word that you shall love your neighbour as yourself, and love does no wrong to a neighbour, so love is the fulfilling of the law. Application in Nigeria: (i) Christians should pay their taxes and levies honestly rather than evading them, and should obey traffic, revenue and public health regulations; (ii) believers should take part in civic duties such as voting and jury-like community service and should respect the offices of public officials even where they dislike the holders; (iii) since Paul describes the ruler as God's servant for good, Christians in public office are bound to serve the public and not themselves, and corruption is a betrayal of the very authority Paul says God instituted; and (iv) because love does no wrong to a neighbour, the same teaching forbids cheating customers, falsifying records and harming others for private gain, so obedience to law and love of neighbour are two sides of one duty.

The mistake to avoid

Candidates attribute 'faith without works is dead' to Paul. That sentence is James 2, and quoting it as Paul's wording loses credit in a question about Pauline teaching. Many also list the fruit of the Spirit incorrectly, mixing in gifts such as prophecy or tongues; the nine in Galatians 5:22-23 are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. A third error is writing a sermon on love with no reference to the actual text of 1 Corinthians 13.

In the exam

Learn 1 Corinthians 13 and Galatians 5:22-23 well enough to reproduce the lists accurately, because the examiner awards a mark per correct item. Where the question says 'show its relevance' or 'how can this be applied', give specific Nigerian situations such as tax evasion, examination malpractice, bribery, church rivalry or neglect of the poor, since general statements about being good score little. Name the epistle and chapter for each teaching you cite.