The Bible is full of teachings about how we are to love our neighbors. Some of these teachings are eternal and universal, such as the Golden Rule: “In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets” (Matthew 7:12).
However not all biblical teachings about loving the neighbor are clear. Nor are they always easy to apply to our contemporary lives. Every teaching requires careful reading, close study and compassionate understanding of different perspectives as we read God’s Word in conversation with other Christians.
Too often in our confusion, in our search for easy answers, in our sinful attempts to play god-over-others, our readings of the Bible can do harm to our neighbors…and crucify the Word of God itself. How Christians read the Bible matters as much as why we read the Bible.
This message is an excerpt of “Reading the Bible for love” by Laurie A. Jungling in the April 2018 issue of Gather magazine. Today we remember Onesimos Nesib, translator and evangelist, who died in 1931.
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