As I mentioned Monday, I am using posts this week to work back through some of the Q&A Kevin and I hosted, the queries we fielded and some of our answers regarding "universal reconciliation in Christ" or "evangelical universalism."
Today's post is about love and sin.
Speaking of love, you know what I love about the bible? It keeps surprising me. Even passages I've read countless times. Suddenly, something old and familiar takes on a new light and a new depth of meaning.
This happened to me again in my conversation with Kevin after our talkback. Kevin was recounting his talkbalk at an earlier viewing. During that conversion Kevin was discussing the relationship between God's love and God's handling of our sins and he made a point by citing 1 Corinthians 13.
Of course, everyone knows the famous 1 Corinthians 13, the Apostle Paul's famous ode of love. The part that Kevin highlighted in talking about love and grace was this well-known line:
Love keeps no record of wrongs.I've always applied 1 Corinthians 13 to humans. It never occurred to me to see it as a window into the heart of God. But if God is love then 1 Corinthians 13 is extraordinarily relevant. And if that is so, this aspect of love--love keeps no record of wrongs--has huge soteriological significance.
How does our vision of divine grace and punishment in the afterlife change if God's love keeps no record of wrongs?