And above all things, have fervent charity among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of sins. 1 Peter 4:8
Love (rendered charity in our text) covers the multitude of sins: most Christians, and many non-Christians, can and do quote this portion of the verse. But do we know what it means? Some say it means love keeps us from seeing or noticing sins against us at all. Others insist the verse means that even if we see sins against us, we are to ignore them. Still others believe that we are to forgive every sin that we see. As nice as these sound, they fail the test of the rest of Scripture. For sure, the goal should be that we forgive whatever sins others commit against us. But that goal is sometimes impossible. Our text does not say that love forgives the multitude of sins, it says love covers the multitude of sins. That means that love can be applied in the case of every sin.
If we happen to see another Christian living in sin, the most unloving thing we could do for them is to ignore it or forget about it. Love would cause us to do all that we can to bring that Christian back into fellowship with the Lord and with other Christians. We must do this in a spirit of grace and with the leading of the Holy Spirit, but we must do it out of love for that sinning Christian. That being said, it is definitely not necessary to confront a brother or sister in Christ for every indiscretion that we encounter with them.
There is an interesting – and I think wise – quote from R.C Sproul on this subject: ‘Peace in the church calls us to under-accuse, over-repent and over-forgive. Let us not be afraid to call sin sin, but let us not be slow to forgive it and to look past it.’ Let’s use the example of another Christian ignoring us. The first time it happens, we shrug it off, giving that other Christian the full benefit of any doubt. Almost certainly it was not intentional. The second time it happens, we flag it for future reference and move on. Only when it becomes a consistent pattern do we step in and make a loving move toward that other Christian to patch up the relationship.
There is more than one Greek word that is translated as ‘charity’ or ‘love’ in our Bibles. Which Greek word is used in our text? It is not philadelphia, the brotherly love that we have for each other as Christians. It is agape, the unconditional unlimited sacrificial love that God has for us. And it is to be fervent, our text declares. That type of love will cover whatever multitude of sins that occur. May it be so among us. -Jim MacIntosh