The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“One of my deepest convictions is that the terrible harms that are done in this world are not done by deliberately evil people (…). They are done by the good–by those who are so sure that God is with them. Nothing can stop them, for they are certain that they are right.” Maxwell Perkins

The city of Corinth in the first century A.D. was located on the Isthmus of Corinth, a narrow stretch of land joining the Peloponnese to the mainland of Greece. Its ancient ruins are found about 3 miles northwest of modern-day Corinth.

Corrupt Corinth

The city was a major cosmopolitan center in the first century, a seaport, and a major trade center. Filled with some of the most prominent Roman leaders in the empire, Corinth was the most important city in Achaia. It was also known for its many temples to Greek gods, some of which employed more than 1,000 male and female prostitutes. It was a place filled with idolatry and moral corruption.

In this environment, the apostle Paul established the Corinthian church during his second missionary journey. And then, in about A.D. 55, near the end of Paul’s three-year ministry in Ephesus during his third missionary journey, Paul wrote his first letter to the Corinthian believers.

The letter intended to address some of the problems the believers in Corinth faced. The Christians in Corinth, comprised of many Gentiles, had allowed the city’s corrupt environment to infiltrate the church. Disunity, growing immorality, and confusion regarding certain civil matters resulted.

1 Corinthians is a strong letter, where the apostle confronts the church with their sin, need for corrective action, and clear commitment to Christ. 

Rebuking in Love

But in the same letter filled with instruction and rebuke, there lies one of the most poignant chapters in scripture about love.

We find the passage in the thirteenth chapter of 1 Corinthians, and it has been quoted extensively in both secular and sacred settings throughout the centuries:

“If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.”

During my recent conversation with pastor Daniel Darling, this passage in 1 Corinthians 13 came to mind. We discussed his new book Agents of Grace: How to Bridge Divides and Love as Jesus Loved.  

Darling was the focus of a New York Times and national news story when a high-profile ministry dismissed him after he endorsed COVID vaccines in 2021.

Darling’s very public and hurtful situation, combined with the ongoing disputes among Christians concerning issues not relevant to doctrine or the faith, propelled him to write the book. In Agents of Grace, Darling urges believers ” to cling to what unites us rather than focus on what divides us.”

Darling’s concerns are my own.

Indeed, since the pandemic started, it seems like we have experienced a disturbing increase in division among believers in matters that are absolutely not relevant to our mission as followers of Christ.

Now, there certainly are hills worth dying on when it comes to one’s convictions – matters of doctrine and morality, such as the sanctity of life and marriage. However, in one of his most stern letters concerning moral issues, the apostle Paul points our eyes to the one thing that must reign absolute over any disagreement we may have: Love.

Love is not the absence of disagreement

The “love” Paul proclaims does not infer an absence of disagreement. Instead, Paul concludes that love should be the ingredient that seasons our differences and guides our actions. It is the type of love that Jesus shared with the woman at the well and the adulterous woman – correction of the course leading to spiritual death, lavished with forgiveness and grace.

May we find a way to disagree in love and choose to “fight the good fight,” not every fight.

May we learn how to bridge what divides us and become “Agents of Grace” to everyone, and especially to those we call brothers and sisters in the faith.  

This article was originally published in Patricia’s column for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Saturday, July 15^th, 2023. Click HERE to find it on the AJC’s website.

Purchase Darling’s book here: Agents of Grace

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