by Greg Weston<\/p>\n
The word Paul used in this text, which is translated “bears” in the New King James translation, means “to cover” (Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, p. 586). Thayer gives the varied usage of this word as “1. to protect or keep by covering, to preserve… 2. to cover with silence; to keep secret; to hide, conceal… 3. By covering to keep off (something which) threatens, to bear up against, hold out against, and so endure, bear, forbear…” Paul did not intend that we hide the sins of others, in a sense of promoting sin. For he had just noted that love “does not rejoice in iniquity.<\/em>” And, the hiding of sin was not the goal of Paul but the forgiveness of sin. This does not mean we make public every man’s fault, but simply emphasizes that Paul’s purpose here is not to cover one’s faults.<\/p>\n The word is used four times in the New Testament. Twice Paul used it in the first letter to Corinth (I Corinthians 9:12; 13:7), and he used it twice in his first letter to the Thessalonians as well (I Thessalonians 3:1, 5). In the letter to Thessalonica, Paul spoke of a time when he could no longer endure or bear the fact that he had not heard how the saints in Thessalonica were doing. So he sent Timothy to see how these disciples were doing. Paul was frustrated with this burden, the anxiety for the disciples, and took action. He endured it as long as he could. In addition, the reference in the Corinthian letter – apart from this context – is Paul’s discussion of his work of preaching. He said he did not use the right of having the Corinthians support him to preach. He endured all things in order not to hinder the gospel of Christ. He made a choice to bear his own financial burden, apart from the help of the Corinthians, due to the circumstances with the Corinthians. He did receive support at other times, but not from the Corinthians, as he was with them.<\/p>\n The idea of bearing then is to endure the challenges present in each of the passages where Paul uses the word. Love bears all things. Love then will look to others and assist them in enduring the difficulties of life, the challenges of resisting Satan. As a parallel thought, consider John’s encouragement. “By this we know love, because He laid down His life for us. And we also ought to lay down our lives for the brethren<\/em>” (I John 3:16). In our love for one another, we will bear all things individually and will help others endure all things for the goal of their eternal salvation. This application is to be extended to all, for we must love as God loves. This is a refreshing teaching. It is from the Lord, and we see its value to all as it is applied universally. Again, the Lord’s way is the best way!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Greg Weston The word Paul used in this text, which is translated “bears” in the New King James translation, means “to cover” (Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon, p. 586). Thayer gives the varied usage of this word as “1. to protect or keep by covering, to preserve… 2. to cover with silence; to keep secret; to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[65],"class_list":["post-90182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-love"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":50653,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-i-peter-48-defend-homosexuality\/","url_meta":{"origin":90182,"position":0},"title":"Does I Peter 4:8 defend homosexuality?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I found a verse in the Bible that can be used to defend homosexuality: \"And above all things have fervent love for one another, for \"love will cover a multitude of sins\" (I Peter 4:8). In other words, even if it is a sin, the love of these two\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12764,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-covering-in-i-corinthians-11-an-article-of-clothing\/","url_meta":{"origin":90182,"position":1},"title":"Is the covering in I Corinthians 11 an article of clothing?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 20, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Someone related to me that the covering here is not an article of clothing according to the original language. He explained that the veil that Moses used to cover his face was clearly seen as such in the original language, but we don't see it for the covering in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3944,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-does-covering-sin-mean\/","url_meta":{"origin":90182,"position":2},"title":"What does covering sin mean?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 11, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, This may be a silly question, but I just want clarification on the difference between having a multitude of sins covered and hidden. What is the difference between \u201ccharity covering a multitude of sins\u201d (I Peter 4:8) and \u201cconverting a sinner and having a multitude of sins hidden\u201d\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19722,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/no-such-custom-an-exposition-of-i-corinthians-112-16\/","url_meta":{"origin":90182,"position":3},"title":"“No Such Custom”: An Exposition of I Corinthians 11:2-16","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0Bruce Terry Second Edition Christian Messenger Publishers Montezuma Creek, Utah 84534-0220 Published 1983 Foreword Bruce Terry's exegesis of I Corinthians 11:2-16 is the most thorough and the most objective study of the covering that has come to my attention. Every Christian, man and woman, should read it carefully. I have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24296,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/did-god-clothe-adam-and-eve-with-feathers\/","url_meta":{"origin":90182,"position":4},"title":"Did God clothe Adam and Eve with feathers?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi. The Bible does not specify what God used to clothe Adam and Eve with.\u00a0Jewish commentary mentions the idea that the Nachash molted and that God used this to cover their nakedness. Answer: \"Also for Adam and his wife the LORD God made tunics of skin, and clothed them\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8617,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-use-of-unique-words-in-i-corinthians-11-change-the-meaning-of-this-passage\/","url_meta":{"origin":90182,"position":5},"title":"Does the use of unique words in I Corinthians 11 change the meaning of this passage?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 16, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I have been doing a lot of studying on head covering. At first glance, I felt that a secondary head covering was needed, but I wasn't sure when. Only at worship? During every prayer? So I got the lexicon out and started combing through the Greek and Hebrew. I\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=90182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/90182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=90182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=90182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=90182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}