WORD OF THE WEEK: CLEAVE

A study of old and/or unique words from the Bible that are worth knowing

“…For this reason a man shall leave father and mother, and cleave to his wife: and the two shall become one flesh. So then, they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together let not man separate.” (Matthew 19:5-6)

Cleave (klēv) verb: from Greek ‘proskooloa’ (Strong’s G4347); to glue, to adhere, join one (self). It comes from two other Greek words, ‘pros’ (Strong’s G4314) meaning by the side of, motion towards, you-ward (moving toward the other) and ‘kollao’ (Strong’s G2853) meaning to glue, to stick, to join (self), keep company.

    This word appears four times in the New Testament when you read from the King James Version. The New King James version has updated the old word 'cleave' with “cling” (Matthew 19:5-6, Mark 10:7-9, Romans 12:9) and the phrase “continue with” (Acts 11:23).

    In both Matthew 19 and Mark 10 Jesus quotes the very first instruction given for marriage from Genesis 2:24. A man is to cleave to his wife – join himself to her, figuratively glue himself to her, adhere to her, be always moving wife-ward, stand beside her, keep company with her. Jesus adds in both accounts, “What God has joined together let not man separate.” That is what cleaving means – a permanent joining together – no paper clips or staples, but permanent bonding glue!

    My Dad (a gospel preacher of 50+ years) often uses the illustration that when you use wood glue to bond two pieces of wood together you will never again break the wood apart where it was joined, you may be able to break it elsewhere along their length but never where it was joined – the bond holds strong and true! That is what marriage is! Circumstances can happen, but the bond holds through it all!

    Now that the meaning of the word ‘cleave’ is established, I would like you to consider the other two occasions in which this word is used: Acts 11:23 and Romans 12:9

    In Acts 11:23 Barnabas encouraged the Christians in Antioch “to cleave to the Lord, with purpose of heart” – determine to glue themselves, adhere themselves, always be moving closer to the Lord!

    Paul gives instruction Romans 12:9 to “Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cleave to what is good.” Be repulsed by evil – do all you can to separate yourself from it, but adhere yourself to goodness and doing good, always be moving closer to what is good, keep company with it and with those who engage in goodness (consider 2 Timothy 2:22)!

    When you married you made this commitment to your husband. When you were baptized you made this commitment to the Lord.

Are you cleaving as you should? Always drawing nearer to these?

You can do it! So can I!!   

   

Study of Romans 12 – Verse 17 (Part 2 of 2)

“Repay no one evil for evil. Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.” (Romans 12:17 NKJV)

    As we noted last week, there are two strong phrases that are suitably placed at opposite ends of this verse: “no one” and “all men”, let’s take time this week to look at the second phrase.

    When God commands us to “Repay no one evil for evil” – there is no exception or loophole; we are not to repay even one person with evil. But God, in His love for us and in His desire for us to grow and develop as His children, gives us a better path to follow that is to be obvious to every single person who observes us and/or interacts with us:

“…Have regard for good things in the sight of all men.”

    Now, here is the other end of the spectrum: “all men”

“all” (Strong’s Greek ‘pas’) means any, all

“men” (Strong’s Greek #444 ‘anthropos’) means man, humankind, person; male or female

“…in the sight of (all men)” (Strong’s Greek #1799 ‘enopios’) means before, in the presence of, in the eyes of, in one’s judgment of observing our words, actions, behaviours

    There is no room around this command either – there is no time outs or days off, there is no vacation time in which you can shrug off God’s armour and be excused from keeping this command – it is part of our lifetime (a.k.a. every day we are blessed with) commitment to honour God and follow His way (1 John 2:3-6).

“Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ…” (Philippians 1:27a NKJV)

    What is it that we are to do in the sight of all people? We are to have regard for good things.

“have regard” (Strong’s Greek #4306 ‘pronoeo’) means to provide for, to take thought of, provide in advance. It encompasses the idea of thoughtful planning. ‘Pronoeo’ comes from two words ‘pro’ meaning before, and ‘noieo’ meaning think.  We are to think (or plan) before we act and speak in order to conduct ourselves properly before God and man (1 Peter 1:15-16). Consider 1 Timothy 4:12-16 and 2 Timothy 2:15. Study and meditation (recalling what we have heard/read) is great way to prepare our hearts and minds to have regard for good things.

“Good things” (Strong’s Greek #2570 ‘kalos’) means what is right, what is good, noble, beautiful, excellent, honourable. Think of all the attributes that we are to keep our mind focused on in Philippians 6:8. It envelops good works, God’s commands (that are for our good always, Deuteronomy 6:24-25), as well as things that are beautiful by reason of purity of heart and life, praiseworthy, and morally good.

    A few examples of good things:

• To give thanks and to sing praises to the LORD (Psalm 92:1-2)
• Sending help to fellow Christians (2 Corinthians 8:21)
• Praying for all who are in authority (1 Timothy 2:1-3)
• Showing piety to widowed parents/grandparents (1 Timothy 5:4)
• Doing good to all, as we have opportunity, especially to those who are of the household of faith (Galatians 6:9-10, see also 2 Corinthians 9:7-8, Ephesians 2:10, Titus 3:1, 8, and 14)  

“But it is good to be zealous in a good thing always, and not only when I am present with you.” (Galatians 4:18 NKJV)

    We are to have regard for (through planning and practice) all the good things God instructs us to do each and every day of our lives, in every situation we are in. This means that we are mindful of God and His way while we are at work, at play, in traffic, in long lines, talking to a customer service rep, answering a telemarketer’s call for the first time and/or the 15^th time, when our computer doesn’t work, when our neighbour is behaving badly, when our kids/grandkids are sassy, when we are in front our screens (phone, TV, or movie), the list can go on and on. Our regard for good should not dissolve as soon as we step out of the church building, or as soon as we leave the company of our brethren – they are depending on us to do our part and stand firm in God’s commands – our souls depend on that as well!

“Therefore to him who knows to do good and does not do it, to him it is sin.” (James 4:7 NKJV)

    In each of the inclusive bookends of Romans 12:17 there are no loopholes; there are no exceptions. We are not to repay even one person with evil. Period. And we are to make sure we know what is good and uphold it (let it be evident in our words and conduct) all of the time and in every situation. Period.

“Let you love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9)

    Determine today, and every day you are blessed with, to be on vigilant guard of your thoughts, words, and actions. Be very careful that you repay no one evil for evil, instead study to truly know what God considers good, plan how you can apply it, and make it your life’s practice every moment of every day.   

You can do it! So can I!!

Study of Romans 12 – Verse 9

“Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.” (Romans 12:9 NKJV)

    Three small sentences. Three direct commands. Let’s understand them better so we can obey them better.

“Let love be without hypocrisy.”

    Love, in this verse, is ‘agape’ – the benevolent, selfless love that seeks the best interests of the other person. Agape love is not based on feelings; it is a choice, a determined commitment to the well-being of others. In the Greco-Roman culture, power and self-interest were valued, so this selfless, sacrificial love was something new and quite different.

    This sacrificial, benevolent love is to be without hypocrisy.

    The phrase without hypocrisy comes from a single word in the Greek language: ‘anupokritos’ (Strong’s Greek #505). The ‘a’ at the beginning of the word means ‘not’ and the remainder of the word (‘nupokritos’) means ‘actor or hypocrite,’ so without hypocrisy means ‘not an actor.’ An actor is someone who wears a mask and deceives; making us believe they are something other than what they truly are.

    Our love is to be without hypocrisy. We are not to say we love and then do the opposite – consider 1 John 3:18 – we are to show our love through sincere, caring deeds.

    Our love for God needs to be sincere. We say we love Him, then we show that we love Him: by holding fast to Him (Deuteronomy 13:4), by always going to Him in prayer (Philippians 4:6-7, 1 Thessalonians 5:17), by listening to His commands (in His word, James 1:21-27), and by doing what He says (John 14:15, 21, 1 John 5:2-3); we will also praise Him (Psalm 92:1-2, 1 Peter 2:9) glorify Him (Matthew 5:16, John 15:5-8).

    Our love for our brethren (and all others) needs to be sincere. When we say we will visit them, pray for them, call/message/text them, we need to do it. We help bear the burden of difficulties (Galatians 6:2) by being there for them. We each do our part (Ephesians 4:16), we prove ourselves to be reliable and trustworthy through our conduct. We see a need and we do what we can to fill it (2 Corinthians 9:7-8). Another way to show love for our brethren (and others) is to commit ourselves to God and do what He says, so that we can be a good example (1 Timothy 4:12-13), a wise counsel (James 3:13-17), and a true help to them (1 John 5:2-3).

    We need to back up our words with sincere, careful conduct. Actions always speak louder than words. Does your conduct back up your words, or are you playing the hypocrite? Are you acting a part for the sake of politeness or habit, then forget what you've said as soon as the moment passes? I know that I’ve been guilty of this very thing, maybe you have been too. Let’s determine to work on this so our love can be sincere.

“Abhor what is evil.”

    Abhor means to detest, to utterly hate, to loath, to be repulsed by. We need to utterly hate what is evil; we are to reject sin and any form of unrighteousness, wholly and completely.

    The evil that we are to detest is anything bad, wicked, or malicious. This includes both actions and intentions that are morally wrong or harmful, anything that goes against God’s commands.

    Again, in the Greco-Roman culture, anyone who created chaos or disorder in society was considered ‘evil,’ but to Christians it was anyone/anything that was in opposition to God’s will and His righteousness.

    We need to be careful that we do not call evil good and good evil (see Isaiah 5:20-21). We need to study God’s word and do what it says so that we can learn to accurately discern both good and evil (Hebrews 5:14).

    Are you willing to utterly hate evil?

“Cling to what is good.”

    Cling means to join, to cleave, to unite, to adhere. It comes from a word that means to glue together.

    When Romans 12:9 states that we are to cling to what is good, God, through the apostle Paul, is commanding us to give ourselves entirely to good, to labour for it, to be joined and fastened firmly together with good.

    Consider the relationship of a husband and wife (Matthew 19:4-6) – they are to be joined together, they cling to one another, they labour for one another and selflessly love one another for their lifetime because they are united before God in marriage. We understand what kind of bond that is in God’s eyes, so when He tells us that we are to cling to what is good, we are not to let go of good (or of doing good); we are to join ourselves to the commitment of doing what is good for the rest of our lives.

    Three small sentences. Three direct commands. How can our love be without hypocrisy? God, in His wisdom, gave us the answer: by abhorring what is evil and clinging to what is good! The more we cling to good the more we will come to abhor evil; the more we cling to good and abhor evil the more sincere our hearts will become! We will grow to love – in deed and in truth – from a sincere heart!  

    Be sincere in your love for God – let your love for Him be without hypocrisy by abhorring what is evil and clinging to what is good! Be sincere in your love for your brethren and all others by abhorring what is evil and clinging to what is good.

Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor what is evil. Cling to what is good.

You can do it! So can I!!