Charity Shall Cover the Multitude of Sins 1 Peter 4:8

Peter the apostle told the “scattered” Christians “the end of all things is at hand” and they should “therefore” “sober, and watch unto prayer”. In chapter four and verse eight of his letter, Peter told them to have “charity” “above all things” because it “covers a multitude of sins” where we read:

And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves:

for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.

The verse begins, “And above all things have fervent charity among yourselves:” Peter began with the word, “And” which means “also, moreover, now” “above” or “before, in front of and prior to” “all things” which refers to “each, every, any, all, the whole and everyone” “have fervent” or “own, possess and hold stretched out, intentional, earnest and assiduous” “charity” which means “affection, good will, benevolence and brotherly unconditional love” “among” or “into, unto, to, towards and for” “yourselves” which refers to the “scattered” Christians. “Above” everything else, the “scattered” Christians were to “have unconditional love” toward one another.

The verse goes on to say, “ for charity shall cover the multitude of sins.” Peter continued with the word “for” which means “that, because and since” “charity” or “affection, good will, benevolence and brotherly unconditional love” “shall cover” which means “will hide, veil and hinder the knowledge of a thing” “the multitude” or “the great number or whole assemblage” “of sins” which are “to miss the mark, err, be mistaken from the path of uprightness and honor, to do or go wrong”. The reason Peter gave for having “charity” among the Christians was to “hide and veil” a great number of sins that might be among them.

When we meditate upon these words of Peter, we may be quite challenged in this area. Peter's presumption was there would be “sins” among the Christians, and their “unconditional love” would “hide” them. In other words, they would not exploit one another for their sinful failures. Only Jesus Christ through His Holy Spirit can help us accomplish this directive of Peter. May He aid us not only knowing what He means by this “love”, but also being able to fulfill all He desired.

Next time Peter tells the Christians how to use “hospitality”, so read ahead, and we shall join together then.

Until tomorrow…there is more…

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