" I have called this SINCERITY from the words rendered in
the Authorized Version by "rejoiceth in the truth." And, certainly,
were this the real translation, nothing could be more just; for he
who loves will love Truth not less than men. He will rejoice in
the Truth--rejoice not in what he has been taught to believe; not
in this church's doctrine or in that; not in this ism or in that
ism; but "in THE TRUTH." He will accept only what is real; he
will strive to get at facts; he will search for TRUTH with a humble
and unbiased mind, and cherish whatever he finds at any sacrifice.
But the more literal translation of the Revised Version calls for
just such a sacrifice for truth's sake here. For what Paul really
meant is, as we there read, "Rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but
rejoiceth with the truth," a quality which probably no one English
word--and certainly not SINCERITY--adequately defines. It includes,
perhaps more strictly, the self-restraint which refuses to make
capital out of others' faults; the charity which delights not in
exposing the weakness of others, but "covereth all things"; the
sincerity of purpose which endeavors to see things as they are,
and rejoices to find them better than suspicion feared or calumny
denounced.
So much for the analysis of Love.
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