The Affections of Christ Jesus
by Nijay K. Gupta
When I saw this was going to be published, the title piqued my interest. After all, I thought, learning about the emotional life of Jesus was of great interest to me. Since Warfield’s classic The Emotional Life of our Lord, not much has been published in this space, so far as I knew. And yet, the book’s subtitle, Love at the Heart of Paul’s Theology, confused me. Is this about Jesus or about Paul?
It wasn’t until I got to the last chapter that it all came together. A key expression used by Paul in Philippians 1:8 seeds the title, ‘splanchnois Christou Iésou’ (“the affections of Christ Jesus”). Gupta explains.
Paul's feelings of affection and love were somehow wrapped up in the wider love of God, given to the world in the affections of Christ. Christ’s affections could be viewed as a great storehouse of love and compassion, and when believers participate in the death and life of Christ, they draw from this bottomless treasury of affection. Paul knew his compassion for the Philippians was fueled by the love of Christ that binds all believers together. (p 211)
The book is not at all about the emotional life of Jesus but rather God’s love shown in Christ through the writings of Paul. Had the title better reflected this, then my reading would not have been stuck on a different idea related to the emotions of Jesus. Nevertheless, I suppose the confusion is on me. Nijay Gupta is a well-known and highly published Pauline scholar, so I should have expected he would stay in his lane. Moreover, the Preface and especially the Introduction lay out the book’s scope as focused on Paul’s language and theology of love.
Still, and despite my reservation on the title, I benefitted greatly from The Affections of Christ Jesus and found it an excellent guide to seeing the love of God in Christ Jesus through the eyes of Paul. I will call out just one chapter that was particularly helpful for me.
Chapter 10, “Ephesians and Paul’s Theology of Love” was a real eyeopener. Gupta notes that, “if there is a case to be made for a thematic strand running throughout the whole of Ephesians, it would be Paul's appeal to love (especially forms of agapē)” (pp 183-184). After listing the numerous occurrences of love language throughout the letter, Gupta states, “this is by far the most love-saturated Pauline letter” (p 184). Other terms related to love are equally abundant throughout Ephesians, which Gupta carefully and keenly annotates. What surprised me was how I overlooked this theme of love. Here’s the list of Paul’s emphasis on love in Ephesians (from p 184).
Believers are chosen through God’s love (1:14)
Christ is God’s Beloved (1:6)
God has deep love for sinners (2:4)
The end dwelling Christ helps believers grow through his love (3:17)
The love of Christ feels believers with God's own fullness (3:19)
Believers ought to be patient with one another out of love (4:2)
Believers ought to speak the truth to one another with love (4:15)
The members of the church body promote growth together through love (4:16)
Believers are beloved children of God (5:1)
Believers imitate God by living in a loving way, following the example of Christ’s love and self-giving (5:2)
Christian husbands must love their wives, just as Christ loved the church in his self-giving (5:25, 28, 33)
Tychicus is a beloved ministry partner (6:21)
Paul offers a final blessing of love and peace and exhorts his readers toward an undying love for Christ (6:23)
Gupta provides his own translation of Ephesians along with some brief commentary on each section that is helpfully outlined.
From the opening section, Ephesians 1:1-14, Gupta insists, “Over and over again, Paul makes clear God’s interest and motivation, namely, his love … he gives lavishly, he loves deeply, and be blesses abundantly … God’s plan is to make outsiders and even enemies into beloved family” (p 187).
Ephesians 1:15-23 concludes, “there is no safer and more secure place to be than in that beloved community under Christ’s attentive protection” (p 189).
Ephesians 2:1-10 “Paul paints a bleak picture” of our present and future state until “God loved us with great love” saving us out of sheer grace (v 4, p 190).
Although “love is not in [Ephesians 2:11-22] explicitly,” the “reference to blood would take the reader back to Ephesians 1:7: redemption comes through Christ’s blood according to the riches of his grace” (p 192, emphasis original).
Ephesians 3:1-19, 20 make clear that Paul’s mission was to preach God’s good news of love to the Gentiles and to build a community of love for Christ to dwell.
From Ephesians 4:1-16 we find this community is united in their love for one another manifested by sharing truth with one another in love and using their gifts to promote maturity in love.
Ephesians 4:17-24 continues to unpack the notion of maturity in love by a focus on “cognitive and moral transformation, which leads to new behaviors” (p 196).
While Ephesians 4:25-32 “does not contain love language explicitly at all, and yet that is clearly the subject matter, specifically what the attitudes and actions of love look like within the Christian community,” expressly manifested in forgiveness toward others, just as God in Christ forgives (pp 197-198).
Ephesians 5:1-14 shows that “living a lifestyle of love … is the key indicator of knowing Christ and walking in the Spirit” (p 199).
Being vigilant and not careless, alert and not flippant captures Ephesians 5:15-21 with special attention to ‘deference’ to one another as a quality of love for one another. In fact, putting the needs of others ahead of one’s own needs is the very definition of biblical love (see v 21 where ‘hypotassō, ‘submitting’ is rightly translated as ‘deference’ rather than ‘submission’, p 200).
Ephesians 5:22-33 addresses key pairs in relationships showing that deference is “about allowing family organization, as they received it from culture, to stay in place but to infuse it with the humility and grace [read ‘love’] of Christ.” In fact, “the key command is love (agapaō; 5:25, 28).” (pp 201-202).
As for children, fathers, slaves, and masters, Ephesians 6:1-9 continues the theme of love as evidenced by “respect, gentleness, kindness, deference, authenticity, and genuineness, and each one operating for the good of all and not just for oneself” (p 203).
There are “invisible powers at work, vying for control over destinies” and Paul ends with a list of weapons at our disposal to fight in this war (Ephesians 6:10-20). One weapon stronger than them all is love (Note: Gupta does not say this, nor does Paul list love as a weapon, but it is certainly implied, by my lights. After all, lists are typically not intended to be comprehensive. Moreover, the full expression of God’s love was behind and in Jesus’s plea from the cross, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing,” Luke 24:34. By these words hell and all its evil was conquered once and for all. By these words God’s love was released into the universe in a way that was unprecedented.).
Paul’s closing words in Ephesians 6:21-24 wishes God’s “faithful love” to all as their undying love for Christ continues (pp 204).
To sum, Ephesians is all about God’s love and clearly, “love is the heart of Paul’s gospel, through and through. Ephesians makes this clearer than any other letter” (p 205).
There is so much more that readers will find helpful. As Michael Gorman notes in the Forward, the early chapters that lead up to Pauline language of love are extremely important and helpful, from “Old Testament and other Jewish traditions, Greco-Roman traditions, Jesus traditions, and early Christian traditions,” all are intended to “prepare us for what Paul inherits from these rich and variegated legacies” (pp vii-viii).
Do pick up a copy and read it. But do so with the affections of Christ Jesus!