Agapate Allēlous . . . (John 13:34-35) Evaluation of Living Out Agapate among Christians in Anambra State (Published)
This work studies how Christians in Anambra state obeys the injunction “love one another.” Anambra state is majorly a Christian state. Love one another, as I have loved you, is an injunction given by Jesus to his followers (disciples/Christians). The love he means here is sacrificial: selfless love. It is this sacrificial love that will prove to the world that his disciples are authentically his followers. This injunction or commandment to love is part of the farewell discourses of Jesus; this is to show how important it is to his heart. This was the guiding principle of the early Christians, but today the greatest problem is that there are dissensions among Christians. These include political, economic, social and even religious dissensions.The commandment of Jesus seems to have been jettisoned or relegated to the background. This work aims to investigate the genuineness of Christians (disciples) with the injunction of Christ who said: “By this, all men will know that you are my disciples”(v.35) and proffer solutions on how to be genuine Christians. To achieve this, data were collected from primary and secondary sources. To analyze the data so collected the researcher employed the Historical-Critical Method of Exegesis since a biblical text is involved. Through interviews and participant observations, the researcher discovers that there are dissensions among Christians in Anambra state which includes political, social and religious quarrels thereby casting doubts on the authenticity of their Christianity. This implies that the present-day followers of Christ no longer embrace the above divine injunction. The study made the following recommendations among others: Ministers should intensify catechesis to bring their followers back to the basis. Christians are advised to settle their domestic, social, and political disputes among themselves instead of court settlement knowing that they are brothers and sisters in Christ. Significantly, this work will be of immense benefit to all Christians in Anambra State in particular and Christians everywhere in general.
Keywords: Agapate, Allēlous, Christianity, Christians