1 Peter 4:8
Love Covers a Multitude of Sins
8 Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.
James 5:19-20
Love Covers a Multitude of Sins
19 My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, 20 remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save him from death and cover over a multitude of sins.
St. Peter and St. James talk about sins and covering them...St. Peter teaches us that love covers a multitude of sins, and St. James teaches us that helping a sinner turning from his sinful ways will also cover a multitude of sins...Both of these Great Saints use the word cover in their letters...Cover means to hide from view...Our love and our helping others shows love...The Saints also use the word sins, as what we are covering and hiding from view...God made us in His image...Therefore when we sin, it is a reflection on the LORD...It also hurts the one that we have sinned against...No doubt these Great Christians knew there was a need to hide from view the sins of our ways, as well as others, if there was a way to do it...After all, we do sin...And they use the word multitude, so they know we will sin many times throughout our lives...
Love looks for the good in others...Helping others do better, is a sign and show of love...St. Peter and St. James do not want us to sin, but they know we will...The covering process wants us to stifle our sins, and to hinder our sins, whenever possible...They do not want our sins to expand, and to grow...They want us to try to stop them and cover them, before they develop in our lives...One sin may and can lead to another...St. James, as well as St. Peter, do not mean for us to look the other way from sins...St. James wants us to help others in their sinning errors, we are not avoiding our sins, but learning from them -then maybe we can better prevent or slow them down...We want and should always try to prevent the growth of sins in our lives, whenever possible...Both Saints do not use the word "all sins", but love and helping others helps a "multitude of sins"...The love we have and the help we give others will not cover "all sins."...
When we are able to help others and love our neighbors in a divine way like Jesus does...Jesus will forgive us of all of our sins...The Holy Spirit gives us this ability to forgive and love others of their sins...Jesus' love is greater than ours...He actually died for all our sins...He actually is the one who by His death, has died and covered not only a multitude of our sins, but has covered all of our sins...