Against Winsomeness as a Primary Virtue

Many of our modern-day pastors make a primary virtue out of winsomeness. Lenski offers a corrective:

"To call brotherly love the articulus stantis aut cadentis ecclesiae [that is, the doctrine on which the Church stands or falls -nihil] is to think that apples can grow where there is no tree. Ἀγάπη is the love of true comprehension and understanding coupled with corresponding purpose. Thus its decline is lack of this understanding with which diminution of the energy of its proper purpose goes hand in hand. As for the understanding and purpose of love, note how Jesus makes it plain: “If a man love me, he will keep my words” - Lenski's commentary on The Revelation of Jesus Christ, 2:4.