Recap: We cannot save ourselves. Our salvation comes from believing in Jesus for reconciling us with God and sending the Holy Spirit to dwell in us. The Spirit gives birth to the spirit and when we are born again in Jesus, we are a new creation.
Through Jesus Christ, we are part of God's family through the new covenant. In Jeremiah, we read about this new covenant, wherein God writes His law on our hearts. But, what is this law? Is this a totally new and a different law? Did Jesus abrogate (repeal) some old laws? Or did He add new laws? During the time of Jesus, an expert in the law asked Jesus this question.
Matthew 22: 36-40 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Before we look into Jesus' answer, let's think about why we may ask God this question. I am reminded of my students coming to me before the exam and asking, 'Can you tell us what topics are important?'. The question is usually not raised to know the order of priority of topics within the field, but to know which topics they can leave while studying for the exam. With a smug, I usually reply, 'All that I teach is important!' Jesus gives a similar answer. He hinges the entire law and the prophets on two statements and gives them an order (first and second). In James 2:10 we read, For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. Jesus' reply touches the heart of what the whole law is about.
Yesterday, we read that we can be saved and inherit God's kingdom by being a new person and cannot achieve it by just doing some set of good things. If so, what is this law about? Let us go back to the very beginning. God created man in His image and breathed the breath of life (spirit) in him and commanded him to be fruitful. That was the essence of who we were: The image of God who is love, displaying the fruit of the Spirit that begins with love. Thus truly the law points us to what we were always created to be. Jesus affirmed this by saying that He came so that we may have life and have it to the full.
Jesus didn't exactly repeal the old law to give His own new version of it. Israelites recite a Jewish prayer called the Shema (Hebrew for 'hear') every day. "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength (Deut 6:4,5). Jesus mentions that this was the first and the great commandment. He then follows it with Leviticus 19:18 - Love your neighbor as yourself as the second command that is inseparable from the first.
Each law has three elements that we need to understand. (i) Love, (ii) the extent of the love, (iii) the order. This love that the Bible mentions in both cases is 'agape' (in Greek). A love that is more than just feelings or emotions, not limited to actions, made strong through repeated decisions and the will to desire and work for the good of the other, sacrificial in nature, preferring the interests of the other and rejoicing in their glory.
However, the extent of love is different in both cases. The love for God is to be complete - with all of the heart, soul, mind, and strength - in short with our entire being. A love that seeks to obey - as Jesus said 'If you love me keep my commandments'. However, the love for the neighbor is to be as much as we love ourselves. It doesn't just say - be kind to others (trying to relieve their pain), be patient (enduring with them), be compassionate (sympathizing for them), or gentle. This is not a love that aims for superficial unity, or tolerance among all peoples. It is not a pussy cat, teddy bear version of love. This love is a strong and powerful force that can break the hardest of hearts. As C T Studd would have put it, it is not the love that wants to live within the sound of church or chapel bell, it is the love that wants to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. It is loving each individual to speak the truth, to desire their earthly as well as eternal good, a love that seeks to bring them closer to God. Thus growing closer to each other.
Many people quote the lives of Buddha, Gandhi, and other social reformers and ask, 'Name one good thing that only a disciple of Christ can do, which others cannot?' The answer is quite simple - Only a disciple of Christ can obey the first moral imperative given to us by Jesus - loving the one true God as revealed in His Word. Loving God is the first command given to us. Let us not fall into the trap of equating loving and serving fellow humans to loving God. What is fundamental and principle is our love for God, the outworking of which is the love for our fellow men.
The order is crucial. If we try to give agape love to anyone from our own source of energy, we will quickly drain ourselves and might end up in a bitter or an exhausted state. I liked this quote from Adam Clarke's commentary: The love of our neighbor springs from the love of God as its source; is found in the love of God as its principle, pattern, and end; and the love of God is found in the love of our neighbor, as its effect, representation, and infallible mark. God's love is the source and the principle, the love for neighbor is the effect and infallible mark.
Did you notice? Jesus doesn't say - love everyone as yourselves. He has said - love your neighbor as yourself. So, who is this neighbor? That is the question for tomorrow.
Link to the previous article: How can this be? Link to the next article: Who is my neighbor?
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