In other words, the premise of loving both God and man is the basis for the entire moral Law. 28:1-12). Love is more than religious practices and humanitarian services. I. "There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit" (Rom. It is the basis of life and the doorway to the further blessings of the land. They Do Not Keep Commands We Have Sinned Written In The Law. If you give me directions to get to your house, I am probably not going to get there if I only follow half of them. The crucial text here is Romans 13:8–10. 20:1). It is not enough to have a cursory and intellectual awareness of His Law; it must drop the foot or so from our intellect to our heart. "The truth that for our life one law is valid -- the law of love, which brings the highest happiness to every individual as well as to all mankind." God will love you. 7:13). The heart is the place where we discern, ponder, and ultimately decide. The great principles of God's law are embodied in the Ten Commandments and exemplified in the life of Christ. Psalm 24:1 (KJV) The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. Concerning Your testimonies, I have known of old that You have founded them forever" (Ps. 4:20) by bringing them to a country where "they might observe His statutes and keep His laws" (Ps. 3:31). It shows clearly that Paul did not believe that God ever intended the law to be obeyed by "works." The Musts Of Christianity: We MUST Love. The farmers did not practice crop rotation. ( Log Out /  You shall have no other gods before me" (Exodus 20:2, 3), God meant: "Remember how I demonstrated my love for you and my incomparable power on your behalf! Some Christians make the mistake of pitting love against law, as if the two were mutually exclusive. The exodus was a sign for Israel, just like the death and resurrection of Jesus are a sign for the church. Here are a few other things to consider: 1. Change ), You are commenting using your Twitter account. To whom God gives His Law, He gives His love, as a husband gives his love to his wife. This obedience is possible only through the power the indwelling Holy Spirit provides. 456, 894; vol. 13:8). 5:22, 23). See this good discussion by Emily Goodhand, aka @copyrightgirl, comparing the U.S. and UK … So Christians do not keep the law to obtain salvation—those who try to do so will only find a deeper enslavement to sin. —Ezekiel 11:19,21, The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. We should not be viewing the world from the Left, Center or Right. I come from North Carolina, which is tobacco country. For example, the sixth commandment, "You shall not kill," has as its positive side "You shall promote life." The Law of God hangs upon the two greatest commandments, ie, to love God with all our heart, soul, and mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Matthew 22:36-40). If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love. 19:18; Matt. God loved Abraham, and Abraham loved God. Faith is a trust in another because of LOVE. 3, pp. . St. Paul adds, [God who] began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus (Phil 1:6). III. 19:5, 6; cf. 13:3; for more on these prophecies see chapter 12 of this book). I don't feel threatened anymore. God's law is the instrument the Holy Spirit uses to bring us to conversion: "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul" (Ps. What of the visiting child, the toddler that doesn’t understand the dangers of the fall? . 2:8). 26:34), which contained the "two tablets of the Testimony" (Ex. Deuteronomy 22:8 (KJV) When thou buildest a new house, then thou shalt make a battlement for thy roof, that thou bring not blood upon thine house, if any man fall from thence. Copyright © 1998-2021 Robert Flores. [back] [top], 21 Cf. The Love of the Law and the Law of Love – A Homily for the 22nd Sunday of the Year This Sunday’s readings teach a proper understanding of God’s Law and its relationship to our hearts. We must look to Christ, "and as Christ is revealed to. God loves His creation so much that He told His Israel: Exodus 23:10-11 (KJV)  And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof:  [11]  But the seventh year thou shalt let it rest and lie still; that the poor of thy people may eat: and what they leave the beasts of the field shall eat. Paul said in Romans 13:10 that love fulfills (or establishes) the Law. A Unique Law. [24]  Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 40:8; cf. The law is based on faith in God's promises, not on legalistic strivings. It is evil to say as Cain said when questioned of God: That is the question of the murderer, the selfish and unsaved man. 34:28)—consists of two parts, indicated by the two tablets of stone upon which God wrote it (Deut. But God's saving grace, which does not nullify the law, brings the power that liberates from sin, for "where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty" (2 Cor. We’re on a mission to change that. 119:165; Isa. —Micah 6:8, If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them. IV. The Law of Love. We can therefore conclude that to hate is to fail to obey those same commandments. Calling believers to holy living, he challenged them to present themselves "as instruments of righteousness to God. Christ strongly emphasized that the grand object of God's law must always be kept in mind: to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind, and your neighbor as yourself (Matt. 2. "No deeds of the law, no effort however commendable, and no good works—whether they be many or few, sacrificial or not—can in any way justify the sinner (Titus 3:5; Rom. Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Savior and Lord Jesus loves me. No, I argue. [21]  Is the law then against the promises of God? 24:9-31:18). 3:19), "so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful" (Rom. The message of the gospel is that Christ is the end of the law as a way of righteousness to everyone who has faith" (The SDA Bible Commentary, rev. James 2:12). 119:151, 152). If you love God then you don’t have to be told “if your brother has an ox or sheep go astray and you know where it went, take it to them”. Indeed, the Law is letting love have its way. Rather, grace supplies the power that makes obedience and victory over sin possible. (Think how vivid the concentration camp would still be three months after the allied liberation!) The law under attack. Thus the moral law demonstrates that all the world is guilty before God (Rom. God tells us that if you find a nest with a mother sitting with her young you can take the eggs or the young, but are not to take the mother with the young. "Remember," He said, "that as long as heaven and earth last, not the least point nor the smallest detail of the Law will be done away with" (Matt. Thus it is the Decalogue that dominates the covenant. Like God, "the law of the Lord is perfect" and "the testimony of the Lord is pure" (Ps.