Matthew 22:37-40 (ESV Strong's)
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.”
Subject: God's Word
The entire "Law" is made up of not just the "Ten Commandments" but also all the teaching of the "Torah" (the first five books of the Bible). The main two books in that collection, that are "law" oriented are the books Deuteronomy and Leviticus. As you read those two books you can get lost in all the laws and regulations that the nation of Israel was supposed to follow. In the above passage, the Pharisees try to trap Jesus to have Him, in front of the crowds, pick ONE law that is greater than the others. The Pharisees had developed a system of over 600 laws. Jesus doesn't fall into their trap and boils the Law down to two "laws," love God and love man as yourself. He doesn't say we should "know" The Lord. He doesn't say we should "serve" The Lord. etc. We should love The Lord! Where does love come from? Galatians 5:22 - it is a fruit of the spirit. What Jesus is saying is that the only way you can summarize the Law and, therefore, keep the law, is to have the Spirit produce love in your life both for God and toward man.
No comments:
Post a Comment