| A brother in Christ recently told me that the Law of God, and the Sabbath, was irrelevant because of the passages found in Matthew chapter 22. This is what my friend said. QUOTE: What I believe is that ALL the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments: �Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind� and �Love your neighbour as your self�. END OF QUOTE I agree with this as well, but remember that when Christ was asked this question He answered with two quotes from the law of Moses, not from the Law of God. Deuteronomy 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Leviticus 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD. Matthew 22:39 And the second like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Here again Christ quotes the Old Testament Scriptures. But what happened here? Did this man ask Christ what was the most important of the law of Moses or the Law of God? If He was being asked about the law of Moses then He answered correctly, but if He was being asked about the Law of God, Christ misunderstood the question, which I think we will both agree did not happen. Look at the conversation, remember that the start of this was the Pharisees had sent in the Sadducees to try and trick Christ with a question about marriage and how it relates to the resurrection, but He had "put the Sadducees to silence", so...... Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Matthew 22:35 Then one of them, [which was] a lawyer, asked [him a question], tempting him, and saying, Matthew 22:36 Master, which [is] the great commandment in the law? Matthew 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. Matthew 22:38 This is the first and great commandment. Matthew 22:39 And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. I pose the question of: How do you Love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind? God gave His people 4 ways to make sure the relationship with Him is pure and true, they are: 1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 2. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth 3. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain 4. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. God set the foundation firmly in stone, pardon the pun, and though we can play with words to add many things to this list I don't see any holes in what God set down for His people. This is how you love the Lord with all your heart, soul and mind. The next question is: How do you love your neighbor as yourself? Again God laid the foundation firmly in stone (I know I used the pun again) with 6 direct commands on how to do this. 1. Honour thy father and thy mother 2. Thou shalt not murder 3. Thou shalt not commit adultery 4. Thou shalt not steal 5. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour 6. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, wife, manservant, maidservant, ox, ass(donkey), nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour's. Again I do not find any holes here, God covered it as only He can. This is how you love your neighbor as yourself. 6 simple Laws, which Jesus lived as a role model for us. We were never told that Christ had lived so we are free from doing what is right, only that the price of blood has been paid. The statement our Lord made in the next verse: Matthew 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. is absolutely correct. This is why the teachings of Christ was so amazing to those around Him, He could break through all the man made trash heaped up on the people by the "teachers of the law" and show you what was truly meant by His Father. If you follow what every OT Prophet and writer said, you will find a complete relationship with God by following those first 4 rules, and your relationship with your fellow man will be just as complete if you follow the last 6 rules. Jesus knew exactly what He was saying, and meant what He said. Remember that the context and the common word usage of HIS time are the keys to understanding what He said and meant. Jesus never over-ruled, re-wrote or deleted any of what His Father had said or given, and again something we should keep in mind: John 10:30 "I and my Father are one." We were never freed from this obligation to our God, or our Neighbor, because we still serve the same God of Israel, but now we have Christ as our High Priest. We were told: 1 John 2:1 My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous: 1 John 2:2 And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for [the sins of] the whole world. 1 John 2:3 And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments. 1 John 2:4 He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 1 John 2:5 But whoso keepeth his word, in him verily is the love of God perfected: hereby know we that we are in him. 1 John 2:6 He that saith he abideth in him ought himself also so to walk, even as he walked. 1 John 2:7 Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye have heard from the beginning. We are told to walk "even as he (Christ) walked", in harmony with His Father's Law and Love. There are many verses where Christ told us to do the will of His Father, and if we are to please Him (Christ) we must do the will of His Father. |
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