Thou Shalt Love!

Thou shalt Love!

Amazing Grace!

John 1:17 “For the LAW was given by MOSES, but GRACE and TRUTH came by JESUS CHRIST!” Romans 10:4 “Christ is the END of the LAW (of Moses)!”

In the beginning, God created Man to freely and willingly choose to love and obey Him as His Own grateful, thankful children. He really preferred that our life of obedience and service to Him be totally by love, grace and faith, and there were very few rules, very few laws, everything was to be done voluntarily out of love.—That was God’s original plan.

But as man became more and more disobedient and wicked, God had to give him more and more stringent laws, rules and regulations. These laws were not made for the righteous, because the good man doesn’t harm or do wrong to his neighbour, the righteous one loves. But they were made for the wrongdoers, the evil people, and the wicked. The laws were given for the people who do not have love, those who do evil, unloving and harmful things. The Bible says of the Laws of Moses that: “The Law was not made for the righteous, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers.”

(1Timothy 1:9) What do you have to do with a wild animal, a ravenous beast that will bite or destroy you?—you have to either put him in a cage, or kill him! Well, wicked, rebellious, ungodly, unsaved, evil Man is worse than a wild animal!—which is why God had to cage him in with strict laws! So because Man didn’t follow love,

If men are not capable of loving voluntarily, we will have to submit them to the law.

grace and faith, God had to crack down with the rules, the cage of the Law for the transgressors! But the rules couldn’t save man, they only showed him where he was wrong.

“For by observing and keeping the Law, no one can be justified or declared righteous in God’s sight; but through the Law we only become conscious of sin.”

(Romans 3:20).

In fact, it is impossible for anyone to be good according to the Laws of Moses!

The Mosaic Law makes every one of us a sinner, because not one of us can keep it!

“There is none righteous, no, not one!

For all have sinned and come short!”

(Romans 3:10, 23)

The Law was only our teacher, our instructor or “schoolmaster”, as the Bible says, to show us that we’re sinners, to make us realise that we need to come to God for mercy and forgiveness, and to show us His absolute perfection and perfect righteousness which is impossible for us to attain!: “The Law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith.” (Ga.3:24) The Bible says that “The Lord loves a cheerful giver.” (2Corinthians 9:7) Like any parent, He far prefers that His children willingly and cheerfully obey Him and do what He asks simply because they love Him and want to please Him and do what’s right. If a child only obeys because he’s forced to obey and has to obey, because it’s the Law, or because of fear of punishment or fear of judgement etc., that’s no proof of the child’s love for his parent.

In fact, God would have preferred to have trusted His people, His children, with more freedom, if they had been more humble and honest and had more love, consideration, unselfishness, thoughtfulness and real

concern for each other, loving everybody and not wanting to hurt anybody and just wanting to help everybody.

“For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty!” (2Corinthians 3:17) Freedom and liberty are God’s ideal, His ultimate, His plan from the very beginning! And it’s almost like He’s been trying to bring His people step-by-step out of bondage towards this goal throughout the Ages. He brought the Jews out of their slavery in Egypt, but then they were in bondage to the harsh and rigid rules of Moses—the law! Then along came Jesus with His love, grace, mercy, forgiveness and truth—our Salvation: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ!” (John 1:17) He came and showed us that salvation and true righteousness was not by works, but by the grace of God alone!—”For by grace are we saved through faith, and that not of ourselves, it is the gift LOVE God with of God!—not by our own works!” (Ephesians 2:8, 9) all your heart… & LOVE thy neighbour as thyself…

An expert in the Mosaic Law, God’s law for His people in Old Testament times, tested Jesus by asking, “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”—to which Jesus answered, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the prophets” (Matthew 22:35–40).

Jesus summarized God’s Love and Law in general terms in the above passage. He expressed it again in His now famous Golden Rule: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you” (Matthew 7:12 NIV), and, “A new command I give you: Love one another” (John 13:34 NIV).

On THESE TWO commandments hang ALL the LAW and the PROPHETS!

Saint Paul echoed Jesus when he said, “All the Law is fulfilled in one word, even in this: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Galatians 5:14).

These biblical passages are the essence of all of God’s laws and should govern everything we think or say or do.

If a person’s actions are motivated by unselfish, sacrificial love—the love of God for our fellow man—and are not intentionally hurtful to others, such actions are in accordance with Scripture and are thus lawful in the eyes of God. “The fruit of the Spirit is love … against such there is no law” (Galatians 5:22–23).

Through the Lord’s salvation and His Commandment of Love, Christians are released from the hundreds of rules under the Mosaic Law in the Old Testament.

The Jews had literally thousands of complicated, ritualistic, restrictive religious laws, but Jesus told them that they now only needed two: love God and love others!—that’s all! He said, “In this is the whole Bible!”

Jesus said that this one simple Law, love, is all the law as well as all the prophets! That takes in the entire Old Testament, “the Law and the Prophets”! Jesus said that’s the whole works, the whole Bible, that’s all the Law you need—love! In other words, if you love God and you love others, what do you need with any other laws? If you really love others, you’re not going to hurt them, you’re not going to be selfish, you’re not going to do anything that will hurt anybody else!—

Love God and others!

In this is fulfilled all the Bible!

Of course, it’s common sense and part of love to practice some aspects of the Mosaic Law. For example, we shouldn’t kill, steal, covet our neighbor’s things, etc. If we love someone we’re not going to do things that would hurt them. We may also refrain from eating unclean foods or engaging in other unhealthy habits that the Mosaic Law warns against.

Not surprisingly, this radical doctrine of the Law of Love caused a raging controversy between Jesus and His followers and the religious leaders of the day, who lived under the Law. This controversy spilled over into the new Christian movement itself. From its very inception, a struggle took place between those who believed that Christ’s sacrifice on the cross was the fulfillment of the Law and released believers from the Old Testament laws, and the legalists, who believed that all the Old Testament laws and customs must still be observed.

As recorded in the book of Acts, the apostle Paul reached out to the Gentiles with the message of salvation in Jesus. Paul was of the firm opinion that the old Mosaic Law had been fulfilled by Christ’s sacrifice on Calvary. He wrote:

The old Law has been fulfilled. We are now

It is finished!

under GRACE!

“Christ is the end of the Law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes” (Romans 10:4 NIV), “We have been released from the Law so that we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the old way of the written code” (Romans 7:6 NIV), and, “Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law” (Galatians 3:13).

While some continue to this day to promote the Old Testament style of Christianity, a prayerful study of the Scriptures illuminates the true intent of God’s New Covenant of Love: “You are not under the Law, but under grace” (Romans 6:14).

In some ways, Jesus’ commandment of Love is a stricter code of ethics than the old Mosaic Laws. The Ten Commandments told people how to act in order to avoid God’s judgments. Under the Law of Jesus, much more is required— love and mercy.

You do not attain salvation by being good, but rather by asking Jesus Christ to forgive you for your sins. When you do, He comes into your life and loves others through you. “Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us” (Titus 3:5). “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast” (Ephesians 2:8–9).

So although we are liberated from the old Law, it’s not a selfish, reckless freedom wherein we are free to disregard our neighbours and act unkindly, selfishly and lawlessly to them! We are now obligated to not only dutifully not harm or hurt others because the Law says so, but we are to go beyond mere duty and be positively good to others because we want to, because we love them!

This godly love is actually a much higher ideal to aspire to. In the Mosaic Law, there was little forgiveness or mercy. It was “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth” (Exodus 21:24; Leviticus 24:20). But Jesus went so far as to say that we should love our enemies, pray for them, and forgive them! (Matthew 5:38–44.)

In fact, Jesus’ Law is so much more difficult to keep that it’s humanly impossible. This kind of love is only possible through the supernatural love of God, which we find in Jesus.

The Old Mosaic Law: “an eye for an eye!”

Jesus’ Law: Can you forgive me?

Yes! I forgive You!

That’s why He says, “Without ME, you can do nothing!” (John 15:5) But He also says that we “can do all things through CHRIST which strengthens us” (Philippians 4:13).—For “His grace is sufficient for us, His strength is made perfect in our weakness!” (2Corinthians 12:9) But once you have received Jesus, then His Spirit in you can help you to do the humanly impossible: love God with all your heart and your neighbour as yourself! “All things” are lawful for His loving, believing children as long as what we’re doing is done in the unselfish, loving and sacrificial love of God and not hurting anyone!

After all, what was the purpose of the old Mosaic Law?—Even behind the old Laws there was the love of God and His desire to keep people from hurting each other and damaging each other either physically or otherwise, even their feelings. So if we’re keeping God’s rule of Love, we’ll do our best to live in His Love, to help people, and to try not to hurt anyone. Love should be the main motivation for every Christian’s every action, with God’s love being manifested in loving deeds to help meet others’ physical and spiritual needs.

“For the love of Christ compels us” (2 Corinthians 5:14).

Through Jesus and His Salvation and the freedom of His Spirit, by the grace of God, we have regained the liberty and the freedom of the Garden of Eden!—And that’s the only way that anyone can possibly regain the original God-given Grace that Adam and Eve enjoyed in the Garden without Man’s laws!—The total freedom of Eden from guilt and bondage to the Law is to find God and to be led of His Spirit and to know the Truth of His Word!

Have you accepted God’s love in Jesus Christ as your own personal saviour? Do you have the Spirit of God’s Love living in your heart? Do you love the Lord and others as much as you do yourself? Do you do unto others as you would have them do unto you?—If so, you are free from the old dead Mosaic Laws! Now all you must do is keep Jesus’ new covenant of Love! But as we pointed out, it is greater and much stricter than even the old Mosaic Law, because now everything you do must be done in His Love!—You must have more mercy and love than the Mosaic Law! (Matthew 9:10-13) But if you do not receive Jesus and His Love in your heart, you are still under the old Law and guilty of all its infractions!—and will be judged by the same! If you have rejected Jesus’ Love, you are guilty of breaking ALL the old Mosaic Laws and will be judged accordingly! They are not passed away for you! (James 2:10; Galatians 3:10; 5:1-4) So why not accept Jesus and live under Love and Grace!—Otherwise you are bound and dead and damned by the law of the Old Covenant! “Choose ye this day whom ye will serve!” (Joshua 24:15)—The old dead law?—Or Jesus’ living love! As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord Jesus Christ and His living Covenant of love!—How about you?

Scriptures on Love vs the old Law: MAT.5:17 Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.

MAT.22:36-40 Master, which is the great commandment in the law? 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. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

JOH.7:19 Did not Moses give you the law, and yet none of you keepeth the law?

ACT.13:39 And by him all that believe are justified from all things, from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses.

ROM.3:20, 21, 28 Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets‌ Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.

ROM.6:14 For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.

ROM.7:2-6 For the woman which hath an husband is bound by the law to her husband so long as he liveth; but if the husband be dead, she is loosed from the law of her husband. So then if, while her husband liveth, she be married to another man, she shall be called an adulteress: but if her husband be dead, she is free from that law; so that she is no adulteress, though she be married to another man. Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that ye should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God. For when we were in the flesh, the motions of sins, which were by the law, did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter.

ROM.8:2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death.

ROM.13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

GAL.2:16, 19 Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the

works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified. For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. GAL.3:11-13 But that no man is justified by the law in the sight of God, it is evident: for, the just shall live by faith. And the law is not of faith: but, the man that doeth them shall live in them. Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: GAL.3:23-26 But before faith came, we were kept under the law, shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed. Wherefore the law was our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith. But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster. For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus.

GAL.5:14, 18 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.

GAL.5:22-23 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.

1TI.1:9 Knowing this, that the law is not made for a righteous man, but for the lawless and disobedient, for the ungodly and for sinners, for unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers…

HEB.7:12, 18, 19 For the priesthood being changed, there is made of necessity a change also of the law.

For there is verily a disannulling of the commandment going before for the weakness and unprofitableness thereof. For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God. HEB.10:1 For the law having a shadow of good things to come, and not the very image of the things, can never with those sacrifices which they offered year by year continually make the comers thereunto perfect.

JAM.1:25 But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.

Excerpts taken from the book, “Treasures” & “Activated Magazine Vol.5, issue 2”.

Compiled and edited by Gaetan

gaetan.goye@gmail.com