Dear friend,
The apostle John says in 1 John 4:19:
“We love because He first loved us.” (NIV)
It takes God’s love to release our love. The evidence that we know God is that we demonstrate this kind of love. John says in 1 John 4:7-8:
“He who loves knows God. He who does not love, does not know God.” (NKJV)
That’s a very simple separation between the two kinds of persons.
Today we will focus on the relationship between love and the Law. Many people are perplexed or frightened by the thought of the Law. And yet the basic purpose of the Law is very simple. Love is the end of the Law (see Romans 13:10).
Let’s look at Matthew chapter 22, verses 35-40, where Jesus is questioned by an expert in the law of Moses, and how Jesus answered:
“One of them, an expert in the Law, tested Him with this question: 'Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?' Jesus replied: ‘‘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: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.’” (NIV)
The two commandments are, "Love the LORD your God" and "Love your neighbour as yourself." Jesus says, "All the Law and the Prophets [that’s what we would call the Old Testament] hang on these two commandments."
Now I like to take things practically and simply. Let me imagine that I want to hang my jacket on a peg. If I’m going to hang my jacket on the peg, the peg has to be there before I hang the jacket up. So, if the Law and Prophets hang on these two commandments, then these two commandments are primary – the Law and the Prophets are secondary. In other words, the basic issue in the Law is love for God and love for our neighbour.
Often people think there was a tremendous switch in what God wanted between the Old Testament and the New. In the New Testament God wants love, but in the Old Testament it was something different. This is really a complete mistake. God has always wanted love. He wanted love for God and love for the neighbour under the Law. What changed between the Old Testament and the New was not God’s objective, but the means to achieve the objective.
For reflection and prayer
The difference between the Law and the gospel is not in the end but in the means.
