My Pastor says…Jesus taught only two commandments…love God and people
September 9, 2007In Matthew 22:37-40 Our Lord is asked by a lawyer “which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus says this…”You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and great 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.” Now, this response from Jesus has been understood by many to mean that we are free to ignore much of the Torah, as long as we love God and people. Now, this does tickle the ears a bit. However, let’s take note of a couple of key points many overlook.
First, notice that the response by Jesus does not do away with or change the Law of Moses. In fact, He is actually teaching the Law of Moses! Check out Deut:22:37and Leviticus 19:18 to see if our Messiah is making up a new set of commandments. Also notice, that once again Jesus affirms all of the Law and the Prophets, just as He did in Matthew 5:17. He says “on these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets”. Jesus is telling us very plainly that if we truly love the God of Israel, and His people, we will not want to break His commandments. He tells us this very thing again in John 14:15 “If you love Me, keep My commandments”.
Here is another, perhaps easier way of “unplugging” this same filter… Jesus did tell us to love God and people. The question is …what is the Scriptural definition of love for God and love for His people? Some of you might want to sit down for this one…1John 5:2-3 says “By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome.
very interesting. i’m adding in RSS Reader
Here’s another interpretation for you, given by our pastor years ago. In Christ’s time, religion had become a matter of following a fixed set of rules that regulated almost every chapter of Jewish life. There were not just 12 commandment’s, but over 500 of them, enforced by church elders.
When Jesus was asked the question (by a lawyer) in Matthew 22:37-40, he was being asked to weigh in the excessive legalism that ruled society. His response that there are really only two things we must keep in mind was a challenge to the religious orthodoxy of his time.
As Christianity became “establish,” it moved further away from Christ’s advice that one had to look at the big picture and make decisions within that framework and more toward a rules-bound orthodoxy. The Protestant Reformation can be seen, in part, as a reimposition of the Jesus Way vs. Orthodoxy.
Today, we face the question throughout religious life. Many religious leaders have, to put it in modern vernacular, “control issues.” They want to tell everyone–not just their flock, but all mankind–what to do. The attempt to enforce orthodoxy exists in Christianity, Judaism, and Islam. Some call it fundametalism.
Jesus tells us life is, at once, much more simple, yet not that simple. We do not have to remember 500 rules that circumscribe every aspect of our behavior and therefore tell us exactly what to do at all times. But we do have to remember two big rules, and living under them require us to make choices every day.
Thanks Jim for commenting…
My point in writing this is that Jesus upheld the Law of Moses both in word and deed. As His Disciples…we should do the same. Perhaps you confuse commandments of men with Commandments of God. The Bible teaches from one end to the other faith in Messiah and obedience to God’s Commandments.
Jesus said that all of God’s Commandments hang on these two…the only way you know how to love God is by the instructions He gave us in Torah…the same goes for loving people. John tells us in 1 John that if we say we know God, but don’t keep His Commandments as given thru Moses…we are a liar. (1 John 2:4) Also, Jesus said “if you love Me, keep My Commandments”. His Commandments and the Commandments of His Father are always the same. They are as one right?
I think you would agree that if we say we love God but worship Idols for instance…our words are as nothing. The same goes for the other Commandments.
Let me know what you think…
In Messiah, Tim