Jesus' Commandment of Love

In the New Covenant, these are what Jesus says about "his" commandments.

John 14:15 states "If ye love me, keep my commandments."

John 14:21 continued "He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him."

In John 15:10 Jesus says "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love."

Which commandments are Jesus talking about, the Ten Commandments given to God through Moses on Mt Sinai (ie the Law)? No. Jesus broke it and summarised in in two Commandments:

In Matthew 22:37-40 "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."

Have you realised the difference between the wording of Jesus' commandments and the way the original 10 Commandments were written? Does it correspond to the way the preacher in your pulpit preaches the "Commandments of God"? The major difference is Love. Love is mentioned in every one of those verses and the core of these two commandments

Therein lies the crux of the matter. Do you love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind? Do you love your neighbour as yourself?

Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and mind

I dare say it is near impossible to realistically love God at all, let alone with all your heart, soul and mind, if all you are being tought is that God is a nit picking God, waiting for you moment of weakness, looking for you to make a mistake, break a commandment or act immoral.

Would you love your parents if they are like that? How about a teacher or police officer who is just waiting for you to screw up and punish you? Many times if thats what you are preached, there isn't much hope is there?

Why? Romans 10:17 states that "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God."

What we believe in, for most Christians unfortunately is brought through by the preaching they receive. If all you learn is that God is waiting for you to make a mistake, some denominations even tell you a single sin can make you lose your salvation, how can you love a God like that? Fear definitely. Love?

If you are raising a child, you cannot force the child to love you, when all you do is nit pick and punish for every minor mistake, without any love or encouragement. You get them to love you by your actions AND your words. Your child has to know without a shadow of a doubt that you love him/her, no matter what s/he does. Unconditional love and security.

1 John 4:10 states "Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins."

This must be the foundation of all doctrines in Christ. This is the foundational understanding we must know, that God loved us first, and after knowing more and learning and hearing more of His love for us, we WILL love him back.

Love your neighbour as yourself

Knowing God loved us first, will give us the foundation and basis for loving others.

It gives us the foundation of loving our wives.

Ephesians 5:25 " Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;"

It gives us the power to forgive, as often it is not within our ability to forgive others who wronged us

Colossians 3:13 states "Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye."

It allows us to accept one another as brothers and sisters in Christ

Romans 15:7 states "Wherefore receive ye one another, as Christ also received us to the glory of God."

It even gives us the ability to be tender hearted and kind to one another, and again the power to forgive one another

Ephesians 4:32 "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you."

Conclusion

Jesus' two commandments are impossible to do on our own power. Even to love God and to love one another, it is Jesus who first loved us, and out of the overflowing of his love, we love God, and our neighbour. This is another example of God's Grace, not our own works.

John wrote in 1 John 5:1-3 "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 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 grievous."

Once we know this and hear this, that knowing God loved us first, making it easy for us to love God in return, and gives us the ability to love our neighbour, then it is not grevious nor difficult to follow these two commandments.

I conclude with Romans 13:8-10

"...but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law."