Sunday, December 10, 2023

The Law Hangs Upon

Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, 
tempting him, and saying, 
Master, which is the great commandment in the law
Jesus said unto him, 
Thou shall 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 shall love thy neighbor as thyself. 
On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophetsMatthew 22:35-40

"Christ was here setting forth no new doctrine. 
On the contrary, He was answering the specific question, “Which is the great commandment in the law?” 
His answer is almost an exact quotation from the Old Testament. 
(See  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. Deut. 6:5; ‘Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against anyone among your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord. Lev. 19:18) 
Now then, if these two commandments take the place of the Ten Commandments, why were the Ten Commandments ever given? 
But the very Israelites who listened to the exhortation to love God and their neighbor also listened to the clear-cut command to obey the ten precepts of the Ten Commandments.
No, these two commandments on love do not take the place of any other law. 
Instead, Christ declared that “on these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” 
---How evidently wrong, then, to make these two commandments hang by themselves, and cut off everything else." F.D. Nichol/F7