Sunday: The Law of Love
Daily Lesson for Sunday 23rd of March 2025
God’s law does not consist of abstract principles; instead, God’s law is an expression of relationship. This can be seen explicitly in the Ten Commandments. The basic principles of the Ten Commandments were in place already in the Garden of Eden, the principles of love that were to govern the relationship between God and people and between people themselves.
The Ten Commandments
When the Ten Commandments proclaimed in Exodus 20:1-26 were afterward written in stone, they were given to Israel in the context of the covenant relationship. The commandments were written down after the Lord already had delivered the people from Egypt, and the commandments were based on God’s love and on His promises to the nation (see Exodus 6:7-8 and Leviticus 26:12). One can see in the two divisions of the Ten Commandments that they are aimed at the flourishing of a human relationship with God and of relationships with one another.
Read Exodus 20:1-17. How do these verses reveal the two principles, those of love for God and of love for others?
The first four commandments deal with people’s relationships with God, and the last six with people’s relationships among themselves. Our relationship both to God and to other people must be regulated by the principles of God’s law.
These two parts of the law correspond directly to what Jesus identified as the two greatest commandments—“ ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart” ’ ” (Matthew 22:37, NKJV; compare with Deuteronomy 6:5) and “ ‘ “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” ’ ” (Matthew 22:39, NKJV; compare with Leviticus 19:18).
The first four commandments are the ways in which we are to love God with all of our being, and the last six are ways we are to love one another as ourselves. Jesus makes it explicit that these two great love commandments are integrally related to the law. “ ‘On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’ ” (Matthew 22:40, NKJV).
The entirety of God’s law, then, is grounded in God’s love. God’s love and law are inseparable. We often hear people say, We don’t need to keep the law, we just need to love God and to love others. Why does that idea not make sense?
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How could we express love to God, or love to others, if we are violating any one of the Ten Commandments? |
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