By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and observe His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and His commandments are not burdensome. (1Jo 5:1-3 NAU)
For this is the Love of God That We Keep His Commandments. 1John 5:2
When the church leaders tried to stump Jesus (Yeshua) by asking him which is the greatest of the commands, his response was to quote scripture. His answer was: The foremost is, ‘HEAR, O ISRAEL! THE LORD OUR GOD IS ONE LORD; AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH.’ “The second is this, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” (Mar 12:29-31 NAU)
Jesus quotes from Deuteronomy 6:4 saying: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. Then he quotes from Leviticus 19:18 ‘You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the LORD.
As a side note, it is very important to remember that during the Bible times, there was no Matthew, Mark, Luke or John. No Epistles, letters or other writings known today as the New Testament. There was only the Torah or Law (Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy), the prophets, Psalms and the other history books known today as the Old Testament. So any reference to “scripture” in the New Testament must be found somewhere in the Old Testament.
Yeshua (Jesus) satisfies the church leaders to such a degree that they decided not to test him any further. This now leaves us with a clear path to follow the command of Jesus (Yeshua) once we get an understanding of those two scripture verses. So the only questions that we need answers to in order to obey Jesus is:
- How do you love God?
- How do you love your neighbor?
To answer this, take a look at what the disciple whom Jesus loved John shows us, that this is the love of God that Jesus (Yeshua) was talking about, to keep His commandments. But John didn’t stop there, he wrote a step further to cover both of the commands that Yeshua (Jesus) spoke of in loving your neighbor as yourself.
- So how do we love our neighbor? By loving God.
- How do we love God? By keeping His commandments.
- But the church leaders teach us this impossible to do? They are not burdensome.
One thing that does stand out; either there is a major conflict with the Bible in its teachings or an error in the doctrines of men. How can both Jesus (Yeshua) and John, the disciple whom He loved both say to keep the Father’s commands and yet at the same time today’s church leaders teach those commands have been done away with, fulfilled or even nailed to the cross. This just doesn’t pass the common sense test.
What is your opinion? Are the commands still relevant today? Was John wrong in his writing? If the commands are irrelevant, then what about the Old Testament tithe? Please chime in with your comments.
