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Home -- Content: Series 7 (Laws) -- Translation: English -- Book: 2 (Gospel) -- Chapter: 10 (Faith 6) -- Text
Previous Chapter -- Next Chapter

The Sharia of Christ in the GOSPEL
E - Commandments of Christ related to Principles of FAITH in the New Covenant

6. LOVE THAT STEMS FROM GOD


Summary


Matthew 22:36-40 -- 36 "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him, " 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
John 3:16-17 -- 16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
John 13:34-35 -- 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another."
John 15:9-13.17 -- 9 "As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. 12 This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one's life for his friends. … 17 These things I command you, that you love one another.
John 16:27 -- For the Father Himself loves you, because you have loved Me, and have believed that I came forth from God.
John 17:26 -- And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them."
Matthew 5:43-48 -- 43 "You have heard that it was said, 'You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.' 44 But I say to you, love your enemies, bless those who curse you, do good to those who hate you, and pray for those who spitefully use you and persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the just and on the unjust. 46 For if you love those who love you, what reward have you? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 And if you greet your brethren only, what do you do more than others? Do not even the tax collectors do so? 48 Therefore you shall be perfect, just as your Father in heaven is perfect.
Luke 6:27-36 -- 27 "But I say to you who hear: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, and pray for those who spitefully use you. 29 To him who strikes you on the one cheek, offer the other also. And from him who takes away your cloak, do not withhold your tunic either. 30 Give to everyone who asks of you. And from him who takes away your goods do not ask them back. 31 And just as you want men to do to you, you also do to them likewise. 32 But if you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you hope to receive back, what credit is that to you? For even sinners lend to sinners to receive as much back. 35 But love your enemies, do good, and lend, hoping for nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High. For He is kind to the unthankful and evil. 36 Therefore be merciful, just as your Father also is merciful.
Matthew 12:7 -- But if you had known what this means, 'I desire mercy and not sacrifice,' you would not have condemned the guiltless.
Matthew 20:25-28 -- 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, "You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave -- 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many."
Luke 23:34 -- Then Jesus said, "Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”

Summary

The apostle John understood the mystery of the love of God, and wrote: “God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.” (1 John 4:16) God does not require of us love as a law or a commandment first, but he himself is love, and has shown his love to us that are disobedient and sinners, when he gave his only beloved Son to save the sinners from his wrath and his just judgment, and to renew us by his grace.

Christ is the embodiment of the love of God, in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. He commanded us, as a summary of his law: “you love one another, as I have loved you.” In this command, he set his love as a measure for ours. The person of Jesus is our law, our example, the basis of our rights, and the source of love, which runs through his Spirit to us. It is only in and through him that we can love as God loves us. He gave us only performable commandments, and provided us with the required right and power to keep them. Therefore, it is not impossible for his followers to continue in his love. Moreover, his Spirit leads and urges us to obey his new commandment.

How great is the gentle, uncomplicated atmosphere, which surrounds a group whose members live the love and joy of Christ! It is easy for a preacher to preach there, for the Holy Spirit had prepared the hearers’ hearts and minds. Yet, the harder task is to love, bless, and serve our enemies. This service needs strength to overcome the ego and the hatred in us. This victory comes to us from the innermost unity of the Holy Spirit, not only once, but continuously as required. The Lord helps us to love those who are hardhearted and difficult around us, as he loves us. This is the examination of our love: Is it from God? Or it merely refers to our internal feeling or emotion? To love our enemies at all times is the mystery of Christianity, for God himself proved this love by sending his Son, also by his death as a substitute for us who are his enemies.

God showed his love to us. Above all things, he loves us, and sacrifices his best to save us from the judgment to come. Does his love affect us, move us, and teach us to persevere in it? Since God is love, his children are to love one another as he does. This is the revolution of Christ: to change both our minds and our purposes. He who loves, edifies, helps, thinks positively, and has a connection with the center of the heavenly power that is the heart of the loving God. The devil insinuates to us that the good deeds, which the spirit of Christ establishes in us, will save us from the wrath of God in the Last Judgment (Matthew 25: 31- 46). What a great deception! The Holy Spirit tells us through the apostle Paul: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24)

We are not saved by our own works, but our good deeds are the fruit of true faith, and any faith without works is dead (James 2:14). The good deeds are a manifest proof of the presence and efficacy of the Holy Spirit in us, as Jesus said: “You will know them by their fruits.” (Matthew 7:16). However, those who intently and continuously refuse the holy atonement and sacrifice of Jesus, as the majority of the Jews and Muslims do, will be condemned according to their own works, and great will be their fall.

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