If It’s Law You Want

08.23.14

1 John 4.20-21 20 If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. 21 And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother. – The Apostle John (ESV)

There are laws. There are the laws of man – his regulations, statutes, ordinances, and on and on. There are the laws of nature – gravity, energy, mass, density (I especially relate to density), physics, and on and on. There are the laws of God and a good place to start is with the first Ten. There is a reason laws exist. Some find those reasons beneficial and others don’t. One thing about laws: they are at least tangible in the sense that they’re written, and then written down for all to see – God, in this regard, is no different (e.g. Exodus 20).

One thing about laws is remembering, for whom the laws are. All laws do not apply to all men. Certain laws pertain: if you jump off a building whether here or there or anywhere on earth, you go down. One may use a device of some kind to minimize the fall (or jump), but the direction is always the same: down. (Wow! What a downer. I was always afraid as a kid that gravity would fail and I would float off the earth into space. It never happened.)

The Laws in the Bible are both social and spiritual. There is a legal aspect to them and a spiritual aspect: one tangible, the other not so. Many today want tangible because in their mind it gives them something to shoot for or something, by which, to measure success or failure. If I just don’t covet, then I’m okay. If I just don’t kill (murder), then I’m okay. With God. I think. If I just don’t drink, smoke, use bad language, or chew; or go with girls that do, then I’m okay with God, my church, and my men’s group… I reason.

The more I read the testimony of Scripture, the more I see the fallacy of such reasoning. It isn’t by law that I make points with God. (There are no points to be made.) God loves me regardless of who and how I am; He simply urges me to do the same with my fellow man. And here’s how to think about that: St. John said, “If anyone says, “I love God,” and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” (Brother, in this sense of the word, is two ways of thinking: proximity and relation.) Loving God is good but it is only real if one also loves his “brother” (proximity or relation).

So, the litmus test is this: if it’s law you want then love God and your fellow man. If you want to live by a “law”, then the one to live by is this: God I love You, and I love those among whom You’ve placed me (regardless of race, color, gender, creed, etc.) whether they love me back, or not. Regardless of whether they behead or not; or bow down to other gods or not. It isn’t about law but if I have to have one it’s this: “…And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother.” Brother is not defined…

Father God, the reality of my love for You is the reality of my love for others. You’ve commanded me in this way: Love Me, by loving the ones among whom I’ve placed you. If that’s all there is to law, then I’m in! May I do just that! Amen.