In the May(1997) edition of "THY KINGDOM COME" which a
publication of the Association of the Covenant People(7730
Edmonds St. Burnably, B.C. V3N 1B8, Canada) was this relatively
short article by Will Benedetti, all emphasis is mine.
" ' But when the Pharisees had heard that He had put the
Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together, 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, You shall love the Lord your God with all
your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This
is the FIRST and GREAT commandment' (Mat.22:34-38).
' And one of the scribes came, and having heard them
reasoning together, and perceiving that He had answered them
well, asked Him, Which is the FIRST commandment of all? And Jesus
answered him, The FIRST of all the commandments 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: this is the FIRST
commandment' (Mark 12:28-30).
How many of us, if we weren't already familiar with Jesus'
answer, would have answered the same way? Probably no one would.
Instead, people today do exactly what the Pharisee did, that is,
they try to RATE the law in order of IMPORTANCE. The apostle
James told us that this was wrong in James 2:10-11:
' For whosoever shall KEEP the WHOLE law, and yet offend in
ONE POINT, he is guilty of all. For He that said, Do not commit
adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if you commit no adultery,
yet if you kill, you are become a TRANSGRESSOR of the law.'
People still use Christ's answer to try to RATE the law, by
saying that SOME of the law shows love towards God while the REST
shows love towards neighbour. THIS IS STILL WRONG. Some of the
law shows love towards neighbor and ALL of the law shows love
towards God. By loving your neighbor you also show LOVE TOWARDS
God.
' Whosoever believes that Jesus is the Christ is
born(begotten) of God: and everyone that LOVES Him that begat
LOVES him also that is begotten of Him. By THIS we know that we
love the children of God, when we LOVE God, KEEP His
COMMANDMENTS. For THIS is the LOVE of God, that we KEEP HIS
COMMANDMENTS: and His commandments are NOT grievous ' (1 John
5:1-3).
One of the first things that algebra teaches is what is
known as the commutative property - if a is equal to b, and if b,
is equal to c, then a must also be equal to c. Likewise, if the
GREATEST law is to LOVE God with ALL your heart, soul, mind and
strength (Mark 12:37-38), and the LOVE of God is to KEEP His
COMMANDMENTS (1 John 5:3), then the GREATEST LAW is to KEEP GOD'S
COMMANDMENTS WITH ALL your heart, soul, mind, and strength. By
doing this you SHOW LOVE to God, to Christ, and to your FELLOW
Christian (1 John 5:1-3). "
Ah, now that is simple logical truth of the Word of the
Lord. Put scripture with scripture, and the Bible can be
understood, even by those with a child like mind.
Truly Jesus did say: "I thank you Lord that you have hid
these things from the wise and the prudent, and have revealed
them unto babes."
The plain truth of the Bible does not need a degree in
theology my friends, just be willing to search the scriptures
daily as the noble Bereans did when Paul preached to them (Acts
17), be willing to find all the scriptures on a particular
subject (2 Tim.2:15; 3:15-17), hunger and thirst after
righteousness (Mat.5:6), be willing to DO the will of the Father
(John 7:16,17), and the Spirit of truth(John 16:13) will guide
you into all truth (John 8:31,32; 16:13).
So it is written and so shall it be.
..............
Written May 1997
