On August 27, 2015 By Kuyperian In Scribblings Like

The 2 Great Commandments: 3 Laws We Keep at Once

Love your neighbor as yourself.

This is the 2nd Great Commandment of Jesus’ summary of the law (Matt 22), while it is Paul’s entire summary (Gal 5).

In the first place, Jesus said love God with all your body and being, and secondly, love your neighbor as yourself. The second being like unto the first. Perhaps the second is so like unto the first that Paul did not give a second thought to leaving the first commandment unmentioned when he wrote to the Galatian church.

God is love. The Father is both lover and beloved; the Son is both lover and beloved; the Spirit is both lover and beloved. Bearing His image, we are both lover and beloved—beloved by Him, by our fellow image-bearers, and no less, by ourselves.

We love to be loved. Do we love to love?

We are finite creatures bearing the image of our infinite God, yet in spite of that finitude no temporal qualifications accompany the two great commandments and the necessary corollary to the 2nd: to love ourselves. Every moment, every thought, every word, every deed, every impulse, every glance, every prayer, every purchase, every passing moment is a gift from God that we give back to God and impart to our neighbor without ever ceasing to love ourselves. The second is like unto the first and the third is logically necessary to fulfill the second.

The commandments are gracious: the mind of God written down for men to read. What a gift!

The work of God in Christ is gracious: we’ve been freed in order to fulfill these laws in this flesh. What a gift!

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to 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 great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:36-40 ESV)

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” (Galatians 5:13-14 ESV)