Jesus explained that everything written in “the Law and the Prophets” falls under the two major headings of love for God and love for our neighbor. He was emphasizing the importance of relationships (Matthew 22:35-40), and was telling us each of God’s commandments define an aspect of the exemplary relationships we should have with each other and with Him.
John, one of Christ’s disciples and closest friends, stated that “God is love” (1 John 4:16), but there are many different ideas about what love means. One person may say, “I love ice cream,” meaning he enjoys it. Another will say, “Oh, I love your outfit,” meaning they admire or desire what you are wearing.
Most Christians acknowledge love, or at least some degree of respect, is essential for personal relationships. They embrace the idea of loving others as themselves, but remain blissfully unaware of how the Bible defines love. For love to be meaningful, it must be accurately defined and understood. That is the purpose of God’s law, especially the Ten Commandments.
When someone asked Jesus, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus responded by quoting from two Old Testament passages, declaring: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:35-40).
Many believe that godly love is only taught in the New Testament, but “all the Law and the Prophets,” the Scriptures we know as the Old Testament, teach us the right way to love and vividly depict the problems and penalties that arise from a lack of love. Love is the centerpiece of all Scripture in both the Old and the New Testaments. Jesus was quoting the Old Testament in giving the instruction to “love your neighbor as yourself” (Leviticus 19:18).
Moses wrote, “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13).
Love summarizes the intent of the Ten Commandments which define the love that is the foundation for all godly relationships. God’s interaction with human beings is motivated by His love for us: “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. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved” (John 3:16-17). God wants us all to live forever—to attain eternal life. If God were to grant us eternal life without teaching us how to love each other, He would be committing us to live forever in misery and chaos.
11 John 1:6 defines love as walking “according to His Commandments,” and the Apostle Paul tells us that “love is the fulfilling of the law” (Romans 13:10, KJV). We can only really know God and have a right relationship with Him if we keep the ten commandments: “The man who says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in him. But if anyone obeys his word, God’s love is truly made complete in him. This is how we know we are in him: whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did” (1 John 2:4-6, NIV).
God’s commandments set the fundamental standard by which He will judge us. Sin, the transgression of God’s law, not only enslaves us (Romans 3:16-17) but makes it impossible for us to receive eternal life ( Matthew 19:17). Only when we repent and cease to transgress God’s law, can we be liberated from sin’s consequences through the atoning sacrifice of Christ, which alone can cleanse us from our sins (Acts 2:38; 1 John 1:7). Instead of being an encumbrance, the commandments of God light the path to godly love and liberty.
