Love, Love, Love – Interpreting the Law of God (11)

Love, Love, Love

Interpreting the Law of God (11)

The Law teaches us how to love. Period.

And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard it from the beginning, so that you should walk in it. 2 John 6

A fourth principle for interpreting the Law of God will go something like this: If what I understand from the Law is not directing me in how to love God and my neighbor, I’m not quite finished with my interpretation.

Jesus taught us that love for God and neighbor is the fulfillment of all the Law and the Prophets (Matt. 22:34-40). How can we think otherwise? The Law of God is not for indicting wicked sinners. Not merely for indicting them, that is. The Law wants indicted sinners to learn to love God and their neighbors so that they will admit their sinfulness and willingly turn from it to follow the path of love. If we fail to show them that path, by not walking in it ourselves, and instead only brandish the Law as a kind of school marm’s ruler on the bare knuckles of their sins, they’ll never get to the place where God wants them to be.

We must allow the Law to shape our minds and hearts for love. Our study of the Law is not complete until we feel more inclined to seek and serve the Lord and more eager to respect and care for our neighbors, and to seek their well-being in all things.

I’ll say this one more time: The Law is given to guide us the way of love.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.