Does Love = doing the Law?

[alwaysreforming]

I have been under the impression that love, in its practical application, "looks like" doing the Law.

A lot of people say, "Well, its better to have love in your heart than to just obey a bunch of commandments!"

But doesn't "walking in love" mean that you are following the principles of the Law? In other words, how do you "love your neighbor as yourself?" Isn't it by not coveting his possessions, by not committing adultery, by catching his ox that has gotten loose, etc?

I have to teach a class and my premise is: "What does love look like? It looks like obeying the Law."

Is my premise faulty? I wanted to get a proper handle on this before I started off on the wrong track.

Any input?

 

[Roldan]

Originally posted by alwaysreforming
I have been under the impression that love, in its practical application, "looks like" doing the Law.

A lot of people say, "Well, its better to have love in your heart than to just obey a bunch of commandments!"

But doesn't "walking in love" mean that you are following the principles of the Law? In other words, how do you "love your neighbor as yourself?" Isn't it by not coveting his possessions, by not committing adultery, by catching his ox that has gotten loose, etc?

I have to teach a class and my premise is: "What does love look like? It looks like obeying the Law."

Is my premise faulty? I wanted to get a proper handle on this before I started off on the wrong track.

Any input?

Just be careful that you don't sound like an Auburn Ave teacher in your terminologies.

 

[alwaysreforming]

My point in the question is:
When we get to heaven, and are perfected, won't the way we act then be in accordance to the Law?

Isn't the Law a picture of what a perfect person looks like, a person without sin?

Or am I off base here?

 

[VirginiaHuguenot]

Augustine said: "Love God and do as thou wilt."

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 thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he: And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices. Mark 12.28-33

Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and 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

 

[RamistThomist]

Originally posted by alwaysreforming
I have been under the impression that love, in its practical application, "looks like" doing the Law.

A lot of people say, "Well, its better to have love in your heart than to just obey a bunch of commandments!"

But doesn't "walking in love" mean that you are following the principles of the Law? In other words, how do you "love your neighbor as yourself?" Isn't it by not coveting his possessions, by not committing adultery, by catching his ox that has gotten loose, etc?

I have to teach a class and my premise is: "What does love look like? It looks like obeying the Law."

Is my premise faulty? I wanted to get a proper handle on this before I started off on the wrong track.

Any input?

I think you are on the right track. When anyone says that "we are to obey the spirit of the law (which properly qualified Idon't disagree with)," or "not written codes, but the spirit's influence," I just ask for examples on what they mean. Anybody can throw out cliches, gitting nitty gritty is tough.

You asked the right question and started to give the right answer.

 

[JohnV]

I believe in that love is equal to obedience. They cannot be in any way dichotomous, and cannot be opposed to each other in any way.

However, obediece often looks like obedience, but isn't always. And love often looks like love, but isn't always. Do you want to know what love is? Then look into the law. Do you want to know what the requirement of the law is? Then let love define it for you. Just don't be fooled by the terms, because modern usage has watered down the meanings into a dynamic equivelance to tolerance of anything that opposes a sure and certain faith.

But it isn't circular, as this might suggest to us. It isn't: What is love? It is the law; What is the law? It is love; Well, then, what is love? It is the the law; etc. It does have a mutual aim, and that is the glory of God. Perfect love must be perfectly lawful too; and perfect lawfulness must be perfectly loving too. But both are to the glory of God.

For example, it is not the intent of the law that oxen can gorge themselves while they are treading out grain. In our day, with mixed grains with nutritional additives, they would eat themselves to death, literally. There is an obvious intent in that law that you cannot starve an ox while he is working on the very feed he would need to do the work that he is doing. That is why the general equity of that law applies to people as well. But you cannot punish a farmer for muzzling his oxen in the mill, if he suddenly has to go to town on some unforeseen errand, not if they are well cared for otherwise. That's not the intent of the law. The letter says he has broken it by muzzling his oxen in the mill, if some enemies want to get nitpicky; but the intent of the law, the welfare and upkeep of his oxen, he has kept whole and undefiled. It's not a perfect example, but it gives the idea. It is love that fulfilled the law.

I don't think you can separate love and obedience if the Bible says that love is the final obedience of the law. Love isn't always forgiving, and obedience isn't always keeping the letter of the law.

[Edited on 8-31-2005 by JohnV]

 

[crhoades]

Christian Love and God´s Law

The same can be said for the basic Christian ethic of love. Because God has shown His love toward us, we are now to live in love to Him and our neighbor (Eph. 5:1-2; 1 John 4:7-12, 16-21). On these two love commandments "” toward God and toward our neighbor (as taught in the Old Testament [Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18]) "“ hang all the law and the prophets, said Jesus (Matt. 22:37-40). Indeed, "˜love is the fulfillment of the law" (Rom. 13:10). But in the thinking of Jesus and the apostles, does this mean that Christians can dispense with the law of God or repudiate its details? Not at all. Moses had taught that loving God meant keeping His commandments (Deut. 30:16), and as usual Jesus did not depart from Moses: "œIf you love me, you will keep my commandments" (John 14:15). The love which summarizes and epitomizes Christian ethics is not a vague generality or feeling that tolerates, for instance, everything from adultery to chastity. John wrote: "˜Hereby we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and do His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments" (1 John 5:2-3). Love summarizes the law of God, but it does not abrogate or replace it. As John Murray once wrote, "œthe summary does not obliterate or abrogate the expansion of which it is a summary." 1 God´s commandments give the specific character and direction to love as exercised by the believer. Rather than being a law unto itself (autonomous), love is a reflection of the character of God (1 John 4:8) and must therefore coincide with the dictates of God´s law, for they are the transcript of God´s moral perfection on a creaturely level. God has loved us in that He saved us by grace through faith. Accordingly the Christian life ought to reflect the principles of gtace, faith, and love; without them it is vain and insignificant. However, far from eliminating the law of God, a gracious ethic of faith and love establishes the permanent validity of "” and our need for "” the Lord´s commandments.

Greg Bahnsen - By This Standard 76-77