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for that reason Christ placed the
command to love God above man's
need to love others and self.
1
n order
to properly obey the second com–
mand, one must obey the first.
lt
is
God's Word that reveals spiritual un–
derstanding that we cannot di scover
scienti fically.
The Commandments and Love
The apostle John said, ' 'God is love"
(1
John
4:8).
In short. God's only
command toman is to become as He
is- love! God explained H is com–
mand to love further in the ' 'two
great commandments." These simply
show the parties to be involved in
God's one great command to love.
Love God, neighbor. and self. God
did not stop here in explaining His
kind of love. He did not leave it to
man to decide how His command to
love was to be expressed. God gave
the Ten Commandments to us as a
further detailed explanation of cxact–
ly how He expects us to fulfill His
two great corr.mandments.
Many churches teach that "Christ
did away with the commandmcnts,
and therefore we don't have to keep
any law today except the law of
love." This is a rather ridiculous and
contradictory statement when one
comes to realize the integral and vital
relationship between true love and
the commandments. The command–
ments a re necessary in one's life, for
they direct one in the proper expres–
sion of true love. One cannot "keep
thc law of love" unless he keeps the
Ten Commandments! The apostle
J ohn realized this vital relationship
when he said: "This is the love of
God, that we keep his command–
ments: and his commandments are
not grievous" (1 John 5:3). Certainly
they are not grievous, for they show
how God's love is to be expressed to
all parties in the !ove relationship of
God, fellowman, and self.
The apostle Paul also understood
thi s. He said: "Owe no man any
thing, but to love one anothcr: for he
that loveth anot her hath fulfilled the
law (here is where many stop read–
ing. but let's go on, for Paul explains
how one fulfills the law]. For this,
Thou shalt not commit adultery,
Thou shalt not kili, Thou shalt not
steal, Thou sbalt not bear false wit-
20
ness, Thou shalt not covet; and if
there be any other commandment, it
is briefly comprehended in this say–
ing, namely, Thou shalt love thy
neighbour as thyself. Love worketh
no ill to his neighbour: therefore love
is the fulfilling of the law" (Romans
13:8-1 O).
Again Paul said: " ls the law sin [a
bad thing]? God forbid. Nay,
1
had
not known sin, but by the law: for
1
had not known lust, except the law
had said, Thou shalt not covet" (Ro–
mans
7:7).
The Ten Commandments
of God are not bad, for it is by them
unloving actions, or si ns, are ex–
posed.
Love is the fulfilling of the law.
But human love falls short.
lt
re–
quires the love of God, "shed abroad
in our hearts" by the Holy Spirit of
God.
Paul said, "The law is holy, and
the commandment holy, and just,
and good" (Romans
7: 12).
Of course
they are, for they direct one away
from unloving actions to loving ac–
tions toward God, and fellowman,
and ourselves. (For more information
abou t the Decalogue, picase request
our free booklet entitled
The Ten
Commandments.)
Love ls More Than an Action
Although the commandments of God
show us how God's kind of love is to
be expressed in physical actions to
God and others, keeping them does
not mean we have the love of God in
our hearts! Love is more than just an
action! Any action is hollow if the
motivation behind it is not based
upon giving rather than getting.
One could even keep the Ten Com–
mandments of God by doing what
would appear to be loving services to
others, but still not have love. One
could give of bis time, money and
energies but still not be giving love to
others. This is so if the motivating
force behind one's actions is not
based on real outgoing love and con–
cern for others.
l t is possible that a person could be
a wonderful servant to others and
thought of by others as a loving, self–
sacrificing individual, and yet do it
all for the honor, aggrandizement,
and acclaim that his services bring.
Pa ul knew this and stated: "Though 1
bestow all my goods to feed the poor,
and though 1 give my body to be
burned, and have not charity [love],
it profiteth me nothing"
{l
Corin–
thia ns
13:3) .
Paul in effect said that
a person could give of himself to
others and even give away all his pos–
sessions to the poor and sti ll not have
love; that a man could go so far as to
give the ultimate sacrifice, of his own
life, and still not have done it out of
love.
God's Love vs. Human Love
If just keeping the commandments is
not love, what is? Remember the
apostle J ohn said, "God is love"
{1
John
4:8).
Love is God's very nature
and essence. J ohn also shows us that
God is made of a nonphysical sub–
stance: "God is a Spirit .. ." (John
4:24).
So God is love and is made of
spirit. True love is notan action or a
feeling. Love is God- a Spirit Being!
How interesting it is to see that the
Creator of man is what man needs
and that is love!
We have now arrived at our an–
swer to what love is. God is love and
is the only source of true !ove. And it
is from Him that we must obtain the
real love we need.
God's !ove is unconditional. Christ
expressed it this way when He said,
"Love your enemies, bless them that
curse you, do good to them that hate
you, and pray for them which de–
spitefully use you, and persecute
you.... For if ye love them which
!ove you, what reward have ye?"
(Matthew
5:44, 46.)
This is an un–
conditional love. Simply stated; it is:
"r
love you though you may hate
me."
Mere human !ove expresses itself
in a conditional way. I t says: " 1 love
you because you are mine or because
you love me back!" Christ stated the
philosophy of human love when
speaking to His disciples: " If ye were
of the world, the world would love its
own ... " (John l 5: 19). The world of–
fers love, but with a string attached.
It is an " 1-love-you-if-you-are-mine–
or-love-me" type of love.
God's love gives in order to engen–
der more love. Jobn explained the
results of God's love for us: "We love
him [God], because he first loved us"
{1
John 4: 19). And "God commen-
The
PLAIN TRUTH