“And this is love, that we walk according to his commandments; this is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning, so that you should walk in it.” 2 John 1:6 ESV
Reflection: why, or why not, do you believe we should keep God’s commandments?
A pastor recently said as part of his sermon that “we are no longer obligated to keep the commandments”. I believe his intention with this statement was good, and what he meant was that our righteousness before God is only by faith in Christ alone, not in anything that we can do. We cannot earn righteousness by our good works, however “righteous”, “religious” or “moral” we live. Paul explained “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.” Romans 3:21-25a ESV.
However, the pastor’s statement, “not obligated to keep the commandments”, unfortunately is used by some as a false freedom to do whatever they want; whatever “feels” right. Which isn’t freedom at all; that is in fact bondage. These choose to define their own morals, whatever they think is right and wrong, sometimes in the name of love. But, that is in love of self, as it is not aligned with what the Bible actually teaches. And in so-called tolerance, some “church” communities embrace what is clearly against the will and word of God. It is so utterly misguided, a misunderstanding of what love of God is.
John explains in the focus verse today what love actually is. It is not doing whatever we feel like, according to our own flesh and sinful desires. We see here that love is to “walk according to his commandments”, meaning to live the commandments. This is exactly what Jesus explained when asked about which was the greatest commandment, “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 22:37-40 ESV. Notice that the second commandment rest on loving God first. To love God means, of course, to do the will of God. Which means we need to know what His will is, right? Both what to do, and what not to do.
The good thing is that He has already given us a lot of help through His word, the Bible, to get to know His will. Needless to say, it takes commitment in time and study, to learn about what His will is for us. This is why Jesus said “all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind”. It is not enough to listen to a sermon once a week, or play worship music on the radio, or hear a podcast here and there. It is not sufficient to build a solid understanding. We have to actually commit ourselves to this new life in Christ, which will be contrary to the world, and in opposition to our flesh. To walk with God daily is a decision, to put Him first and not ourselves. And as things get difficult, to pick up our cross.
This seems like work, right? But that is exactly the trick of the devil, to fool us to think that God’s will is somehow limiting us. Constraining our freedom. But the truth is that God’s will, His commandments for us are only good – even those things that seem restrictive and difficult. They are there for OUR benefit. Loving God by doing His will is the start of figuring out why we are here. The second part is to “love your neighbor as yourself.”, which cannot be understood or done before doing the first.
So how do we align what Paul wrote about “righteousness through faith in Christ alone”, and this need to “keeping the commandments”? Paul ended chapter 3 of his letter to the Romans by writing “Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.” Romans 3:31 ESV. In other words, loving God by keeping His commandments is in a way a demonstration of our faith in Christ. Not to earn favors, but in gratitude to and love of God.