The Law of the Lord

Ted Waller wrote this piece which appeared in the September 15, 1971 edition of "The Bible Herald", published by the Bible Herald Corporation in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

As I was a boy growing up, one of the wonderful passages of scripture my Bible class teachers had me memorize was Psalm 19. The middle section of this Psalm rings in memory. "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes." A primary goal for a Christian is to learn this law of the Lord so that his eyes may be enlightened and he may learn the way of wisdom. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps, so man must seek the wisdom that is from above.

In the New Testament, we have the marvels of God's wisdom revealed to us through Jesus Christ. "God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by His Son" (Hebrews 1:1-2). Jesus said, "The words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life" (John 6:63). In John 8:31-32 Jesus said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed; and ye shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free."

A Christian believes wholeheartedly in the word of the Lord. He seeks diligently to know it. When he has learned it he holds fast to it. He is convinced that through the words of Jesus he may find life. Thus he is made to inquire diligently so that he may know the truth of Jesus. He wants to know what Jesus teaches.

In John 13:34-35, John records this truth announced by Jesus. "A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another." It is wonderful to know these words of Jesus and that if we continue in them we will be his disciples indeed. The apostles of Jesus proclaimed this message of the greatness of love to the early church. It was a distinctive mark of His disciples. Paul wrote to the Christians at Rome, "Owe no many anything but to love one another; for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law" (Romans 13:8-10).

He wrote to the Corinthian brethren, "And now abideth faith, hope and love, these three; but the greatest of these is love" (First Corinthians 13:13). He wrote to the Galatians, "For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself" (Galatians 5:14). To the Colossians he said, "Above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection" (Colossians 3:14). The law of the Lord says that love is the greatest commandment (Matthew 22:34-40). How wonderful it is to know the truth by which we can be made free.

The real difficulty is in becoming a person whose words and actions are moved by love. It is not difficult to understand what the Lord wants of us. His word is perfectly clear that if we do not love we do not know God (First John 4:8). But acknowledging this word of Christ as the truth does not instantly make us into loving persons. One may know that this is true while yet being a jealous, malicious, fearful person. Growing up into Christ so that all the body is knit together in love and every member seeks to build up every other member as Paul exhorts the Ephesians in Ephesians 4:14-16 is a long growing process. But we must believe that this is the goal that the law of the Lord sets for us or we will not work toward it. Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:14-20 states the objective beautifully. "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length, and depth and height; and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge."

There is some aversion to the word love among Christian people today because the word is so abused in modern English. Our definition of the word must come from God. "God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son" (John 3:16). "But God commendeth His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 5:8). If God's kind of love is in us it will move us to care what happens to our fellow man and to do something about it. It impels us always to want to save people, not to destroy them. No matter how wicked people are we will love them, not in the sense of liking what they do, but in the sense expressed in Romans 5:8, in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for the ungodly. If we wait until people reform before we love them we are not like God. God loved them and this love helped them reform. If we love as God loves we will never rejoice in the iniquity we find in people (First Corinthians 13:6). It will cause us to bear one anothers burdens. It will cause us to avoid slander. It would cause us to be willing to die for one another (First John 3:16) instead of biting and devouring one another (Galatians 5:15).

When husbands love their wives, when parents love their children, when brethren love one another, when the saint loves the sinner, when men love their enemies, people will be getting ready to spend eternity together in Heaven. Without love they could not stand to be together that long. Love disciplines. Love obeys. Love works harder and serve more than any other quality in man. Jesus is right. Love is the greatest commandment of God.

If we are to be made free, it will be by our coming to the truth of Jesus Christ. It will depend on our respecting his word so much that when He says the greatest commandment is love, we will not try to find ways of avoiding it, but rather we will try to find ways to practice it.