Fulfilling the Royal Law of Christ
Loving thy neighbour as thyself is being Jesus Christ to everyone the Lord puts into our path. God is love, and that love is doing the Commandments, all of them in everything we speak and do. We live to do our heavenly Father’s will and not our own will. We belong to the Lord, being redeemed from among men and thus are in bonds, being servants to all He sends.
Heb 10:9 Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God
Chosen of God, our implanted desire is to be remade into His image, and we impart that desire upon others by obeying all the Commandments in our interactions with all mankind, who in time become the children of God.
Mat 22:37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38 This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
The so-called “golden rule” is the Commandment to do unto others as we desire men to do unto us. Loving our neighbors is likened unto the first great Commandment because the love we desire from others, their obeying the Lord to prosper and nourish us in our trials, is the same love we give them. We edifiy one another and wash each other’s feet as disciples of Christ by loving the Father and the Son. The love spoken of is the love of God, which is the obeying of all His Commandments.
Mat 7:12 Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.
James called the Commandment “to love thy neighbor as thyself,” the royal law, meaning this is the pinnacle, the epitome of what loving God means. We do unto others as we ourselves seek intimacy with the Lord, the Living Commandments, that is Christ, who is the Word of God.
Jas 2:8 If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:
The new Commandment of Christ, which has its own study [CLICK HERE], brings the first two great Commandments together into one.
Joh 13:34 A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another.
The Commandment is new in the sense that it combines the first great Commandment with the one likened unto it that has us loving every man with godly love, which is always obeying the Commandments.
2Jn 1:5 And now I beseech thee, lady, not as though I wrote a new commandment unto thee, but that which we had from the beginning, that we love one another.
2Jn 1:6 And this is love, that we walk after his commandments. This is the commandment, that, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it.
Loving one another does not mean we disobey the Commandments to cut off and separate from those marked by God and by retaining the sin unto death that is known as blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Loving God with all our heart, the first great Commandment, has us obeying all the Commandments. We are warned to be on the lookout for these deceivers in the last days who speak evil against the Living Christ and His Christ.
2Jn 1:7 For many deceivers are entered into the world, who confess not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh. This is a deceiver and an antichrist.
We love one another by serving them the Gospel, the Commandments, which are a cup of water, some living bread of life, that also provides clothing to cover their nakedness, and we are visiting them in their carnal prisons to set them free. When we do these things for the least of them, we are doing it for Jesus Christ and thus are loving the Lord thy God with all our heart, mind, and soul.
Mat 25:34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
Mat 25:35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in:
Mat 25:36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me.
Mat 25:37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink?
Mat 25:38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee?
Mat 25:39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee?
Mat 25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.
Loving your neighbor as thyself is the fulfillment of the law of Christ. We have been set free from the bondage of the carnal law, and we do not abuse our freedom to feed our own lusts but instead use it to serve one another.
Gal 5:13 For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
Gal 5:14 For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
We owe nobody anything except to love them by obeying the Commandments. This is loving our neighbor as ourselves and the fulfillment of the law of liberty.
Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Rom 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.
The Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forevermore. The great Commandment to love thy neighbor was all foretold and shadowed in the Old Testament. We feed the poor; we do not steal by taking away what we are commanded to leave for them. We do not swear falsely by the Lord’s Name, meaning we do not have a false Gospel and we do not swear by obeying the Commandments. Everything we do is done for the glory of God, and the Commandments are never changing. Here are the deeds of loving your neighbor spoken of in the types and shadows of the Old Testament.
Lev 19:9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
Lev 19:10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.
Lev 19:11 Ye shall not steal, neither deal falsely, neither lie one to another.
Lev 19:12 And ye shall not swear by my name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the name of thy God: I am the LORD.
Lev 19:13 Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
Lev 19:14 Thou shalt not curse the deaf, nor put a stumblingblock before the blind, but shalt fear thy God: I am the LORD.
Lev 19:15 Ye shall do no unrighteousness in judgment: thou shalt not respect the person of the poor, nor honour the person of the mighty: but in righteousness shalt thou judge thy neighbour.
Lev 19:16 Thou shalt not go up and down as a talebearer among thy people: neither shalt thou stand against the blood of thy neighbour: I am the LORD.
Lev 19:17 Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him.
Lev 19:18 Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.
As the Lord’s servants, we care about the wealth of others above our own needs. We reap what we sow, and the more we love others, the more the Father pours out the blessings upon us. It is therefore more blessed to give than to receive. These phrases are all saying the same thing. All that we do is done to manifest the glory of God [obedience to the Commandments] in ourselves and all to whom we are sent. As servants, we love as Christ loved us, laying down our lives for the brethren, looking up to the needs of others above our own.
1Co 10:23 All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient: all things are lawful for me, but all things edify not.
1Co 10:24 Let no man seek his own, but every man another’s wealth.
Php 2:4 Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Php 2:5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Joh 10:11 I am the good shepherd: the good shepherd giveth his life for the sheep.
Mar 10:44 And whosoever of you will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all.
The story of the Good Samaritan is a parable that often comes up when the Commandments are discussed. In this story, the example of loving our neighbor as ourselves shows that we love God with all of our hearts. We certainly help our neighbor with physical things, but these are all spiritual words for those given eyes to see. We give the meat and wine of the Gospel, that is, the oil, which heals and gives rest to the weary.
Luk 10:33 But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him,
Luk 10:34 And went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, and set him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.
Luk 10:35 And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spendest more, when I come again, I will repay thee.
Luk 10:36 Which now of these three, thinkest thou, was neighbour unto him that fell among the thieves?
Luk 10:37 And he said, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise.
We are loving our neighbor, which is going and doing likewise as the Lord commands us as His faithful witnesses in this dark world.
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