Paul wrote a letter to the Colossians and said to them, “We always pray for you, and we give thanks to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. For we have HEARD OF YOUR FAITH IN CHRIST JESUS and YOUR LOVE FOR ALL OF GOD’S PEOPLE, which come from your confident hope of what God has reserved for you in heaven. You have had this expectation ever since you FIRST HEARD THE TRUTH of the Gospel.” (Colossians 1:3-5)
Paul taught them what he learned from Jesus when He was asked by a Pharisee, “…an expert in religious law, who tried to TRAP HIM (peirazō: to test one maliciously) with this question: “Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” Jesus replied, “‘You must LOVE (agapaō: the highest form of love, to love unconditionally and sacrificially) THE LORD your God with ALL YOUR HEART, ALL YOUR SOUL, and ALL YOUR MIND.’ This is the FIRST AND GREATEST commandment. A second is EQUALLY IMPORTANT: ‘LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.’ THE ENTIRE LAW and all THE DEMANDS OF THE PROPHETS are based on these TWO COMMANDMENTS.” (Matthew 22:35-40) In other words, all the laws and teachings of the Old Testament are summarized in these TWO GREAT COMMANDMENTS. You can keep the entire law simply by obeying these two great commands. YOU CANNOT PLEASE GOD WITHOUT DOING SO. Because this demonstrates the GREATEST LOVE, – “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)
“Beloved, LET US love one another, for LOVE IS OF GOD; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who DOES NOT LOVE DOES NOT KNOW GOD, FOR GOD IS LOVE. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that GOD HAS SENT HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON into the world, that WE MIGHT LIVE THROUGH HIM. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that HE LOVED US AND SENT HIS SON to be the propitiation (hilasmos: the appeasing of God’s wrath) for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, WE ALSO OUGHT (opheilō: one’s legal duty) TO LOVE (agapaō: the highest form of love, to love unconditionally and sacrificially) ONE ANOTHER.” (1 John 4:7-11)
Your Personal Pastor -Bill Stockham