What Are the God`s Laws of Love

“LOVING” JESUS BY “KEEPING” HIS “COMMANDMENTS”: WHAT IT REALLY MEANT IN ITS HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND NOT AS DISTORTED BY FUTURISTS Brian O`Herts November 5, 2019 This is a brief study of John 13:34-35 and 14:15-24 with notations in parentheses. John 13:34–35 NIV 34 “I give you a new commandment: Love one another. As I have loved you [as in giving His life for them], you must love one another [that is, give their lives for one another, as Jesus gave His life for them]. 35 By this [giving their lives for one another, as Jesus did for them] all will know that you are my disciples if you love one another. John 14:15–22 NIV 15 “If ye love me, you [will keep my commandments to protect you from the Greek teros] [commandments from the Greek `entellomai`, which means to command, accuse, or command, provided for their ultimate purpose.* And this included giving their lives for one another.] * Paul uses the same word to describe what he writes as “the commandments of Christ” (see 1 Corinthians 14:37). 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another intercessor to be with you forever. [Jesus asked God to be present with His disciples until the end of the Jewish world. Before His ascension, Jesus proved that His request had been granted: see Matthew 28:20. 17 It is the Spirit of truth that the world [i.e., Israel] cannot receive, because it does not see Him [see figuratively as seeing the invisible] and does not know Him. You know Him because He abides with you [through the Spirit of God], and He will be in you [special “fullness”—powers—of God`s Spirit]. 18 “I don`t want to leave you an orphan. I come to you.

[Jesus returned in the presence of the Spirit of God.] 19 In a short time the world [i.e. Israel] will no longer see me [i.e., in the flesh], but you will see me; [i.e. in spirit. They would “see” as if they saw the invisible, as recognizing the special presence of Jesus through the Spirit of God], because I live [i.e., I have a new covenant-making life], you will also live [also a new covenant creation life]. 20 On this day [that is, the last day of the world of the Jews], you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me and I in you [“recognize” as the body of the fullness—the powers—of the Spirit of God]. 21 Those who keep my commandments [see v. 14] and the guards are those who love me [to love from the Greek agapōn]; and those who love me shall be loved by my Father, and I shall love them, and I will reveal myself to them [by the Spirit of God]. 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how come you want to reveal yourself to us and not to the world [of the Jews]?” 23 Jesus answered him, “Those who love me will keep my word [see v. 15], and my Father will love them, and we will go to them and abide with them [pictorial images of a special interior presence of the Spirit of God]. 24 He who does not love me does not keep my words [see v. 15]; and the word [see v. 15] which you hear is not mine, but comes from the Father who sent me.

Final thoughts: “Keeping” Jesus` “commandments” had nothing to do with the “Ten Commandments” of the Old Testament. The “Ten Commandments” or Decalogue was an ancient covenant contract between God and the nation of Israel at Sinai. Rather, they were Jesus` words and instructions, with which Jesus commissioned his disciples of the new covenant to be their teacher or rabbi of the new covenant. In any case, they did not “keep” a list of offenses, as the “Ten Commandments” were. Today, no one keeps a list of crimes. We have nothing to do with the law with which Israel has been associated. We have nothing to do with today`s law with which we are bound – secular law. We have nothing to do with a law, while we treat each other with kindness, dignity and respect (“love one another”). The law is for criminals and criminals. Offenders are “punishable by law” if they commit crimes prohibited by criminal law. They are then prosecuted (tried and punished) by the criminal justice system in which they live. For them, “the law is knocking on the door”.

It was so in ancient Israel. So, “holding” to Jesus` time meant taking responsibility as a disciple to live according to what He told you to do (for example, to love as He had loved you). What this study in John 14 also produces is that there is only one Spirit of God, whether it is that of the Father, or that of the Son, or that of the disciples (body or individual). The fifth commandment to honor our Father and Mother (Exodus 20:12; Exodus 20:12 Glorify your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the Lord your God gives you. American King James Version×), sets the tone for the last six.