Faith Bonus - Love is Enough
More wisdom from Ed Elliott
(All scripture quotations are from the BSB unless otherwise noted.)
My next faith article will begin to discuss the new covenant promises of God which are the focus of our faith. The first promise of the new covenant, one that significantly distinguishes it from the old, is that there are no conditions beyond faith to receive all the promises. I am still tweaking that article but hope it will be out soon.
In the meantime, I again receive these daily emails from Ed Elliott that are always a blessing. I wanted to share one from this week, and it does apply to my next faith email. I will quote his comments first and then follow up with a deep dive into some scripture that backs up his claims and explains why it matters. Ed also lists some scripture at the end, I highly recommend reviewing those also. I will take no offense if you read what he wrote and ignore mine of course! But, I believe the deep dive will give you food for thought so I pray you will continue if led.
Without further ado, the Morning Coffee email by Ed Elliott that was sent out on Friday January 12th.
“Is love enough?
I often hear people say, "Love isn't enough." I sometimes wonder what Bible are these people reading? Here are a few reasons I believe love is more than enough.
We are taught that as Believers we should walk in love and speak the truth in love. That abiding in love is abiding in God. That love is greater than faith and hope. That love never fails. We can love God because He first loved us. The fruit of the spirit is love. My security in Christ comes from knowing nothing can separate me from God’s love.
Faith works by love. Love is more than just words but a way of life. That we should establish our heart in love. Loving others is how we love God and is the evidence we know God intimately. Love is how we as believers are perfected or come to maturity in the faith. Love keeps me free from fear. It purifies all my motives as well as shapes my life and identity.
I am taught to love my enemies, neighbors and myself. God shed His love in my heart when I first believed. Knowing God’s love is what leads to us being full of God. And finally, God is love and if love isn't enough, then that means neither is God. But God declared Himself to be more than enough in His word, so it is true, His love for us, is more than enough!
Ephesians 5:2, Ephesians 4:15, 1 John 4:16, 1 Corinthians 13:13, 1 Corinthians 13:8, 1 John 4:19, Galatians 5: 22, Romans 8:38-39, Galatians 5:6, 1 John 3:18, Ephesians 3:17, 1 John 4:7, 1 John 4:18, 1 Timothy 1:5, Luke 6:27, Romans 5:5, Ephesians 3:19, 1 John 4:8, Genesis 17:1”
If you meditate on this truth, and particularly the scripture, that is more than enough. But I exhort you to enjoy my thoughts that flowed from this email as I dig deeper into why love is enough.
Abiding in Love
The topic of abiding opens up a can of worms which I cannot fully get into now. One worm is how folks have turned “abiding in Christ” or “abiding in love” into a work. This is the same Greek word used in scripture as someone “living in a house”, etc. So, under the new covenant gospel, what does it mean when we “live in Christ”? Is this our work? Or is it the work of God through the Spirit of Christ at salvation when we are taken out of ‘Adam’ and placed “in Christ”?
As we will find out in my next article, placing conditions on God's promises based upon our work messes up the new covenant and turns it into something else. If you believe “abiding in Christ” is a work, then your faith is no longer pointing at the work Christ did by causing you to live in Him. A faith mindset recognizes that we already abide in Christ and it is His work. Salvation is abiding in Christ. If you aren't already abiding, then you are not a child of God.
Of course, there are things we do that help us grow that mindset and our faith in what Christ has done. Hopefully reading this article helps with this too! However, we are not helping ourselves abide more. We are simply learning to better trust the abiding that has already happened. But, if we think we must do these things to obey Christ and abide more, then that will actually diminish our faith in the abiding Christ has caused. We need to always trust our being in Christ, even when we have not performed some ritual we think is helping us abide better.
The fact of your life being held in Christ does not depend on you, beyond faith. And it is when you have not had time or failed to perform the so called “spiritual disciplines” that you need this truth the most. We can trust our abiding at all times, especially in times of temptation when we need it immediately. Trusting in your ‘work’ of abiding will fail you when you need it. Thus, we must trust the truth, which is that you already abide in Christ and it was His work, not yours.
The New Covenant “Commands”
The 2nd worm slithering out of the can is the idea of commands or commandments. Because of the old covenant term coined the “Ten Commandments”, or the “ministry of death, written on stone” according to Paul, most people see those words and immediately think of Moses which is the old covenant (2 Corinthians 3).
However, it is foundational to recognize that these Mosaic Law commands are not the new covenant commands. Meaning - it is not the keeping of any of the Book of the Law, the 613 commands including the 10, that makes you or keeps you “right with God”.
You are made right permanently by faith, so the major two commands of the new covenant pertain to faith, and they are still not dependent on our works. And even for the other ancillary new testament wisdom “commands” given to the church, you are no longer following these to “get right and stay right” with God. Obviously, we make choices even as believers, but the reason you don't steal should not be “thou shalt not” and a fear of punishment. The motivation is now “Christ is in me” and “Christ loves me”, and thus “I love others” is empowered by the first two facts.
What are the new covenant commands in scripture?
This foundation is crucial to understand the following passages. If you think of Moses when you read these passages, it will mess you up and your faith will be focused on the wrong things. However, if you recognize and focus on a life based on faith in what Christ has done, not your own works, then the picture will be clear.
John 14:15 - “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
When reading this verse, a Moses focus will think that I must try my best to keep the Mosaic Law in order to prove my love for Christ. However, a Christ or new covenant focus will recognize this as a promise. Christ is not asking us to try our hardest to keep Moses; He is showing that as we grow in knowledge of Him; our abiding in Him; and His love for us; then we will naturally begin to love others in the same way. But, let's continue…
In 1st John, the author seems to continue this same thought.
1 John 5:3-5 - “3-For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, 4-because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. 5-Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
I have kind of given it all away by quoting more of the context. The apostolic authors often write in this kind of reverse circular context manner that can be confusing. But they do it to make a point. In this case, John’s point is not to send us back to Moses so we can prove we love God, it is to show that those who believe in Christ, believers, have faith. This faith in God's new covenant promises enables victory over the world. This victory then empowers them to obey new covenant commands.
But, if you get it backwards, if you mix Moses in, then it messes everything up. If you are striving to keep Moses, even in a limited way, to “prove” you love God, then that motivation is no longer of faith. Thus, the admonition of this passage no longer applies to you. You are now walking according to the flesh, not the Spirit. John (and Christ) will soon clear this up, so let's continue…
Abide In Christ and His Love
John 15:9-12 - “9-As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10-If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11-These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. 12-“This is my commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you.”
In this passage, we are beginning to get a clearer picture. Again, if you think the commands are Moses and abiding is a work, then you will get quite a different message from this passage than what Christ intended. Verse 12 clarifies His intention. This is reiterated by Paul in his Epistles several times: we are able to love others because of Christ's love for us. Because we abide in His love already through faith, we can now keep this command. As we will soon see, the abiding by faith and loving others from this place of abiding are the new covenant commands.
The Greatest Command in the Law
John 13:34 - “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.”
I have kind of done the backwards context myself quite by accident. This verse is the context for Christ’s continued theme in chapter 14 and 15. Note the word “new”. Why would He have to indicate this is a new command? If this is a ‘new’ command, what are the ‘old’ commands it is replacing? The answer comes from a challenge the Pharisees gave to Christ.
Matthew 22:35-40 - “35-One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with a question: 36-“Teacher, which commandment is the greatest in the Law?” 37-Jesus declared, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38-This is the first and greatest commandment. 39-And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40-All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
So, we must set the context of this discussion. The Pharisees were testing Christ about the Mosaic Law or old covenant. This discussion has no connection whatsoever to new covenant believers or the church other than informational. The old covenant is only ‘old’ for the Jews anyway. It was never made with Gentiles. Paul says many times in Romans, Galatians and other places that believers are “dead to the Law” and “not under the Law”. I take him at his word.
The contrast between old and new is extreme.
I don't want to steal too much thunder from my next faith article, but I need to set this context. You need to see the contrast between these commands of the Law and the new command Christ gives. They are not the same. They don't have the same motivation or power. Paul also says “the Law is not of faith”. Thus, faith empowers keeping Christ's new command; while flesh empowers keeping even these ‘greatest’ commands of the Law.
You can see the distinct difference in the “love your neighbor” command. The Law command, empowered by flesh, says to love “as you love yourself”. Now many still corrupt this concept. Notice that even under the Law, the basis for loving others is loving yourself! The idea is that you have to take care of yourself before you can give of yourself to others. This is just logical. Obviously this idea can be abused and create an imbalance where we are overly self-focused; however, this concept is important to understand. Even under the flesh, empowering yourself is the first step to helping others.
Christ’s new covenant command flips everything on its head. Notice, God is love. Christ’s character is demonstrated by love. As believers, Christ indwells us, and has filled our hearts with His love (Romans 5:5). Thus, when He is giving some final instructions to His disciples immediately before His act of love that initiated the new covenant gospel, His point was to emphasis how “new” this command was compared to the similar commands in the Mosaic Law.
The power emphasis within the old covenant commands is “you” and “your”; the power emphasis for the new covenant commands is always Christ.
Christ’s new command is not a repeat of or a way to keep the old commands. It is a new command that completely replaces the old. It is a command based on faith in Christ's power to love, not our own. Notice the emphasis in the two greatest commands of the Mosaic Law. Love God with all YOUR heart, all YOUR soul, all YOUR mind. And I already mentioned how the “love your neighbor” command is also self-focused.
Paul does not pull the concept that the Mosaic Book of the Law is not of faith out of thin air - it is self evident even by the language. Putting yourself under law is putting yourself under flesh power. Putting yourself under grace is putting yourself under faith power. One is dependent on you; one enables dependence on Christ. They are opposing mindsets that govern how we live. Unbelievers must choose which path will save them. Believers must choose which path will empower their walk. In both cases, only the new way of faith will work. The old way will fail every single time.
So, why did Christ bring up these two greatest commands of the law?
I have already covered the context of the discussion, but let's dig a bit deeper. The fact is, Christ knew that the Pharisees who tried to trick Him with this question genuinely thought they were keeping the Mosaic Law, including these two most important commands. They apparently were not self-aware enough to recognize their own deficiencies. They had built rigid structures within their belief system that allowed this delusion. Much of Christ’s interaction with the Pharisees and the Jews in general was focused on tearing down these belief structures that allowed them to ignore the plight of their souls.
The “Good” Samaritan
Many times Christ would use parables to try and penetrate this Pharisee or Jewish thickness of mind. Consider the parable of the “Good Samaritan” in Luke 10. Yet again, the context is a Mosaic Law scholar testing Christ. Perhaps it is even describing the same interaction from Luke's perspective. Or perhaps it is two different scholars with a similar question. This time the scholar admits that those are the two greatest commands. But, he is still trying desperately to keep his rigid belief structure in place that allowed him to think he was keeping it.
When he asked Christ who a neighbor is, then Christ tells him the story of the Samaritan who helps a stranger in a ditch while the priest and Levite - upholders of the law - passed him by.
As with most of Christ’s teaching, there are multiple meanings. However, a major point was that he utterly destroyed the scholar’s belief structure where he thought he was keeping the Law. Those under the Law, like the folks demonstrated in the parable, would avoid the Samaritans due to “contamination”. Frankly, they would even consider the man in the ditch to be an issue. Thus, they would feel content they were keeping the law even while ignoring the man's plight.
Let's set the full context of the good Samaritan parable.
Luke 10:25 - “One day an expert in the law stood up to test Him. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?””
This is a critical point. Salvation was at stake in this conversation. For anyone that thinks this context is for believers or the church, I challenge you to reconcile the gospel message with the fact that Christ told the scholar that by keeping these two commandments he could inherit eternal life. They cannot be reconciled. Christ was not preaching the gospel here. He was destroying their notion that they could ever inherit eternal life by keeping the Law. They must abandon their adherence to the Law to obtain life and come to Him by faith.
OK, What is my Point?
As usual, any study of scriptural concepts ends up touching other concepts that need to be explored, at least gently. Again, this article will continue to feed into my next quite extensive article. But, if we are to have the faith to reflect the love of Christ to others, then we must understand the difference between these old and new commands.
Christ gives the new command because no one ever kept the old - and no one ever could. You cannot love God with all your heart, soul, and mind. You cannot love your neighbor as yourself. You can certainly try, but you will fail, as everyone in history except Christ has done. Especially the Pharisees and anyone else who thinks that keeping the law is a way to please God or have peace with Him.
The only love that will work to both love God and others is God's love. It must be gifted to you first before you can use it yourself. And this is why Christ goes into great detail after giving this new command about how He is the vine that empowers the branches and how believers are connected to the power of the Trinity just as He is. The church is one with Christ who is one with the Father.
Paul and John both emphasize the new commands of the new covenant. They are the foundation of the gospel message.
In 1 John, the new commands of the new covenant are made clearly evident. However, he is only putting together what Christ has already said. Let's review the work of the Father and the new command of Christ.
John 6:28-29, 40 - “28-Then they inquired, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” 29- Jesus replied, “The work of God is this: to believe in the One He has sent.”
40-For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.”
John 13:34 - “A new commandment I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you also must love one another.””
Galatians 5:6b “All that matters is faith, expressed through love.”
In 1 John we will soon see these new commands put together in a clear, straightforward way; yet, Christ certainly spoke these truths Himself. If you want to do the work of God, then you must first believe in Christ. I have written entire articles about this command. It is the basis of faith. Once you have done this, resulting in Christ's love poured into your heart, then the only other command is to love because Christ loves you.
If you realize that loving from any other source is highly inferior, then this will make sense. Again, Paul is clear about what is important. Faith is the foundation. It is what enables us to become a new creation with a heart full of the love of God. The the next step is to express that faith power by reflecting Christ’s love within us. We reflect it back to God and we reflect it to those humans God has placed in our circle of influence. But what we are reflecting was gifted to us in the first place! We cannot live on our own - we are dependent on Christ.
The New Commands are the Foundation of the Church
What the church is supposed to be is a group of people who are growing in their obedience to these commands and reflecting the love of Christ from within back and forth like mirrors reflecting the light. Imagine being in a group like that! However, most church people think they have wicked deceitful hearts that they need to continually work to fix through “spiritual disciplines”. How can they trust Christ’s love and life within if they don't even know it is there?
The second problem is most also don't know the the new covenant commands have changed! Thus, they spend their lives striving in their own power to keep old commands, never realizing their efforts are actually crippling their faith. It is an oxymoron. They want to stop their stealing, lusting, etc, so they can keep the Mosaic Law and please God, yet they have no belief foundation to tap into the power of faith to accomplish this. It is the placing themselves under the very law they want to keep that is preventing them from keeping it!
Once you realize the power of Christ's new commands, and the worthlessness of trying to keep the old, it will change your life (see the book of Hebrews, or read my next article, preferably both). But, let's finish by seeing how John presents these commands in 1 John.
The new covenant commands are not burdensome - they are easy and light - just as Christ promised.
Again, the church has a “commandment” problem. When we see this word in scripture, even in the Epistles, we think “Moses”. We ignore all of the clear scripture saying we are “free from the law”, “dead to the law”, and “not under the law”. If the word translated “commandments” or “command” is used, we still think Moses.
I believe that in the new testament, particularly the Epistles, when this word is used it is these new covenant commands of faith working through love. Unless the context has been set on the “Book of the Law”, this is true. As we will see in 1 John, he doesn't even consider Moses in his language.
New Covenant Law and Commands are the Same Thing
This is the same with the word “law”. We often still think “Moses”. Again read Hebrews. With a new covenant came new laws. Christ is now our priest.
Hebrews 7:11-12 - 11-Now if perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for on this basis the people received the law), why was there still need for another priest to appear—one in the order of Melchizedek and not in the order of Aaron? 12-For when the priesthood is changed, the law must be changed as well.”
In 1 John, same as all the Epistles, the context of Moses is never set. Thus, when he uses the words command or commandments, he does not mean Moses. The thing is that he clearly states what commands he is referencing if we would actually listen. Yet, so many just hear “Moses”.
In 2 Corinthians 3, Paul laments that his people cannot get this concept. Yet, at least the Hebrews had a decent excuse! The church, particularly the Gentile church, should not have the same blindness! Unlike the Jews, they were never given the law in the first place.
2 Corinthians 3:14-16 - “14-But their minds were closed. For to this day the same veil remains at the reading of the old covenant. It has not been lifted, because only in Christ can it be removed. 15-And even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16-But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.”
The church ostensibly has turned to the Lord! However, much of our teaching feels like we act as if the old covenant Moses veil is still there. By adding to the new covenant commands, by mixing in the old, we weaken their impact because it weakens faith. Yet again, I'm stealing the thunder from my next article. Let's continue with some passages from 1 John, keeping in mind that Moses is not on his mind in the least.
The Plain New Covenant Commands
As I have studied this passage, there is a lot to cover, so fair warning I imagine this finish will take awhile. Yet, this is crucial to properly understand. I'm actually going to comment on each verse as I go through rather than list the entire passage. However, please look it up and read it all together. I'm just trying to save space.
1 John 4:18-24 - “18-Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth.
Right away, in verse 18, we see something that can easily be corrupted. Again, John is doing some reverse logic. As we complete the passage, I hope you will see this. But, there are two ways to view this verse.
Flesh based view: we must try really hard to perform loving actions in order to ‘prove’ our salvation. We are not confident in our salvation so we should seek out opportunities to prove ourselves before God and others.
Faith based view: because we are connected to Christ and His love fills our heart, then we will be motivated to act out of this love when God places an opportunity before us. However, it is our confidence in our identity of love that enables this to happen, not seeking out good works as proof of anything.
John had a lot of talkers in the Ephesian church he was writing to. Particularly folks proclaiming an early Gnostic heresy. These people were not believers, but they talked a good game. John’s point was not to guilt-trip true believers into a flesh based attempt to prove their identity. His point is that an identity of love, being in Christ and Christ in you, will result in deeds empowered by faith. This is the natural result, easy and light. As we focus on the new covenant commands of faith and love, this will happen.
Proving your faith by good deeds is the wrong mindset and will lead to a flesh based walk; however, a genuine new creation will naturally have good deeds as they grow in faith because they are filled with the love of Christ.
To reiterate, trying to prove something by your deeds is not a faith based mindset. Christ will motivate these loving choices by faith, yet a guilt or obligation mindset will block faith from working and we will move into flesh mode automatically. You cannot follow the new covenant commands by using an old covenant obligation mentality. But, let's continue…
19-By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before him; 20-for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and he knows everything.
I struggled with these verses for many years. John uses the Greek word “kardia” which is translated heart. In every other epistolic usage of this word it is positive for believers. God's love fills our hearts, we have circumcised hearts that are disconnected from sin, the Spirit indwells our hearts, etc. Only in this passage does it seem that word is used for believers in a negative sense.
When interpreting scripture, also called exegesis, there are methods to use. Now, I believe some have formalized these methods to the point that they lead to error. Thinking they are wise they become fools so to speak. But, there are some common sense logical methods that begin to naturally occur.
One of these is that when you have multiple points of evidence of a certain truth in scripture, then we must judge single points of evidence by the multiple. Once I applied this logic to this passage, while also considering the overall context, it became more clear.
This is quite simple: a believer’s new good heart would not condemn them, so thus John is not referring to a believer’s heart, but an unbeliever’s. Yet, while his audience is mixed, and this line references an unbelieving heart, I believe the overall passage is written to believers to help strengthen their faith. Let me explain.
Again, this is a reverse logic. You will see at the end that the focus of John in this passage is salvation. John's entire purpose in writing his Epistles is to distinguish those who have new hearts full of love from those who don't, and then to reassure those true believers who do. He tells us this plainly:
1 John 5:13 - “I have written these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.”
Notice that the purpose is to “reassure our heart”. This word translated “reassure” has the same root word translated “faith”. Perhaps even the new heart needs reassurance? I'm not going to claim full knowledge of the mysteries of our own existence and creation. I simply know that a believer has a new good heart. No matter how you view it, John’s purpose is to establish and grow faith in our new hearts filled with Christ's love.
Thus, I believe that the condemning heart is an unbelieving heart. As we continue through, John will tie this all together to give believers confidence in their heart as the place to trust because it is filled with Christ’s love. I take issue with the use of the word “whenever” by the BSB in verse 20. That is not in the Greek. There is not a sense of an ongoing condemnation.
This is a situation where an unbelieving heart condemns an unbeliever because of their captivity to sin. This may be through the conscience or the Mosaic Law. And the only remedy for this condemning heart is to believe in Christ and receive a new one. Once this happens, then we must continue to have confidence and grow in faith in this work of Christ within us.
NOTE: some translations use the word ‘conscience’, not heart. Some commentaries suggest that John uses a different word than other passages that indicates the conscience and not the heart. While I disagree, I am fine with this as it maintains the flow of John's point to reassure believers of their identity. What we cannot do is use this one passage to diminish our faith in Christ’s work within. With so many other passages reassuring that we have a new good heart filled with God's love, we can put our faith in this promise and live from our new hearts by faith.
In conclusion, John is saying that when we have naturally occurring loving deeds by faith, not forced by guilt or trying to prove something, then this will assure us that we have new good hearts filled with Christ's love.
However, if you hear this message and your heart (not your mind, your heart) is accusing you that your motivations are constantly false and impure, then you should consider whether you are a new creation or not. The test is have you obeyed the new covenant commands, but we will get there, so let's continue.
21-Beloved, if our heart does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22-and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him.
Here we see the non-condemning heart of a believer. Another exegetical logic rule: many believe the use of the word ‘beloved’ and ‘brothers’ automatically means believers. This is not always the case and is very contextually dependant. I don't think it matters much in this instance; however, it is something to be aware of. John makes it clear that his focus is helping the true believers avoid doubt egged on by the false teachers in the church.
Notice that recognizing our new good loving heart gives us confidence before God. Later John says that we have this confidence because as Christ is, so also are we “in this present world”. The confidence comes, even now on earth, from the fact that we are connected to Christ. Our new nature; new self; and new heart are re-created by Him and filled and connected to Him. We are learning to trust this truth.
Verse 22 can so easily be twisted, but not if you keep the context of living from your good loving heart by faith. When you are living from this good pure heart, will you be asking for a mansion or Ferrari? Of course not.
John's point is not some blanket statement about asking anything from God and He will just provide - it is an identity statement where as we trust the new creation then our desires will align with God's and we will be asking for those things that align with these desires. Paul says those who suggest the gospel is a means of financial gain have a “depraved mind”. Certainly John would not be indicating differently here.
And now we get to the subject word “commandments”. If you think of Moses when you read this passage, you will get all bent out of shape and miss John’s entire point. Even if you think of other new testament ‘commands’ in the same sense as the old, it will mess you up. Don't miss the reverse logic and get this backward. John is not saying that if you strive hard and keep the Mosaic commandments, even the ‘moral’ ones, then God will be pleased and give you everything you ask for.
John is actually saying quite the opposite, but it all revolves around what he means by the word “commandments”. Thankfully John himself fills us in on what he means, so we don't have to guess. We just have to hear the truth and then believe it.
TA DA - the New Covenant Commands
23-And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24-Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.
Where is Moses in these final two verses? He is not there. This is not about Moses anymore, it is about Christ. This is so simple and logical, only a great scholar, teacher, or preacher can mess it up. They can read em’ and weap as far as I am concerned. This should be the nail in the coffin of any idea that we need to look to Moses to find God's commands.
John is clear here with what he means by commandments. The first commandment is believe in Christ - which requires faith in His love for us. The second commandment is to now reflect the love Christ has given you because you obeyed the first commandment. These two new covenant commandments work together to encompass the believer’s entire life and walk. All other ‘commands’ mentioned in the Epistles are a product or fruit of obeying these two commands.
In any proper reading of an Epistle, such as Ephesians, you will see this pattern. Before Paul portrays how the loving character of Christ will work its way out of a believer by faith, he establishes these two new covenant commands. If you try to produce the fruit of deeds without a proper knowledge of and trust in these new covenant commands then you will be doomed to failure.
The foundation for keeping these commands is Christ and Christ alone.
1 John 4:10,19 - “10-And love consists in this: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as the atoning sacrificed for our sins.
19-We love because He first loved us.”
Notice that John here completely dismisses the “greatest command” of the Mosaic Law! Wow! Do you see this? John is defining love for us, and it is not about how well we try to love God with all our heart, soul, and minds. It was never about that. That law was given so we would try and fail to love in our own strength. That law forces us to confront our deficiencies and recognize we need to rely on Christ and not ourselves. Again, we cannot love God, or anyone else, with a God like love until we are gifted that love by God Himself.
John is establishing these new covenant commands that Christ gave. We already covered where Christ indicated the new commands. In neither case is Moses in view. This is simply heavenly laws. When we have faith, Christ gifts us His love. As we continue to grow in faith in this gift of love, as we learn how deep and wide it is, then we are naturally able to reflect it better and better.
A Child of God Loves Christ by Default
Christ gets at this in John 8. I won't get into the entire conversation, but I highly recommend reading the entire chapter, especially starting in verse 30. Christ is trying to get them to understand they are dead in their sins and the truth of the gospel will set them free. But they are absolutely convinced they are free already because they are children of Abraham. Christ destroys this argument and so they move to the argument that God is their father.
John 8:41-44b - “41-You are doing the works of your father.” “We are not illegitimate children,” they declared. “Our only Father is God Himself.” 42-Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I have come here from God. I have not come on My own, but He sent Me. 43-Why do you not understand what I am saying? It is because you are unable to accept My message. 44-You belong to your father, the devil…”
Much of Christ's teaching in the gospels is directed at the Jews due to their absolute conviction that because of their heritage and ability to keep the Mosaic Law, they were good spiritually. Yet Christ knows despite all their efforts to keep the Law, their true father is Satan, not God. They are dead in their sins, disconnected from the life of God. Yet, they are ignorant of this crucial truth and fight Him toe and nail.
But, I want to draw your attention to a phrase Christ says in this dialogue: “If God were your Father, you would love Me…” This is a foundational idea for another statement Christ makes later as I have already covered: “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”
Notice the assurance in this statement - it is a statement of fact. Let's restate it: “When God is your Father, you will love Christ.” One goes with the other. This is John's point in his Epistles and this is Christ's point in His follow-on statement. They are both speaking the same truth. In neither case should we view these statements as obligatory in a Mosaic Law sort of way. These are promises to have faith in, not something that we strive to accomplish.
A child of God does love Christ. Period. This is a fact we can depend on. Our deeds that flow from this faith do serve to grow our faith and further convince us of the promises, but they do not establish or change the facts of our identity in Christ one whit. The deeds come from the identity as natural fruit - they do not insure it or cause it in any way.
Further, I believe there is danger even in trying to measure our deeds to ‘prove’ our faith. We should be seeing a natural faith progression as we grow; certainly this should be shown in actions as our mind is renewed. But an obsession with deeds as we stress about our assurance of salvation will never lead to a place of faith. There is no fear in love. We can rest assured that Christ’s love within will lead to deeds - but if we are more obsessed with having deeds that Christ's love within - then those deeds will not be of faith.
Paul says we have an undying love for Christ.
This truth is what leads Paul to end the letter to the Ephesians in such a confident way.
Ephesians 6:24 - “Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love.”
Paul makes this statement in confidence that it fully applies to those who are the children of God. We are not growing in our ability to love, we possess it as a gift of our salvation. The only thing we are growing in is the knowledge and trust of this amazing full gift of Christ's love within us. However, I fully recognize that this side of heaven we will never fully know and trust it.
This is our growth. Paul's prayer in Ephesians 3:14-22 acknowledges this fact. Yet, He is praying for their growth in the knowledge of Christ's love, with a full commitment that as new creations they possess all of Christ and all of His love. Our only deficiency is knowledge and trust - an ongoing growing faith. However, our feeble attempts to be loving out of some false obligation to prove ourselves is not growing our faith - quite the opposite. It is hindering our growth.
We must embrace the new mindsets, leaving behind the old.
Thus, we must focus on these new covenant commands, and leave behind the old covenant fear based obligation mindset. Focusing on our deeds was the old way and will never bring deeds that actually please God. Yet, focusing on growing our faith through a proper knowledge of Christ and His love will quite naturally bring deeds that do please God. When you obey the new covenant commands of faith in Christ and loving based on His love for you then everything else is just a distraction. All the gospel teaching in scripture is given purely to help us focus more on learning to obey these two commands. Once you do this, you will be growing in grace and knowledge of Christ.
Are you “in Christ”? Then you are keeping God's commandments.
I want to bring our attention back to 1 John 4:24 and then add some more thoughts on the verses in 1 John 5 as John continues his thoughts.
1 John 4:24 - “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the Spirit whom he has given us.”
Do you remember me mentioning John using reverse logic? Well, this is the beginning point of his logic. Don't get this backwards. That will mess you up. Let's remind ourselves of the very basic tenant of the gospel. Are we saved by keeping the Mosaic Law? Anyone who has any kind of basic knowledge of the gospel should be proclaiming loudly “NO”. Maybe you should say it out loud (if you are alone!)
Ok, let's cover another basic tenant of the gospel. If you are not in Christ (God) and if Christ (God) is not in you, are you saved? Again, we should loudly be proclaiming “NO”. I can give you chapter and verse for these truths but this is so basic I will save the space. It should be common knowledge.
Let's continue with a final basic tenant of the gospel. If you don't have the Spirit of Christ, are you saved? I think by now we should even more loudly be proclaiming “NO”. So, let's put this all together and analyze verse 24.
John is saying that someone, any person, who abides in God, God abides in them, and they have the Spirit of God is also one who keeps God's commandments. But further, it is the very keeping of the commandments that enables being in God, God in you, and possessing the Holy Spirit. Further, many other places in scripture proclaim that we cannot gain these things by keeping the Mosaic Law. Nor do we gain them by our works, related to the Mosaic Law specifically or not.
Now, let's ignore the scholars who strive to complicate this. Forgive my sarcasm. What is the logical conclusion about these commandments? Are they Moses? Are they other new testament church guidance like “be thankful”? If not, what are they? Again, this is quite simple in concept. Are we saved by the Mosaic Law or how consistently thankful we are? I hope by now you are easily answering no since this is the gospel message.
What is John getting at? What commands must we obey to both enact the indwelling of God and show we have His love within us? What commands give us the Holy Spirit when we obey them? Well, he explicitly states them in the previous verse and I have covered them almost obnoxiously in this article: believe and love.
Again, I must emphasize that the “love others” command is not the same as the similar Mosaic command. Our ability to love others does not save us. We must not measure ourselves and think in this way - that is not what John is saying. To convert his words using that old covenant mindset will corrupt them.
The new covenant gospel is an entirely new way to think. The point is that now that Christ’s love fills our heart we will obey this command. We don't have to try to love - we will naturally love as we bask in Christ's love. It is in the trying - from an old fleshly obligation way of thinking - that we quench the Spirit and disrupt the love of Christ flowing from within. A mindset of trying will kill faith. Trying and trusting do not mix. It is one of the other.
At some level, a believer cannot help themselves. We can assist or resist the Spirit as He works within us certainly; but ultimately, He will win. Our only choice is how miserable we want to be during this process. Faith is cooperation because we recognize God's gifts are good. And though we are under no obligation from God to use them, it is truly only logical that we we do. They are for our benefit.
John Further Clarifies Love
I already briefly touched on these verses above, but with my final thoughts and based on the context I have just discussed, I want to review them.
1 John 5:3-5 - “3-For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome, 4-because everyone born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that has overcome the world: our faith. 5-Who then overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
Again, as John further clarifies this truth, we see more reverse and then circular logic. Believing in Christ is keeping the commandments - this enables you to be born of God - faith is what overcomes the world - thus believers keep the new covenant commands by faith which enables the love of God to pour out from them - thus keeping God's commandments.
Another thing to point out is that John assumes the new commands is what he means by God's commandments. Unlike Paul, he feels no need to differentiate from Moses. He recognizes that within genuine gospel Christianity, this is the accepted way of faith. God’s commandments for him are only the new covenant commands. He has no confusion with Moses and no expectations his audience will either.
Since Gentiles had no part with the old covenant, this is no surprise. As we saw in 2 Corinthians 3, for Gentiles to put on the veil of the law is ludicrous. Yet, going all the way back to the Galatians, this has been a temptation of the church. One in which we participate all too readily. But, again, I am stealing thunder from my next article.
Love is Enough Conclusion
Wow, what a journey. I intended this to be a quick homage to Ed Elliott and his quick morning coffee but as I dug into scripture and reminded myself of these concepts I felt led to follow the conclusions to where they went. And as always, I left much on the table due to time and space. If you made it this far, I hope and pray it strengthens your resolve to continue in obedience to Christ's new commands: faith in Christ and utilizing the life and love He gives you to love others because He loved you first.
Realize that with Christ within, you will obey the love command to one degree or another. And that is our daily choice: cooperate with the Spirit of Christ by setting our mind on these gospel truth and learning to trust His promises; or quench the Spirit by believing lies and trying to do this ourselves. These lies can lead to debauchery or legalism - but either way, they hinder your growth in grace and knowledge of Christ - they hinder faith.
This is a perfect setup for my next article about how the new covenant has no conditions but faith. Since the unconditional love of God is the basis for the new covenant, this only makes sense. Until next time, enjoy your obedient pursuit of growing in faith and love. The obedience of faith is the only true obedience to God's commands. And remember, Moses is not of faith. Until next time, walk in faith expressed through love.