Quote:
Originally Posted by Humble Bricklayer
The significance is that though the Law of Moses reportedly contains up to 613 separate laws -of which the injunctions to 'love God with all your heart' and to 'love thy neighbor' are an integral part- in reality, it is ONE law (and here I'm not referring to the great commandment upon which all the others hang).
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Hi HB, I'm doing some more research on your position and I read Galatians again and came across this passage in Galatians 5:13-14:
"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word:
“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”"
Here Paul is quoting Leviticus 19:18 and says that this commandment fulfills the law. He didn't quote Jesus' new command in John 13:34 "A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another." The implication could be that Paul treats these two commands as the same, perhaps because in the New Covenant we have the Holy Spirit living in us so we are able to love our neighbor with God's agape love.
Paul also reiterates in Galatians 5:6 that only faith & love counts:
"For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only
faith working through love."
So any commandment related to love is probably good in Paul's eyes because love comes from God which John writes about.
1 John 4:7-8
"Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. "