All Things Seen & Unseen

The Scripture reading set down in the Common Lectionary for last Sunday (26th October) was from Matthew 22.34-46. 1 The Content of the Law The Pharisees yet again try to 'tempt' or test (Lit. Version) Jesus with a question: which is the greatest commandment in the law? Jesus says, 'The first and greatest commandment is: 'Thou [singular, 'you'] shalt love the Lord with all thy heart, and with all thy soul and with all thy mind'. And a second is like it, 'Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself'. The law contained (reportedly) 613 laws and ordinances and I suspect that Jesus' answer (from Deut 6.5 and Lev 19.8) and the authoritative way in which he gave it stunned them into silence. The Purpose of the Law But given that the law's content is summed up in these two commandments, what is the character/purpose of the law? First, no one is able to keep the law. In respect of the great and first commandment, all are guilty ...

The question of whether the law plays any part in the lives of Christians today still d ivides the Chri stian community . You would think from the way some Christians preach, write and talk that law should play no part in the Christian life . The 'Grace, Not Law' slogan based presumably on Romans 6.14 and often linked with the facile quote of John 1.17 can certainly suggest this teaching. The scripture, 'For the law came by Moses, g race and truth by Jesus Christ' suggests to some that law has nothing to do with Christians today but this post suggest s otherwise .

Seeing the Sadducees had been silenced on their question about death and resurrection, the Pharisees sent a lawyer to test Jesus concerning what was 'the great commandment' (Matthew 22.35, AV). Jesus replied by quoting the Shema (Deut 6.4). Love the Lord your God from the heart, the inner core of your being. To this commandment, Jesus added a commandment that is 'like the first': 'love your neighbour as yourself'. In the latter, Jesus was quoting Leviticus 19.18 which, one source translated as 'You are not to take-vengeance, you are not to retain-anger against the sons of your kinspeople—but be-loving to your neighbor (as one) like yourself, I am YHWH [the LORD]!' The gloss in brackets (so), which I have seen elsewhere, puts a different complexion on usual interpretations of the verse because it takes away our selfish fixation about self-love. I doubt the verse has anything to do with loving ourselves as such although it is sometimes ...