Mosaic law part 14
Love Laws: Love Your Neighbor and Love God
Scripture Reading
Matthew 22:35–40:
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him,
“‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
This morning, we come to the final message in our series on the moral law of God. We’ve walked through the categories of violence laws, intimacy laws, honor laws, truth laws, property laws, fairness laws, compassion laws, and worship laws. And now, we arrive at the heart of it all — love laws.
In the passage we just read, Jesus Himself summarized the entire law in two commands: Love God and love your neighbor. He said that every other law, every commandment, every statute, every word God has given flows out of these two great commands. He said that all the laws “hang” on these two laws. And the word is literally “hangs.”
I love the word picture created by that. I think of it like a mobile. All the hundreds of Mosaic laws are hung by threads descending progressively down a mobile. And at the top are two commands: Love God and love your neighbor. That means that is you were to cut try to cut “Love God” from the mobile, all the other commandments would come crashing down.
All the others are summarized in those two. If you love God and love your neighbor...You will have no other gods before Him (Exodus 20:3), because true love for God gives Him first place. You will not make or worship idols, You will not take His name in vain, You will remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exodus 20:8–11), because love for God delights in resting and worshiping Him. You will honor your father and mother (Exodus 20:12), because love for neighbor begins at home with respect. You will not murder, You will not commit adultery, You will not steal, You will not bear false witness (Exodus 20:16), because love for your neighbor tells the truth. You will not covet what belongs to your neighbor (Exodus 20:17), because love for your neighbor rejoices in their blessings rather than envies them.
And before we look at these two commandments in greater detail, let’s remind ourselves once again: God did not give the moral law to restrict our joy or rob us of freedom. He gave it as an expression of His love for us, to protect us, to preserve us, and to show us what it means to live a life that flourishes.
Psalm 19:7–8 says,
“The law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple. The precepts of the LORD are right, rejoicing the heart; the commandment of the LORD is pure, enlightening the eyes.”
God’s moral law is not a chain around our necks; it is a lamp for our path. It is not meant to enslave us but to guide us into love. Every command is a fence post of grace, keeping us from destruction.
Illustration
Imagine a river that flows through a city. If that river is left to overflow its banks, it can destroy homes, sweep away lives, and bring devastation. But when guided by strong levees and channels, that same river becomes life-giving — turning turbines for power, providing water for crops, and sustaining communities.
The moral law of God is like those channels. Left unchecked, human sin overflows — bringing violence, injustice, theft, deceit, and destruction.
And we seem to be seeing that more and more in our society. And the moral law of our country is eroded away there comes a constant barrage of human violence, destruction, and disaster.
But when guided by God’s law, love flows rightly: toward God in worship, and toward our neighbor in kindness and justice. Well, before we dive in, let’s go to the Lord in prayer.
Prayer
Heavenly Father,
We come before You this morning with heavy hearts, aware of the violence and lovelessness that seem to be multiplying in our world. We see wars raging across nations, innocent lives taken in acts of terror, and families torn apart by hatred and cruelty. We hear of shootings in our schools and communities, of children neglected, and of women and men abused by those who should protect them. We see the rise of greed that steals from the poor, lies that destroy reputations, and corruption that preys on the weak. Lord, in so many ways, people are choosing selfishness over love, violence over peace, and hatred over mercy.
Yet in the midst of this darkness, we know You have given us a better way—the way of love, the way of truth, the way of life in Christ Jesus. We confess our own failures to live out Your love perfectly, and we ask for forgiveness. Cleanse our hearts, renew our minds, and strengthen our hands to be people who truly love You and love our neighbor. As we open Your Word today, help us see how all of Your laws are rooted in love, and teach us to walk in them faithfully, not as a burden but as a joy. May our lives shine as lights in this dark world, pointing others to the hope and salvation found in Your Son, Jesus Christ.
In His holy name we pray, Amen.
Well, for weeks we have been hanging our study of the Old Testament laws on the same four questions to determine if the law still applies to us today:
1. Did this law predate the Mosaic law? 2. Was it part of the Mosaic law? 3. Did Jesus and His disciples teach it? 4. How should the Christian live it today?
We found again and again that God’s moral law is timeless. It existed before Moses, it was codified in the Ten Commandments, it was reaffirmed by Christ and the apostles, and it still guides the heart of every Christian.
And now, we conclude by looking at the two greatest commands, which Jesus said sum up all the others: Love your neighbor, and love God.
I. Love Your Neighbor
Jesus said the second great commandment is this: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:39). Let’s apply our four tests.
1. Did this law predate the Mosaic law?
Yes. From the beginning, God expected humanity to care for one another. There was an expectation of hospitality toward strangers even from the earliest chapters of Genesis. For example, you might remember that in Genesis 18:1–8) Abraham welcomed three strangers, who turned out to be heavenly visitors, and he offered them water, food, and rest. Hebrews 13:2 later recalls this moment as an example of hospitality.
2 Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.
Lot, Abraham’s nephew, offered two of these visitors the same hospitality when they came to Sodom. He brought them into his home, fed them and gave them rest.
Even in the wider world there was a standard of hospitality. Abimelech the king of Gerar received Abraham as a guest, and treated him fairly, despite Abraham lying to him.
We even find this same standard of hospitality being extended by Rebekah’s family when Abraham’s servant returned to the old country to get a bride for Isaac. The servant was received, his animals cared for, he stayed the night, ate and drank. In a similar story years later, Jacob goes back to the old country in search of a wife and is treated hospitably.
So, the standard existed before Moses. And I think that from the time of the Garden of Eden, and Adam and Eve, God revealed His nature, and His standards for a relationship with Him, and with other human beings, even before the law. People knew that this was good and right because it was passed down from generations from Adam, and Noah, to Abraham, all the way to Moses.
2. Was it part of the Mosaic law?
Yes. Leviticus 19:18 commands: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”
This law called Israel to care for the poor, the foreigner, the widow, and the orphan. Exodus 22:21 says: “You shall not wrong a sojourner or oppress him, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.”
Leviticus 19:18 – “You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.”
This is the clearest statement, but the law gave many practical applications of what that looked like.
The Israelites were instructed that they not only had an obligation to treat their fellow Jews kindly, but also foreigners who came to live among them.
Leviticus 19:33–34 – “When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the LORD your God.”
They also were not to mistreat poor people. Remember that the law mandated that the Israelites leave part of the produce of their land for the poor and to open their hearts to the poor with charity.
These laws which hung on the law “love your neighbor” included laws forbidding injustice in court or injustice in how you treated a hired worker.
Deuteronomy 24:14–15 – “You shall not oppress a hired worker who is poor and needy… You shall give him his wages on the same day, before the sun sets, for he is poor and counts on it, lest he cry against you to the LORD, and you be guilty of sin.”
There’s something that bothers me about how people handle the Bible. Sometimes people will generalize and say that the Old Testament was harsh, that it was all about law, long lists of things to do and not to do. And somehow, they speak as though the God of the Old Testament was an angry and vengeful God, and then the kind and merciful Jesus comes along in the New Testament. But that is not the case at all. Listen to this command from...
Exodus 23:4–5 – “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him.”
Love your neighbor extends even to enemies. You were to treat everyone with kindness and fairness and to consider what you would want someone to do for you. If your animal had strayed out of the fence, and someone found it, what would you like them to do for you? Do that for them. Bring the sheep back. Even if it is an enemy’s sheep.
Leviticus 19:32 also says “You shall stand up before the gray head and honor the face of an old man, and you shall fear your God: I am the LORD.”
Respect for the elderly as part of neighbor-love. This wasn’t a new commandment in the New Testament. It was just that by the time of the New Testament, the Jewish teachers had twisted God’s civil and ceremonial commands into hatred and mistreatment of their Gentile neighbors.
From the Dead Sea Scrolls (Qumran Community) there was a Community Rule (1QS 1:9–11) "To love all the sons of light… and to hate all the sons of darkness, each one according to his guilt in God’s vengeance."
The Essenes, a strict sect around the time of Jesus, explicitly taught their members to love fellow members but hate outsiders (especially Gentiles and unfaithful Jews).
In Sirach (Ecclesiasticus, c. 180 BC) Sirach 12:4–7 (from the Apocrypha)
"Give to the godly man, but do not help the sinner. Do good to the humble, but give nothing to the ungodly… For the Most High also hates sinners and will inflict punishment on the ungodly."
3. Did Jesus and His disciples reiterate it?
Yes. Jesus taught it as the second greatest commandment which we’ve already read. Paul wrote in Galatians 5:14, “The whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” James 2:8 calls it the “royal law.”
Let’s look first at Jesus.
The Golden Rule – “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 7:12; Luke 6:31)
Jesus frames love for neighbor as the guiding principle of all interactions.
In the Parable of the Good Samaritan – (Luke 10:25–37) In response to the question, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus tells a story where the true neighbor is the one who shows mercy, even across ethnic and social boundaries. And a great truth of this parable is that the neighbor you are supposed to love is whoever you run into on the paths you travel in life. Whoever is near to you, next door, next door over, at the store, at the desk next to you.
In the Sermon on the Mount He says– “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.” (Matthew 5:43–44)
Jesus reiterates the lost commandments of love from the Old Testament: it extends even to enemies.
Also In the Writings of Paul
Romans 13:8–10 – “Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law… Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
Love does no wrong to a neighbor
Galatians 5:13–14 – “Through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’”
1 Corinthians 13 – Paul exalts love as greater than faith and hope: “The greatest of these is love.”
In the Writings of James
James 2:8–9 – “If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin.”
In the Writings of Peter
1 Peter 1:22 – “Love one another earnestly from a pure heart.”
1 Peter 4:8 – “Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins.”
In the Writings of John
1 John 3:16–18 – “By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers… let us not love in word or talk but indeed and in truth.”
Here John extends our love to loving as Jesus loved. He loved enough to lay down His life for a world that rejects Him, and even hates Him.
1 John 4:7–12 – “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God… Whoever loves has been born of God and knows God.”
4. What should the Christian do with it today?
Romans 13:10 tells us: “Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.”
That means love goes beyond not stealing, not lying, not harming. It means actively seeking the good of others. It means serving, forgiving, being patient, and being generous. Love looks like Jesus washing the disciples’ feet. Love looks like the Good Samaritan stopping to help. Love looks like us showing Christ to others through practical care.
So, here’s a question. What do we do with this in relation to law and order? Some will take this law regarding love, and try to make it apply to national, or state laws. They will say that this law that says “love your neighbor” means that we don’t believe in capital punishment, that we open our borders to anyone who comes, that we are lenient with criminals, that we don’t “judge” people by saying that some lifestyle is sinful.
And this is where we have to distinguish between our personal behavior, and the laws of our land. We can be forgiving, giving, gracious, helpful, loving, and kind to all people, regardless of their background, but we can still stand for strong laws and rules in our country for the purpose of maintaining a safe, lawful, and orderly society. In fact, I would contend that it is unloving to do otherwise. If we don’t enforce laws and borders, we create a society where everyone can become a victim of violence. Now, please don’t take that as an endorsement of every or any specific policy at the state or national level. All it is, is a statement that we don’t throw out law because Jesus said, “Love your neighbor.”
I was going to try and cover both love your neighbor and love God in this sermon, but I think these two are the crowning jewels of God’s law, so I didn’t want to shortchange them.
Illustration: The Plague in Ancient Rome
In the second and third centuries, devastating plagues swept through the Roman Empire. Cities were filled with fear as disease spread rapidly. The pagan response was often to abandon the sick—even family members—because caring for them meant almost certain death.
But history records that Christians acted differently. The early church, motivated by Jesus’ command to love their neighbor, stayed behind in plague-stricken cities to care for the sick and dying. Dionysius, a bishop of Alexandria, wrote:
"Most of our brothers showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another. Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need, and ministering to them in Christ."
Many Christians died doing this. But their sacrificial love made such an impression that historians say it was one of the key reasons Christianity spread so rapidly in those centuries. The world saw a people who didn’t just preach love — they lived it, even toward those who had once been their enemies.