Weekly Sermon
James 2:8 reads, “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.”
In James 2:8 we find the commendation of the Lord our God Himself in His Holy Word unto all who fulfill His royal law. Herein the law of the Lord our God is described as His royal law because He is the divine Lord and King of our lives. Indeed, this reveals that we believers in this time of the New Testament do have the responsibility to serve under our Lord’s authority and to submit ourselves in obedience under the authority of law for our lives. Furthermore, we have the responsibility to fulfill our Lord’s royal law, that is – to obey it completely and consistently. Finally, we are brought to understand that we must fulfill our Lord’s royal law over our lives in accord with the Old Testament Scripture from Leviticus 19:18, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” If we do this, then the Lord our God through His Holy Word by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit commends us with the declaration, “Ye do well.” If we do this, then in our Lord’s sight we are walking in the way of righteousness.
So then, what does it mean to love our neighbor as ourselves? In Leviticus 19:17-18 this instruction was first given, wherein God’s word declares, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” Then throughout the New Testament, this instruction of our God’s law was quoted by our Lord Jesus Christ on two occasion in Matthew 19:19 & 22:39 (with Mark 12:31 being a parallel passage to Matthew 22:39), by the apostle Paul on two further occasions in Romans 13:9 & Galatians 5:14, and by James in James 2:8. Even so, through a study of these and of some supporting passages, we may develop a greater understanding concerning what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves.
James 2:8 reads, “If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.”
In James 2:8 we find the commendation of the Lord our God Himself in His Holy Word unto all who fulfill His royal law. Herein the law of the Lord our God is described as His royal law because He is the divine Lord and King of our lives. Indeed, this reveals that we believers in this time of the New Testament do have the responsibility to serve under our Lord’s authority and to submit ourselves in obedience under the authority of law for our lives. Furthermore, we have the responsibility to fulfill our Lord’s royal law, that is – to obey it completely and consistently. Finally, we are brought to understand that we must fulfill our Lord’s royal law over our lives in accord with the Old Testament Scripture from Leviticus 19:18, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” If we do this, then the Lord our God through His Holy Word by the inspiration of God the Holy Spirit commends us with the declaration, “Ye do well.” If we do this, then in our Lord’s sight we are walking in the way of righteousness.
So then, what does it mean to love our neighbor as ourselves? In Leviticus 19:17-18 this instruction was first given, wherein God’s word declares, “Thou shalt not hate thy brother in thine heart: thou shalt in any wise rebuke thy neighbour, and not suffer sin upon him. Thou shalt not avenge, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy people, but thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I am the LORD.” Then throughout the New Testament, this instruction of our God’s law was quoted by our Lord Jesus Christ on two occasion in Matthew 19:19 & 22:39 (with Mark 12:31 being a parallel passage to Matthew 22:39), by the apostle Paul on two further occasions in Romans 13:9 & Galatians 5:14, and by James in James 2:8. Even so, through a study of these and of some supporting passages, we may develop a greater understanding concerning what it means to love our neighbor as ourselves.
To love our neighbor as ourselves is the foundational principle of God’s law in relation to others.
In Matthew 22:34-40 God’s Word declares, “But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” In answering this lawyer Pharisee, our Lord Jesus Christ revealed the two greatest and most foundational commands in all of God’s law for our lives. The first of these two greatest and most foundation commands is that we must love the Lord our God with all of our heart, all of our soul, and all of our mind. Upon the hook of this first great and foundational command hang all of the other Godward commands in God’s Holy Word. The second of these two greatest and most foundational commands is that we must love our neighbor in the manner that we naturally love ourselves. Upon the hook of this second great and foundational command hang all of the other manward commands in God’s Holy Word. This command to love our neighbor is the very ground in which every other manward command is rooted and from which every other manward command grows. Indeed, the Lord our God does intend that we would walk in love toward all those who are around us. His law of love is the basic reason that He has delivered all of His other commands concerning our relationship with others. Yea, His law of love is the basic principle that ties together all of His other commands concerning our relationship with others.
Even so, there is no other command in all of God’s law concerning our relationship with others that stands greater and is more important than the command to love our neighbor as ourselves. In the parallel passage of Mark 12:28-30, God’s Word declares, “And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all? And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” There is not a single other command of God’s Holy Word that stands greater than these two commands of love. Concerning our relationship with the Lord our God, there is not a single other command that is greater or more important than the command to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, and mind. In addition, concerning our relationship with those around us, there is not a single other command that is greater or more important than the command to love our neighbor as ourselves.
Therefore, walking in godly love toward another individual is the foundational principle and motivation for us to fulfill God’s law in relation to that individual. In Romans 13:8-10 God’s Word proclaims, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law. For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” In like manner, in Galatians 5:14 God’s Word proclaims, “For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.” All of the manward commands in God’s law can be briefly summarized and comprehended in this singular principle, “Thous shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Whenever we truly walk in godly love toward another individual, we will inevitably obey and fulfill our Lord God’s whole law in relation to that individual. On the other hand, whenever we disobey any one of our Lord God’s commands in relation to another individual, that disobedience is certain evidence that we are not walking in godly love toward that individual at that particular moment. Furthermore, whenever we engage in the “activity” of obedience in relation to another individual, but do so without the motivation of godly love toward that individual, our “activity” of obedience is of no spiritual profit. Indeed, this is the very reason that James 2:8 indicates that we are to obey and fulfill the royal law of our Lord and King in accord with the Old Testament principle, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” Godly love toward another is the governing principle of all such obedience. Godly love toward another is the driving motivation for all such obedience. Godly love toward another is the essential ingredient in all such obedience.
To love our neighbor as ourselves is a debt that we constantly owe unto those around us.
In Romans 13:8 God’s Word gives the instruction, “Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” First, we are instructed herein to pay off our debts so that we do not owe anything to anyone in the matter of material things. Yet then we are informed that “to love one another” is a debt that is excluded from this instruction. In fact, this Biblical exclusion reveals that we do indeed owe everyone the debt of love constantly and continually. Now, in this context we are to understand that the phrase “one another,” not only encompasses all of our fellow believers, but actually encompasses all of our fellow man. We come to this understanding through the closing phrase of Romans 13:8, wherein the responsibility to love another is connected to the fulfillment of our Lord’s law – “For he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.” This understanding is then expanded as the word “another” is further defined in verses 9-10 by the word “neighbour” – “For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.” Thus the Lord our God through His Holy Word lays upon us the responsibility of a love-debt that we owe unto everyone and anyone around us. Indeed, this is a responsibility of love-debt that is continually renewed, so that we are constantly required to bestow more and more love unto those around us no matter how much love we have previously bestowed unto them in the past. Therefore, whenever we encounter any individual, wherever we might encounter that individual, whether he or she may be a family member, a fellow believer, a personal friend, a co-worker, or an individual in the general public, we should recognize that we owe that individual a debt. Yea, we should immediately recognize that we owe that individual a debt of love; and we should immediately seek to pay on that debt.
Yet the question might be asked – Why do we owe a love-debt unto everyone that is around us? A debt is commonly understood to be an obligation that we owe unto another because of something that we have received. So then, what have we ourselves received so that we in turn have become debtors to love all others who are around us? The answer is to be found in 1 John 4:9-11 – “In this was manifested the love of God toward us, because that God sent his only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through him. Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another.” We believers have received the eternal love of God our heavenly Father through the sacrifice of God the Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to save us from our sinfulness. Even so, because the Lord our God and heavenly Father has first bestowed this love unto us, we in turn have now become debtors to bestow love unto all who are around us. Furthermore, because the love that the Lord our God and heavenly Father has bestowed upon us is an eternal love, the obligation and responsibility of love-debt that we owe unto those around us is also a constant and continual debt that is ever renewed and never completed.
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