Between the greatest commandments "in the law" and you.

Believer, Christ says in John 14:21- "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

In many places of worship, Christ's "commandments" above for we who follow Him (are under Grace) is being conflated/combined or mixed up with His response to the Pharisee that tested Him with a question in Matthew 22. These ones followed the Law and not Grace:

"35 One of them, an expert in the law, tested Him with this question: 36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

37 Jesus replied: “‘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.”

Believer, notice the Pharisee asked: "Teacher, which is the greatest commandment IN THE LAW?” In Christ, we are not "in the Law" but under Grace. The two greatest Commandments is NOT Christ's commandment for we who are under Grace. It is not the "commandments" that Christ speaks of in John 14:21. The Pharisee asked Him:

Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?”

The two commandments in the law are not for us to measure ourselves by or to keep in order to get God to love us. Christ said:

"All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

For we who are in Christ, not under Law but under Grace, the same "the Law and the Prophets" that "hang on these two commandments" above testify to God's Grace that we are made right with God/justified freely by faith and not by obeying or having any relationship with these two greatest commandments in "Mr. Law" aka our ex-husband who condemns the best of man: Romans 3-

"21 But now apart from the law the righteousness of God has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. 22 This righteousness is given through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference between Jew and Gentile, 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and all are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus."

See the New Living Translation: "But now God has shown us a way to be made right with Him without keeping the requirements of the law, as was promised in the writings of Moses and the prophets long ago. We are made right with God by placing our faith in Jesus Christ. And this is true for everyone who believes, no matter who we are. For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in His grace, freely makes us right in His sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when He freed us from the penalty for our sins."

Romans 3:21‭-‬24.

But Christ did say in John 14:21- "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him."

So what "commandments" was our Saviour talking about here? Believers, Christ was in no way vague about this commandment for we who are "not under Law but under Grace." Recall the Bible was not divided into chapters and verses by the writers? John 14 above is a continuation of the conversation in John 13 where we find the commandment of Christ for believers:

"34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

But do you know how Christ loved the church? He hung on the cross for our sins! He died for our sins.

Recall Christ said: "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” The Ten Commandments - and the all other laws are wrapped up in these two commandments.

Peter loved the Lord but this did not prevent him from breaking the Eighth Commandment: "You shall not bear false witness..." This is what happens when a person claims to be able to keep even a tittle of ANY of the commandments in the law- whether the least or the greatest - by human strength. It opens the door for Satan to sift man of the non-existent strength (arm of flesh) and non-existence good that he has boasted of having, even though many mean well like Peter.

The arm of flesh (human effort at producing or being good like God) will fail. Satan knows this more than many churchgoers so he and his pastor agents are always quick to mix up Christ's John 14 "commandments" to His disciples who followed Grace with Christ's Matthew 22 response to the Pharisee who followed the Law that kills. Such say:

"We must do our best to keep those two greatest commandments in Matthew 22 by God's Grace."

But those are the two greatest commandments "in the Law." Christ said of them: "All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

Law and Grace (unmerited favour) don't mix. Galatians 5:4 says:

"For if you are trying to make yourselves right with God by keeping the law you have been cut off from Christ! You have fallen away from God's Grace."

One cannot pride himself (arm of flesh) or rely on his ability to obey the law while calling Christ "Saviour." It's either one or the other. Death by the letter that kills or Life in "None of self. All of Christ." He says to we who are not "in the Law" but under Grace:

"34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. 35 By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”

As it is with all the Commandments of Grace, even "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved," for every demand, Grace Himself is the Supply. Hence 1 John 1:17-19 written by the same John:

"By this, love is perfected with us, so that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected in love. We love, because He first loved us."

Notice "As He is, so are we in this world."

Recall John 14:21- "He who has My commandments and keeps them, it is he who loves Me. And he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.”

Notice "We love because He first loved us" written by the same John? Only when we know our heavenly Father's love for us can we love. See God's love demonstrated/proved in Romans 5:7 below:

"For when the time was right, the Anointed One came and died to demonstrate His love for sinners who were entirely helpless, weak, and powerless to save themselves. Now, who of us would dare to die for the sake of a wicked person? We can all understand if someone was willing to die for a truly noble person. But Christ proved God’s passionate love for us by dying in our place while we were still lost and ungodly! And there is still much more to say of His unfailing love for us! For through the blood of Jesus we have heard the powerful declaration, “You are now righteous in My sight.” And because of the sacrifice of Jesus, you will never experience the wrath of God." Roman's 5:6-9.

God passionately loved us even when we were still lost and ungodly! Before we did anything. Beloved of God, God loving us is not hinged on our ability to keep the two greatest commandments in the law. When our focus is no longer on our useless efforts at trying to keep the greatest commandments in the law in a bid to get right with God or achieve anything at all but on God's Love demonstrated/proved at the cross through His sacrifice of His own beloved Son to FREELY save us from the consequences of our utter inability to keep the law and to give us the same righteous status as Christ, love comes naturally to us.

-    when we know and believe that in Christ, God sees us as He sees Christ, not because we "tried our best" to keep the greatest commandments in the law but through the shed blood of His own Son;

-    when we know and believe that in Christ, God is not expecting us to sing for part or all of our dinner by "trying our best" to keep the two commandments on which "All the Law and the Prophets" hang;

-    when we know and believe that in Christ, God sees us as righteous not because of our puny attempts at keeping the Ten Commandments or the two greatest commandments in the law but only because of the sacrifice of Christ;

-    when we know and believe the Truth that God loves us unconditionally and sees us as righteous through Christ and not because we obeyed the law;

When we know and believe all of these things by Grace, love comes naturally. We love because He first loved us.

The Law demands obedience from man in whom there is not an iota of good. But Grace supplies all that we need pertaining to life (health, wealth, etc) and godliness.

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