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 neighbour as yourself.'
I have recently had a few conversations with some friends about what is right and what is wrong and the implications of this. Tempered with these conversations has been the news with riots in London. But even further back I have been thinking about wars and the great evils such as the Holocaust and Rwandan genocides.
In fact there is so much fighting about who and what is right, that wrong is constantly coming of this. So many have died and killed in the name of what they believe is right, such as: terrorism, war, lynching, protests, arson and genocide. With all this wrongdoing in the name of right it is sometimes hard to work out what is right and if it even exists.
It is my opinion that it is important to know what is right and wrong biblically speaking. This comes from understanding the bible and the character of God. This is important because our corrupt nature desensitises us to our own sin, and what may 'feel right' may not be right at all. Whilst our conscience may be a good general guide, it should not be our only guide. What is right and what is true is independent of how you feel (see The Search for Truth). However it is clear that nobody (except Jesus) can keep the law of God in its entirety.
But eventually we have to ask what is the point of divine law if meeting it is unattainable? Unlike the laws of our governments, which are generally possible to keep (but sometimes not right), the law of the bible is not possible to always keep (but is always right). Should we stress about every little wrong we do, making notes of every sin? Yes and no. We should be aware of our sin so we can try to not sin again, but at the same time Jesus condemned the religious legalists of his time.
Luke 18:19-14 9 To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: 10 "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. 11 The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: 'God, I thank you that I am not like other peopleâ€"robbers, evildoers, adulterersâ€"or even like this tax collector. 12 I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'
13 "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, 'God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' 14 "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted."
There are countless examples of Jesus elevating the sinners above the apparently righteous and of the apparently righteous condemning Jesus for his association with sinners (eg. Luke 19:7 ). These apparent contradictions are resolved when one considers the nature of the attitude and sins being committed. The Pharisees committed sins but were unaware of them (such as pride and self righteousness) and so did not try to stop that sin.
The sinners who responded to Jesus however knew that they sinned and so were repentant, and one would assume as part of that repentance tried not to sin again, such as Zacchaeus (Luke 19:1-9), who gave half of his possessions to the poor and paid back four times as much he cheated anyone.
There are so many condemning Christians that I have met, who have disapproved of me because I wear lots of black, am often unshaved, and even because I am a scientist. On the occasion I see street preachers in the CBD of Perth I often cringe at their fire and brimstone messages of damnation. Even worse are messages like "God hates Gays" that suggests that God actually hates people and doesn't love them!
In the eyes of the Jews of Jesus day tax collectors were traitors and thieves, taking money from an occupying country and making themselves rich. Prostitutes were despised and beaten, seen as unclean and unworthy of life. I think it is useful to think what the modern day equivalents of these people are and how we treat them.
How have you been treating drug addicts, criminals, prostitutes, adulterers, chronically lazy and unemployed, alcoholic aboriginals, atheistic evolutionists, the Greens, advocates of same-sex marriage, and paedophiles? Are you like the Pharisees condemning all, and loving none but yourself? Are you even condemning the condemners? Even the condemners are under the grace of God.
Jesus left us with two foundations of Christian living in Matthew 22:34-39: Loving God and loving others.
When we consider condemning anyone we should consider a few things:
1. Jesus and God loves everyone, this includes those rejected by society, and even by the church
2. Jesus came to bring salvation not damnation, none are condemned under the grace of God
3. Are you (me included) loving God by doing this?
4. Are you (me included) loving one another?
Jesus loved the 'rejects' very much, because they were aware of their sin and truly repentant, even though I am sure many of them continued to sin. But those who believe themselves righteous, Jesus did not show so much compassion because they did not love others or God. But still Jesus loved everyone the same, but some aren't willing to receive it.
You can truly understand the Law when you can say that you can love anyone, be it friend or enemy, and be repentant. If you are repentant and love others then you are keeping the two central laws of the Bible.
It is good to keep all the law that you can, but legalism removes compassion and the underlying message of the Bible: that salvation is possible for all regardless of their life, actions or circumstances as long as one repents!
Nathanael Yates from Perth, Western Australia, is an award winning young scientist who has won a scholarship to Oxford for 12 months as from October 2011.