As we have seen, law and grace are not opposed to one another. Instead, they serve different functions in accordance with the love and justice of God. A sharp contrast between law and grace would have puzzled ancient Israelites, who saw God’s giving of the law itself as a great display of God’s grace. While the “gods” of the surrounding nations were fickle and entirely unpredictable, leaving people without a way to know what the “gods” desired and what would please them, the God of the Bible very clearly instructs His people about what pleases Him.
Love is the foundation of God’s law. When God upholds the law, He upholds love. This is why Jesus died in order to save sinners, so that He could uphold the law while also extending grace to us. Thus, He could be both just and the justifier of those who believe (Rom. 3:25, 26). What an expression of love! Accordingly, the law is not invalidated by the process of redemption; rather, it is further confirmed.
God’s law does not consist of abstract principles; instead, God’s law is an expression of relationship. This can be seen explicitly in the Ten Commandments. The basic principles of the Ten Commandments were in place already in the Garden of Eden, the principles of love that were to govern the relationship between God and people and between people themselves.
In Luke’s account, just after Jesus declares the two greatest commandments of love for God and love for a neighbor, a lawyer, “wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, ‘And who is my neighbor?’ ” (Luke 10:29, NKJV). In response to this, Jesus tells the now-familiar, but then shocking, parable of the good Samaritan.
The prophets in Scripture continually highlight God’s call for justice in society. Again and again, Scripture does not shrink back from highlighting issues of injustice and oppression. Indeed, the call for God to bring judgment was itself the call for God to establish justice.
Scripture declares that God loves justice and hates evil (for example, Ps. 33:5, Isa. 61:8), and He is deeply concerned about injustice, which evokes righteous indignation on behalf of all those who are the victims of injustice. Throughout the Old and New Testaments, God is consistently passionate in favor of the downtrodden and oppressed while expressing righteous anger against the victimizers and oppressors.
Read Psalm 82. How does this psalm express God’s concern for justice in this world? What might it mean for us today?
According to Jesus Himself, the two greatest commandments are love for God and love for one another. And carrying out these commands involves sacrifices that tangibly show love to others, which is what following in the footsteps of Jesus is really about.
Now, if the two greatest commandments are love for God and love for others, what are the two greatest sins?
Read Psalm 135:13–19. What does this reveal about a common sin emphasized throughout Scripture?
