Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 5:17-20

God’s original standard to Adam was holiness.  And, in failing that, by one man’s sin, death came to all.

God’s standard to Moses was holiness.  He who broke the smallest commandment was guilty of all, and hence deserved death.  He who sinned under the law deserved death, and even Gentiles, who were not aware of the law, proved that they were indeed under the law, for they demonstrate that the law itself was written on their hearts, so that their own hearts condemned them.  Therefore, he who sinned with the law, and he who sinned without the law, both perished because of it, for failing to meet God’s standard.  For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord (Romans 6:23).

Finally, we come to the New Covenant, and for some reason, people think things have changed.  And, indeed they have changed, quite a bit, but God’s desire and conditions for complete fellowship really have not.

He asked them to love each other as He had loved them.  When Jesus was giving final instructions to His disciples, He command a number of times to love one another.  He had loved them as His Father had loved Him, and asked them to abide in that love (John 15:19).  He repeats this command in various forms, including these, until finally, in John 15:17, He simply says, “love one another”.

Jesus repeats this one command.  It is a new command, it is the one from the beginning, it is “as I have loved you”.  His kind of love is the one He showed with His life, and this is how He meant the others, and how He meant it in the beginning.  It isn’t love that looks like a Levite on the road that wont stop, nor a priest, but a love that is shown.  Better is open rebuke than hidden love (Proverbs 27:5).  Like faith, love without demonstration is not worth living for.  To God, there is only one kind of love.  Absolute, complete, total, giving everything He can to bring us back to Himself.  In the mind of God, to love as He had loved them was the only way to love, in the end.  When God calls us to love, it is God calling!  He wants that we be made perfect in love.  He commands, again and again, that we come to the place of being purified in our hearts so that we, as bretheren, can love one another (1 Peter 1:22).

As Christians, we fall short because of the things we have in our hearts, our fears, our angers, our doubts.  We fall short when things get hard, and when tribulations and persecutions come.  But, what happens if, when pressure comes on, we turn and consider Him who suffered for us.  What if, instead of giving way to the fears of losing and missing out, of getting hurt and possibly killed, we believe the gospel just a bit deeper, and realize that the only way to love, in this world, is to suffer.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7

Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33).  All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will suffer (2 Timothy 3:12).  It is a given, it is a fact.  Jesus just told us ahead of time, so that we are not surprised when it comes.

When it comes to it, God’s standard has not really changed.  It is still holiness.  What we could not do in the flesh, God did through sending His son, and giving us His Spirit to live through us.  We cannot do it on our own, for if we could, Jesus would not have had to come and die.  But, he did make provision for us, not only for our sins, our commissions of sins, but also for our sin, our sinfulness, our sinful nature.  We may continue to sin from time to time, but we are instructed to put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and to make no provision for the flesh (Romans 13:14).

If we find we are not in some way living holy before God, we merely need to bring it into His light (John 3:21), let it be exposed, and let the work of the cross in our members.  As God brings the truth, sets us free, and enables us by His Spirit to walk in His truth, we are freed from the bondage to the sin, and live holy.

God’s desire was always that He would have a people holy unto Himself, free from the bondage of sin, and the corruption and decay of the world.  His desire was always that man would be righteous, and while the cross has set us free from our transgressions, it sets us free to live, by His Spirit, fully alive in Him, and in full obedience all the time to our Lord.

All of His original law and the prophets hung upon two commands, to love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and to love our neighbor as our self.  This is the original command, and, although it is accomplished through the Grace and Mercy of the cross, it is still God’s desire that we perfect this holiness  out reverence for Him.  This is the original heart of the Law, and the heart of the Gospels, that He might have a perfect people, holy, clean, and a light within the nations.  This is the command from the beginning, but as we work it out, with a new heart, we find ourselves perfectly keeping all of the Old merely out of the love of God that has been imprinted, impressed, upon our hearts.

For as Paul wrote, “punishing every disobedience once your obedience is made perfect.” 2 Corinthians 10:6.  We are responsible to live up to what we have attained (Philippians 3:16).  Yet, as was prophesied by Isaiah and quoted by Jesus concerning the church of the first born, “They shall all be taught of God!” (Isaiah 54:13, John 6:45).

For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

John 1:17