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What Great Love

See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!1

And this is what we are, children of God if we love as he did and follow his commandments. While we are not quite like him, such has not been made known to us, we do know that when he appears we shall be like him. One day we shall see him as he is. The world doesn't know us as it doesn't know him. Oh what great love the Father has lavished on us, and now abides hope, faith, and love, the greatest of these is love. All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.2

Being pure is not being of lawlessness and it is loving one another. Everyone who practices sin is breaking the law, as sin is lawlessness. Jesus came that he might take away sin. If sin is lawlessness and He came to take away sin then He came to take away lawlessness. How did he take away lawlessness, can I fulfill the law in this sinful flesh? He came to fulfill, finish, or complete the law. The Mosaic law was given to expose sin, without the law there would be no sin.3 But the law revealed death in me, in my flesh, it is this death the first humans received for breaking God's law. The law was holy but it was powerless to complete the law in the sinful nature of the flesh. So Jesus full of Grace and Truth came that we might have this power to overcome sin. For sin shall not have dominion over you: for you are not under the law, but under grace.4

 This is what Jesus did, he did not abolish the law but fulfilled the law. Do not think that I came to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I did not come to abolish but to fulfill.5 This word for fulfill is plēróō from plērēs, "be full", properly it is to fill to individual capacity, complete.6 I am given this victory over lawlessness through Grace by faith.7 There were none righteous, no not one, all practiced lawlessness, their belief or faith was counted as righteousness to them. If Jesus came to fulfill the law, how is the law fulfilled in me? Is it because I do not sin or because I do not break the law? surely not. I can not fulfill the law in the flesh, as sin still dwells there, it is not me as I am a new creation, but sin still dwells in my members. I can overcome sin because of this new covenant in his blood , he died for sin so that I might live in him, in his Spirit.7 All who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.  

 The ten commandments expose the sin in me and the need for a savior. The law always pointed to loving God and others. It was holy, as God is holy. But there was a problem, sinful nature. This new covenant the prophets so eagerly searched and looked into was a fulfillment of the law, I will put My law within them and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.7 He replaced my heart of stone with one that is alive in him. Is the law and prophesy done away with? surely not. Jesus said, all the law and prophets hang on two commandments; loving God with all your, heart, mind, soul, and strength, and loving your neighbor as yourself.8 These two commandments fulfill or complete the law. And Jesus said, By this shall all men know that you are my disciples, if you have love one to another.9 He prayed to the Father that we would be as one as they were one, by such others will know he is from the Father and will see his love in us.10

John writes of two commandments in his book. One is the commandment to believe. To believe is to know him, to know him is to love him, the greatest commandment. The other commandment John mentions is to love one another as believers. And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us.11  But why only these two? they fulfill the law. If I die without justification, without the law being fulfilled in me, I will die in lawlessness and my sin will be unforgivable. Jesus came to take sin away, His righteousness is completed in me by the works He did. When I believe. He gives me His Spirit, the power to overcome sin in the flesh. Through the Spirit his words renew my mind so that I will know and do his will. His words are Spirit and Truth, teaching and instructing me as his laws are put in my mind, written on my heart.12 Such empowers me to be full of Grace and Truth as he is.  

 Believe and love others. The other sign of the fulfillment of the law within me is agape love, God is love, so I should be like him. This agape love is being perfected in me, in the renewal of my mind, with the end goal of having the mind of Christ. Having the mind of Christ I will love like he loves and not transgress the law. It is the principles of the Law of Sin and the Law of the Spirit at work. If I am carnally minded I am under the law of sin, if Spiritually minded, under the law life and peace. Grace motivates me to be pure, and this is the hope I have in him. This is how I know he abides in me and I in him; that I do not practice lawlessness. I have this power in me to be Spiritually minded, and to love my brother. If I know him I am practicing righteousness and I am loving my brother. It is not that I can not sin or miss the mark, if I am carnally minded I will, but it is not me, but sin in me.  Why is love a sign of abiding in him? I can be good in the flesh, I can follow the law, many of the Pharisees were good at this, but Jesus said they were externally clean, internally unclean. 

To believe and to love requires the Spirit and Truth. Many of the leaders at the time of Jesus did not love God, their hearts were far from him and they did not love others as God requires. They did not know God, Jesus compares knowing him to loving the least of these. The words of Jesus are Truth and Spirit, believing is the work of God. John writes of a new commandment Jesus gave, it was an old one as a new one because Jesus showed us what agape love was like; love as he loved he commanded. The foundation of His gospel of Grace and Truth is teaching based upon this understanding of agape love. The golden rule says we are to treat others as we would want to be treated. We are to judge others the way we would want to be judged. We are to love others as He loves us. Jesus said, no greater love than one would lay down his life for a friend, he is our friend. I might die for a righteous man but for a sinner? surely not. It is possible to follow the law in the flesh, but is it possible to agape love in the flesh?

 God is love and love is everlasting. This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters.15 Does this mean I should go die for him? If he calls. I would go only if I have been perfected in his love, this would require such. But I should lay down my life daily for him, his spirit empowers me to die to self and live in him, daily. If I have worldly goods and see my brother in need and I shut up my heart, then his love has not been perfected in me.16 If I say I will help and do not, then I do not love as he does, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth.

 Jesus equated knowing him to loving the least of these.17 When did we not love the least of these they said? when you did not feed or clothe them, when you did not visit them in prison, the least of these. When you did not love them as I did, this you did unto me, as knowing me is loving these. James writes, pure religion is helping the widows and orphans, they are faultless, there is no excuse not to love them, if you love God. Do not be deceived, do not show up to the wedding feast of the King in your own righteousness, one of being a good person by following the law in the flesh, performing many works in His name. Show up in garments of his righteousness, having a relationship with him, knowing Him, loving him and others.

 He commanded us to believe and to love. If believing in him is knowing him and knowing him is loving him then believing is loving him and loving others, what great love he so lavished on us. Love is a sign of knowing him, it is a fruit of the Spirit which we receive upon believing.18 How do I know I am his child? I love him. I love him because I know him, because he first loved me. His Spirit lives within me. And because of this Great Love I follow his commandments, and this is his commandment that I love others. We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. He who does not love his brother abides in death.19  What great love the Father has lavished on us.

This is our confidence on the day of judgement, that we have lived like Him, loved as he loved.20

Won't You Be My Love

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