I’m sorry, beloved sister Galatea, but I disagree.
At first, the command of the Jesus is:
- “A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all [ men ] know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.” (John 13.34,35).
- “This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you. Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15.12,13).
After all, Jesus came to set us free from what separate us from Him and from the neighbor. So what so that we are called “Bride of the Lamb”
(Rev 21.9), “Body of the Christ”, “God's husbandry”
(in which each person is a plant in our garden), “God's building”
(in which each person is a stone in our temple - 1Cor 3.9; 1Peter 2.5-7). So to speak, all these are expressions of relationship.
If this is not enough, note that Jesus puts His Spirit in us to lead us towards a perfect unity
(see Acts 4.32; 1Cor 1.10; Phil 4.2):
- “And now I am no more in the world, but these are in the world, and I come to thee. Holy Father, keep through thine own name those whom thou hast given me, that they may be one, as we [ are ].” (John 17.11);
- That they all may be one; as thou, Father, [ art ] in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me.” (John 17.21-23).
Unfortunately, most people consider this commandment very hard to follow.
And this isn’t from today:
- “For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest, and the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which [ voice ] they that heard entreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more: ( For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart: and so terrible was the sight, [ that ] Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: )” (Heb 12.18-21).
Many of those who followed Jesus also considered difficult to receive His words:
- “Many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard [ this ], said, This is an hard saying; who can hear it?” (John 6.60).
Even the apostles considered hard;
- “Take heed to yourselves: If thy brother trespass against thee, rebuke him; and if he repent, forgive him. And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him. And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.” (Luke 17.3-5).
And why does this happen? To this day most didn’t understand the work of Jesus in the cross. They continue prisoners of their desires, ignoring that sin is all that separates us from others and from God.
Come the question: how, then, go to the heaven, but without exercising the love? From this unfortunate attempt came up what is known as religion.
Religion is nothing but the most several ways invented by men to, supposedly, arrive to the heaven. Of course, this is a crazy idea:
- “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” (Matthew 7.21).
Even if the laws adopted by religion was taken away from the Sacred Scripture, it won’t work. See the proof thereof:
- And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, ( for the mountain did burn with fire, ) that ye came near unto me, [ even ] all the heads of your tribes, and your elders; and ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth. Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die. For who [ is there of ] all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we [ have ], and lived? Go thou near, and hear all that the LORD our God shall say: and speak thou unto us all that the LORD our God shall speak unto thee; and we will hear [ it ], and do [ it ].” (Deut 5.23-27).
Israel thought that the only thing the Eternal wished was obedience. Well, wherefore God would want obedience? What benefit this would bring to Him
(see John 5.34,41; Acts 17.24,25)? Does He need of us for something? Does it exist something that we can do to hinder His plans
(see Job 35.6,7; Job 42.2; Isa 43.13)? The only way to please Him is accepting the Eternal knit Jesus together inside of us.
Beyond that, what Israel didn’t know is that, without the mighty voice of the Eternal to carry out His Word in us, we, don’t only disobey His will, but also distort His word. This was what Israel did:
- “It is also written in your law, that the testimony of two men is true.” (John 8.17)
- “Jesus answered them, is it not written in your law, I said, Ye are gods?” (John 10.34).
- “Then said Pilate unto them, Take ye him, and judge him according to your law. The Jews therefore said unto him, It is not lawful for us to put any man to death:” (John 18.31).
Observe that all these principles were taken away from the Sacred Scripture. Notwithstanding, they was called Jew’s laws. They are obeying in their own way, without any regarding the real purpose of the law, that is, to bind people together.
We can see this in other passages:
- “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:” (Matthew 5.21).
- “Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not commit adultery:” (Matthew 5.27).
- “Again, ye have heard that it hath been said by them of old time, Thou shalt not forswear thyself, but shalt perform unto the Lord thine oaths:” (Matthew 5.33).
- “Ye have heard that it hath been said, An eye for an eye, and a tooth for a tooth:” (Matthew 5.38).
- “Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.” (Matthew 5.43).
Note, mainly in the green verses, that the Jews only heard the Eternal’s laws from the mouth of others, transforming people in slaves to serve the law
(see Mark 2.27).
On the other hand, if we hear the voice of Jesus
(like ordain Matthew 11.15; 13.9,43; Mark 4.23; Luke 14.35; Rev 2.7,11,17,29; 3.6,13,22), He will carry out in us all His will
(see Phil 1.6; 2.12,13) and will be with us forever:
- “If ye love me, keep my commandments.” (John 14.15).
- “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.” (John 14.15,21).
- “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.” (John 15.10).
Detail: Son of the Eternal is only one who is guided by Jesus’ Spirit:
- “For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.” (Rom 8.14).
