God’s Law of Love
Psalm 1:1-2, Modern English Version
1 Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stands in the path of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
2 but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and in His law he meditates day and night.
Matthew 22:36-40, Modern English Version
36 “Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?”
37 Jesus said to him, “ ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind.’[a] 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the
second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’[b] 40 On these two
commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
a. Matthew 22:37 Dt 6:5.
b. Matthew 22:39 Lev 19:18.
John 13:34
Modern English Version
34 “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you,
that you also love one another.”
Matthew 18:21-22, Modern English Version
21 Then Peter came to Him and said, “Lord, how often shall I forgive my brother who sins
against me? Up to seven times?”
22 Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.
Matthew 7:12, Modern English Version
12 Therefore, everything you would like men to do to you, do also to them, for this is the
Law and the Prophets.
Matthew 7, Modern English Version
Judging Others
7 “Judge not, that you be not judged. 2 For with what judgment you judge, you will be
judged. And with the measure you use, it will be measured again for you.
3 “And why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not consider the plank
that is in your own eye? 4 Or how will you say to your brother, ‘Let me pull the speck out of
your eye,’ when a log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite! First take the plank out of your
own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.
Romans 2:1, New English Translation
The Condemnation of the Moralist
2 Therefore you are without excuse, whoever you are, when you judge someone else. For
on whatever grounds you judge another, you condemn yourself, because you who judge
practice the same things.
1 Corinthians 13, New English Translation
The Way of Love
13 If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but I do not have love, I am a noisy gong or
a clanging cymbal. 2 And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and
if I have all faith so that I can remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. 3 If I
give away everything I own, and if I give over my body in order to boast, but do not have
love, I receive no benefit.
4 Love is patient, love is kind, it is not envious. Love does not brag, it is not puffed up. 5 It is
not rude, it is not self-serving, it is not easily angered or resentful. 6 It is not glad about
injustice, but rejoices in the truth. 7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things,
endures all things.
8 Love never ends. But if there are prophecies, they will be set aside; if there are tongues,
they will cease; if there is knowledge, it will be set aside. 9 For we know in part, and we
prophesy in part, 10 but when what is perfect comes, the partial will be set aside. 11 When I
was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. But when I
became an adult, I set aside childish ways. 12 For now we see in a mirror indirectly, but then
we will see face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I have been
fully known. 13 And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these
is love.
1 John 4:8, New English Translation
8 The person who does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Luke 17:20-21, Modern English Version
The Coming of the Kingdom
20 When He was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, He
answered them, “The kingdom of God does not come with observation. 21 Nor will they say,
‘Here it is!’ or ‘There it is!’ For remember, the kingdom of God is within you.”
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The Kingdom of God (Heaven) is in the heart and mind
Wickedness – evil advice that does not bring the Kingdom of God into people’s hearts and
minds (thoughts and feelings); evil advice – brings heavy burden, guilt, judgment
Matthew 23:15
Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea
to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a
child of hell as you are.
Matthew 23:4
They tie up heavy, cumbersome loads and put them on other people's shoulders, but they
themselves are not willing to lift a finger to move them.
Matthew 23:13, Modern English Version
13 “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You shut the kingdom of heaven against
men. For you neither enter yourselves, nor allow those who are entering to go in.