The Essence of Biblical Christianity:

[Aquila]

Here is yet another example of the essence of Christianity being love for God and love for others, not rule keeping…

Luke 10:25-29
King James Version (KJV)
25And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
....

A lawyer wanted to know what was necessary to gain eternal life. Jesus asks him how he interprets the law. You will notice that the lawyer answered that he believed that the law should be interpreted as teaching that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. You’ll also note that Jesus’ response was that he answered rightly, and if he were to do this, he would “live” (eternal life). Of course, the man goes on to justify himself, and that’s beyond the scope of this particular post.

What I see here is that Jesus illustrates that the man is right about his assessment of the law and what man is truly obligated to do before God and man.

Again, the essence of Christianity has nothing to do with rule keeping, standards, holy days, holidays, dietary codes, dress codes, the ten commandments, or the law of Moses. The essence of true Christianity is LOVE. A love for God and a love for others. If we govern our choices in accordance to our love for God and our love for others in accordance to the Spirit… by our love, we will indeed fulfill the very essence and spirit of the law.

No law keeping or standards keeping necessary. We must LOVE!

[Michael The Disciple]

Originally Posted by Aquila

Here is yet another example of the essence of Christianity being love for God and love for others, not rule keeping…

Luke 10:25-29
King James Version (KJV)
25And, behold, a certain lawyer stood up, and tempted him, saying, Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?
26He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
27And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.
28And he said unto him, Thou hast answered right: this do, and thou shalt live.
29But he, willing to justify himself, said unto Jesus, And who is my neighbour?
....

A lawyer wanted to know what was necessary to gain eternal life. Jesus asks him how he interprets the law. You will notice that the lawyer answered that he believed that the law should be interpreted as teaching that we love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. You’ll also note that Jesus’ response was that he answered rightly, and if he were to do this, he would “live” (eternal life). Of course, the man goes on to justify himself, and that’s beyond the scope of this particular post.

What I see here is that Jesus illustrates that the man is right about his assessment of the law and what man is truly obligated to do before God and man.

Again, the essence of Christianity has nothing to do with rule keeping, standards, holy days, holidays, dietary codes, dress codes, the ten commandments, or the law of Moses. The essence of true Christianity is LOVE. A love for God and a love for others. If we govern our choices in accordance to our love for God and our love for others in accordance to the Spirit… by our love, we will indeed fulfill the very essence and spirit of the law.

No law keeping or standards keeping necessary. We must LOVE!

I dont think anyone ever said RULE KEEPING is the essence of Christianity.

My own problem with what you and MB said was when you minimize the words of Jesus where he speaks about keeping his commands.

He said IF YOU LOVE ME........keep my commands.

He gave commands. The Apostles in turn taught them to us. If one does not LOVE JESUS as demonstrated by obedience he will suffer Gehenna fire. This is taught by Jesus and proclaimed to the Church and the world.

[Aquila]

Originally Posted by Michael The Disciple

I dont think anyone ever said RULE KEEPING is the essence of Christianity.

My own problem with what you and MB said was when you minimize the words of Jesus where he speaks about keeping his commands.

He said IF YOU LOVE ME........keep my commands.

He gave commands. The Apostles in turn taught them to us. If one does not LOVE JESUS as demonstrated by obedience he will suffer Gehenna fire. This is taught by Jesus and proclaimed to the Church and the world.

Amen. However, again we're in this web of your arbitrary statement. What are Christ's commands?

I believe that there are two principle commandments that govern all that Jesus taught; and should govern all that we do. And those commandments are these:

Matthew 22:37-40 (KJV)
37Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
38This is the first and great commandment.
39And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The entire law was nailed to the cross. Much of what we see Jesus teaching is with regards to the law as a response to various questions about the law. Consider all that the Pharisees challenged him with. Take into consideration, Jesus told a man who was healed to show himself to a priest to be pronounced clean, per the law. One could chose to conclude from this that Jesus affirms even the ceremonial cleansing ordinances of the law. But we know that isn't true. The truth is, Jesus Christ boiled it all down to this: Love God. Love others. Love.

Paul also illustrates this:

Galatians 5:13-14
13For, brethren, ye have been called unto liberty; only use not liberty for an occasion to the flesh, but by love serve one another.
14For all the law is fulfilled in one word, even in this; Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

Therefore, Christianity isn't like other religions. If I became Hindu or Muslim I'd have to dress a certain way and adopt an Islamic culture, diet, etc. However, Christianity can flurish in any culture, enriching it, sanctifying it. How? By bringing those in that culture to loving God with all their hearts... and loving one another.

So, I don't minimize Christ's commandments when he speaks of them. I simply hold that Christ's commandments are these:

- Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
- Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

If I'm mistaken... please list all of Christ's commandments so that we can know for certain if we are walking in a way that pleases him.

[Aquila]

Here's another passage I've been studying on this...

Romans 13:8-10 (ESV)
8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

We are called to love God and love others. Law keeping, rule keeping, standard keeping, etc. is not what God desires. God desires love.