"Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets." Matthew 22:37-40
Matthew 22And Jesus answered and spake unto them again by parables, and said, The kingdom of heaven is like unto a certain king, which made a marriage for his son, And sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding: and they would not come. Again, he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them which are bidden, Behold, I have prepared my dinner: my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come unto the marriage. But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his farm, another to his merchandise: And the remnant took his servants, and entreated them spitefully, and slew them. But when the king heard thereof, he was wroth: and he sent forth his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned up their city. Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they which were bidden were not worthy. Go ye therefore into the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage. So those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good: and the wedding was furnished with guests.And when the king came in to see the guests, he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment: And he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding garment? And he was speechless. Then said the king to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him into outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. For many are called, but few are chosen.Then went the Pharisees, and took counsel how they might entangle him in his talk. And they sent out unto him their disciples with the Herodians, saying, Master, we know that thou art true, and teachest the way of God in truth, neither carest thou for any man: for thou regardest not the person of men. Tell us therefore, What thinkest thou? Is it lawful to give tribute unto Caesar, or not?But Jesus perceived their wickedness, and said, Why tempt ye me, ye hypocrites? Shew me the tribute money. And they brought unto him a penny. And he saith unto them, Whose is this image and superscription? They say unto him, Caesar's.Then saith he unto them, Render therefore unto Caesar the things which are Caesar's; and unto God the things that are God's.When they had heard these words, they marvelled, and left him, and went their way.The same day came to him the Sadducees, which say that there is no resurrection, and asked him, Saying, Master, Moses said, If a man die, having no children, his brother shall marry his wife, and raise up seed unto his brother. Now there were with us seven brethren: and the first, when he had married a wife, deceased, and, having no issue, left his wife unto his brother: Likewise the second also, and the third, unto the seventh. And last of all the woman died also. Therefore in the resurrection whose wife shall she be of the seven? for they all had her.Jesus answered and said unto them, Ye do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. For in the resurrection they neither marry, nor are given in marriage, but are as the angels of God in heaven. But as touching the resurrection of the dead, have ye not read that which was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob? God is not the God of the dead, but of the living.And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law?Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.While the Pharisees were gathered together, Jesus asked them, Saying, What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?They say unto him, The son of David.He saith unto them, How then doth David in spirit call him Lord, saying,
The Lord said unto my Lord,Sit thou on my right hand,till I make thine enemies thy footstool?If David then call him Lord, how is he his son?And no man was able to answer him a word, neither durst any man from that day forth ask him any more questions.
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"Although some religious leaders profess to accept Scripture as “God’s Word,” their low view of “inspiration” belies the fact. They believe and teach that Scripture is, to a very significant degree, man’s word. Many of their statements are in essential disagreement with those of Jesus Christ. From the evidence of their books, we conclude that some Christian leaders are opposite to Christ in His regard for the authority, the inspiration, and the inerrancy of Scripture."
Jesus Christ on the Infallibility of Scripture
by David Livingston
Jesus Christ on the Infallibility of Scripture
by David Livingston
“A lawyer … tempting him.” This man, evidently an expert in the law of Moses, sought to confuse and bewilder Jesus by a question that many of the Jewish authorities had debated for centuries, as to the relative importance of each of the Ten Commandments.
“Thou shalt love the Lord thy God.” Jesus replied by quoting from Deuteronomy 6:5. If God is loved supremely, no one will violate anything He has commanded. This covers particularly the first table of the law, which sets forth man’s duty to God. “The first and great commandment.” To violate this is, therefore, in the legal dispensation, the greatest of all sins.
“Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” This was a quotation from Leviticus 19:18 and covers all of the second table, for “love worketh no ill to his neighbour” (Romans 13:10). He who loves mankind in this way will not violate any of the laws that have to do with the rights of others (Romans 13:8-9).
“On these … hang all the law and the prophets.” Where love reigns, all else will be as it should be, for no one who truly loves God and his neighbor will intentionally wrong either (Matthew 7:12). All the law and the prophets hang therefore upon these two commandments cited by Jesus, for every sin that we might possibly commit is either a wrong done to God Himself or to our fellow men. The salvation provided for us is first of all an atonement, or propitiation, to meet all our sins, and then a regeneration to enable us to love God and our neighbor so as to cease from sin.
When the heart is right with God, and He is loved supremely, man too will be loved unselfishly, and so the whole life will be ordered in obedience to the divine Word. Love delights to serve the one loved, and thus it preserves from all that would grieve God or injure ones neighbor. But no natural man has ever thus fulfilled the law. The selfishness that is inherent in our very natures renders this impossible. When renewed by divine grace, the love of God is shed abroad in the heart by the Holy Spirit (Romans 5:5). Our Lord’s teaching was designed to convict of sin and to make manifest the need of regeneration. Man has become alienated from God through the fall. When born again by the Word and the Holy Spirit, he receives eternal life. It is the very nature of this new life to love because it is divine (2 Peter 1:4). Therefore, love becomes the controlling principle of the life of the man in Christ. Walking not after the flesh but after the Spirit, the righteousness of the law comes to fulfillment in Him (Romans 8:4), and he finds it as easy to love God and his neighbor as before it was easy to live in selfishness and ill will toward others. A new power dominates him. This is the positive evidence of the new birth (1 John 3:14; 1 John 5:1-2)."
H.A. Ironside
Matthew 22