-OBJECTION: Loving your neighbor is the only biblical command that really matters.
-RESPONSE: That’s a common sentiment today, but unfortunately, it is demonstratively false. While loving one’s neighbor is a key component in both the Old and New Testaments (Lev. 19:18; Mk. 12:31), it is far from being the only key component. And while Jesus did esteem love among other commitments, He also emphasized man’s sinfulness, the holiness of God, the coming judgment, the reality of hell, and the need for man to turn from sin.
Friend, I can’t stress this enough: the Bible is not a spiritual buffet; you can’t choose only the parts you want while ignoring others. It is a harmonious text meant to be understood as God’s authoritative revelation to man and interpreted in light of its context, covenant, history, culture, grammar, and literary genre. One could make the case that our responsibility to submit to God in all areas through the Messiah (Christ Jesus) in order to be reconciled to Him and avoid His judgment is the premier concept of the Bible.
In the end, loving one’s neighbor is a must; it’s important and we can always afford to love each other more. However, this love cannot be at the expense of truth and at the expense of other biblical commands. If we honestly interpret the Script and consider the actions of Jesus and the Apostles, we’d agree that biblical love requires truth even when that truth is unpopular. That same love requires examination and application of the “whole counsel of God” or a full-orbed review of scriptures relevant to a given topic. Just as it was when Jesus denounced the Pharisees for their hypocrisy regarding their scrupulous practice of tithing spices, we ought to obey the “lighter” commands of Scripture without forsaking weightier ones (Mt. 23:23). This means being attentive to the command to love, while also remembering the Christian position to speak the truth with love (Eph. 4:15).
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