A Lawyer Questions Jesus in the Temple CourtBible World
10:26Luke 10:26
He said unto him, What is written in the law? how readest thou?
Jesus met the question about inheriting eternal life by turning it back on the questioner, requiring him to answer both what is written in the law and how he reads, understands and applies it. The right reading so drawn out is supreme love to God with all heart, soul, mind and strength and impartial, unselfish love to one's neighbor as oneself, which are the two great principles on which hang all the law and the prophets and are expressed in the Ten Commandments. He affirmed that answer as right and made doing it in thought, word and deed, not merely knowing, professing or observing outward ceremony, the condition of living forever. Fallen people cannot keep that law in their own strength, but only through Christ's grace, atonement and converting power received by faith working in an indwelling Saviour. Neighbor means not merely one's own race, faith or friends but anyone who needs help, as shown when the Samaritan pitied, bound up, carried, paid for and promised further care for the wounded man the priest and Levite passed by, proving true religion is loving deeds that bring the greatest good to others.
Setting and Questioner's Motive
The question came when a lawyer stood up to test Jesus about what he must do to inherit eternal life, prompted in bitter hatred by Pharisees, priests, rulers and lawyers, and in some accounts by Herodians and Sadducees after they had been silenced. It was asked in public before a large crowd listening with intense interest, with many Pharisees and others waiting to twist His words to hurt His influence, report Him to the Jewish authorities, and catch something to secure His accusation and condemnation and even destroy His life. The lawyer approached with prejudice and a spirit of controversy, seeking grounds to condemn rather than sincerely to understand the truth, and the question was a trap put on his lips by scribes and Pharisees and sent by the Jews.
Jesus entered into no controversy and gave no intricate or speculative answer, but required the answer from the questioner himself and laid the burden of answering upon him. By asking what is written in the law and how he reads it He turned the question back, directed him to answer from Scripture he already understood, and showed the question was needless because he could answer it himself from the law and the prophets. In this way He placed the answer in the law and called for attention both to what it says and to how it is read and explained, rather than debating whether the law given at Sinai is regarded.
Christ knew the heart, designs, purposes and plotting of the questioner and of those who sent him, reading their plotting hearts and understanding their plan to set a trap to catch Him in His words. With self-possession, wisdom, authority and kindness He threw the burden of the answer back upon the lawyer himself, knowing he understood the claims of God's law. By drawing the summary of the law from the lawyer's own lips He disappointed those waiting for an accusable word, met and defeated His adversaries, and gave no occasion to accuse and condemn Him before the people.
The setting also shows the lawyer setting aside ceremonial and ritual precepts as having no value in his answer in order to name the law's real meaning in its two great principles. His answer and his inquiry about eternal life show a sincere desire to learn that real meaning.
Scripture Reading and Authority
Jesus met the question about eternal life by asking what stands written in the law and how it is read, sending the questioner to answer from Scripture itself. The two questions together require attention both to what the law says and to how it is read, understood and applied. How it is read still sounds down to the present and calls for attention, placing responsibility on each person to examine how he reads and obeys. That reading is to be tested by whether a life is lived according to God's Word, with the written requirements and their understanding placed at the center of the answer.
Scripture is thereby made the authority, foundation and safeguard for faith and for learning what God requires for eternal life. The written Word, not human wisdom, is the authority for answering questions, and objections are to be met from it by those who know it and answer from it. God's conditions are to be learned through thoughtful, prayerful study for oneself, not settled by human opinions, religious teachers, sayings of men or tradition unless they agree with God's Word. Good intentions, personal confidence or conviction, and reliance on a minister's judgment or advice cannot replace searching Scripture for oneself, because salvation is at stake. Scripture is the inspired source of light and knowledge and a sure guide for understanding and doing the work God gives, and searching it prepares people to meet temptation with God's Word, which drives Satan back, so that those who rely on its living testimony are safe from his power.
It was Christ's constant practice to answer questions by pointing to Scripture and asking what is written and how it is read. When a question was brought, His answer was Have ye not read, What saith the Scriptures, What is written in the law, for He directed questioners to the great storehouse of knowledge and desired to teach them to make the Word their dependence. He knew He could not always be with them in human form, and He referred them to His own inspired Word, that when tempted by the enemy they might meet him as He had done, saying It is written, and thus the enemy could be repulsed, for he has no power over the one who relies on the testimony of God's Word. The subject of His teaching was the Word of God, explained everywhere He went — from place to place, by the sea, on the mountainside, in the streets, in the synagogue, and in the outer court of the temple so Gentiles could hear — taking the gospel to the poor in highways and byways rather than taking the highest place among teachers. At every awakened interest, whether from friend or foe, He presented the Word with clearness and power, shedding new light on patriarchs and prophets so the Scriptures came as a new revelation of depth of meaning, and this plain appeal arrested attention because it was unlike the scribes and Pharisees, who dwelt on tradition and human theory and speculation and often put what men had taught and written in place of Scripture itself.
The question is the ruling test for those who trust in God rather than in man and make the Word their guide, meaning every opinion and sentiment of men is to be tested by what is written, how it is read, and what God has said, with human words valued only as far as God's Word endorses them. Keeping that question ever in mind with earnest prayer keeps a person calm and composed above boisterous accusations and shocks that ruffle minds, unswayed from right principles by men even in the highest position, refusing questionable paths and having the feet prepared with the gospel of peace. The all-important question of what to do to inherit eternal life has been clearly answered in what is written and how it is read, and it calls for appreciating and studying the grand, elevating truths God has given for adults and children. No time is to be spent seeking to know what gives no spiritual help, and speculative questions such as who will compose the 144,000 are not essential to salvation, would have been told by Christ if they were, and will be known without question by the elect in a short time. It is Christ's recipe for convicted souls asking what they must do, to be read and used at times of deep need and conviction, giving a short plain answer that brings truth within reach instead of long discourses that put the crib too high, while essential truths about salvation and practical duty are made clear in Scripture.
The law faithfully presents God's principles and claims in Scripture, so ignorance does not excuse young or old for transgressing it. Each person must search Scripture thoughtfully and prayerfully for himself because eternal interests are at stake, must learn the truth, follow it, and answer to God. Knowing its teaching is each person's responsibility in order to cooperate with Him in the saving of the soul, requiring diligent, personal, prayerful study rather than reliance on human opinions, traditions, or teachers unless they agree with God's Word.
Law's Twofold Love Requirement
Jesus met the question about inheriting eternal life by pointing to what stands written in the law and to how it is read, and the reading thus drawn from the lawyer himself is love to the Lord God with all heart and soul and strength and mind, and love to one's neighbor as oneself. That answer was affirmed as right, with the assurance that doing it gives life, so the law stands as the standard of righteousness and the condition of eternal life to be kept in the heart and carried out in life, not merely observed outwardly. Setting the affections on the things of this life and failing to love God with all the heart and the neighbor as self leaves the conditions unfulfilled, and there is no expectation of being saved without repenting and turning to God with all the soul. Wholehearted love centered on Christ and active love for others belong together, leading the one who loves to work to share the truth with those he loves.
Supreme love to God and unselfish, impartial love to neighbor as self are the two great principles on which hang all the law and the prophets, encompassing the whole duty of humanity and outlining the whole duty of man. Doing them is living out the law rather than merely professing religion, and obeying them through Christlike love gains eternal life, brings peace and happiness and joy into home and church, expresses God's wisdom and power, and forms characters fit for heaven. Failing to fulfill these vital principles, even while professing knowledge of the truth, preaching the Word, and understanding all mysteries, brings eating the fruit of one's own doings and being filled with one's own devices. That twofold love is expressed in the Ten Commandments, with the first four defining duty to God and the last six defining duty to fellow men. This is the sum and substance of the law of God and the living principles of salvation and terms of salvation for every son and daughter of Adam, where the ten Thou shalt and Thou shalt not stand as ten promises secured to those who render obedience to the law governing the universe, opening a living connection with heaven for those who do it so they become channels of light to the world.
The law in view is the Ten Commandments given to Israel at Sinai, sacred teachings written by God on tables of stone as the foundation of all truth and the rule of action grounded in righteousness, whose precepts their custodians had nearly lost sight of. It is the original moral law that stood immutable and held its claims on people in all ages when the typical sacrifices ceased at the death of Christ, not repealed or relaxed, so that in the Christian age human duty is not lessened, limited, or relaxed but more fully carried out, more extended, more especially defined and simply expressed. Loving God wholly takes in all there is of a person, not one quarter or one half or two thirds, but the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength with undivided affection and entire consecration. That requirement reaches to the inner sanctuary of the soul's affections and claims for God the first place, the first thoughts, and the first action, allowing no separation of the affections from Him and no second place for His claims.
It embraces will power, speech, hearing, sight, physical strength and powers, time, influence, talents, and possessions, with all the powers of mind and body and the whole wealth of affection laid at His feet and consecrated to the Master's service, turning away from the glitter of the world to the attractions of heaven and appreciating the atonement. These are binding terms of salvation requiring the whole person to be converted, for God does not accept a divided heart, and any soul or object that divides the affections, engages the mind, and is enthroned in the heart takes the form of an idol. Duty to God comes first, and wholehearted worship, love, and service to God prepare a person to love and value those for whom Christ died. Supreme love for God sanctifies the affections and bears fruit in love to mankind and makes an obedient member of the heavenly family, while loving worldly name, position, wealth, or anything that makes one forget God is idolatry, and the second commandment is easily disobeyed if the first is not kept.
Obedience Gives Eternal Life
Jesus met the question about inheriting eternal life by turning the lawyer to what stands written in the law and how he reads it, and the reading drawn out was supreme love to the Lord God with all heart and soul and strength and mind and love to one's neighbor as oneself. He affirmed that answer as right and said this do and thou shalt live, making doing the requirement in practice the way to live and the condition of eternal life. Doing means keeping the standard in the heart and not merely knowing its letter, preaching it, professing it, or observing outward ceremony. Setting the affections on the things of this life and failing to love God with all the heart and the neighbor as self leaves the conditions unfulfilled, so there can be no expectation of being saved without repenting and turning to God with all the soul. Wholehearted love centered on Christ carries active love to others that works to share the truth with them, and the neighbor is the one who shows mercy, as seen when the priest and Levite passed by the half-dead man on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho while the Samaritan pitied him, bound his wounds with oil and wine, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, paid two pence and promised to repay more, with the command to go and do likewise.
Eternal life is therefore tied to keeping God's commandments through obedience in thought and word and deed. The conditions for salvation are not left indistinct and indefinite, are not made on feeling or emotion or mere assent to evidence, but on taking the distinct course laid out in the law of loving God wholly and neighbor as self. That question concerns an eternal interest lasting through eternity, with the incorruptible inheritance, the building made by God and not by human hands, and the home on the earth made new at stake, and it calls for intelligent knowledge and careful attention as careful as businessmen give to temporal investments, because it is unsafe to run risk over soul salvation. Reading God's Word must be with firm determination to obey its precepts, for its principles practiced in love to God lead to the highest good in this life and to everlasting life as the reward of obedience. Christ lived in obedience to God's law so that people might obey and be saved, and carrying out every principle God requires, rather than telling men that belief alone is enough regardless of what is believed, is the way to live.
The law cannot be kept in one's own strength, for fallen people can love God and neighbor as required only through Christ's virtue and grace, accepted through belief in His propitiation for sin. Christ's sacrifice makes forgiveness possible without abolishing or diminishing the law's holy and binding claims, and the transgressor's only hope is to believe in Christ as Redeemer. Obedience is possible through Jesus Christ's merits, and doing what the law requires calls for taking the eyes from self to behold Jesus the perfect Pattern, striving for the same perfection of character, looking steadfastly to Him, sincerely examining self and cutting away everything unlike Him, diligently studying the Word and eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. That doing tests wholeheartedness for God in abandoning the service of Satan and sin and wicked associates and receiving Jesus Christ with soul and body and spirit, which requires the converting power of God upon soul and character to become sons and daughters of God, refined and ennobled and elevated as members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. Choosing Christ and the truth in this way can bring separation from the world and from those who refuse the truth, and people must not reject the law's light or seek another way to eternal life.
That answer stands for all time and settles the question of what must be done to inherit eternal life. It gives light and assurance to everyone asking how to receive eternal life, for the Old Testament Scriptures were Israel's lesson book and this teaching provides essential light for every soul. It comprehends the entire duty of man and what accepting the gospel message means, requiring forsaking all to follow Christ with an undivided heart that loves God supremely and neighbor as self, with no adequate excuse for refusal, and opening the lesson that every needy soul is our neighbor. It will decide the case of everyone standing before God in the last great day, for the law of Jehovah, not human policy and human inventions, will decide the destiny of men and women. Christ gave no intricate or speculative explanation, but clear truth in the commands to love God wholly and neighbor as oneself, calling the lawyer to apply the law's teaching with the promise that doing it leads to life.
Rejecting the law means rejecting the conditions of salvation, and people must not seek another way or refuse its light because obedience may separate them from the world. Complete obedience is the only condition that meets the requirement of the law, which claims the whole man at all times, and a life conformed to Christ cannot disobey God's commands, for supreme love to God leaves no room for sin to reign and bears fruit in obedience, while love to neighbor keeps from working ill to him. Doing the law brings reward in the present life and the life to come, while disobedience brings curse and death and the abiding wrath of God on the guilty. The law identifies sin, reveals defects of character, and convicts the sinner, and this conviction is the first step in conversion, yet salvation does not come by abolishing the law or reducing its sacred claims, for Jesus reveals Himself as the Saviour who pardons sin. By the Holy Spirit the perfect law converts the soul and gives the true meaning of genuine conversion, convicting the reader of neglect and weighing him in the balances of the sanctuary and finding him wanting where supreme love to God and equal love to neighbor are lacking, with the first four commandments toward God and the last six toward neighbor plainly specified in the holy oracles as the unchangeable and eternal gospel conditions of eternal life for every member of the human family.
Careful understanding and practice of God's law is therefore central to the question of salvation. Christian perfection is expressed in love, shown in loving God with the whole being and the neighbor as oneself and doing this as the way to live.
Neighbor and Samaritan Parable
The question about eternal life leads directly to the further question, who is my neighbor, and to the parable of the good Samaritan in answer. That parable sums up all the principles contained in God's law and presents them in a direct, forcible way, showing true Christianity and the practical test of the law's demands. Being a neighbor means showing mercy through practical care, even to someone outside one's own group, and the command that closes it is to act likewise.
A neighbor is not merely one of one's own faith, race, color, class, relative, friend, fellow church member, or like-minded person, but the whole human family. He is anyone who needs help and charity, including the wounded person, every person who belongs to God, and every sufferer to be relieved as far as possible as God's agent. He includes anyone in need of sympathy, grace and patience one can give, even someone uncourteous, disagreeable, or unlikely to return kindness, without first asking whether beliefs are shared. Doing good is therefore to all, and especially to fellow believers, making religion visible through deeds of mercy.
The parable tells of a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho who fell among thieves and was left half dead, robbed, wounded and dying. A priest and a Levite came and passed him by on the other side, leaving him without help. But a Samaritan pitied him, bound up his wounds with oil and wine, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn and cared for him, paying two pence and promising to repay more. The neighbor is thus declared to be the one who shows mercy through practical compassion, and the command is to go and do likewise.
True religion is not a matter of systems, creeds, or rites, but of loving deeds that bring the greatest good to others and express genuine goodness. The Samaritan proved himself a doer of the law by responding with kindness, sympathy and help to one in need, showing that doing rather than merely professing or preaching is expected of God's children. Supreme love to God must be an abiding principle expressed in loving deeds and words toward others, for without such love there is no true obedience, and leaving a suffering person without help breaks God's law. Its love of neighbor is impartial and active, and must be practiced, not merely observed as outward ceremony.
Knowing the law's words was not enough, for the scribes and Pharisees insisted on its letter yet failed to keep it in either letter or spirit. The lawyer knew the answer and was convicted by it, recognizing the law's righteousness while seeing himself condemned, yet he had not loved others as himself nor kept either the first four or the last six commandments. Instead of confessing sin he tried to justify and excuse himself, to defend himself before the people and evade its claim. His question about who counted as his neighbor was therefore an attempt to excuse selfishness and evade the truth when brought directly to him.
Living the Law Today
To live out what is written and how it is read is not to pass a needy brother by on the other side in order to patronize those who do not love God, but to show interest, to speak and act kindly, and to encourage and restore those fallen into decay. It is to give whatever help can be bestowed to everyone in need even when it brings inconvenience, cost, care, and anxiety, which is genuine medical missionary work and the law of God practiced. That reading calls for action through the energetic use of mental and physical powers rather than idleness or mere contemplation. Obeying the law in the setting of the good Samaritan means recognizing the needs of fellow beings and helping them promptly without first asking whether they share the same beliefs or doctrines, acting as God's helping hand in relieving suffering humanity whatever the religious belief of those in need. This practical care is true missionary work from which no one is excused, it lays the foundation for hospitals and sanitariums, and it is living the gospel.
Keeping the commandments in this way is active mercy, because Christ identifies His interest with suffering humanity. It is to stay wide awake to discern necessities and to see how to bless humanity, working in Christ's lines with constantly improving efficiency, lest those with less light rise up in the judgment to condemn those who had great light and great opportunities and did not improve them. The law requires giving Christ supreme love and cherishing a sacred regard for fellow beings through a change from selfishness to sanctified affection for God and one another, and doing this in deed and truth is the way to live while failure to do it is transgression, which is sin. Those who claim to believe the truth yet become a law unto themselves and in word and action show indifference to fellow men, hurting and tearing down, are breaking this law and are called to repentance and conversion to keep the commandments and to love one another as Christ has loved. Neglecting any case of the needy and unfortunate brought under notice, no matter who they are, leaves no assurance of eternal life, for such neglect breaks the second great commandment upon which the last six commandments depend, and to offend in one point is to be guilty of all. Those who do not open their hearts to the wants and sufferings of humanity will not open their hearts to God as required in the first four precepts of the Decalogue, because idols claim the heart and God does not reign supreme.
The law's demand is to do good to all, especially to fellow believers in need, treating the poor and stranger fairly, providing for those in need, and refusing to oppress or cheat anyone. This requires fair, honest dealing with no misrepresentation, prevarication, or saying and not doing. The same love is lived out by refusing to put anything before others that could tempt or harm them. It requires exercising sympathy and tenderness for the unfortunate, including motherless children in the home, instead of making excuses for not seeing and feeling others' woes and passing by on the other side like the priest and the Levite, for doing what the law commands gives eternal life and neglect of duty to neighbor results in loss of eternal life. Love of neighbor is shown by using what one has to help people in need and by caring for institutions in distress such as the destitute Huntsville school, with those in comfortable circumstances living contentedly, giving what is not necessary for comfort to God's work, and putting the Word into practice rather than merely reading it.
Supreme love for God governs daily conduct without selfishness and governs the use of property, for possessions are entrusted gifts to be used wisely for God's glory and eternal interests. This forbids selfish action that disregards the rights and property of others, including starting rival sanitarium work where a sanitarium is already established or interfering with the work of another, and requires that no thread of selfishness be drawn into conducting schools and sanitariums. The selfish priest and Levite who passed by represent all who disobey the law by not loving God supremely and their neighbors as themselves, while keeping His commandments means doing the work God appoints and overcoming selfish and hereditary tendencies instead of exalting self and neglecting others.
The law is a standard of righteousness that must be kept in the heart, not merely observed outwardly. It is the great test for every soul and every character, reaching to the inner sanctuary of the soul's affections and claiming for God the first place, the first thoughts, and the first action, requiring undivided affection that puts no human love before Him and leaves His claims no second place. Though one could claim ceremonial correctness and blamelessness touching the law, reliance on forms and ceremonies will not save, for God weighs the motive of the heart as well as words and actions in estimating moral worth. Bible religion is a principle in the soul, not merely the performance of virtuous acts, although virtuous acts are the natural fruits of that principle, and it is the spirit and motive in which the acts are performed rather than the mere performance that counts with God.
Obedience and service joined form a complete, balanced character, for the twofold command outlines the whole duty of man holding all the law and the prophets, and when followed it brings peace and happiness and joy into the home and the church. The law's command involves heart, soul, mind, and strength, so the whole person including physical strength is to be employed in God's service. This love is a principle to cultivate in family life and teach to children, using the question of who is neighbor to teach neighborly love through a case familiar to them.
Living the law turns the seeker away from higher education in sophistries and spiritualistic ideas to the solid foundation of Scripture and to the life given for the life of the world. Eternal life turns on learning the divine will from Scripture and doing it rather than making plans contrary to the principles enjoined, which requires taking the eyes from self to behold Jesus the perfect Pattern, striving for the same perfection of character, looking steadfastly to Him, sincerely examining self and cutting away everything unlike Him, and diligently studying the Word and eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. That serious work enlists heart, mind, soul, and strength in His service, meaning not confining labor to believers but becoming acquainted with unbelievers, placing truth before those living up to all the light they have, reaching precious souls such as those in Melbourne, loving those for whom God gave His only begotten Son, and using the open door Christ's death to redeem human beings from sin has provided to bring others into fellowship with the saints. It requires advancing God's light and glory to other parts of the world instead of selfishly centering work, means, and institutions in America while destitute fields are left without facilities.
The law so read includes the seventh-day Sabbath established when God finished creation, rested, blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, requiring obedience from Adam and every person, with true holiness as obedience to God rather than transgression and with cheerful obedience of all His commandments by those who love Him. Failing to fulfill these vital principles of love to God and love to neighbor, even while professing knowledge of the truth, preaching the Word, and understanding all mysteries, brings eating the fruit of one's own doings and being filled with one's own devices. Cherishing suspicion and imagining evil shows failure to carry out this law and brings upon oneself the evils imagined, for God will not be trifled with and His Word is to be cherished and obeyed. The question of what is written and how it is read makes personal obedience and surrender to God the test of whether a person is converted and bears Christ's character in kindness, patience, tenderness, purity, and love for souls through faith that works by love and purifies the soul, for church membership or belonging to a group cannot save.
Jesus met the question about inheriting eternal life by turning it back on the questioner, requiring him to answer both what is written in the law and how he reads, understands and applies it. The right reading so drawn out is supreme love to God with all heart, soul, mind and strength and impartial, unselfish love to one's neighbor as oneself, which are the two great principles on which hang all the law and the prophets and are expressed in the Ten Commandments. He affirmed that answer as right and made doing it in thought, word and deed, not merely knowing, professing or observing outward ceremony, the condition of living forever. Fallen people cannot keep that law in their own strength, but only through Christ's grace, atonement and converting power received by faith working in an indwelling Saviour. Neighbor means not merely one's own race, faith or friends but anyone who needs help, as shown when the Samaritan pitied, bound up, carried, paid for and promised further care for the wounded man the priest and Levite passed by, proving true religion is loving deeds that bring the greatest good to others.
Setting and Questioner's Motive
The question came when a lawyer stood up to test Jesus about what he must do to inherit eternal life, prompted in bitter hatred by Pharisees, priests, rulers and lawyers, and in some accounts by Herodians and Sadducees after they had been silenced. It was asked in public before a large crowd listening with intense interest, with many Pharisees and others waiting to twist His words to hurt His influence, report Him to the Jewish authorities, and catch something to secure His accusation and condemnation and even destroy His life. The lawyer approached with prejudice and a spirit of controversy, seeking grounds to condemn rather than sincerely to understand the truth, and the question was a trap put on his lips by scribes and Pharisees and sent by the Jews.
Jesus entered into no controversy and gave no intricate or speculative answer, but required the answer from the questioner himself and laid the burden of answering upon him. By asking what is written in the law and how he reads it He turned the question back, directed him to answer from Scripture he already understood, and showed the question was needless because he could answer it himself from the law and the prophets. In this way He placed the answer in the law and called for attention both to what it says and to how it is read and explained, rather than debating whether the law given at Sinai is regarded.
Christ knew the heart, designs, purposes and plotting of the questioner and of those who sent him, reading their plotting hearts and understanding their plan to set a trap to catch Him in His words. With self-possession, wisdom, authority and kindness He threw the burden of the answer back upon the lawyer himself, knowing he understood the claims of God's law. By drawing the summary of the law from the lawyer's own lips He disappointed those waiting for an accusable word, met and defeated His adversaries, and gave no occasion to accuse and condemn Him before the people.
The setting also shows the lawyer setting aside ceremonial and ritual precepts as having no value in his answer in order to name the law's real meaning in its two great principles. His answer and his inquiry about eternal life show a sincere desire to learn that real meaning.
Scripture Reading and Authority
Jesus met the question about eternal life by asking what stands written in the law and how it is read, sending the questioner to answer from Scripture itself. The two questions together require attention both to what the law says and to how it is read, understood and applied. How it is read still sounds down to the present and calls for attention, placing responsibility on each person to examine how he reads and obeys. That reading is to be tested by whether a life is lived according to God's Word, with the written requirements and their understanding placed at the center of the answer.
Scripture is thereby made the authority, foundation and safeguard for faith and for learning what God requires for eternal life. The written Word, not human wisdom, is the authority for answering questions, and objections are to be met from it by those who know it and answer from it. God's conditions are to be learned through thoughtful, prayerful study for oneself, not settled by human opinions, religious teachers, sayings of men or tradition unless they agree with God's Word. Good intentions, personal confidence or conviction, and reliance on a minister's judgment or advice cannot replace searching Scripture for oneself, because salvation is at stake. Scripture is the inspired source of light and knowledge and a sure guide for understanding and doing the work God gives, and searching it prepares people to meet temptation with God's Word, which drives Satan back, so that those who rely on its living testimony are safe from his power.
It was Christ's constant practice to answer questions by pointing to Scripture and asking what is written and how it is read. When a question was brought, His answer was Have ye not read, What saith the Scriptures, What is written in the law, for He directed questioners to the great storehouse of knowledge and desired to teach them to make the Word their dependence. He knew He could not always be with them in human form, and He referred them to His own inspired Word, that when tempted by the enemy they might meet him as He had done, saying It is written, and thus the enemy could be repulsed, for he has no power over the one who relies on the testimony of God's Word. The subject of His teaching was the Word of God, explained everywhere He went — from place to place, by the sea, on the mountainside, in the streets, in the synagogue, and in the outer court of the temple so Gentiles could hear — taking the gospel to the poor in highways and byways rather than taking the highest place among teachers. At every awakened interest, whether from friend or foe, He presented the Word with clearness and power, shedding new light on patriarchs and prophets so the Scriptures came as a new revelation of depth of meaning, and this plain appeal arrested attention because it was unlike the scribes and Pharisees, who dwelt on tradition and human theory and speculation and often put what men had taught and written in place of Scripture itself.
The question is the ruling test for those who trust in God rather than in man and make the Word their guide, meaning every opinion and sentiment of men is to be tested by what is written, how it is read, and what God has said, with human words valued only as far as God's Word endorses them. Keeping that question ever in mind with earnest prayer keeps a person calm and composed above boisterous accusations and shocks that ruffle minds, unswayed from right principles by men even in the highest position, refusing questionable paths and having the feet prepared with the gospel of peace. The all-important question of what to do to inherit eternal life has been clearly answered in what is written and how it is read, and it calls for appreciating and studying the grand, elevating truths God has given for adults and children. No time is to be spent seeking to know what gives no spiritual help, and speculative questions such as who will compose the 144,000 are not essential to salvation, would have been told by Christ if they were, and will be known without question by the elect in a short time. It is Christ's recipe for convicted souls asking what they must do, to be read and used at times of deep need and conviction, giving a short plain answer that brings truth within reach instead of long discourses that put the crib too high, while essential truths about salvation and practical duty are made clear in Scripture.
The law faithfully presents God's principles and claims in Scripture, so ignorance does not excuse young or old for transgressing it. Each person must search Scripture thoughtfully and prayerfully for himself because eternal interests are at stake, must learn the truth, follow it, and answer to God. Knowing its teaching is each person's responsibility in order to cooperate with Him in the saving of the soul, requiring diligent, personal, prayerful study rather than reliance on human opinions, traditions, or teachers unless they agree with God's Word.
Law's Twofold Love Requirement
Jesus met the question about inheriting eternal life by pointing to what stands written in the law and to how it is read, and the reading thus drawn from the lawyer himself is love to the Lord God with all heart and soul and strength and mind, and love to one's neighbor as oneself. That answer was affirmed as right, with the assurance that doing it gives life, so the law stands as the standard of righteousness and the condition of eternal life to be kept in the heart and carried out in life, not merely observed outwardly. Setting the affections on the things of this life and failing to love God with all the heart and the neighbor as self leaves the conditions unfulfilled, and there is no expectation of being saved without repenting and turning to God with all the soul. Wholehearted love centered on Christ and active love for others belong together, leading the one who loves to work to share the truth with those he loves.
Supreme love to God and unselfish, impartial love to neighbor as self are the two great principles on which hang all the law and the prophets, encompassing the whole duty of humanity and outlining the whole duty of man. Doing them is living out the law rather than merely professing religion, and obeying them through Christlike love gains eternal life, brings peace and happiness and joy into home and church, expresses God's wisdom and power, and forms characters fit for heaven. Failing to fulfill these vital principles, even while professing knowledge of the truth, preaching the Word, and understanding all mysteries, brings eating the fruit of one's own doings and being filled with one's own devices. That twofold love is expressed in the Ten Commandments, with the first four defining duty to God and the last six defining duty to fellow men. This is the sum and substance of the law of God and the living principles of salvation and terms of salvation for every son and daughter of Adam, where the ten Thou shalt and Thou shalt not stand as ten promises secured to those who render obedience to the law governing the universe, opening a living connection with heaven for those who do it so they become channels of light to the world.
The law in view is the Ten Commandments given to Israel at Sinai, sacred teachings written by God on tables of stone as the foundation of all truth and the rule of action grounded in righteousness, whose precepts their custodians had nearly lost sight of. It is the original moral law that stood immutable and held its claims on people in all ages when the typical sacrifices ceased at the death of Christ, not repealed or relaxed, so that in the Christian age human duty is not lessened, limited, or relaxed but more fully carried out, more extended, more especially defined and simply expressed. Loving God wholly takes in all there is of a person, not one quarter or one half or two thirds, but the whole heart, soul, mind, and strength with undivided affection and entire consecration. That requirement reaches to the inner sanctuary of the soul's affections and claims for God the first place, the first thoughts, and the first action, allowing no separation of the affections from Him and no second place for His claims.
It embraces will power, speech, hearing, sight, physical strength and powers, time, influence, talents, and possessions, with all the powers of mind and body and the whole wealth of affection laid at His feet and consecrated to the Master's service, turning away from the glitter of the world to the attractions of heaven and appreciating the atonement. These are binding terms of salvation requiring the whole person to be converted, for God does not accept a divided heart, and any soul or object that divides the affections, engages the mind, and is enthroned in the heart takes the form of an idol. Duty to God comes first, and wholehearted worship, love, and service to God prepare a person to love and value those for whom Christ died. Supreme love for God sanctifies the affections and bears fruit in love to mankind and makes an obedient member of the heavenly family, while loving worldly name, position, wealth, or anything that makes one forget God is idolatry, and the second commandment is easily disobeyed if the first is not kept.
Obedience Gives Eternal Life
Jesus met the question about inheriting eternal life by turning the lawyer to what stands written in the law and how he reads it, and the reading drawn out was supreme love to the Lord God with all heart and soul and strength and mind and love to one's neighbor as oneself. He affirmed that answer as right and said this do and thou shalt live, making doing the requirement in practice the way to live and the condition of eternal life. Doing means keeping the standard in the heart and not merely knowing its letter, preaching it, professing it, or observing outward ceremony. Setting the affections on the things of this life and failing to love God with all the heart and the neighbor as self leaves the conditions unfulfilled, so there can be no expectation of being saved without repenting and turning to God with all the soul. Wholehearted love centered on Christ carries active love to others that works to share the truth with them, and the neighbor is the one who shows mercy, as seen when the priest and Levite passed by the half-dead man on the road from Jerusalem to Jericho while the Samaritan pitied him, bound his wounds with oil and wine, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn, paid two pence and promised to repay more, with the command to go and do likewise.
Eternal life is therefore tied to keeping God's commandments through obedience in thought and word and deed. The conditions for salvation are not left indistinct and indefinite, are not made on feeling or emotion or mere assent to evidence, but on taking the distinct course laid out in the law of loving God wholly and neighbor as self. That question concerns an eternal interest lasting through eternity, with the incorruptible inheritance, the building made by God and not by human hands, and the home on the earth made new at stake, and it calls for intelligent knowledge and careful attention as careful as businessmen give to temporal investments, because it is unsafe to run risk over soul salvation. Reading God's Word must be with firm determination to obey its precepts, for its principles practiced in love to God lead to the highest good in this life and to everlasting life as the reward of obedience. Christ lived in obedience to God's law so that people might obey and be saved, and carrying out every principle God requires, rather than telling men that belief alone is enough regardless of what is believed, is the way to live.
The law cannot be kept in one's own strength, for fallen people can love God and neighbor as required only through Christ's virtue and grace, accepted through belief in His propitiation for sin. Christ's sacrifice makes forgiveness possible without abolishing or diminishing the law's holy and binding claims, and the transgressor's only hope is to believe in Christ as Redeemer. Obedience is possible through Jesus Christ's merits, and doing what the law requires calls for taking the eyes from self to behold Jesus the perfect Pattern, striving for the same perfection of character, looking steadfastly to Him, sincerely examining self and cutting away everything unlike Him, diligently studying the Word and eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. That doing tests wholeheartedness for God in abandoning the service of Satan and sin and wicked associates and receiving Jesus Christ with soul and body and spirit, which requires the converting power of God upon soul and character to become sons and daughters of God, refined and ennobled and elevated as members of the royal family, children of the heavenly King. Choosing Christ and the truth in this way can bring separation from the world and from those who refuse the truth, and people must not reject the law's light or seek another way to eternal life.
That answer stands for all time and settles the question of what must be done to inherit eternal life. It gives light and assurance to everyone asking how to receive eternal life, for the Old Testament Scriptures were Israel's lesson book and this teaching provides essential light for every soul. It comprehends the entire duty of man and what accepting the gospel message means, requiring forsaking all to follow Christ with an undivided heart that loves God supremely and neighbor as self, with no adequate excuse for refusal, and opening the lesson that every needy soul is our neighbor. It will decide the case of everyone standing before God in the last great day, for the law of Jehovah, not human policy and human inventions, will decide the destiny of men and women. Christ gave no intricate or speculative explanation, but clear truth in the commands to love God wholly and neighbor as oneself, calling the lawyer to apply the law's teaching with the promise that doing it leads to life.
Rejecting the law means rejecting the conditions of salvation, and people must not seek another way or refuse its light because obedience may separate them from the world. Complete obedience is the only condition that meets the requirement of the law, which claims the whole man at all times, and a life conformed to Christ cannot disobey God's commands, for supreme love to God leaves no room for sin to reign and bears fruit in obedience, while love to neighbor keeps from working ill to him. Doing the law brings reward in the present life and the life to come, while disobedience brings curse and death and the abiding wrath of God on the guilty. The law identifies sin, reveals defects of character, and convicts the sinner, and this conviction is the first step in conversion, yet salvation does not come by abolishing the law or reducing its sacred claims, for Jesus reveals Himself as the Saviour who pardons sin. By the Holy Spirit the perfect law converts the soul and gives the true meaning of genuine conversion, convicting the reader of neglect and weighing him in the balances of the sanctuary and finding him wanting where supreme love to God and equal love to neighbor are lacking, with the first four commandments toward God and the last six toward neighbor plainly specified in the holy oracles as the unchangeable and eternal gospel conditions of eternal life for every member of the human family.
Careful understanding and practice of God's law is therefore central to the question of salvation. Christian perfection is expressed in love, shown in loving God with the whole being and the neighbor as oneself and doing this as the way to live.
Neighbor and Samaritan Parable
The question about eternal life leads directly to the further question, who is my neighbor, and to the parable of the good Samaritan in answer. That parable sums up all the principles contained in God's law and presents them in a direct, forcible way, showing true Christianity and the practical test of the law's demands. Being a neighbor means showing mercy through practical care, even to someone outside one's own group, and the command that closes it is to act likewise.
A neighbor is not merely one of one's own faith, race, color, class, relative, friend, fellow church member, or like-minded person, but the whole human family. He is anyone who needs help and charity, including the wounded person, every person who belongs to God, and every sufferer to be relieved as far as possible as God's agent. He includes anyone in need of sympathy, grace and patience one can give, even someone uncourteous, disagreeable, or unlikely to return kindness, without first asking whether beliefs are shared. Doing good is therefore to all, and especially to fellow believers, making religion visible through deeds of mercy.
The parable tells of a man going down from Jerusalem to Jericho who fell among thieves and was left half dead, robbed, wounded and dying. A priest and a Levite came and passed him by on the other side, leaving him without help. But a Samaritan pitied him, bound up his wounds with oil and wine, set him on his own beast, brought him to an inn and cared for him, paying two pence and promising to repay more. The neighbor is thus declared to be the one who shows mercy through practical compassion, and the command is to go and do likewise.
True religion is not a matter of systems, creeds, or rites, but of loving deeds that bring the greatest good to others and express genuine goodness. The Samaritan proved himself a doer of the law by responding with kindness, sympathy and help to one in need, showing that doing rather than merely professing or preaching is expected of God's children. Supreme love to God must be an abiding principle expressed in loving deeds and words toward others, for without such love there is no true obedience, and leaving a suffering person without help breaks God's law. Its love of neighbor is impartial and active, and must be practiced, not merely observed as outward ceremony.
Knowing the law's words was not enough, for the scribes and Pharisees insisted on its letter yet failed to keep it in either letter or spirit. The lawyer knew the answer and was convicted by it, recognizing the law's righteousness while seeing himself condemned, yet he had not loved others as himself nor kept either the first four or the last six commandments. Instead of confessing sin he tried to justify and excuse himself, to defend himself before the people and evade its claim. His question about who counted as his neighbor was therefore an attempt to excuse selfishness and evade the truth when brought directly to him.
Living the Law Today
To live out what is written and how it is read is not to pass a needy brother by on the other side in order to patronize those who do not love God, but to show interest, to speak and act kindly, and to encourage and restore those fallen into decay. It is to give whatever help can be bestowed to everyone in need even when it brings inconvenience, cost, care, and anxiety, which is genuine medical missionary work and the law of God practiced. That reading calls for action through the energetic use of mental and physical powers rather than idleness or mere contemplation. Obeying the law in the setting of the good Samaritan means recognizing the needs of fellow beings and helping them promptly without first asking whether they share the same beliefs or doctrines, acting as God's helping hand in relieving suffering humanity whatever the religious belief of those in need. This practical care is true missionary work from which no one is excused, it lays the foundation for hospitals and sanitariums, and it is living the gospel.
Keeping the commandments in this way is active mercy, because Christ identifies His interest with suffering humanity. It is to stay wide awake to discern necessities and to see how to bless humanity, working in Christ's lines with constantly improving efficiency, lest those with less light rise up in the judgment to condemn those who had great light and great opportunities and did not improve them. The law requires giving Christ supreme love and cherishing a sacred regard for fellow beings through a change from selfishness to sanctified affection for God and one another, and doing this in deed and truth is the way to live while failure to do it is transgression, which is sin. Those who claim to believe the truth yet become a law unto themselves and in word and action show indifference to fellow men, hurting and tearing down, are breaking this law and are called to repentance and conversion to keep the commandments and to love one another as Christ has loved. Neglecting any case of the needy and unfortunate brought under notice, no matter who they are, leaves no assurance of eternal life, for such neglect breaks the second great commandment upon which the last six commandments depend, and to offend in one point is to be guilty of all. Those who do not open their hearts to the wants and sufferings of humanity will not open their hearts to God as required in the first four precepts of the Decalogue, because idols claim the heart and God does not reign supreme.
The law's demand is to do good to all, especially to fellow believers in need, treating the poor and stranger fairly, providing for those in need, and refusing to oppress or cheat anyone. This requires fair, honest dealing with no misrepresentation, prevarication, or saying and not doing. The same love is lived out by refusing to put anything before others that could tempt or harm them. It requires exercising sympathy and tenderness for the unfortunate, including motherless children in the home, instead of making excuses for not seeing and feeling others' woes and passing by on the other side like the priest and the Levite, for doing what the law commands gives eternal life and neglect of duty to neighbor results in loss of eternal life. Love of neighbor is shown by using what one has to help people in need and by caring for institutions in distress such as the destitute Huntsville school, with those in comfortable circumstances living contentedly, giving what is not necessary for comfort to God's work, and putting the Word into practice rather than merely reading it.
Supreme love for God governs daily conduct without selfishness and governs the use of property, for possessions are entrusted gifts to be used wisely for God's glory and eternal interests. This forbids selfish action that disregards the rights and property of others, including starting rival sanitarium work where a sanitarium is already established or interfering with the work of another, and requires that no thread of selfishness be drawn into conducting schools and sanitariums. The selfish priest and Levite who passed by represent all who disobey the law by not loving God supremely and their neighbors as themselves, while keeping His commandments means doing the work God appoints and overcoming selfish and hereditary tendencies instead of exalting self and neglecting others.
The law is a standard of righteousness that must be kept in the heart, not merely observed outwardly. It is the great test for every soul and every character, reaching to the inner sanctuary of the soul's affections and claiming for God the first place, the first thoughts, and the first action, requiring undivided affection that puts no human love before Him and leaves His claims no second place. Though one could claim ceremonial correctness and blamelessness touching the law, reliance on forms and ceremonies will not save, for God weighs the motive of the heart as well as words and actions in estimating moral worth. Bible religion is a principle in the soul, not merely the performance of virtuous acts, although virtuous acts are the natural fruits of that principle, and it is the spirit and motive in which the acts are performed rather than the mere performance that counts with God.
Obedience and service joined form a complete, balanced character, for the twofold command outlines the whole duty of man holding all the law and the prophets, and when followed it brings peace and happiness and joy into the home and the church. The law's command involves heart, soul, mind, and strength, so the whole person including physical strength is to be employed in God's service. This love is a principle to cultivate in family life and teach to children, using the question of who is neighbor to teach neighborly love through a case familiar to them.
Living the law turns the seeker away from higher education in sophistries and spiritualistic ideas to the solid foundation of Scripture and to the life given for the life of the world. Eternal life turns on learning the divine will from Scripture and doing it rather than making plans contrary to the principles enjoined, which requires taking the eyes from self to behold Jesus the perfect Pattern, striving for the same perfection of character, looking steadfastly to Him, sincerely examining self and cutting away everything unlike Him, and diligently studying the Word and eating the flesh and drinking the blood of the Son of God. That serious work enlists heart, mind, soul, and strength in His service, meaning not confining labor to believers but becoming acquainted with unbelievers, placing truth before those living up to all the light they have, reaching precious souls such as those in Melbourne, loving those for whom God gave His only begotten Son, and using the open door Christ's death to redeem human beings from sin has provided to bring others into fellowship with the saints. It requires advancing God's light and glory to other parts of the world instead of selfishly centering work, means, and institutions in America while destitute fields are left without facilities.
The law so read includes the seventh-day Sabbath established when God finished creation, rested, blessed the seventh day, and made it holy, requiring obedience from Adam and every person, with true holiness as obedience to God rather than transgression and with cheerful obedience of all His commandments by those who love Him. Failing to fulfill these vital principles of love to God and love to neighbor, even while professing knowledge of the truth, preaching the Word, and understanding all mysteries, brings eating the fruit of one's own doings and being filled with one's own devices. Cherishing suspicion and imagining evil shows failure to carry out this law and brings upon oneself the evils imagined, for God will not be trifled with and His Word is to be cherished and obeyed. The question of what is written and how it is read makes personal obedience and surrender to God the test of whether a person is converted and bears Christ's character in kindness, patience, tenderness, purity, and love for souls through faith that works by love and purifies the soul, for church membership or belonging to a group cannot save.