Some Thoughts

To quote John Calvin (I think), “as if that were any easier!”

Most of us know that the “Great Commandment”, that we are to Love God, and the second, “which is like it”, that we are to Love our neighbor, are basically summaries of the 10 commandments, and weren’t original to Christ’s ministry. (It’s new…but it’s not new – see the epistles of John.) Both were quotes from the Torah - Deuteronomy and Leviticus, I believe. The astounding thing (to me, at least) that Horton helped me to understand is that these “gospel ordinances”, these laws of love, constitute the very same law that Paul reminds us that we cannot keep. And he’s right. Though I have progressed over the years, by grace, I cannot perfectly Love God in every thought, word, and action. Nor can I consistently love my neighbor (my co-workers, my neighbors, the incapable clerk at the store, the guy in front of me in traffic, the non-English speaking customer service rep on the phone, etc) – let alone my own family!

What a humbling reminder of my need for the gospel of Jesus Christ, who “does always the things which please the Father.” What a humbling reminder of my need of this Christ, this covenant-keeping, perfectly obedient Second Adam, who died for us and for our sins, who was buried, who rose again on the third day, who now sits at the right hand of the Father, and who will come again to judge the quick and the dead…