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Recall the Words...and the Command


Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking. I want you to recall the words spoken in the past by the holy prophets and the command given by our Lord and Savior through your apostles. (2 Peter 3:1-2)
         According to my study Bible's notes, this is supposed to refer to the Day of the Lord spoken of by the prophets. It's probably right, but what comes to my mind is that the Law and the Prophets, and Jesus' "greatest command" was to love the Lord with all our hearts, souls, minds and strengths and to love our neighbors as ourselves. Yes, we're back to that again. Obeying that commandment is likely to become more difficult as the Day of the Lord approaches, because the people we're commanded to love may suffer greatly and even if we don't suffer ourselves, we'll suffer with them; or the people we're commanded to love may be responsible for our suffering.
         The command to love God and love our neighbors is a constant theme in Scripture. One of the benefits of listening to the Bible on CD, especially on a long trip like Pennsylvania to Florida is that you hear phrases and ideas repeated in a comparatively short time. The first command to love the Lord is in Deuteronomy 5.  It is connected with obeying God in Deuteronomy 11:1 13 and 22 and 19:9, then again in 30:16 and 20. Joshua 22:5 and 23:11 mention it.  So does Psalm 31:23. Psalm 97:10 associates loving God with hating evil. Of course, Matthew 22:37-40 and Mark 12:30-31are the gospel account in which Jesus brings together loving God and loving one's neighbor.  In John 14, Jesus talks about the disciples loving Him by obeying Him. Jesus asked Peter three times if Peter loved Him.
         In addition to the passages in Matthew and Mark in which Jesus puts the ideas together, you can't read anything by John (except perhaps Revelation) in which loving others is not discussed. Matthew 5:44 and Luke 6:27 and 35 are all commands to love our enemies.  In Romans 13:8, Paul commanded us to love one another, and of course, I Corinthians 13:4-8 is a well-considered description of love.  Peter commanded us to love one another in   I Peter 1:22, and James does so in  James 2:8. The idea is first mentioned in Leviticus 19:18. 
        Many years ago, I heard that if God mentions something once, you need to pay attention. If He mentions it twice, you really need to take notice. If He mentions it more than twice.... I guess the obvious conclusion is that this is vitally important to God, but then, as John put it, God is love.

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