And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, “Teacher, what shall I do to

inherit eternal life?” He said to him, “What is written in the Law? How do you read it?”

(Luke 10:25-26)

The gospel writer tells us that a lawyer – an expert in all things related to the Mosaic Law –

stood up to put Jesus to the test. He asks an important question about eternal life, albeit with an

impure motive.

Jesus answers the question with a question of His own, turning the conversation to the Law.

That’s a bit unexpected. Why wouldn’t Jesus engage this man in a conversation about being

born again, as He did with Nicodemus in John chapter 3? Living on this side of the resurrection

and having the whole revelation of the Scripture, we understand that eternal life is found in

Christ alone. So, why does Jesus turn the conversation to the Law?

The purpose of the Law was to constrain sin and point to our need for a redeemer.

So then, the law was our guardian until Christ came, in order that we might be justified

by faith. But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, for in Christ

Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. (Galatians 3:24-26)

The Law points us to Jesus. No one could meet the Law’s requirement for complete obedience,

except Jesus who came to fulfill the Law (Matthew 5:17), die in our place to atone for sin, that

His righteousness could be imputed to us by faith. So, what does the Law say?

“... ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with

all your strength and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.’ And he said to

him, ‘You have answered correctly; do this, and you will live.’” (Luke 10:27-28)

With this answer, the man shows himself to indeed be an expert in the Law. The answer should

be familiar to us. It is essentially the same answer that Jesus gives when questioned by the

Pharisees as to the greatest commandment. These two commands rooted in the Hebrew

Shema (Deuteronomy 6:5) and the Levitical Law (Leviticus 19:18), are not new commandments.



While we might think of these as two separate commands, Jesus addresses them as one – “do

this, and you will live.” Loving God with all your being and loving your neighbor go hand-in-hand.

Loving your neighbor without loving God can only go so far. It is in loving God with our whole

heart, and being changed by His grace, that we can extend love to our neighbor with a Kingdom

purpose.

By Jesse Smith