Notes for  15 January 2020

They speak a lot about love in the Bible. And commentators said and wrote a lot on what is love, about which is spoken in the biblical books. And what to say of the books themselves?

We have habit to think that the subject of love is a subject mainly of the New Testament. However, and in the Old Testament a lot is spoken about love, and not only God's love towards man, but also the love of man towards God.

So what is it - the love of man towards God? In what it expresses itself? At first sight, everything is simple: if you really love God, do what He says. Perform the Torah given by Him, keep His commandments. And it is humanly understandable: if you love, you will perform the request of the beloved one.

But the problem is not only in the performance of the Torah or in the keeping of the commandments, as in the signs of love. After all God, for whom our heart is transparent, does not need proofs to be persuaded of our love for Him (nor, indeed, when it does not exist).

However love is a mutual relationship and it turns out here that it is necessary not only for Him, but so much for ourselves. It is Paradoxical, but a fact: we need not only God's love towards us, but also our love towards God. Especially the love is practical, connected to the respect for the Torah and to the keeping of commandments.

It would be because it is in particular the respect for the Torah and the keeping of the commandments that form us spiritually and create in our heart this spiritual core, which, if everything goes well, will make us suitable for the life of the Kingdom. This Kingdom, which is built on the basis of love. Our love for God and God's love for us.

Even today, people appear within Christian circles who try to turn us away from faith. Advertisements on television and in newspapers offer the services of “Orthodox” fortune-tellers, healers, and other “believing” miracle workers. The Old Testament commandment offers a simple solution: death to the apostate. But how can this be reconciled with the commandment to love our enemies, forgive, and refrain from judging? In judging others, we ourselves may be judged for unfaithfulness—and who is without sin? Only one way remains, at once the simplest and the most difficult: to learn to distinguish the person from the person's sin, to love the person without judging him, but to hate and condemn unfaithfulness, apostasy, and temptation. And, of course, to stand firm in the faith ourselves (1 Cor 16:13).