Matthew 22:36 – 40 in the New King James version of the Bible says:

³⁶ “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?”

³⁷ Jesus said to him, “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and great commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”

Let’s examine this for a moment. Jesus says that upon these two commandments, hang all the law and the prophets. Now when something hangs, it must be hanging from something sufficient to support it. These two commandments support what’s hanging. Now, we must ask ourselves what is hanging? These two commandments are a summary of the Ten Commandments! The Ten Commandments are a summary of (hang upon) all of the statutory laws in the Torah (first five books of the Bible). The rest of the Bible is written by the Prophets, and therefore the rest of the Bible hangs upon these “two commandments” i.e. the law and the Prophets!

Therefore, the whole Bible “hangs” upon these “two commandments”! Put another way, the whole Bible explains, clarifies, makes relevant and applies these “two commandments”! Why is this important? The “two commandments” are just a very terse summary of the Bible and its purpose for mankind in general and the “elect” in particular. Without the rest of the Bible to explain these “two commandments”, we cannot understand them fully, or how to apply them properly and in light of God’s word.

In the “two commandments”, there is no mention of salvation, although by implication, it is there! Salvation is the result of two things. Firstly, it is the result of the HOLY SPIRIT working in the heart of an individual to change that heart from a rock to flesh so that it will be receptive to God’s word, and to be submissive to God’s word as well (John 3:5-10). Jesus Christ according to John I, is the WORD! Once a person’s heart is changed, then the shed blood and completed work on the cross is applied to the new believer so that they are now fully justified and saved from their sins (Romans 5:8 – 10).

So, now we know what’s involved in salvation, and what’s involved in “loving God”, let’s examine what it means to “love your neighbor as yourself”! James 2:14 – 18 makes it clear that we must apply physical and material actions to our words, faith and love of neighbor for it to be real and meaningful, and not just a bunch of hot air or put another way; hypocrisy!

So, how far should we take our understanding of the material demonstration of our faith? Does our faith get demonstrated in any political or indirect fashion? Romans 13 addresses this question extensively. Shall we examine it in a little more detail?

Firstly, we are told to be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authroity except from GOD, and the authorities that exist are appointed by GOD. It also says we will bring judgment upon ourselves if we resist that authority. Let’s be ridiculous here for a moment. Let’s say the authority tells us to commit suicide. Shall we resist? The answer should be obvious, and therefore, there must be a qualification to the declaration that we are not to resist that authority appointed by GOD! That declaration was made by Peter in the book of Acts 5:27 – 29 so we understand that GOD’s ordained government is limited. To what is it limited? It is limited to His word.

Ah, but we are not a Theocracy, and so we cannot impose GOD’s word on the world! That may well be true, but we can proclaim GOD’s word to the world, and we can shame and rebuke those in leadership when they stray from GOD’s word. That is declared by both implication and explication in Peter’s words in the book of Acts above.

Let’s return to Romans 13 now. The next idea is of critical importance, and conforms with Peter’s words. It says rulers are not a terror to good works. He is GOD’s minister to you for good. He is to execute wrath on him who practices evil. In fact it says that this is the reason we pay taxes. Hmm! So what happens when GOD’s ministers began to reward evil and punish good? At the very least, it is judgment upon us for our failure to obey GOD.

What pray tell would be the appropriate solution to this dilemma? Well, we could just wait for GOD to act – not particularly Biblical or practical. Or, we could start to obey GOD and demand that our leaders obey Him as well. We should also look to raising up Godly leaders who will obey by having demonstrated their character throughout life, and not just a soap box profession. I Timothy 2:1 -3 gives us some guidance here as well.

Lastly, in Romans first passage, we are told to render to whom taxes, customs, fear and honor are due. Is there room to judge in that “to whom it is due”? That may be an absolute, or it may be subject to concsience sake – you’ll have to be the judge of that!

Next in Romans 8, the passage is entitled “Love Your Neighbor“. It says, “Owe no one anything exccept to love one another which is the “fulfillment” of the law. Does that mean that we are not to be in debt? It would seem, at the very least, that debt is being discouraged here. Certainly the Bible is replete with all sorts of examples of the negative consequences of debt, be it monetary, political, spiritual, or any other kind of debt. Indeed, Proverbs 22:7 paints a very dark picture of debt being equal to slavery, and in I Corinthians 7:23, we are commanded by Paul, speaking through the , and therefore Divinely inspired words “…do not become slaves of men.”

It goes on to review the second table of the Ten Commandments; adultery, murder, steal, covet, lie, false withness, and says it is all “summed up” in Love does no harm to your neighbor. Let’s examine that statement for a moment. What is “harm”. It would seem reasonable that harm would include depleting your neighbor’s well being economically, environmentally, psychologically, phyisically, emotionally, politically, spiritually or materially to name a few possiblities. Well, how do we understand that from a practical viewpoint?

Let’s take just one very common example. Now, most, not all, Christians would say that we, as Christians, have a duty to vote. So, let’s say that there is on the ballot a school bond for a new school to be built, or maybe an improvement or enlargement of an existing school. You, in your estimate (good conscience) have determined that it would be a good thing to have. Therefore, you vote in favor of the bond and it passes. Now for those who have not considered it, a bond is borrowed money, or debt as the case may be. So, by voting for the bond, you have not only indebted yourself, and your family, and your friends, but also your NEIGHBOR (whom you love – remember?). Now consider for a moment that you may have a neighbor who is financially weak and playing their cards very close to the vest. Let’s say your neighbor is very responsible and manages to save $10 a month above and beyond their most basic necessities of life, and they do not impose themselves or their needs upon anyone.

Now with the bond issue passed, it will cost your neighbor an additional $130 a year in property taxes. Twelve months of savings at $10 per month is only $120, and your NEIGHBOR must come up with $130 more for property taxes. What will your NEIGHBOR do? You have impoverished your NEIGHBOR with your vote. Shame on you! You have stolen from your NEIGHBOR by your good intentions and your vote and your ignorance of his condition. You have now indebted your NEIGHBOR beyond his ability to pay!

The last part of Romans 13 calls for us to cast off the works of darkness and avoid lusts of the flesh. What are the “works of darkness”? It seems reasonable to believe that debt might well be one of those “works of darkness”! In supporting and furthering through one’s vote indebtedness, one has violated the commandment forbidding stealing. There is also the implication that one has succumbe to one’s lusts by voting for something for which they could not pay now, and for which one of their NEIGHBORS became indebted! Remember, this is thinking for the believer – in a democratic society, we must expect frivilous voting by the masses of unbelievers.

Now in review, this writer would declare without any equivocation that our individual relationship with GOD and our personal salvation are of paramount and primary importance. What concerns this writer is that the teaching and preaching of most churches, Reformed or otherwise, fail miserably in Biblical education of the practical application of how to “LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”. Upon these two laws hang ALL the law and the Prophets! It seems that personal salvation is the ONLY consideration, which to this writer appears to be selfish and is truncating the Gospel. In so doing, could it be that our salvation may also be imperiled by such a myopic perspective?

Pensiamento Peligroso