Loving One Another

Christsfreeservant said:

Is reproving our neighbor taught in the New Testament? Yes! For we are to be those who are spreading the truth of the gospel of our salvation with the people of the world. And this gospel message confronts people with their sinful condition, and it calls them to repentance,

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Christsfreeservant said:

and to leave their sinful lifestyles behind them. It calls them to now follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands, and it warns of judgment to all who refuse to let go of their sins and to obey our Lord’s commands.

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Christsfreeservant said:

And, as followers of Christ, we are called of God to reprove (to admonish) one another daily so that none of us falls back into sin.

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Christsfreeservant said:

“You shall not hate your fellow countryman in your heart; you may surely reprove your neighbor, but shall not incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the sons of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself; I am the Lord. You are to keep My statutes…” (Leviticus 19:17-19 NASB1995)​

Is this Old Covenant law? Yes, it is! Are we now under the Old Covenant law? No! We are not. But Jesus Christ and his New Testament apostles taught the same things under the New Covenant. We are to love even our enemies, i.e. those who do evil against us. And we are to pray for them, and to do good (not evil) to them, and to speak to them what will be beneficial and helpful to them, for their good (to bless them), but never to approve of evil, and never to compromise truth and righteousness. And we are not to retaliate. We are not to trade evil for evil, but we are to return evil with good.

Is reproving our neighbor taught in the New Testament? Yes! For we are to be those who are spreading the truth of the gospel of our salvation with the people of the world. And this gospel message confronts people with their sinful condition, and it calls them to repentance, to die with Christ to sin, and to leave their sinful lifestyles behind them. It calls them to now follow Jesus in walks of obedience to his commands, and it warns of judgment to all who refuse to let go of their sins and to obey our Lord’s commands.

And, as followers of Christ, we are called of God to reprove (to admonish) one another daily so that none of us falls back into sin. And if a fellow professer of faith in Jesus Christ is living in sin, and is making sin their practice, and if they are not walking in obedience to the Lord and to his commands, we should admonish them. We are to let them know the critical nature of the need for them to repent of their sins and to turn back to God and to follow him in obedience to his commands. For if they do not, they will not have salvation from sin. They will not inherit eternal life with God.

And on the subject of hate and love, it is hate to speak lies to one another to make each other feel good, while we say nothing about what we know are other professing Christian’s sinful practices and of their need to repent and to obey God. Now, I believe women should speak to women, and men to men, if in person and/or in a private conversation. Yet they could post on a public platform what the Lord is teaching them through his word each day, and let the Holy Spirit speak truth to people’s hearts, to whoever will listen.

For love speaks the truth in love, not the lies which make people feel good but which do not lead them to biblical repentance and to walks of obedience to our Lord’s New Covenant commands. Lies are selfish and they are about people liking us, rather than them following the Lord in obedience to his commands. Or they are deliberate deception by those who want to trick us into following the lies and not the truth. But so many people today think that lies are kind and that truth is harsh and unloving. The opposite is true!

Now if we speak the truth out of hate, and out of spite, to get even with those who have injured us, then that is hate, not love. A phrase for that is “trading tit for tat.” In other words, you do something evil to me, and so to get even, I do or say something evil and spiteful back to you. That is not love. That is retaliation. That is like someone stabbed you with a knife and so you stab them back, to make them pay, to make them suffer as you have suffered. The motivation for that is hate, not love, not to produce good.

But we need to be so careful that we don’t get caught up in the lies which say that lies, which make us feel good, are loving and kind, while truth that hurts is evil and unkind. For truth will hurt if the truth is confronting anyone in their sinful behaviors and practices, even if the truth is spoken with the kindest of words. But sometimes, when people are stubborn in their rebellion, and they fight against the truth, we may have to speak with a little more force. And just know that gentleness is controlled strength, not softening the truth to where the truth has no impact on other people.

Read some of the conversations which Jesus had with some of the Jews and with some of the religious leaders and biblical scholars within the temple of God of his day. Although Jesus was gentle (humble, meek), he was not weak when it came to speaking the truth in love to the people. He spoke the plain truth, and he called things what they were, and he didn’t dance around difficult subjects to make them less offensive. And he didn’t apologize for the strength and the power of his words, either. So don’t confuse the power of the words of the Scriptures with hate. We all need to hear the truth!!

[Matt 7:13-14,21-23; Lu 9:23-26; Jn 10:27-30; Ac 26:18; Rom 2:6-8; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-14; Rom 12:1-2; 1 Co 6:9-10,19-20; 1 Co 10:1-22; 2 Co 5:10,15,21; Gal 5:16-24; Gal 6:7-8; Eph 2:8-10; Eph 4:17-32; Eph 5:3-6; Col 1:21-23; Col 3:1-17; Tit 2:11-14; Heb 3:1-19; Heb 4:1-13; Heb 10:23-31; Heb 12:1-2; 1 Pet 2:24; 1 Jn 1:5-10; 1 Jn 2:3-6,15-17; 1 Jn 3:4-10]

In Harmony

Based off Romans 12:9-21; 1 Peter 3:8-17
An Original Work / September 2, 2012
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

Love each other truly.
Cling to what is good.
Hate all that is evil.
Never lack in zeal.
Serve the Lord with fervor.
Joyful in hope be;
Patient in affliction;
Praying faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.

Share with all God’s people
Who are found in need.
Do not be conceited.
Sympathetic be.
Love, and show compassion
In humility.
Keep your tongue from evil.
Peaceful you must be.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.

God sees who are righteous;
Listens to their prayers.
But He’s against evil –
Is His to avenge.
Do not fear what they fear.
Suffer patiently.
In your hearts, make Christ Lord.
Serve Him faithfully.
Honor one another.
Live in harmony.

Loving One Another
An Original Work / June 26, 2025
Christ’s Free Servant, Sue J Love

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GaryMac said:

Laws are written on stone and ink.

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Aaron112 said:

Also as Yahweh's Word , The Creator Himself, Says:

James 1:23-25
For anyone who hears the word but does not carry it out is like a man who looks at his face in a mirror, / and after observing himself goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. / But the one who looks intently into the perfect law of freedom, and continues to do so—not being a forgetful hearer, but an effective doer—he will be blessed in what he does.

2 Corinthians 3:3
It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.

Hebrews 10:16
“This is the covenant I will make with them after those days, declares the Lord. I will put My laws in their hearts and inscribe them on their minds.”

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