Love Fulfills the Law

In the Second Reading, St. Paul reminded the Roman Christians, You shall love your neighbor as yourself, quoting from Jesus’s summation of seven of the Ten Commandments concerning the obligation to love one’s fellow man/woman. To obey Jesus’s command to love our neighbors as ourselves is to express concern for their salvation. Love is the central requirement of the Christian life. It is how Jesus commanded us to behave towards one another when He said: “Love one another as I have loved you.” The “love” Jesus requires is a holy love generated by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit and intended to flow outward from the souls of Christians to transform the whole world through Christ’s life-giving love.

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Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2014; revised 2023 Agape Bible Study; used with permission

Conduct Toward a Brother or Sister Christian who Sins

In the Gospel Reading, Jesus addressed the subject of covenant members engaged in sin but remaining in the fellowship of the faith community. Jesus gave four steps to follow when a “brother” or “sister” has fallen into error to bring them to repentance and renew their fellowship with God and the community. He also affirmed the Church’s authority to “bind” and “loose” in judging sin.

In the sixth century B.C., God appointed the priestly prophet Ezekiel as the “watchman” over the “house of Israel,” and Jesus established His Apostles and disciples and the prophets’ successors as guardians of the salvation of the “new Israel” that is His Church. As this generation’s disciples of the Lord, we must bravely take up the obligation to safeguard the teachings of Jesus Christ within the covenant family of His Kingdom of the Church. Jesus calls us to offer correction in brotherly love by judging sin to keep from having wrongs tolerated and corrupting the community of the faithful. However, we do not have the authority to judge the sinner’s soul; to pass judgment on the condition of one’s soul is a prerogative that belongs only to God.

We will all be held accountable for our misdeeds. Still, those in positions of responsibility as shepherds of the flock of God’s covenant people will also face divine judgment if they fail to minister to God’s covenant children with mercy, justice, and truth by sharing the Gospel of salvation. It is spiritually healthy to recall God’s two warnings to the prophet Ezekiel in Ezekiel 3:17-18 repeated in 33:7-9: “When you hear a word from my mouth, you shall warn them for me. If I say to someone wicked, ‘You will die,’ and you do not warn this person or speak out to dissuade him from his wicked conduct so that he may live; that wicked person will die for his sin, but I will hold you responsible for his death” (Ezek 3:17-18). 

Like the warning to His prophet Ezekiel, God will also hold the New Covenant priesthood accountable for the sins they fail to address as the guardians of the salvation of the new Israel of the Church. However, this is not an easy task. Priests are often harshly criticized for speaking out to their congregations on the hard topics of divorce, abortion, contraception, and premarital sex. If you have a priest who fearlessly preaches against sin, give him your support and tell him he is a faithful guardian of the people of God.

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Michal E Hunt, Copyright © 2014; revised 2023 Agape Bible Study; used with permission