“Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”Luke 10:25-28 NKJV
In this passage our Lord is asked a question to “test” (verse 25) Him to see what He would say. This “lawyer” (verse 25) may or may not have been hoping Jesus would answer in a way that could be challenged. He may have just been asking to see if Jesus would give the answer he and other Jewish scholars of the Old Testament Scriptures had settled on. In any case, Jesus handles the question in a way that brings out great truth and leaves no room for dispute.
The “lawyer” was someone who’s vocation was studying the Law (Old Testament Scriptures, especially the Law given thru Moses). Jewish lawyers would be sought for counsel on what the Old Testament taught about any given situation. It is enlightening, but sad, to remember that almost all of our early colonies adopted the Ten Commandments as the basis of their civil law. Also, the first law schools in the colonies (like the Ivy League schools) originally used the Bible to train lawyers.
The lawyer asks the question that many have asked through the centuries – “Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” (verse 25). First, the lawyer shows his opinion of Jesus in the question. He had apparently heard enough of or from Jesus to know that He had some ability to teach and something to say that some people thought was worth listening to. But the lawyer is not willing to accept Jesus as anything more than one of many teachers. Second, the lawyer asks the question that has plagued man since the first sin of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden and the beginning of the reign of death. The first murder of Abel by Cain was over disagreement on this question – What work can I do to receive eternal life from God? Surely, there is something that can be done to please God and escape eternal death. (Abel responded with faith and was accepted by God. Cain responded with unbelief and was rejected by God. For Gen 4:4-5 shows God accepted Abel first and then his offering, and God rejected Cain first and then his offering. It was not so much about their offerings as it was their hearts.)
Everyone knows early in their life that death is not the end of existence for man. They may learn to ignore and silence the reminder of that truth as they grow older, like they do their conscience, but eventually it can be ignored no longer, even if that time comes when they are entering eternity. For “He has put eternity in their hearts” (Eccl 3:11). Just as the conscience convicts each person of guilt so the knowledge that existence does not end with the death of the body gnaws at the heart of men strengthens the fear of death. If anyone doubts it, go to the nearest graveyard and see the rows of monuments multiplied by the numberless graveyards in the world, all attesting to the knowledge that man is more than the other creatures of the world. He is more than the physical body. His life cannot be easily forgotten or dismissed. He has the ability to love and procreate new life, to hate and snuff out the life of others. He can bring joy to others or he can bring suffering. He can reshape his world with conveniences and luxuries, with cities and nations. He can destroy those same things overnight. Such a being cannot be fully explained by a physical existence. And because he has the moral ability to choose right or wrong, his conscience tells him that he will someday be answerable to a judge greater than himself,“the Judge of all the earth” (Gen 19:25), who can execute judgment on his life and sentence him to “the second death” which is “the lake of fire” (Rev 20:14) and separation from the God of life forever.
Such was the reason for the constant searching of Jewish Scripture for an escape from the coming judgment. And there are many who have given in to the dark delusion of believing that if God does exist, He would surely act in love and mercy, and ignore the other parts of His nature which require Holiness and Righteousness, as if the God of light would deny Himself and send His creation into eternal darkness.
Our Lord’s response shows He is aware the lawyer was not sincere in his question, as He is even now aware when hearts test Him with insincerity. So, He Who is “the way, the truth and the life” (John 14:6) returns a question back to the lawyer, asking him “What is written in the law? What is your reading of it?” (verse 26). The test was now on the lawyer. The lawyer is sent back to the law which exposes sin and the need for salvation (see Gal 3:19, 24). And his response is “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” (verse 27). The lawyer quotes two different sayings from Moses in Deut 6:5 and Lev 19:18.
The first quote about loving God in Deut 6:5 came from Moses many years after the giving of the Ten Commandments. The difficulty of the commandments must have weighed heavily on his mind and heart, causing many hours of serious contemplation. How was it possible to keep such high and lofty ideals for men prone to live for themselves? It would require constant guard of thought, emotion and action, which had always proven impossible for men to do. Many others following such thoughts came to the conclusion more rules were needed, like a hedge, to limit actions. However, they failed to take into the account that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked” (Jer 17:9) and mere rules would never change that. And to err in even one moment would bear the fruit of eternal consequence. Moses was able to avoid that trap. For mercifully, the sacrificial system was established at the time of the giving of the Law to allow for the possibility of forgiveness of transgressions of the law by offering innocent blood to temporarily cover their sin. But the Commandments always remained firm, etched into stone for all time, like the conscience.
Eventually Moses was divinely aided to come to the conclusion that the “You shall and shall nots” of the Ten Commandments could only be kept by the positive heart action of love – not by strict enforcement of thought, emotion and action, or rules. And so, Moses taught the children of Israel that loving God with all of the heart (affections) , soul (will) , strength (physical might) and mind (intellect and understanding) was the way to please and find acceptance with God, even as imperfect Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Issac and Jacob did.
For were not the Law and sacrifices given so that the God of all creation could dwell in their midst, fellowship with them in their worship and bless them in their lives? And the history of Bible characters like Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, and many others, reveals the God they loved was willing to change their hearts so they could return His love acceptably, even if imperfectly. Is this not what Jesus Christ was pointing back to when He told Nicodemus “Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again’” (John 3:7) and “Are you the teacher of Israel and do not know these things?” (John 3:10)?
The coming of the Holy Spirit after the ascension of Jesus Christ back into heaven (Acts 1-2) brought an indwelling of the Holy Spirit and fullness of life not known before, even if still imperfectly. But the new birth, with a changed heart and motives, has been the heritage of all true believers since sin entered the world. And Moses taught the Israelites that love was the only way to please God, and love was the only acceptable sign that a person had faith in God and had received eternal life from God.
Moses also taught them, on another occasion, that he had been shown how the parts of the Law concerning treatment of others could also be best kept – “you shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Lev 19:18). Man has consistently shown since the Garden of Eden that he will spare no effort or expense to ensure his own comfort and wellbeing. He has proven there is no labor or endeavor too difficult to add to his comfort. And there is no action, right or wrong, he is not willing to take for his own satisfaction. While each individual has set the limits of their own actions and evil they are willing to commit, man has still surprised even himself at the extent he is willing to go for self-love. One of the great examples in the Bible is David’s great sin with Bathsheba and the murder of her husband Uriah (see 2 Sam 11).
But again, Moses believed the God they served would aid them in bestowing as much love on those around them as they had for themselves. And though all did it imperfectly, still many through the past centuries have shown the world the power and possibility of selfless love. Showing such love to others is yet another sign that a person has received new life from God and the ability to overcome the selfishness of sin.
The Lord responds to the lawyer’s answer with “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live” (Luke 10:28).Jesus did not say He agreed with the lawyer’s answer. Instead, He shows Himself to have more authority than any teacher would dare and says you have spoken the truth – now you must do it to have life. He Who came from Heaven and knows the darkness in the hearts of men did not give easy answers to those who came to Him. The stakes were too great and the need too dire for words that could be misunderstood. The responsibility is now with the lawyer to do what is impossible in man’s moral strength. The following verses show the lawyer does not realize the impossible task that has been set before him for he immediately skips over Jesus’s instructions about loving God to have life, as if he felt comfortable with his love for God.
Let us always remember that love is more acceptable than rules in our relationship with God. Rules are necessary in life but can easily cause us to forget the motive which must always be love. Rules can never be a substitute for love. However, our failure to show love to God and fellow men perfectly does not nullify the truth of the new life those in the past, and we, received from God, remembering it is a guarantee of the life of perfect love that awaits all who have received forgiveness by grace through faith in the blood of God’s final sacrifice, Jesus Christ. And also let us not make excuses for our failures to love but allow the Holy Spirit to bring us to repentance so God’s forgiving love may strengthen us to love more. It is when we lose, or don’t have, the urge to love God rightly and those around us more than ourselves that we should be greatly concerned about our relationship to God the Father and Jesus Christ.
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