18/11/2023
The two most legalistic teachings in the church today are, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength" (Deuteronomy 6:5) and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Leviticus 19:18).
The reason these teachings are legalistic is because these are LAWS. Jesus, speaking to Jews, told them that these are the two greatest commandments... in the law. Romans 3:19 says that "whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world become guilty before God."
In Christ, we love God and we love others, not by obeying laws, but by first knowing His unconditional love for us, and in union with Him we express it to others.