Mishpat, priesthood, and Scripture:

Although love is a central theme of the Christian faith, Christians often treat this ideal with an almost disrespectful simplicity, often ignoring the deep and exacting profundity of Christ’s command that we love one another.

Author Jon Bloom queries, “How is it that we who have been born again, have received a new heart, and have the Holy Spirit empowering us still find loving God with our whole being, loving our neighbors as ourselves, and loving our fellow Christians as Jesus loved us so difficult? Shouldn’t it be easier than we experience it to be?”¹

For those of us responsible for faith instruction, leading believers to a more mature integration of the commandment to love is critical. This command requires us to recognize its foundations and faithfully impart the true scriptural bonds of love and compassion.

My journey to comprehend the depth of God’s call for humanity to love one another and to help others do so, proceeded through three discoveries: first, the rabbinical concept of mishpat and the idea of precedence amongst the commandments; second, a deeper implication of the role of the priesthood; and third, the importance of listening to and engaging in the lessons of Scripture.

Mishpat

The first key to love as God commands is rooted in the commandment to love others, which is found in both testaments, such as in Deuteronomy 10:17–19 and Matthew 25:37–40. God calls Israel in the Old Testament and the church in the New to reflect the values of His kingdom: shalom (peace, love, sacrifice) over empire (power, coercion, selfishness). This attitude connects to the Jewish ideal of mishpat, or restorative justice, acknowledging and accepting those who have suffered loss and live on the fringes, as well as providing aid with the goal of restoring them as stable community members.

Important insight exists in the rabbinical teachings found in Israel around the time of Christ.² Among the schools of rabbinical training, there was no disagreement on what constituted the greatest commandment: “ ‘ “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, . . . all thy soul, . . . all thy mind” (Mark 12:30, KJV). The debate was over what was most important: the commandment of “love thy neighbor as thyself” or the ideal of unquestioning and continual obedience to “all” the laws.

Two rabbis’ influences emerged in the schools, which extended well beyond their lives. Shammai was a literalist, emphasizing absolute obedience with his “character of severity in demeanor and strictness in legal rulings.”³ Hillel, in contrast, took a more contemplative and interpretive approach to Judaic law. When asked about Judaic conversion, Hillel is said to have responded, “That which is hateful unto you, do not do unto your neighbor. This is the whole of Torah; all the rest is commentary. Now, go and study.”⁴

Hillel emphasized the requirement to love one another. He taught that God’s people, called to keep “all” the commandments, must not lose sight of the most important one. Hillel’s teaching maintained that the primacy of practicing love to others was not to be lost sight of in the commitment to obey every law—instruction consistent with the teaching of Jesus.⁵ This pragmatic Judaic teaching of love for one another acts as our guardrail when navigating the complex choices and actions we and our congregants face.

The love of others requires us to learn, pray, and consult with one another in our daily lives. These considerations come into even greater focus for choices impacting the lives of others, encompassing both individual and social interests with the wider implications of mishpat. Failure to accentuate Christ’s teachings on how to live one’s faith is a failure toward those we serve.

Priesthood

The second key to love as God commands is priesthood. This also traverses both testaments. Deuteronomy presents the laws, dress, role, and purposes of the priesthood in Israel. By understanding and embracing these lessons, Israel could live its calling and purpose as a nation of priests. Israel, located at the world center of trade and traffic, was intended to project the character of God and His kingdom of shalom via the ideal of kiddush hashem: action in service to God undertaken with the purpose of inspiring others to revere Him. This concept aligns intimately with God’s call to His people to be His nation of priests (Exod. 19:5, 6).

We are called to reject our own arrogance and self-centeredness and instead to struggle, in prayer and humility, with the primacy of loving others.

Echoed throughout the New Testament (e.g.
1 Peter 2:4) was Christ’s redemptive mission, which applied to Israel’s calling to be a nation of priests (v. 9). The church was called as a priesthood of believers to live in community and service, reflecting the kingdom of God and mirroring His values to the world. The critical point comes with the consideration of the character of priesthood seen in Moses, God’s greatest prophet.

During the Exodus from Egypt, despite God’s amazing display of love toward them, Israel turned away in doubt and fear. On Mount Sinai, God expressed His disapproval, threatening to discard Israel and raise a nation from Moses: “So Moses went back to the Lord and said, ‘Oh, what a great sin these people have committed! They have made themselves gods of gold. But now, please forgive their sin—but if not, then blot me out of the book you have written’ ” (Exod. 32:31, 32, NIV).

Moses stands for the people, showing his love even in the face of God’s wrath. Though not himself a priest in the formal sense, Moses demonstrated the ultimate expression of the priesthood: self-sacrifice on behalf of God’s people.

So often, frail humans struggle with a dominant, sinful nature of vanity, fear, lust, selfishness, and biases that impede the ability to stand in love with others. As pastors, do we stand with others in love and compassion, embracing their needs above our self-embodied concerns and thus reflecting priestly virtues?

The solution comes from teaching God’s people to discern what genuinely loving actions require, which includes a willingness to sacrifice comfort and ease in ministering to the needs of others.

Scripture

The final key to love as God commands comes in examining how to apply Scripture to our lives. This insight comes from reflecting on a critical teaching from Scripture: “ ‘For you closed your eyes to the facts and did not choose to reverence and trust the Lord, and you turned your back on me, spurning my advice. That is why you must eat the bitter fruit of having your own way, and experience the full terrors of the pathway you have chosen. For you turned away from me—to death; your own complacency will kill you. Fools!’ ” (Prov. 1:29–32, TLB).

This text speaks to the need to align our lives with God’s teachings and priorities. As His children, we have access to His peace and saving grace, but we are still subject to pride, selfishness, and vanity. If we neglect God’s wisdom, God may subject us to loving discipline to pull us back to His priorities.

We receive wisdom and healing when we embrace His teachings and make His priorities our own. Conversely, if we consciously turn from God in indifference or complacency, we embrace the poverty of our fallen humanity. We must, instead, find the wisdom that comes from embracing His calls to love one another and place His kingdom’s priorities over those of the world.

Practical instruction flows from this understanding. If we make choices of indifference—actions coming from internal biases—we are sinning. Some may think, I don’t hate ____, I’m just so busy, or These people are not my concern, or some other internally rationalized excuses for indifference. If we choose not to care—or at least not to examine why we should care about some issue or community—we are sinning. In so doing, we disregard the implications of Proverbs and other Scriptural references, which warn that ignoring God’s charge to love our neighbor is a sin so caustic that God equates it to turning our backs on Him.

As our choices impact communal welfare, mishpat and the call to love others resonate with this insight. In all our choices, we must consider how our acts and choices will impact others, those whom we are called to love. When we treat these decisions as independent of our faith and thus relieve ourselves from reflection and discernment based on scriptural admonitions, especially to love others, we fail before God and our fellow human beings. “Mercy without justice is the mother of dissolution; justice without mercy is cruelty.”⁶

To love one another

We see now the foundational elements required to wrestle with and prayerfully approach the commandment to love one another. We are called to reject our own arrogance and self-centeredness and instead to struggle, in prayer and humility, with the primacy of loving others. Hillel reminds us that as we wrestle with the conflicts and issues of our day, Scripture provides this commandment as a marker for those struggles.

Upholding this essential teaching requires that we acknowledge every believer’s call to the priesthood, proceeding from a heart open in love to others and without animus or bias. We cannot engage such issues from a place of discomfort or ignorance, treating the concerns of others as out of sight and mind. Indifference is not some small failure; it is a sin.

As mishpat converges with the love of others, our calling is clear. We need to prayerfully reflect on our hearts, biases, and attitudes as we make both personal and societal decisions. We must teach our people and ourselves to honestly and earnestly consider the source and impact of our choices, doing the reflective work that aligns us with the will of God, which is simple: that we love one another. Taking these truths to heart moves us from treating the love of others as a mere platitude to authentically practicing this love and thus fulfilling the law.