Almost two thousand years ago a lawyer came to Jesus Christ and asked him (Christ) what he -- the lawyer -- thought was a trick question (Mat. 22: 35). He asked Jesus: "Master, which is the great commandment in the law" (Mat. 22: 36).

"Jesus answered and said unto him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it (like the first one), thou shalt love thy Neighbor as thy self" (Mat. 22: 37 -- 39). But what Christ said next is most crucial to understanding what the law of God is all about.

Jesus continued: "On these two commandments (love toward God and love toward Neighbor) hang (are based) all the law and the prophets" (Mat. 22: 40). Notice that Christ says that the whole law and the prophets, (Old Testament writings) are based on these two great laws: namely love toward God and Love toward neighbor. Yes, the first four commandments tell us how to love God and the last seven tells us how to love neighbor. You must therefore conclude that the "commandments" is the law of love! You must also note that during Christ's time on earth, the Old Testament was the only written word of God. The New Testament was not yet written. In Romans 13: 10 we read: "Love worketh no ill (evil) to his neighbor: therefore, love is the fulfillment of the law". These words are coming from your own Bible. "Love is the fulfillment of the law." Now, this is important because we are often told that the commandments are done away with and are replaced with the new commandment of love. As we continue, we will speak a little more about that.

Considering this fact- that the "ten commandments" is the law of love- we are now faced with many questions.

There is a popular teaching: that the law of God has been nailed to the cross and has been done away with. I think that any right-thinking person can see right away the absurdity in this teaching! If correct, it would mean that we no longer must love God or our neighbors. We can now freely kill, steal commit adultery. Christ Himself said: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill" (Mat 5: 17).