Deu 6:4-5 | KingComments | STEP | After the fearing of the LORD in as a result of the teaching of the commandments now follows the loving of the LORD as the One and Only ( ). The religion of Israel is monotheistic. That gives certainty about God. That certainty is lacking in polytheistic religions. If there are several gods, someone can feel to be in the favor of one god, but live in fear of another god. Such gods never act in harmony in the thinking of their worshipers. For Israel there is no such thing as a god of Sinai and a god of Hermon, a god for Reuben and a god for Levi. The unity of God guarantees perfect certainty about His will, as He reveals it in His statutes and ordinances. There is no other deity that proclaims something else. The commandment to love was never given by an earthly ruler. In the face of God, fearing Him and loving Him belong together. To fear God is to have respect for Him. Knowing God as the LORD Who is One is the core of the Old Testament, in which God’s earthly people take the central place. It is also, but there according to God’s complete revelation in Christ, the core of the New Testament ( ; ). The core of Christendom consists of a completed work of redemption, a Mediator Who is glorified as Man in heaven and God the Holy Spirit who, since the day of Pentecost, lives in the church as a whole and in each individual believer on earth. The believers bear witness to this in their worship, both in their daily lives and in the meetings of the church. In the Lord Jesus we have come to know God as the triune God: the Father, shown by the Son and revealed by the Spirit. We may know God as Father. Three Persons, yet one God. Because there is only one God, there can be nothing else that divides the heart that is entirely claimed by the LORD for Himself. To love Him with all the heart and all the soul and all the might is supplemented by the Lord Jesus to include the ‘mind’ ( ). To be able to satisfy this love with devotion, “the mind of Christ” ( ) is necessary. The thinking of Christ is as Christ thinks, it is His mind, in which the power of the Holy Spirit can be active. “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding” ( ). Through this thinking, this understanding, we gain insight into Who God is. For Israel this will become true in the future, when the law will be given and written in their hearts and minds ( ). This love and service of God, gives man the greatest possible satisfaction. To this end he is created and equipped by His Creator with qualities that are aimed at serving and honoring Him. When he does this, he finds true rest and peace. Through sin, however, man has become a sinner and an enemy and hater of God. Man does not serve Him and does not love Him. But by grace the believer is reconciled to God ( ) and has received new life, the “divine nature” ( ). This life wants to, and can love and serve God.

‏ Deuteronomy 6:4-5

The Core of Judaism

After the fearing of the LORD in Deu 6:2 as a result of the teaching of the commandments now follows the loving of the LORD as the One and Only (Zec 14:9). The religion of Israel is monotheistic. That gives certainty about God. That certainty is lacking in polytheistic religions. If there are several gods, someone can feel to be in the favor of one god, but live in fear of another god. Such gods never act in harmony in the thinking of their worshipers.

For Israel there is no such thing as a god of Sinai and a god of Hermon, a god for Reuben and a god for Levi. The unity of God guarantees perfect certainty about His will, as He reveals it in His statutes and ordinances. There is no other deity that proclaims something else.

The commandment to love was never given by an earthly ruler. In the face of God, fearing Him and loving Him belong together. To fear God is to have respect for Him.

Knowing God as the LORD Who is One is the core of the Old Testament, in which God’s earthly people take the central place. It is also, but there according to God’s complete revelation in Christ, the core of the New Testament (1Tim 2:5; 1Cor 8:6).

The core of Christendom consists of a completed work of redemption, a Mediator Who is glorified as Man in heaven and God the Holy Spirit who, since the day of Pentecost, lives in the church as a whole and in each individual believer on earth. The believers bear witness to this in their worship, both in their daily lives and in the meetings of the church.

In the Lord Jesus we have come to know God as the triune God: the Father, shown by the Son and revealed by the Spirit. We may know God as Father. Three Persons, yet one God. Because there is only one God, there can be nothing else that divides the heart that is entirely claimed by the LORD for Himself.

To love Him with all the heart and all the soul and all the might is supplemented by the Lord Jesus to include the ‘mind’ (Mk 12:30). To be able to satisfy this love with devotion, “the mind of Christ” (1Cor 2:16) is necessary. The thinking of Christ is as Christ thinks, it is His mind, in which the power of the Holy Spirit can be active. “And we know that the Son of God has come, and has given us understanding” (1Jn 5:20). Through this thinking, this understanding, we gain insight into Who God is. For Israel this will become true in the future, when the law will be given and written in their hearts and minds (Heb 8:10 ; Heb 10:16).

This love and service of God, gives man the greatest possible satisfaction. To this end he is created and equipped by His Creator with qualities that are aimed at serving and honoring Him. When he does this, he finds true rest and peace. Through sin, however, man has become a sinner and an enemy and hater of God. Man does not serve Him and does not love Him. But by grace the believer is reconciled to God (2Cor 5:18) and has received new life, the “divine nature” (2Pet 1:4). This life wants to, and can love and serve God.