Leviticus 19:17-18 You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but you shall reason frankly with your neighbor, lest you incur sin because of him. You shall not take vengeance or bear a grudge against the sons of your own people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.
Leviticus 25:17 You shall not wrong one another, but you shall fear your God, for I am the LORD your God.
I wasn’t planning on discussing what I am about to discuss but I want to bounce off Josh’s post a little bit in the OT. I love how the Law here in Leviticus states so plainly the interconnectedness of Divine doctrine and acceptable worship (I am stating worship here as practically living life according to the Lord’s ways); or in other words, orthodoxy and orthopraxy. All pretense (consider Josh’s post) and non-transparency (consider Troy’s post) in our everyday dealing with people exhibits some level of hate. “You shall not hate your brother in your heart, but”… The “but” here is to show contrast so if you are not hating your brother in your heart then you will be frank with them; or in other words if you are loving your neighbor then you will be frank with them. Now this can definitely be messy as Josh stated. Then the Law directly ties our offense of “pretense with our neighbor” directly to the Lord, “lest you incur sin because of him.” All sin is first and for-most against the Lord (Ps 51:4). Now we have great need of accountability in our lives when we understand our sin before the Holy Righteous Judge. Yes our sin hurts ourselves and it hurts others, yet how disgusting it is cannot be seen until a clear picture of the Most High is plain (or at least clearer knowing that we are always looking through a glass dimly lit).
I wanted to bring Lev 25:17 in because of the clarity it offers. The context is dealing primarily with financial interactions between people and not only that but with the year of Jubilee and many social considerations (land, slaves, etc). Therefore, do not wrong one another…why? Because of the Lord. Our righteous (right) interactions with people are rooted in the very existence and character of God just as our offenses of people are offenses towards God. No wonder Jesus said “ So if you are offering your gift at the altar and there remember that your brother has something against you, leave your gift there before the altar and go. First be reconciled to your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” As Josh stated relating rightly with God will render right relationship with people. But brothers, oh how we need one another in these endeavors…the complexity of life with all the thousands of interactions that take place daily should push us to the Lord and to one another.
Scalise
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