TOJ #45: Treat others like you want to be treated. [Matt. 7:12] This “golden rule” is equivalent to the “law of love” (TOJ #129), but the wording is so famous that I think it should be listed separately. {Luke 6:31}
>>> TOJ #129: The law of love summarizes God’s moral will. [Matt. 22:37-39//Mark 12:29-31] Although this law has two applications (love for God and love for people, including oneself), these are combined and enumerated as one to show that they coexist (1John 4:20-21). This law (Deut. 6:5, Lev. 19:18) summarizes all of God’s moral commandments as Paul also taught (Gal. 5:14). Jesus commanded His disciples to love {John 13:34, 15:12&17}. Love is the sign that a soul is a Spirit-filled Christian (TOJ #148, cf. #113). Elsewhere (Pro. 6:16, Rom. 12:9) it is taught that God and godly people should hate evil. Of course, Jesus’ instruction to “hate” one’s own life and family (Luke 14:26) means to love God foremost (TOJ #50).
>>>TOJ #130: Love is the key to understanding GW/truth. {Matt. 22:40} And the key to comprehending God’s love is Jesus (John 3:16, Rom. 5:8, 1John 4:10-5:5; TOJ #47).
>>>TOP #68: God’s moral laws may be summed up by the command to love one another. [Rom. 13:8-10] Jesus taught in Matt. 22:37-38 that the greatest or primary commandment is to love God as Lord. TOP #138 calls love the fruit of the Spirit.
TOJ #46: Most people choose to reject GRFS. [Matt. 7:13-14] One hopes that Jesus was using hyperbole for effect, but the tragic truth is that many people choose hell. Why this is true, God only knows, but surely if it were possible to create souls any better than innocent and volitional, He would have done so.
Some passages {Matt. 22:14, Luke 13:23-24, John 6:44&65} state this teaching in deterministic wording that is not consistent with the clear NT doctrine that
all are called (John 3:16, 1Tim. 2:3-4, 2Pet. 3:9), though many choose not to accept God’s invitation (Luke 13:34) to enter heaven. The nearly identical twin of this truth is TOJ #67. {Matt. 24:12}
TOJ #67: Many souls are not truth-seekers. [Matt. 11:15-19//Luke 7:31-35] They are deaf toward the truth, so they do not dance with joy at hearing the gospel; and they are hypercritical of GW, although they may be educated (1Cor. 1:18-25), so they will not learn no matter what teaching method is used. {Matt. 13:14-15, John 8:43, 10:25a&26}
This is similar to TOJ #46. Some statements {Matt. 11:25-26, Mark 4:12//Luke 10:21} sound as though Jesus or God wanted to prevent people from understanding the gospel, but since God is not tricky (TOJ #29, #30, #44, #53, etc.), we must infer that Jesus was employing irony.
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TOJ #30: Love and pray for God’s/your enemies. [Matt. 5:43-47//Luke 6:27-28&32-36] God’s agape/love is unconditional (Rom. 5:6-8). We should “hate what is evil” (Rom. 12:9) while loving people we dislike. This teaching is akin to TOJ #14, #16 & #29. However, God’s forgiveness of Sin is conditional upon repentance (TOJ #8 & #114).
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TOJ #8: Repent of Sin/Believe GRFS. [Matt. 4:17//Mark 1:15 & Luke 4:43] Jesus was sent for the purpose of proclaiming the Gospel (good news) about how to be saved from death and hell to eternal life in the kingdom of God/heaven.
The way to be saved is to repent of the sin of unbelief or atheism (2Pet. 3:10-13), and believe—not merely in God’s existence (Jam. 2:19), but—in the way that satisfies GRFS. Repentance or saving Faith was
the central theme of Jesus’ preaching. {Mark 1:38}
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TOP #6: God commands repentance from ignorance and will judge humanity by means of Christ. [Acts 17:30-31]
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TOP #10: Although God’s creation reveals His power and love, godless people suppress truth and exchange it for the lie of idolatry. [Rom. 1:18-25, cf. #3] This is what Adam and Eve did. Paul says men are without excuse, both because God’s eternal power and moral nature (love) are manifested by creation (Rom. 1:20, cf. Job 12:7-9). Apparently, creation combined with conscience or moral sense (Rom. 2:14-16) that manifests a moral Authority TOP #23)–and combined with OT law for the Jew (TOP #22)–serves as a provisional or proto-gospel (Col. 1:23, Rom. 10:13-18, Gal. 3:8), which is the revelational basis for divine salvation and judgment (TOP #24-26 & 281).
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TOP #44: Although many Jews reject the Gospel/Christ, God’s covenant with Abraham did not fail, because the children of Abraham includes (spiritually circumcised) Gentiles. [Rom. 9:1-33, cf. TOP #24] In verses 1-5 Paul noted how sad it is that those who are part of the human ancestry of Christ reject him as Messiah (and are therefore not Abraham’s spiritual children).
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TOP #50: God does not reject people, but He allows them to be obstinate and disobedient. [Rom. 10:21-11:2a] Even though souls may be unfaithful, God will remain faithful, although if believers commit apostasy or disown God, then He will also disown them (2Tim. 2:12-13).
TOP #51: Sadly, only a minority of humanity will be chosen by grace, while most will be hardened. [Rom. 11:2b-10] Whether God causes unbelievers to have hard hearts or allows them to become hardened is debated, because there are Scriptures that seem to support both understandings. Thus a systematic study and harmonization of Scripture must be attempted, and when it is, the latter makes more sense, because it is consistent with God's love and justness:
God loves and wants to save everyone (John 3:16, 1John 4:7-12, Rom. 5:8, Matt. 5:44&48, Gal. 5:6&14, Eph. 3:17b-19, Eph. 5:2 and 1Tim. 2:3-4. Christ died to show God’s love and the possible salvation of all (Rom. 5:6-8) including His enemies (Matt. 7:21, John 8:42-44).
God is just (2Thes. 1:6a, cf. Rom. 3:25-26 & 9:14, Deut. 32:4, Psa. 36:6, Luke 11:42, Rev. 15:3). Explanations of God’s Word should not impugn God’s justice and love for all people (Joel 2:13, John 3:16).
