If You Don't Get Anything Else About Following Jesus Christ, Get This

“Yet we know that the Torah is good, if someone uses it legitimately, knowing this, that the Torah isn’t laid down for a right person, yet for the lawless and unrestrained, the irreligious and erring, unholy and commonly profane, patricidals and matricidals, homicidals, male whores, men who violate boys, slavers, liars, those who take false oaths, and if anything different which lies against healthy teaching in line with the Gospel of the glory of the happy God, which I am entrusted with.” - 1 Timothy 1:8-11

“Yet if you are led with the Spirit [of Christ], you are not subject to the Torah. … Yet the fruit of the Spirit [of Christ] is love, joy, peace, endurance, loving kindness, goodness, trust, courtesy, self-control; there isn’t a Torah against such things as these.” - Galatians 5:18, 22-23

“Don’t be obligated to anyone at all if not to love one another; because the person loving the other different person has fulfilled the Torah. Because the ‘Don’t cheat on your spouse, don’t murder, don’t steal, don’t crave,’ and if any other different command, it is summed up with this message, ‘You will love the person next to you like yourself.’ The love for the person next to you doesn’t cause harm; love then is the total fulfillment of the Torah.” - Romans 13:8-10

The Torah, or any law for that matter, was and is meant to restrain behavior, but it cannot change behavior. It can only prescribe punishment for harmful behavior, it cannot produce beneficial or loving behavior. It can tell you what is expected, it cannot make it happen.
     If a person is led by or controlled by the Spirit of Christ, his or her behavior will be governed first by love, because this is the very core of who God is. If that person’s behavior is governed by love, then all rules, regulations, and laws are suddenly rendered a moot point because there is no harmful behavior to restrain. The governance of the Torah, or any law for that matter, ends when it is the love of God being manifested and practiced through the person’s behaviors and words.
     This is why those who demand that Christians keep the Torah, rules, codes, creeds, or even just the Ten Commandments in order to be “holy” in addition to (an often minimized) love are in such ridiculous and dangerous error. If a person remains squarely manifesting the love of God within and through himself or herself, then they will do no harm to another. They will neither kill, nor steal, nor lie, nor cheat on their spouses, nor break their oaths, nor any other harmful behavior. Those who claim that God is holy above all, even love, do not understand what “holy” means, because to be love is also to be holy. To be and practice love, the core nature of God, is to also be just, merciful, compassionate, and to practice the highest righteousness possible. If a person is manifesting love, manifesting the very nature and presence of God, then no law, no rule, and no Torah can apply to him or her. They simply have no authority over love.
     If you are struggling with a particular “sin,” a particular violation of a moral or religious rule, then quit focusing on trying not to break that rule (because, honestly, that only makes it worse) and focus instead on love. Focus on loving God, loving the person next to you, and loving those who hate you. Focus on surrendering to the Spirit of Christ and allowing and encouraging His love and presence to flow through you. Forget about rules, commandments, laws, or codes, and just focus on loving the other person, caring about them, being compassionate and kind towards them. The “sin” you keep struggling with will likely resolve itself, without the rule against it.
     If you don’t learn or get anything else about what it means to follow Jesus Christ, get this: love God, and love the other person like you love yourself. In loving God, we love the other person, and in loving the other person, we love God.