Covenant Law

If the covenant is a relation of love and grace, and if it primarily means a self-denying, self-giving commitment to bless the other, why all the emphasis on commandments? Why the emphasis on God's law? The answer to this is actually found in the law itself:

And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? (Dt. 10:12-13; cf. Dt. 5:10; 6:5; 7:9; 11:1, 13, 22; 13:3; 19:9; 30:6, 16, 20).

What may be called the "legal element," the emphasis on obedience to God's commands, is not "legal" in the sense that obedience to law obtains merit and becomes the basis for blessing. Obedience to God's commands and sincere worship are simply the loving response of the creature to God's covenant love. In other words, since the covenant is a relationship of love, it requires reciprocity on the part
of man. God bestows love on man and
asks for love in return. This is not a "legalistic" relationship, even when the law is most emphasized. The law is given by God not in opposition or contrast with love, but as the standard and definition of love. (R. Smith).


“If you love me, you will keep my commandments...21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me...“If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
John 14