If we had to summarize our duty as Christians on earth, it would be to love God and to love others.
“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
Matthew 22:36-40 NIV
Note that the greatest commandment is to love God, implying that any other commandments should be obeyed within that context. What it means to love others, therefore, depends on what it means to first love God.
- If you love me, keep my commands. John 14:15 NIV
- In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. 1 John 5:3-4 NIV
In light of that, God explicitly commands us to love others as He loved us:
My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
John 15:12 NIV
Jesus was not saying that we should die on the cross for others’ sins. Only He could do that. He was telling His disciples to exhibit the same love he had demonstrated while on earth: to care for the souls of others, as well as, their earthly needs by doing good to and for them.
