Many today claim Christ’s name, but far fewer actually follow Christ. Many who claim Christ’s name seek to lord over others—exhibiting little if any of the love, mercy, and justice of Christ.
Many claim to love Christ but hate their brothers and sisters. But 1 John 4:20, 21 is clear: “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen? And this commandment we have from Him: that he who loves God must love his brother also.”
This is a major teaching of Scripture, based on the two great love commandments—to love God and others—on which all the law and the prophets hang (Matt. 22:37-40). Accordingly, Scripture consistently emphasizes treating others with love and justice, opposing injustice against others. Isaiah exhorts: “Learn to do good; seek justice, rebuke the oppressor; defend the fatherless, plead for the widow” (Isa. 1:17). Later Isaiah writes: “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed to rob the needy of justice, and to take what is right from the poor of My people, that widows may be their prey, and that they may rob the fatherless” (Isa. 10:1, 2; cf. Isa. 58:6-8; Jer. 22:13-16).
Likewise, God proclaims in Zechariah 7:9, 10: “Execute true justice, show mercy and compassion everyone to his brother. Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. Let none of you plan evil in his heart against his brother.”
These and many other biblical verses highlight God’s great concern for justice and mercy, particularly for the downtrodden and vulnerable. Those who follow God should reflect His concern and live accordingly. Since love is the fulfillment of the law (see Rom. 13:8-10; Gal. 5:14), you cannot keep God’s law simply by refraining from wrongdoing. The law commands us to actions of love—to a lifestyle of love.
Jesus did not mince words about this, saying, “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faith. These you ought to have done, without leaving the others undone. Blind guides, who strain out a gnat and swallow a camel!” (Matt. 23:23, 24; see also Luke 11:42-44).
If we claim to follow Christ but do not practice love, mercy, and righteousness, we are taking the name of the Lord in vain (Ex. 20:7)—exhibiting the profound hypocrisy of claiming to be God’s people, while living in ways opposite to God’s love and justice. For “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” (Micah 6:8).
Remember, when Jesus separates the sheep from the goats in the end, He will say to those on His right hand, “‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me,’” for “‘inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me’” (Matt. 25:34-36, 40).