The Jesus Creed: Loving God, Loving Others

The Jesus Creed - Loving God, Loving Others by Scot McKnight Summary by G. Stephen Goode From the Preface -- "A Jewish expert on the law once asked Jesus what was the most important thing for spiritual formation. Jesus' answer turned history upside down for those who followed him. This book is an invitation for you to explore Jesus' answer to that man. I call it the Jesus Creed, and what he said should shape everything we say about Christian spirituality. Everything." Jesus knows what life is all about. He was born into a Jewish family and culture but he was more than Jewish. He took the Shema which was central to Judaism but he added to it to make it the Jesus Creed. It is simple, yet it will cost us our lives, living it out. Love God. Love others. It is central to who Jesus was and is the core of who we should/can become. Jesus gave us the Creed and a model to follow. Dr. McKnight is a Old Testament scholar but he does not write like one. I have to admit that I sought out this book because of the loving others part. I think we in the church should be doing that better and more often in order to demonstrate the love of God to the Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, animist, to the poor and other unreached worlds. It also has to be integrated. Loving God and Loving others is like a coin. You cannot have one side without the other and yet it seems like we continue to get pulled from one side or another. Either just loving God or loving one's neighbor. We cannot do one without the other. God help us to be more like Jesus. This book helped me a great deal as I started reading it during our response to the Asian tsunami. Loving God and our neighbor has been there from the beginning. Listening to those who suffer, entering into their grief and bearing their burdens helps us to fulfill the love of Christ. Compassion in the Jesus Creed is on every page of this book just like it is in the four Gospels. I think we forget that sometimes but Jesus did not. That is why He made it the center. From page 117 "Jesus doesn't act in compassion in order to dazzle people into adoring him. He acts out of love and to transform the life of the grieving person. The widow gets her son back and has an income again. The prostitute's life is transformed from impurity to purity. Each woman of Luke 8 - Mary Magdalene, Joanna, Susanna and others - has a special story to tell about what Jesus has done: one tells a story of spiritual cleansing, another of physical healing, and others(if I may guess) of learning that Roman money is to be distributed to the needy, including Jesus. Wealthy women at the time of Jesus-- and these women were evidently wealthy -- did not pay taxes. Instead, if they had good hearts, they distributed their funds to charities. The chosen charity of these women was Jesus, whom they support and follow his entire life. It is these same women who become witnesses of Jesus' death and resurrection......" So may we continue to love God and others and fulfill

I read some of Scot McKnight's earlier work, but this title takes the cake. The Jeus Creed which captures and repaints the Christian faith in a one-sentence mantra to love God and love people provides thankfully easy-to-comprehend (but hard to live out) content. I particularly liked the use of the table metahor in discussions over Christians' roles in their surrounding culture. The image of table of course was one that Christ himself employed but McKnight capitalizes on it with genious. I think this book is valuable for those who are looking to live a lifestyle of faith rather than simply practicing a religion. And it is an ideal tool for more seasoned Christians who have perhaps comfortably settled into their own religious routines but need some encouragement to do more life application. Excellent read. I highly recommend it.

In our complex society filled with temptations and quickness to judge, it MAKES SENSE that the gospel is still as simple as it has ever been. We as a culture have become more complicated. Jesus has remained the same, and so has his message of love and selflessness. Scot McKnight's book has shed light on the simplicity, thoroughness, and applicability of Jesus's "Creed" unlike any other theological book I have read. And the author achieves this purpose without the troublesome undercurrent of legalism and judgmentalism that so many authors are afraid to leave out. I recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with perceptions of a "tricky" or "confusing" gospel, such as those whose assurance has been challenged. Or to anyone who thinks the Jesus tossed around in church is *necessarily* the Jesus who walked the earth 2000 years ago or who lives still today.

Loving God and loving others; What could be more simple? Though at first this message may seem elementary, Dr. Scot McKnight has shined a brilliant light for us in the church on what is perhaps the single-most fundamental and essential truth for our collective and individual lives in the church today. Dr. McKnight in The Jesus Creed brings to life the pages of Scripture - both Old Testament and New Testament. His mastery of Scripture (particularly the New Testament gospels) and ability to teach present day truth in light of its historical setting is balanced and seasoned with his seemingly inexhaustible interest in every-day life, from baseball to music to novels to the waterfowl gracing his nearby lake. With each turn of the page, I couldn't wait to see the tidbit of everyday life that would be intertwined with the message of God's love for us and God's call on me to love Him and those around me. Few authors have this ability to relate what it means to be spiritually formed in Jesus Christ through the enlistment of such a broad range of references ... from the lyrics of pop artists like Celene Deon to personal stories of friends, neighbors and numerous others who moved and stirred me. And a good deal of time is spent in the spiritual classics as well as present day writers - from Frank Laubach, Brother Lawrence, John Bunyan and C.S. Lewis to Phil Yancey, John Ortberg and Rick Warren. After reading and rereading The Jesus Creed, I am convinced this book will become something of a regular spiritual "classic" or corner-post that is worth a frequent visit. It is a priceless "find" for small group study...there is even a companion study guide available.

For those seeking to know more about Jesus, there are few if any books out there that will serve you better than The Jesus Creed. Part of what sets McKnight's writing apart is his gift for combining sound scholarship with a down to earth writing style and a great sense of humor. That makes for a book of profound insight that it also very readable. It not only informs the mind, but touches the soul. Another strength of this book is its practicality. The Jesus Creed does indeed analyze the philosophy of Jesus, its historical context, and the principles he espoused. But it also takes these things one step further in making concrete observations about how one might live in accord with Jesus' teaching today. Whether you are a Christian looking to grow in your devotion to Jesus, or whether you are simply someone interested in knowing more about him from a purely secular point of view, this is a book that will help you understand both the teachings of Jesus Christ and the lasting impact he has had on the world around us.