Thank you for the question on keeping God’s commandment, “(asking protestants) In 1 John 5:3 it is said that to love god is to keep his commandments, and 1 Corinthians 2:9 says that heaven is the place for those who love god. Does that contradicts salvation by faith alone?”
The question is a pertinent one and asks a core question, “Can anyone love God with his/her whole being and to keep his commandments to be saved?”
Here are some thoughts for one’s consideration on one’s question:
A. The Ten Commandments and the commands of God are given to redeemed people.
God gave the commandments to the Israelites who have already been adopted into the family of God. The commandments are not given to become a family member of God but because they are family members.
The Israelites entered into a covenant relationship with on Mount Sinai. They became his people of all the people group in this world. As head of the family, God states his desire/command for them to enjoy his blessings on them. That is where the Curses and Blessings in Deuteronomy are listed for acknowledging the LORD as their God and not any of the Canaanite deities.
B. The commandments include the commandment to love God and to obey his commands is not given to the non-followers of the LORD. It does not apply to them for they have not come to a place of recognizing him as the Creator God and his/her Savior. The Law is not applicable to them.
For Christians to impose or insist that non-Christians to obey God’s laws will be fruitless for they have no reason to obey it. Individuals may respect the God of the Bible but he is not their God/god. Is there value in upholding the Biblical values? Yes, much, but without transformation of life, it is outward laws seen as an imposition on one’s life.
C. The Creator God redeemed the Israelites from the Egyptian bondage and the Savior Jesus Christ redeemed individuals from the sin bondage. It is all of God’s grace. The Israelites did not contribute anything for their deliverance and believers in Jesus Christ also realizes that they didn’t do anything to contribute to their deliverance from sin. Believers are powerless and held in bondage until God freed them and made them part of his family.
The command to love God and others would be a natural response in gratitude to the God who saved them. Having said that, God also knows that his followers have wandering hearts as one reads the Old Testament. Despite their unfaithfulness to God, God provided a way for them to return to him through repentance. For Christians, it is what is known as confession of sins (I John 1:9) that restores a person in fellowship with God, not his salvation. For belief makes a person a child of God (John 1:12). A disobedient child/person needs to say genuinely that one is sorry for hurting the other person or violating the rules. The violation does not nullify that person from being a child of God.
As the Apostle Paul states in Ephesians 2:8–9, that the person who believes is saved by grace through faith, apart from any human works so that no one can boast. No one can say, “I earned my salvation by my good deeds before God and man,” for God already declared that none is righteous, no not one person. Saul of Tarsus thought that he was good enough since he viewed himself as being blameless before the Law but came to realization that his righteousness can’t compare to the holiness of God. He turned/rejected his own righteousness and accepted God’s forgiveness of his sins and the granting of God’s righteousness to him by faith. It’s a transformation that changed his attitude and life for loving God was not a duty, but out of gratitude to God and to Jesus Christ for saving him.
I hope this explanation helps you to understand more clearly the reason why Christians love God and want to obey him. He graciously freed us from the bondage of sin and made us his children with a home waiting for us whereby we will be with him forever and forever. It is with love and gratitude that we love God, not out of duty or for salvation.
SUMMARY: We love God because he first loved us.
For more perspectives: