“For the law was given by
Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.” (John 1:17 KJV)
Jesus gave the world two new commandments of equal importance:
Firstly, to love God with all your heart, mind and soul. Secondly, to love your
neighbour (people you encounter) as you love yourself. Jesus gave the world a
new higher-level concept by mentioning love, showing us in a different way why
we follow the Ten Commandments. At the same time, love is a special,
distinctive gift He made known to the world in a new way: God is love:
“Then one of
them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment
in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy
heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and
great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour
as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew
22:35–40 KJV)
These are the Ten Commandments grouped
under the new commandments Jesus gave us about love, to show how well they
complement each other:
1.) Jesus said to Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul
and mind
·
“Thou shalt
have none other gods before me.
·
Thou shalt
not make thee any
graven image, or
any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or
that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath
the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the
LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that
hate me, And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my
commandments.
·
Thou shalt
not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his
name in vain.
·
Keep the
sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Six days
thou shalt labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is
the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in
it thou shalt not do any work,
thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, nor thy manservant, nor thy maidservant,
nor thine ox, nor thine ass, nor any of thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates; that thy manservant and thy maidservant may rest as
well as thou. And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the LORD thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by
a stretched out arm: therefore the LORD thy God commanded thee to keep the
sabbath day.”
(Deuteronomy 5:7–15 KJV)
2.) Jesus said to love your neighbour as you love yourself
·
“Honour thy
father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days
may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD
thy God giveth thee.
·
Thou shalt
not kill.
·
Neither
shalt thou commit adultery.
·
Neither
shalt thou steal.
·
Neither
shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour.
·
Neither
shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy
neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or
his ass, or any thing
that is
thy neighbour’s.”
(Deuteronomy 5:16–21 KJV)
Jesus said we must continue to teach the
commandments
Jesus
said to continue to teach and honour the Ten Commandments, and as Bible verses I
include further on show, if we walk in the Spirit we will honour these
commandments by default and put away the “lust
of the flesh” (phrase contained within 1 John 2:16 KJV):
“Think not that
I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to
fulfil. For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one
tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled. Whosoever
therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so,
he shall be called the least in the kingdom of heaven: but whosoever shall do
and teach them, the same shall be called
great in the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:17–19 KJV)
Jesus gave insight into even further ways to honour the
commandments
Jesus wanted us to honour the Ten Commandments. Why would Jesus
add additional detail to the commandments, unless He wanted us to keep them?
For example, Jesus said that not only must we make sure we commit no murder, we
must not even be angry with one another without a just cause:
“Ye have heard
that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall
kill shall be in danger of the judgment: But I say unto you, That whosoever is
angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and
whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca [worthless],
shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be
in danger of hell fire. Therefore if thou bring thy gift to the altar, and
there rememberest that thy brother hath ought against thee; Leave there thy gift
before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then
come and offer thy gift.” (Matthew 5:21–24 KJV)
In another example, when someone asked what good things he needed
to do to gain eternal life, Jesus gave six of the Ten Commandments in response,
and when the person said he was honouring these, Jesus reminded him that love
is above riches:
“And, behold, one came and
said unto him, Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal
life? And he said unto him, Why callest thou me good? there
is none good but one, that is, God: but if
thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. He saith unto him, Which?
Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt
not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. The young
man saith unto him, All these things have I kept from my youth up: what lack I
yet? Jesus said unto him, If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have
treasure in heaven: and come and follow me. But
when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great
possessions.” (Matthew
19:16-22 KJV)
Being Led By the Spirit
The Bible passages I include here show that if we believe in God,
and are led by His Holy Spirit, and have love one for another, we will not go
against God: not worship anything besides God, we will not murder another, and
not commit any manner of other offense against each other. Where does this
leave the Sabbath? My opinion is that we should still honour the Sabbath, as
the Ten Commandments say that God wants His people to keep the Sabbath holy as
an everlasting covenant with Him, and Christians become part of God’s fold when
we follow Him. I have read debates as to whether the Sabbath is on a Saturday
or a Sunday. Saturday was originally honoured as the day of the Sabbath, and is
still considered the Sabbath by Jewish people. Sunday is currently declared the
Sabbath by most Christian denominations, though not all. I believe you will
practice what you feel led to do, and what the Spirit leads you to do, as you
have free will. The Bible says, “One man
esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day alike. Let each
man be fully assured in his own mind.” (Romans 14:5 WEB) I love worshipping God in church, and
feeling His presence along with others in a joyful congregation.
“Owe no one anything, except
to love one another; for he who loves his neighbour has fulfilled the
law. For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not
murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not give false testimony,” “You
shall not covet,” and whatever other commandments there are, are all summed up
in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.” Love doesn’t harm a neighbour. Love
therefore is the fulfillment of the law.” (Romans 13:8–10 WEB)
Hi Shirley!
ReplyDeleteI'm still wrestling with similar questions you posed to me on 'Disciples in Training' FB page. But let me put in my five cents worth.
Some big topics you are touching on here. You said earlier in the article that Christians say that Jesus came to do away with the law, but the passage you listed in Matthew 5:17-19 says Jesus came to fulfil the law. So, I don't think he came to abolish the law as such, but rather, in a way, he redefined the law.
He took 600 or so commandments and knuckled them down to 2. Does this then mean we throw out the other 598? Not necessarily. If I sum up a blog post, for example, on 100 tips on leadership, and abbreviate the list to 5 tips on leadership, does that mean the 100 tips are now useless? No. It means, the list is simplified, but we can still find much encouragement from those 100 tips.
Therefore we could probably argue and debate each law on its merits, like the Sabbath, Tattoos, Homosexuality, Stealing, Worshipping idols, etc. Though what seemed to be most important to Christ, as he summed up the law, was to love God, and to love others first and foremost. I hesitate to enter into any discussion on the ten commandments, the sabbath, etc, until, in my heart of heart, I am loving God and loving others.
In relation to the Sabbath, I have heard both sides of the debate. Some believe that IN Christ we have an ongoing Sabbath, that is, we are AT rest IN Christ all the time, and therefore the Sabbath day as such is irrelevant. Others debate about a particular day.
I resonate with a God who is less concerned about legalistic expectations, but a God who desires that we love God wholeheartedly and love others wholeheartedly. Therefore, I somewhat find it irrelevant on whether the Sabbath is a Saturday or Sunday, or any other day, but I ask the question, 'Are we finding rest in Christ?' 'Are we dedicating our lives to his purposes?'
I hope this helps to provide some clarification on the topic, from my perspective (and albeit a little wordy!).
God bless,
Pete.
Thanks so much. Guess there may never be 100% certainty and each person must be led by the Spirit to find their own answers, and Romans 14:1-5 (MSG) says: "Welcome with open arms fellow believers who don't see things the way you do. And don't jump all over them every time they do or say something you don't agree with—even when it seems that they are strong on opinions but weak in the faith department. Remember, they have their own history to deal with. Treat them gently. For instance, a person who has been around for a while might well be convinced that he can eat anything on the table, while another, with a different background, might assume he should only be a vegetarian and eat accordingly. But since both are guests at Christ's table, wouldn't it be terribly rude if they fell to criticizing what the other ate or didn't eat? God, after all, invited them both to the table. Do you have any business crossing people off the guest list or interfering with God's welcome? If there are corrections to be made or manners to be learned, God can handle that without your help. Or, say, one person thinks that some days should be set aside as holy and another thinks that each day is pretty much like any other. There are good reasons either way. So, each person is free to follow the convictions of conscience."
ReplyDeleteHebrews 4:8-12 (WEB): "For if Joshua had given them rest, he would not have spoken afterward of another day. There remains therefore a Sabbath rest for the people of God. For he who has entered into his rest has himself also rested from his works, as God did from his. Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, lest anyone fall after the same example of disobedience. For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart."
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