How can we be certain that the “commandments of God” are not the Old Testament laws, including the ten commandments? Let us see what the New Testament has to say about the commandments of God! John, the writer of the Revelation, also says in his third epistle, “And this is His commandment, That we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, as He gave us commandment, and he that keepeth His commandments dwelleth in Him, and He in him” (I Jn. 3:23-24). No man can ever dwell in God and God in him by keeping the ten commandments! Now let us notice further what the scriptures have to say about God’s commandments. “For I have not spoken of myself; but the Father which sent me, He gave me a commandment, what I should say…and I know that His commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak therefore, even as the Father said unto me, so I speak” (Jn. 12:49-50). “A new commandment I give unto you, that ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another”(Jn. 13:34). Under Moses, the command was to love God with all the heart, with all the soul, with all the mind, and with all the strength. But man was impotent to fulfill this order because of his sin, weakness, and limitation. What man could not do, Jesus Christ came and did completely; and now, instead of man being invited to love God, as the law of Moses demanded, man is asked to believe on His Son, the one who did love God as the law demanded. Instead of man being asked to love God now, he is invited to behold how much God loves him through Christ! “We love Him, because He first loved us.” God does not ask man now to give Him his heart. But He does ask him to believe on Christ who is the revelation of the heart of God toward man, and when this is done man receives a new heart and love will flow out through the heart and life of man, not so much toward the “neighbor,” but toward the “brethren.” The commandments of God under the New Covenant are believe, and thenlove! That’s it! “This is my commandment, that ye love one another, as I have loved you” (Jn. 15:12). “Brethren, I write no new commandment unto you, but an old commandment which ye had from the beginning. The old commandment is the word which ye heard from the beginning. Again, a new commandment I write unto you, which thing is true in Him and in you: because the darkness is past, and the true light now shineth” “And this commandment we have from Him, That he who loveth God love his brother also” (I Jn. 4:21). “I rejoiced greatly that I found of thy children walking in truth (Christ), as we have received a commandment from the Father. And this is love, that we walk after His commandments. This is the commandment. That, as ye have heard from the beginning, ye should walk in it. Whosoever transgresseth, and abideth not in the doctrine of Christ, hath not God. He that abideth in the doctrine of Christ, He hath both the Father and the Son” (II Jn. 4,6,9). “If ye love me, keep my commandments. He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth me: and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself unto him” (Jn. 14:15,21). “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in His love” (Jn. 15:10). “If any man think himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge that the things that I write unto you are THE COMMANDMENTS of the Lord” (I Cor. 14:37).
Posted on: Mon, 17 Mar 2014 12:00:18 +0000