The two new covenant love commands are superior to the old ten

[Curtis]

The argument is frequently made that the two love commands, which have replaced the Decalogue, just restate the ten commands, as if they are equivalent to each.other, especially since some of the ten are restated in the New Testament.


This is not so.


The first obvious difference is there are no days commanded to be kept in the two love commands.


But the most glaring difference between them isn’t readily apparent, but is a huge difference indeed.


So let’s compare them.


If you keep the two love commands you keep some of the ten commands, but in reality the two love commands far exceed the ten.


The ten commands - as they pertain to our relationship with other people - are negative commands: they only limit BAD behavior, by telling us what harm we CANT do to others - yet they don’t promote ANY positive acts of good will and good behavior towards your neighbor.


And they were kept out of fear of punishment - they had the death penalty by stoning, for breaking them.


And there’s not one drop of love for your neighbor, found in the Decalogue.


Whereas in comparison, the two love commands are positive commands, instead of negative.


If you love your neighbor as yourself, you won’t kill him, steal from him, or lie against him, etc, and therefore in effect keep 6 of ten.


But when you love your neighbor as yourself, you’ll go far beyond a mere six negative commands, that only tell you what harm you CAN’T do to your neighbor.


You won’t gossip about him for just one example - and there’s no command that says thou shalt not gossip about your neighbor.


In fact you won’t do ANY of the things that would do some kind of harm to your neighbor, which far exceeds a mere 6 limitations.


Jesus didn’t say, “love does none of the 6 things to harm your neighbor prohibited by the ten commands, thus love fulfills the law”.


He said instead, that love does NO HARM to your neighbor, so love fulfills the law.


Get the difference?


Paul also explains how the 2nd love command fulfills all the commands, thus superseding the old 10:


Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there beany other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (The second love command)

Rom 13:10 LOVE worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is THE FULFILLING OF the law.


The two love commands go far beyond the ten commands in how well you treat your fellow man - instead of only limiting any harm you’d do to your neighbor to six, if you love him you won’t do ANY HARM to him in any way, shape or form.


And the two love commands also go far beyond not doing any kind of harm to your neighbor - if you love him as yourself, besides not harming him, you will HELP him in every kind of way.


If you love your neighbor you’ll mow his lawn when he breaks his leg, for just one example, or feed him when he’s hungry.


If you’re just keeping the Decalogue, you can do things harmful to him NOT prohibited by the 6 limitations in it, and ignore any dire needs he has - yet still pat yourself on the back for keeping the Ten commands to a tee.


That’s why the two love commands are far superior to the very limited ten commands, and they’re kept for a very different motive than fear of being stoned to death under the law.


Thus you really can’t equate the ten commands to the two love commands, nor claim that the two merely restate the ten - when in reality they are far different - as different as night and day.

 

[Daniel L.]

The first obvious difference is there are no days commanded to be kept in the two love commands.

If you love Him, you do the things that He says. So, even the two love commandments require you to keep the Shabat, because this day is Sanctified and Blessed, so you can't profane what He has sanctified, nor defile what He has blessed, because it breaks the love commandment, since you are working against His Will, and doing the opposite of what He intended:

Genesis 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.

they only limit BAD behavior, by telling us what harm we CANT do to others

The 10 Commandments tell you: "Thou shalt not steal", which by deduction means, Thou shalt surely give. Even tho the wording is negative, the positive action is still there, because the opposite of evil is good, you can deduce from the wickedness of stealing, the goodness of giving. So, the good behaviour is not only encouraged, but it is required for life, because if death is the reward of stealing, then life must be the reward of giving, and if the negative is "Thou shalt not", then the positive must be "Thou shalt surely", which means in order to have life, one shalt surely give. Any one who would study the law back then would have known this, so they knew they had to be righteous, and had to do good works in order to have eternal life.

fear of being stoned to death under the law.

I showed you it is not only the fear of death, but also the wanting of life, which makes them follow the law. And the fear of death is also found in the two love commandments, there is still punishment for transgressors. Both the 10 commandments and the 2 love commandments have the same driving force, fear of death and wanting of life. You seem to present the two love commandments as if there were no more fear of "beeing stoned", even tho they are no longer stoned to death, they are still killed in the end, and hell still exists for the transgressors of the two love commandments, just like it did for the transgressors of the 10 commandments.

 

[Curtis]

If you love Him, you do the things that He says. So, even the two love commandments require you to keep the Shabat, because this day is Sanctified and Blessed, so you can't profane what He has sanctified, nor defile what He has blessed, because it breaks the love commandment, since you are working against His Will, and doing the opposite of what He intended:

Genesis 2:3 And God blessed the seventh day, and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work which God created and made.


The 10 Commandments tell you: "Thou shalt not steal", which by deduction means, Thou shalt surely give. Even tho the wording is negative, the positive action is still there, because the opposite of evil is good, you can deduce from the wickedness of stealing, the goodness of giving. So, the good behaviour is not only encouraged, but it is required for life, because if death is the reward of stealing, then life must be the reward of giving, and if the negative is "Thou shalt not", then the positive must be "Thou shalt surely", which means in order to have life, one shalt surely give. Any one who would study the law back then would have known this, so they knew they had to be righteous, and had to do good works in order to have eternal life.


I showed you it is not only the fear of death, but also the wanting of life, which makes them follow the law. And the fear of death is also found in the two love commandments, there is still punishment for transgressors. Both the 10 commandments and the 2 love commandments have the same driving force, fear of death and wanting of life. You seem to present the two love commandments as if there were no more fear of "beeing stoned", even tho they are no longer stoned to death, they are still killed in the end, and hell still exists for the transgressors of the two love commandments, just like it did for the transgressors of the 10 commandments.

Absolutely wrong.

The SDA claims that the sabbath has been kept ever since God rested on the seventh day of creation, but while its true that God rested one time after 6 days of creation, He never COMMANDED anyone to keep the sabbath as a law - until He gave it to Israel as a memorial of remembrance, of being set free from Egyptian slavery after their Exodus - and as a covenant sign only between the nation of Israel, and Himself:


Deu 5:15 And thou shalt remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and Jehovah thy God brought thee out thence by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm: therefore Jehovah thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.


REMEMBER that YOU (Israel) were slaves in Egypt and I took you out with a mighty hand and outstretched arm, THEREFORE (because of your deliverance from Egyptian slavery) I gave YOU (Israel) this sabbath day command.


That wouldn’t be much of a memorial of REMEMBRANCE and a covenant SIGN between Israel and God - as God calls the sabbath day command in Exodus 31:13 - to give them a command that was ALREADY kept since the 6th day of creation, now would it?


Obviously not.


In fact Moses refutes the claim that any of their ancestors already had the sabbath day command, when he was about to give Israel the covenant law God gave to them, which includes the Decalogue:


Note the chapter heading in the Bible for this passage:


The Ten Commandments.


Deu 5:1 And Moses called unto all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and the ordinances which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may LEARN them, and observe to DO them.


Deu 5:2 Jehovah our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.


Deu 5:3 Jehovah made NOT this covenant with our fathers, but with US - even us, who are all of us here alive THIS day.


No one had the covenant law and ten commands until Moses received them after the Exodus from Egypt, as proven by Moses telling them THEY HAD TO LEARN THEM and then DO them, and said neither THEY nor their FATHERS had that law and commands until then.

 

[Daniel L.]

Absolutely wrong.

Just because shabat wasn't a commandment until Moses, doesn't mean it isn't a commandment as of right now. Why would you compare yourself to pre-Moses time? You are way past that, my friend, now you know all about shabat, and are without excuse to profane what He has blessed nor to defile what He has sactified. If you do, you work against His Will and break the love commandments.

 

[Desire Of All Nations]

When will deceivers ever learn that they won't fool the people who truly seek to follow God into subscribing to their false ideas of what love is?

"For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." - 1 Jhn 5:3

To quote Jay-Z, "we don't believe you, you need more people". The Bible defines love as keeping God's commandments, plain as day. Show me a person who believes Jesus had the authority to override or abolish His Father's laws, and i'll show you a person who is worshiping another Jesus and is led by an unholy spirit. The real Jesus was a prophet, and you will find no passage in Genesis to Revelation where a true prophet of God tells people that they possessed the authority to override or diminish any part of the Decalogue's authority.

Just because shabat wasn't a commandment until Moses, doesn't mean it isn't a commandment as of right now. Why would you compare yourself to pre-Moses time? You are way past that, my friend, now you know all about shabat, and are without excuse to profane what He has blessed nor to defile what He has sactified. If you do, you work against His Will and break the love commandments.

Gen. 2:1-3 describes when the Sabbath was created. The codified version of the command points all the way back to everything God did in Gen.1:3:-2:3.

 

[Bob Estey]

The argument is frequently made that the two love commands, which have replaced the Decalogue, just restate the ten commands, as if they are equivalent to each.other, especially since some of the ten are restated in the New Testament.


This is not so.


The first obvious difference is there are no days commanded to be kept in the two love commands.


But the most glaring difference between them isn’t readily apparent, but is a huge difference indeed.


So let’s compare them.


If you keep the two love commands you keep some of the ten commands, but in reality the two love commands far exceed the ten.


The ten commands - as they pertain to our relationship with other people - are negative commands: they only limit BAD behavior, by telling us what harm we CANT do to others - yet they don’t promote ANY positive acts of good will and good behavior towards your neighbor.


And they were kept out of fear of punishment - they had the death penalty by stoning, for breaking them.


And there’s not one drop of love for your neighbor, found in the Decalogue.


Whereas in comparison, the two love commands are positive commands, instead of negative.


If you love your neighbor as yourself, you won’t kill him, steal from him, or lie against him, etc, and therefore in effect keep 6 of ten.


But when you love your neighbor as yourself, you’ll go far beyond a mere six negative commands, that only tell you what harm you CAN’T do to your neighbor.


You won’t gossip about him for just one example - and there’s no command that says thou shalt not gossip about your neighbor.


In fact you won’t do ANY of the things that would do some kind of harm to your neighbor, which far exceeds a mere 6 limitations.


Jesus didn’t say, “love does none of the 6 things to harm your neighbor prohibited by the ten commands, thus love fulfills the law”.


He said instead, that love does NO HARM to your neighbor, so love fulfills the law.


Get the difference?


Paul also explains how the 2nd love command fulfills all the commands, thus superseding the old 10:


Rom 13:9 For this, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there beany other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. (The second love command)

Rom 13:10 LOVE worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is THE FULFILLING OF the law.


The two love commands go far beyond the ten commands in how well you treat your fellow man - instead of only limiting any harm you’d do to your neighbor to six, if you love him you won’t do ANY HARM to him in any way, shape or form.


And the two love commands also go far beyond not doing any kind of harm to your neighbor - if you love him as yourself, besides not harming him, you will HELP him in every kind of way.


If you love your neighbor you’ll mow his lawn when he breaks his leg, for just one example, or feed him when he’s hungry.


If you’re just keeping the Decalogue, you can do things harmful to him NOT prohibited by the 6 limitations in it, and ignore any dire needs he has - yet still pat yourself on the back for keeping the Ten commands to a tee.


That’s why the two love commands are far superior to the very limited ten commands, and they’re kept for a very different motive than fear of being stoned to death under the law.


Thus you really can’t equate the ten commands to the two love commands, nor claim that the two merely restate the ten - when in reality they are far different - as different as night and day.

The thing about love is that we don't fully understand its ramifications - we are just learning. Some people don't understand that adultery is anti-love, for instance.

 

[kcnalp]

And love doesn't vote to kill people / death penalty. Only Satan's children filled with hatred do.