Why does Christ say to keep the Commandments?

[Hobie]

Why does Christ say to keep the Commandments? It seems that Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life, as something to be upheld, as the basis of loving God and loving your fellow man. It is God transferring His Love to man, a understanding of Gods love through his law.

Matthew 5:19
Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 15:3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Matthew 19:17
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

Mark 7:8,9
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Mark 10:19
You know the commandments:'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' "
Luke 1:6
Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.

Luke 18:20
You know the commandments:'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.' "
Luke 18:19-21 (in Context) Luke 18 (Whole Chapter)

John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21
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 to him.

John 15:10
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.

John 15:12
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

And we see how Christ basically puts it that it is to love God and love your fellow man..
Mark 12:28-34
[ The Greatest Commandment ]
28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Matthew 22:34-40
34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 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.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

So why do so many people fight against what Christ so clearly upheld for us to observe, to love God and our fellow man?

 

[GISMYS_7]

keep the Commandments? Yes! do what is right and resist evil.​

 

[Behold]

Why does Christ say to keep the Commandments? It seems that Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life,

Cults teach that commandments keeping is salvation and eternal life.

The Cross of Christ and John 14:6 deny heretical lies like those, and many other Cult teachings.

Remember... the heretics are always trying to get you to do something...... of yourself..... so that you can be saved and stay saved.

And what is that? That is a total rejection of the Blood Atonement that is the Cross of Christ.

 

[mailmandan]

Why does Christ say to keep the Commandments? It seems that Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life...

If flawlessly obeying all of God's commandments is a central theme for eternal life, then that's a big fail for everyone (Ecclesiastes 7:20; Romans 3:10-12, 23; 6:23; 2 Corinthians 5:21; 1 John 1:8-10) except for Jesus Christ. (Hebrews 4:15; 1 John 3:5)

 

[Wrangler]

Why does Christ say to keep the Commandments? It seems that Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life, as something to be upheld, as the basis of loving God and loving your fellow man.

Great question

So why do so many people fight against what Christ so clearly upheld for us to observe, to love God and our fellow man?

There are 2 bases of opposition: The Doctrine of Belief over Self-Deliverance and the Means of Salvation

1. The Doctrine of Belief over Self-Deliverance

This doctrine is somewhat tied to OSAS crowd, who lift up "the finished work of the cross" to the absurd level that Christ died so we may sin with impunity. Just yesterday I started a thread about self deliverance, saving yourself based on 1 Timothy 4:16. And there is Philippians 2:12 work out your salvation, with great fear and trembling.

Those who subscribe to this doctrine deny action on our part is necessary. I believe this is somewhat due to the confusion between "works" in the Biblica sense, which is external, with the meaning of "work" in the common sense. They even deny that true belief that Jesus is our Savior is work for if it were not, then Universal Salvation would be proper doctrine.

2. The Means of Salvation

Given the doctrine that we cannot save ourselves, it begs the question of by what means are we to be saved? Faith in Christ, they say. True enough. However, they deny Faith = Belief + Action (the action of keeping the commandments of the New Covenant) I deny the gates of heaven will be breeched by mere words.

When I first read the Bible, one of the most life-altering, mind blowing verses I came across was Romans 4:16: Faith establishes Grace. The importance of this cannot be overstated. I struggled to accept my puny faith had such power. Then I looked at it this way. Salvation is, like air, available to us all. But we still have to do the work of completing the circuit between God's grace to grant us salvation and it being granted to us, individually. Like being a drowning man in the presence of your rescuer who throws you a rope, you still must act to grab hold of it.

I once took a Pastor to task for saying we do not have to follow the 10 Commandments. I replied you cannot believe Jesus died on the cross so that we can violate the 10 C. That the 10C remain God's will cannot be denied.

 

[CadyandZoe]

The gospels record the account of Jesus' teaching as he walked among his own people and taught them from the scriptures. The opening of John's gospel, for instance, has this to say:

John 1:9-13

There was the true Light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and those who were His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, even to those who believe in His name, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.​

Notice it says, "he came to his own." This sets the stage for what will follow in John's account of the Gospel message. The statement above is included in the preface to John's gospel in order to orient the reader with regard to the material and information contained in the Gospel.

As we read further, we discover that Jesus came to set us free from sin; but he also came to set us free from self-righteousness. In this regard, it was critical that Jesus often make strong statements with regard to his strong support and commitment to the Law and to Moses. He tells us that he did not come to nullify the Law. The people need to hear Jesus openly and strongly deny antinomianism. He did not come to free his people from obedience to Moses.

His people also needed to hear Jesus argue against pretending to be righteous. He often called the Pharisees, "hypocrites", which is a word that came from Greek theater. The "hypocrite" was the actor who placed a mask over his face when he or she pretended to be another person. He would say that the Pharisees weren't actually righteous; they were simply playing the part of a righteous person.

It's like when someone might say, "I'm not a real doctor but I play one on TV." Jesus would say that a Pharisee is not a real righteous person he simply plays one for the crowds.

Anyway, the short answer is, Jesus was critical of his own people and so his comments about "keeping the commandments" need to be understood from inside that context.

 

[dev553344]

Keeping the commandments makes us ready to be part of God's loving family in heaven. He only does good and that is why he encourages us to keep the commandments.

 

[Bob Estey]

Why does Christ say to keep the Commandments? It seems that Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life, as something to be upheld, as the basis of loving God and loving your fellow man. It is God transferring His Love to man, a understanding of Gods love through his law.

Matthew 5:19
Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 15:3
But he answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition?

Matthew 19:17
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."

Mark 7:8,9
For laying aside the commandment of God, ye hold the tradition of men, as the washing of pots and cups: and many other such like things ye do.
And he said unto them, Full well ye reject the commandment of God, that ye may keep your own tradition.

Mark 10:19
You know the commandments:'Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, do not defraud, honor your father and mother.' "
Luke 1:6
Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord's commandments and regulations blamelessly.

Luke 18:20
You know the commandments:'Do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother.' "
Luke 18:19-21 (in Context) Luke 18 (Whole Chapter)

John 14:15
If ye love me, keep my commandments.

John 14:21
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 to him.

John 15:10
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.

John 15:12
This is my commandment, That ye love one another, as I have loved you.

And we see how Christ basically puts it that it is to love God and love your fellow man..
Mark 12:28-34
[ The Greatest Commandment ]
28 And one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, and perceiving that he had answered them well, asked him, Which is the first commandment of all?
29 And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord:
30 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.
32 And the scribe said unto him, Well, Master, thou hast said the truth: for there is one God; and there is none other but he:
33 And to love him with all the heart, and with all the understanding, and with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love his neighbour as himself, is more than all whole burnt offerings and sacrifices.
34 And when Jesus saw that he answered discreetly, he said unto him, Thou art not far from the kingdom of God. And no man after that durst ask him any question.

Matthew 22:34-40
34 But when the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together.
35 Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying,
36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?
37 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.
38 This is the first and great commandment.
39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

So why do so many people fight against what Christ so clearly upheld for us to observe, to love God and our fellow man?

I think the Lord gave us commandments to keep us out of trouble. For example, if I rob a bank, I'll probably go to prison for a long time. Therefore, the Lord commanded us not to steal.

 

[GISMYS_7]

God hates sin but loves the sinner!

 

[GRACE ambassador]

So why do so many people fight against what Christ so clearly upheld for us to observe, to love God and our fellow man?

Precious friend, because God's Word Of Truth should be prayerfully/Carefully studied Rightly Divided?:

I have decided to follow Jesus?

Amen?

 

[Nancy]

Hi @Hobie!
Good subject! Those verses you quoted were spoken BEFORE the death of Jesus so, they (The Jews) were still under the old covenant of law. And still gave sacrifices of animals for once a year forgiveness.
No man could EVER keep those laws without The Holy Spirit, and The Holy Spirit was not given yet. As a matter of fact, Jesus said:

"Acts 15:10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they. (NKJV)"

Jesus, after He rose again said:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22: 38-40

So, if we love God, and neighbor, we will naturally NOT break the 10 commandments.

If we think we can hold to all of the 631 laws of the OT Jews, we fool ourselves as no man can, also it is an insult to Christ who alone holds our salvation through His sacrifice...we have grace now, and when He gives us grace, we are to also extend that same grace to others.
JMHO

 

[Wrangler]

It seems that Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life, as something to be upheld, as the basis of loving God and loving your fellow man.

If flawlessly obeying all of God's commandments is a central theme for eternal life, then that's a big fail for everyone

@mailmandan, this is a bit of a Strawman. @Hobie said nothing about ‘flawlessly obeying.’

And I think the OP is about the goal, the central theme, as opposed to Plan B, when we fail to achieve the goal.

 

[mailmandan]

@mailmandan, this is a bit of a Strawman. @Hobie said nothing about ‘flawlessly obeying.’

And I think the OP is about the goal, the central theme, as opposed to Plan B, when we fail to achieve the goal.

Hobie said - "Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life."

How many ways can one interpret that?

 

[Wrangler]

Hobie said - "Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life."

How many ways can one interpret that?

I'm glad you asked. This exchange shows reading comprehensive problems, not limited to religious theology.

There is a proper interpretation and it hinges on people' confusing the adverb continuously with what verb it modifies. What is continuously referring to in @Hobie's sentence?

A. Us obeying (flawlessly) the Commandments?​

B. Jesus holding up the Commandments?​

The proper answer is B.

Even in the OT, there was a remedy for sin.

 

[mailmandan]

I'm glad you asked. This exchange shows reading comprehensive problems, not limited to religious theology.

There is a proper interpretation and it hinges on people' confusing the adverb continuously with what verb it modifies. What is continuously referring to in @Hobie's sentence?

A. Us obeying (flawlessly) the Commandments?​

B. Jesus holding up the Commandments?​

The proper answer is B.

Even in the OT, there was a remedy for sin.

None of us have flawlessly obeyed the commandments and the Greek word for "keep" is "tereo" which means to guard, observe, watch over.

 

[Wrangler]

None of us have flawlessly obeyed the commandments

True but doubling down on what is not relevent is for what purpose? Jesus continually upheld the commandments for us to obey. Simple.

 

[Behold]

Why does Christ say to keep the Commandments? It seems that Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life,

Commandments and Law have no life in them.

Eternal Life is found here..

Jesus Said...>"I am The Way.....The Truth, and THE LIFE"

Jesus said, "I came to give you LIFE, and that more abundantly".

John teaches in 1 John 5 = that "you can know you have Eternal LIFE" and that Life is 'IN Christ".

Find it here.....

= Jesus said...."All the BELIEVE in ME....(Faith).... I give unto them, ETERNAL LIFE, and they shall never go to Hell, (Perish)"

 

[mailmandan]

True but doubling down on what is not relevent is for what purpose? Jesus continually upheld the commandments for us to obey. Simple.

How can you say you obey unless you completely obey? We are to keep (guard, observe, watch over) the commandments for NT Christians. (1 John 2:3; 1 John 3:23)

 

[Cassandra]

Hi @Hobie!
Good subject! Those verses you quoted were spoken BEFORE the death of Jesus so, they (The Jews) were still under the old covenant of law. And still gave sacrifices of animals for once a year forgiveness.
No man could EVER keep those laws without The Holy Spirit, and The Holy Spirit was not given yet. As a matter of fact, Jesus said:

"Acts 15:10 Now therefore, why do you test God by putting a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear? 11 But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved in the same manner as they. (NKJV)"

Jesus, after He rose again said:

“Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.” - Matthew 22: 38-40

So, if we love God, and neighbor, we will naturally NOT break the 10 commandments.

If we think we can hold to all of the 631 laws of the OT Jews, we fool ourselves as no man can, also it is an insult to Christ who alone holds our salvation through His sacrifice...we have grace now, and when He gives us grace, we are to also extend that same grace to others.
JMHO

What Jesus said in Matthew is found in the Old Testament as well. I have it in my signature

Deut 6:5 Love the Lord with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength..
Lev 19:18 Love thy neighbor as thyself

We are not talking about the 613 commandments.

That Verse that you quote in Acts was regarding circumcision and the Gentiles.

Acts 15:5-10 Then some of the believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees stood up and said, “The Gentiles must be circumcised and required to keep the law of Moses.”


6 The apostles and elders met to consider this question. 7 After much discussion, Peter got up and addressed them: “Brothers, you know that some time ago God made a choice among you that the Gentiles might hear from my lips the message of the gospel and believe. 8 God, who knows the heart, showed that he accepted them by giving the Holy Spirit to them, just as he did to us. 9 He did not discriminate between us and them, for he purified their hearts by faith. 10 Now then, why do you try to test God by putting on the necks of Gentiles a yoke that neither we nor our ancestors have been able to bear?

The Commandments Hobie refers to are the 10 commandments

The first 4 honor God-- demonstrating loving the Lord with all your heart
the second 6--demonstrating love for your neighbor

 

[Wrangler]

True but doubling down on what is not relevent is for what purpose? Jesus continually upheld the commandments for us to obey. Simple.

How can you say you obey unless you completely obey?

I am not saying anything like that but what Jesus said.

Hobie said - "Christ continuously held up the Commandments as a central theme for eternal life."

How many ways can one interpret that?

Jesus continually upheld the commandments. Seems you do t want to talk about that.

Make a Blessed Day!