Christian Commandments  (Posted: Dec. 25, 2009)

          The commandments of God expressed in the sacrificial acts of Christ Jesus in obedience to the WILL of God are founded on Love, for God is LOVE.

 
1 Jn 4:8-9: “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” 

Jn 4:16-18: “God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 17 In this way, love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment, because in this world we are like him. 18 There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

         God’s commandments to all men have been clearly stated by the prophets of Israel, by our Lord Jesus, and by the apostles to eliminate all ambiguity.     

First and foremost: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.”  

Second like the first: "Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

For all men, Jesus in Matthew 7:12 declares: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” 

For those who want to become perfect, they  are called to love their enemies as well, sell everything they have and give to the poor, and to follow Jesus.     

For those who consider themselves disciples of Christ Jesus, they are called to love one another to the point of being willing to die for one another, just as Christ Jesus gave His life for His friends.

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On the Commandments of God

           God’s First Commandment. The most important commandment of God is given in Deuteronomy 6:4-6 in the Old Testament and in the Synoptic Gospels.

Dt 6:4-6: “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” 

Mk 12:29-30: The most important one, answered Jesus, is this: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one.  30 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.”

          God’s Second Commandment.  The first mention of what Jesus considered as the second commandment of God was in Leviticus 19:18:

Lev 19:18: “Do not seek revenge or bear a grudge against one of your people, but love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.”

 Mt 22:39-40: “And the second is like it (the first command): ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

          Since “man was created in the image of God,” it follows that our love for our neighbor or another person as we love ourselves, for the sake of God, having in mind the “image of God within that person,” is acceptable to God as loving Him, thus a fulfillment of the His commandments expounded in the Old Covenant writings in the Law and the Prophets.

Ro 13:9-10: The commandments, “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder," "Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and whatever other commandment there may be, are summed up in this one rule: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  10 Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.

Gal 5:13-15: You, my brothers, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge the sinful nature; rather, serve one another in love. 14 The entire law is summed up in a single command: “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  15 If you keep on biting and devouring each other, watch out or you will be destroyed by each other.

Ro 13:8-9: Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.

Jas 2:8-11: If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.

  
          Commandment for Disciples Seeking Perfection.  Mt 5:44: “Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be sons of your Father in heaven."   Mt 19:21: “If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”


Jn 13:34-35: “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. 35 By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”

Jn 15:12-17.  “My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. 13 Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. 14 You are my friends if you do what I command. 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. 16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit — fruit that will last. Then the Father will give you whatever you ask in my name. 17 This is my command: Love each other.”

1 Pe 1:22-2: Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart.  23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God.

1 Jn 3:11-15: This is the message you heard from the beginning: We should love one another. 12 Do not be like Cain, who belonged to the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own actions were evil and his brother's were righteous. 13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you. 14 We know that we have passed from death to life, because we love our brothers. Anyone who does not love remains in death. 15 Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life in him.

1 Jn 3:21-24: Dear friends, if our hearts do not condemn us, we have confidence before God 22 and receive from him anything we ask, because we obey his commands and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his command: to believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and to love one another as he commanded us. 24 Those who obey his commands live in him, and he in them. And this is how we know that he lives in us: We know it by the Spirit he gave us.

1 Jn 4:7-12: Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. 9 This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. 10 This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 11 Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. 12 No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.

2 Jn 5-6: And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. 6 And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

1 Co 13:4-8. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails.

Ro 13:8-9: “Let no debt remain outstanding, except the continuing debt to love one another, for he who loves his fellowman has fulfilled the law.”

           Commandment for Humanity - The Golden Rule.  Finally,  if we cannot love our neighbor as ourselves,  at the very least we are to do to others what we want others do to us.  Love first if you want to be loved;  give first if you want to be given; open your door first if you want doors to be opened to you; forgive first if you want your Father in heaven to forgive your trespasses against Him; etc., for Jesus in Matthew 7:12 declared: 

Mt 7:12: “So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.” 

          The Communal Obligations of Christians, Memorial Services, and Food Prohibitions. We recognize as Christians all those baptized with water and, by faith, born/baptized of the Holy Spirit, at whatever age they were born again, in the “Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit” by any Christian Church Denomination. As for those baptized “in the Name of Jesus” only, we welcome them also as our brothers and sisters to study and fellowship with us.

Jn 3:5-8. “I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit. 6 Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit. 7 You should not be surprised at my saying, 'You must be born again.' 8 The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Mt 28:19-20. “Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.”

 Our daily and lifetime goal is to learn to obey to perfection the Commandments given by Christ Jesus as summarized in Section 3 (Christian Commandments). We are also to attend memorial services according to the practice of our respective denominations and to observe food prohibitions such as blood, meat from strangled animals, and food offered to idols.
1 Pe 2:4-6. 4 As you come to him, the living Stone — rejected by men but chosen by God and precious to him— 5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.

Mt 26:26-29. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take and eat; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29 I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom.”

Mk 14:22-25. While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, “Take it; this is my body.” Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it. 24 “This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many,” he said to them. 25 “I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God.”

Lk 22:19-23. And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.” 20 In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.”

Ac 21:25. As for the Gentile believers, we have written to them our decision that they should abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals, and from sexual immorality.

Ge 9:4-6: But you must not eat meat that has its lifeblood still in it. 5 And for your lifeblood I will surely demand an accounting. I will demand an accounting from every animal. And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. 6 And “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.”

Mt 15:10-11. 10 Jesus called the crowd to him and said, “Listen and understand. 11 What goes into a man's mouth does not make him ‘unclean,’ but what comes out of his mouth, that is what makes him ‘unclean.’”

Mt 12:34-37. “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 The good man brings good things out of the good stored up in him, and the evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in him. 36 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned.”
 
END - Posted: 12/26/2009