Christ's Commandments

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● John 14:21 . .Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me.

God's commands as per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy are covenanted commands, i.e. contractual. Christ's followers are not contracted with God to comply with those particular commands; and lucky them because Lev 26:3-38, Deut 27:15-26, and Deut 28:1-69 specify a large number of curses for non compliance.

● Deut 27:26 . . Cursed is the man who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.

Note the grammatical tense of that curse; it's present tense rather than future, indicating that the very moment a Jew breaks one of the covenanted commands he racks up a curse upon himself-- no delay and no waiting period; for example:

● Lev 19:11 . . You shall not deal falsely, nor lie to one another.

Every time a Jew is dishonest, he accrues a curse; for each offense. Lets say a Jew is dishonest ten times in a week. Well according to the covenant, his ten counts of dishonesty accrue ten curses; and those curses are contractual, i.e. God is obligated by the covenant to fulfil them lest He himself fall into breach of contract. Obviously then, serial dishonesty is pretty serious for people contracted with God as per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Ergo: I do not recommend converting to Judaism lest one find themselves under a sword of Damocles hanging by a slender thread easily broken by just one lie.

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iouae

iouae

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This thread isn't about New Testament commands per se. It's about commands in the New Testament specifically pertinent to Christ's followers; not all are.
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That's news to me. Please give the rule for deciding which of the 1050 one needs to keep.
 
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Re: Christ's Commandments

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iouae said:
Please give the rule for deciding which of the 1050 one needs to keep.
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You can take a lot of the guess work out of this by simply letting the following be your guide.

● 1Thess 4:1-2 . .We beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by The Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by The Lord Jesus.

"commandments we gave you by The Lord Jesus" begin at Acts 15:19-20. From thence you'll encounter upwards of five hundred by the time you get to the end of Revelation; which is considerably less than a thousand and fifty.

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iouae

iouae

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You can take a lot of the guess work out of this by simply letting the following be your guide.

● 1Thess 4:1-2 . .We beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by The Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by The Lord Jesus.

"commandments we gave you by The Lord Jesus" begin at Acts 15:19-20. From thence you'll encounter upwards of five hundred by the time you get to the end of Revelation; which is considerably less than a thousand and fifty.

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What about the commands Christ gave in the Gospels?
 
iouae

iouae

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1Tim 6:8 isn't among the commands Christ gave in the Gospels; it's in the epistles.

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You got me there.

What about this...
Mat 5:44
But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

You previously wrote...
""commandments we gave you by The Lord Jesus" begin at Acts 15:19-20. From thence you'll encounter upwards of five hundred by the time you get to the end of Revelation; which is considerably less than a thousand and fifty."

Are you saying we keep what Paul commands, but not what Jesus commands?
 
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iouae said:
Are you saying we keep what Paul commands, but not what Jesus commands?
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When Paul said "we" in 1Thess 4:1-2, I'm pretty sure he was speaking not only of himself, but also the other guys who wrote letters to the various churches, e.g. John, Peter, James, and Jude, plus the mysterious author of the letter to Hebrews.

Matt 5:44 is an excerpt from the so-called Sermon On The Mount. Jesus didn't preach the sermon to Christians, rather, to Jews whose religion consists of the covenant that their ancestors agreed upon with God as per Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy; plus the Prophets.

There's lots of information useful to Christians in Matthew's gospel, but unfortunately it practically takes the skills and abilities of a Th.D. to figure out which parts are for Christians and which are for Jews; while the epistles are straightforward for Christians; no confusion there, except maybe in the letter to Hebrews. That's a tough one; which is all the more reason why I said in post #6 "You can take a lot of the guess work out of this by simply letting the following be your guide, yada, yada, yada."

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iouae

iouae

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There's lots of information useful to Christians in Matthew's gospel, but unfortunately it practically takes the skills and abilities of a Th.D. to figure out which parts are for Christians and which are for Jews; while the epistles are straightforward for Christians; no confusion there, except maybe in the letter to Hebrews. That's a tough one; which is all the more reason why I said in post #6 "You can take a lot of the guess work out of this by simply letting the following be your guide, yada, yada, yada."
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I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why you listen to Apostles and not to Christ.
 
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iouae said:
I cannot, for the life of me, figure out why you listen to Apostles and not to Christ.
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Listening to the epistles of Paul, James, Peter, Jude, and John is all the same as listening to their master.

● 1Cor 14:37 . . 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.

● 1Thess 4:1-2 . .We beseech you, brethren, and exhort you by The Lord Jesus, that as ye have received of us how ye ought to walk and to please God, so ye would abound more and more. For ye know what commandments we gave you by The Lord Jesus.

Failure to listen to the epistles of Paul, James, Peter, Jude, and John is a domino effect all the way to the top.

● Luke 10:16 . .Whoever listens to you; listens to me. Whoever rejects you; rejects me. And whoever rejects me; rejects the one who sent me.

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Re: Christ's Commandments

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Acts 15:20a . . Abstain from food tainted by idols,

Here's the text of a common Christian prayer.

"Bless us, Oh Lord, and these thy gifts which we are about to receive from thy bounty through Christ, Our Lord. Amen."

That prayer credits the providence of God and His son for the nourishment on the table. Well; in the old Roman world, they sometimes credited the providence of a pagan god for their nourishment. According to 1Cor 10:25-31; this is one of those don't ask situations.

Acts 15:20b . . Abstain from promiscuity

Promiscuity typically refers to things like adultery, incest, shacking up, one night stands, sleeping around, etc.

Acts 15:20c . . Abstain from the meat of strangled animals.

Strangulation is a slow, inhumane way to die. If you know that the meat you're being served came from an animal that was choked to death, consider it food fit only for barbarians. We want nothing to do with animal abuse.

Acts 15:20d . . Abstain from blood

In other words: Christ's followers are forbidden to use blood as a beverage.

There are cultures that poke holes in cows' necks in order to drink blood straight out of the living animal utilizing its own blood pressure like a tap to fill their cups; a rather ghastly thirst that might be okay for Edward Cullen's family but certainly not for us

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Rom 6:11 . . Count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus.

"dead to sin" in this case doesn't mean Christ's sheep can't, won't, and/or don't sin (cf. 1John 1:8-10). It means that sin can no longer give God cause to slam them with the sum of all fears.

Rom 5:12-21 explains, in so many words; that Christ's believing followers are accounted as having gone to the cross with him similar to accounting them as having tasted the forbidden fruit with Adam. This principle is at the very core of Christianity's plan of salvation so it's important to get it.

In a nutshell: When Jesus went to the cross; he died for the sins of the world from first to last. That being the case, then when his believing followers went to the cross with him, they died for their sins from first to last. As a result: when the books are opened as per Rev 20:11-15, there will be nothing on record with which to charge them.

FYI: Rom 6:11 is an order, and Christ's believing followers are expected to obey it.

Rom 6:12-13 . . Do not let sin reign in your mortal body so that you obey its evil desires. Do not offer the parts of your body to sin, as instruments of wickedness, but rather offer yourselves to God, as those who have been brought from death to life; and offer the parts of your body to Him as instruments of righteousness.

If I'm understanding John 5:24-25 correctly; Jesus spoke of a non-physical resurrection that his believing followers undergo in this life-- now --before they pass on.

It's a pretty good resurrection too because it doesn't rejuvenate ordinary life, rather; it's a step up to eternal life-- a superior kind of life that brings with it not only immortality, but also a change from human nature to divine nature. (2Pet 1:4)

Anyway, the point is: Christ's non-physically resurrected followers really should make an effort to walk as insiders who live in heaven rather than outsiders on their way to the other place. Political theorists like Niccolò Machiavelli would not recommend Christ's way of life of course because in this world, situation ethics are better; viz: the end justifies the means so long as the end, no matter how obtained, benefits the so-called greater good.

Well; to my knowledge, Machiavellian thinking doesn't fly in heaven so it's best for those "brought from death to life" to avoid it.

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Rom 12:1 . . Present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

The Greek word for "sacrifice" technically refers to a victim; but it's not always applied that way. For example speaking well of God, doing good, and sharing are legitimate sacrifices. (Heb 13:15-16)

The sacrifice required by Rom 12:1 is a living sacrifice rather than dead so Christ's followers don't have to martyr themselves in order to fulfill it; but their bodies do have to be holy in order to be accepted; which means avoiding things that defile their bodies like indecency, promiscuity, adultery, and LGBT stuff.

The Bible calls those avoidances "reasonable". In other words: Is it asking too much of Christ's followers to keep themselves pure?

Rom 12:2 . . And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Christianity, when taken seriously, can't help but radically change the way, the what, and the how we think about things in this life and in the next.

Personal Bible reading is a good place to begin with Rom 12:2; however, the will of God isn't meant to be self-taught; it's meant to be instructed by teachers empowered by God for that specific purpose. (Rom 12:4-8, 1Cor 12:1-30)

"Are all teachers?" (1Cor 12:29)

No, not all are teachers; which of course precludes self-teaching. Only some are teachers and the rest of Christ's believing followers are supposed to be students.

"And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: till we all come in the unity of the faith" (Eph 4:11-13)

According to that passage, the goal of gifted teaching is unity. Well, when Christians come together with differing perspectives-- debating and engaging in perpetual bull sessions that never get to the bottom of anything --we're in danger of becoming divided and taking sides as intolerant bigots instead of unified. Like it's said: Too many cooks spoil the soup.

Sermons and Sunday school classes are Christianity's traditional sources of teaching. But there's radio programs too, e.g. Thru The Bible with Dr. J.Vernon McGee. These days with radio, television, and the internet; gifted teaching is wide-spread and readily available.

In centuries gone past, it was necessary to go where the teachers were in order to hear them speak. Nowadays, they come to speak right where we are by means of electronic gadgetry.

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