Christ's Commandments

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Jas 4:7 . . So humble yourselves before God. Resist the Devil, and he will shun you.

The Devil has the tactical advantage of being completely invisible, and no more solid than the vacuum of space. So the human eye not only cannot see the Devil, but human touch cannot feel him either. The Devil can't be bumped into, he gives off no odor; he makes no sound, he takes up no space.

The Devil rules in the world of men primarily by punching human nature's buttons. There's your first clue in how to resist the Devil.

"So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the inclinations of the flesh." (Gal 5:16-17)

Living by the Spirit isn't mysterious. All it really means is doing as God wishes rather than permitting one's self to be manipulated by the impulses, proclivities, predilections, and propensities of human nature. We can't stop those forces of human nature from doing their thing any more than we can stop our lungs from demanding we take breaths. But they can be suppressed if one puts their mind to it.

"Take a firm stand against him, and be strong in your faith." (1Pet 5:9)

The Devil has many allies, not only in the form of spirit beings, but also in the form of ordinary human beings who agree with his ways without their knowledge.

"As for you, you were dead in your transgressions and sins, in which you used to live when you followed the ways of this world and of the ruler of the kingdom of the air, the spirit who is now at work in those who are disobedient." (Eph 2:1-2)

Among the disobedient are Christian teachers, preachers, and ordained ministers (2Cor 11:14-5). It's fairly easy to avoid being hoodwinked by cults; but not so easy to avoid being misled by bona fide Christian churches and whatnot who are covertly working for the Devil. According to Eph 4:14, they can be very convincing.

The point is: since we can't fight the Devil kingdom on its own terms, then the best defense is submission to God. Up to this point, I've listed 400+ of Christ's commandments that, if complied with, will go a long ways towards frustrating our adversary.
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Jas 4:8-10 . . Draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. Wash your hands, you sinners; purify your hearts, you hypocrites. Let there be tears for the wrong things you have done. Let there be sorrow and deep grief. Let there be sadness instead of laughter, and gloom instead of joy. When you bow down before The Lord and admit your dependence on him, he will lift you up and give you honor.

In other words: Give in; surrender: walk with God, and He will walk with you.

"If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth." (1John 1:6)
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Jas 4:11a . . Do not speak evil of one another, brethren.

The koiné Greek word for "speak evil" is katalaleo (kat-al-al-eh'-o) which means: a traducer, a slanderer.

Webster's defines "slander" as: the utterance of false charges or misrepresentations which defame and/or damage another's reputation and/or a false and defamatory oral statement about a person; viz: libel.

Webster's defines "libel" as: 1) a written or oral defamatory statement or representation that conveys an unjustly unfavorable impression, and 2) a statement or representation published without just cause and tending to expose another to public contempt.

According to Webster's, a statement (or a photograph) need not be untrue to qualify as libel. If the statement, and/or the photograph, is unnecessarily denigrating and/or embarrassing to someone, though it be 100% true, then it qualifies as libel.

There are some things we could say about others that, though true, aren't necessary. For example, if you were to inadvertently see one of the ladies in the office scratching an itch on her derriere; is it really necessary to go blabbing about it all over the office? No; and in point of fact, to do so would be libelous, not to mention possibly in violation of local labor laws banning the fomentation of a hostile workplace; and these days, it could even be construed as sexual misconduct. If that lady ever found out you were blabbing about her derriere she might be so mortified as to make it difficult for her to show up for work.

Some years ago when I was working as a welder/ship fitter in a family-owned boatyard on Shelter Island in San Diego, one of the boss' adolescent sons came out on a skiff I was helping to construct. He remarked to one of the men standing there, in my hearing, that I looked stupid.

Do I look stupid? Yes, I do. It's been a curse my entire life. If you were to meet me, your first impression would be that I'm a lummox. Some people look intelligent, and some people look just the opposite. I'm among the ones who look just the opposite; and I was looking low-brow way before Weird Al Yankovic came out with a rock parody in 1985 titled: "Dare To Be Stupid."

So then, what the boss' son said was true. But was it necessary? No; it was thoroughly unnecessary, and in point of fact his thoughtless remark cut me deeply; but what could I do? He was the boss' son. Anon, that boy grew up to become one of worst cases of male vanity it has been my misfortune to encounter in life. Though he came of a good family, the boss' son had the nature of a churl; through and through.

Words are weapons,
Sharper than knives.
The Devil Inside
Andrew Farriss and Michael Hutchence
INXS
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Jas 4:11b-12 . . He who speaks evil of a brother and judges his brother, speaks evil of the law and judges the law. But if you judge the law, you are not a doer of the law but a judge. There is one Lawgiver, who is able to save and to destroy. Who are you to judge another?

Someone is sure to jump to the conclusion that James is referring to Matt 7:1-5 but this has nothing to do with that. What we’re talking about here is a kangaroo court which Webster’s defines as: (1) a mock court in which the principles of law and justice are disregarded or perverted, (2) a court characterized by irresponsible, unauthorized, or irregular status or procedures, and (3) judgment or punishment given outside of legal procedure.

One way to speak evil of the law, and judge the law, is to misrepresent the law by construing it to mean things it doesn't say in writing; in other words: to overrule it and/or criticize the law as out of date.

When a group of beer buddies, and/or a coffee clutch of girl friends, get together and rake somebody over the coals behind their back, those buddies and girl friends are conducting a kangaroo court in which the evidence presented is typically hear-say, feelings, thoughts, and impressions. I believe the common colloquialism for that activity is "character assassination."

Typically the accused is never informed of the trial, nor given an opportunity to confront their accusers, nor are they granted the right to an appeal. Sadly, yet all to commonly, once kangaroo courts reach a consensus, the condemned person’s reputation among those kinds of “judges” is ruined forever with no chance of repair.
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Jas 4:13-16 . . Come now, you who say: Today or tomorrow, we shall go to such and such a city, and spend a year there and engage in business and make a profit.

. . .Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Instead, you ought to say: If The Lord wills, we shall live and also do this or that. But as it is, you boast in your self confidence; all such boasting is evil.

There are two benefits to my association with God that I value very highly. One is the ransom that His son paid to rescue my soul from the death depicted at Rev 20;11-15; viz: the destination spoken of at Isa 66:23-24, Mark 9:43-48, and Luke 16:19-31.

The second benefit that I value very highly is providence; which is the thing that James is getting at. His criticism is directed towards overly ambitious Christians who deliberately neglect to take into consideration God's thoughts about their schemes.

They also neglect to take into consideration the brevity of life. In other words: if you're getting by alright in your present circumstances, don't seek better circumstances. Instead, live out the remaining days of your fragile life where you are now unless circumstances beyond your control force you to relocate and make some changes.

"Piety, with contentment, is great gain. For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that. People who want to get rich fall into temptation and a trap and into many foolish and harmful desires that plunge men into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil. Some people, eager for money, have wandered from the faith and pierced themselves with much grief." (1Tim 6:6-10)
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Jas 5:7-8 . . Persevere, therefore, brethren, until the coming of The Lord. Behold, the farmer waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains. You too be patient; be strong, for the coming of The Lord is at hand.

The koiné Greek word for "at hand" is eggizo (eng-id'-zo) which means: to make near; viz: approach

So then, "at hand" doesn’t necessarily mean The Lord is poised to drop in any second now, but rather, his arrival is approaching and getting nearer by the minute.

Although James' encouragement no doubt applies to all believers, it especially applies to his Jewish countrymen. They have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for God to fulfill the promises He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and to restore David's kingdom as per the voices of the prophets. I'm told that many have given up hope of the promises and the predictions ever coming to pass. But James says don't give up; God is reliable; and He and the kingdom are both worth waiting for no matter how long it takes.

The problem is: according to 2Pet 3:9, The Lord is actually reluctant to return; primarily because an awful lot of people are going to lose their lives when He does.

Take for example Rev 16:18-19 where there's predicted a world-wide earthquake preceding The Lord's return so severe on the Richter scale that cities all over the world will collapse at once.

Something like 2,829 lost their lives when the World Trade Center was demolished by a terrorist attack in 2001. Well; just imagine the body count when all of Manhattan comes down at once. along with other major cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mexico City, Paris, Moscow, Beijing, Tokyo, et al. The carnage will be beyond belief. Surely nobody in a right mind is in a rush to see all of that start happening.
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In the Bible, Jesus mentions only six of the commandments and they happen to address the same issues that all of the other world religions do:


You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not bear false witness.
You shall not defraud.

And then Jesus adds a final commandment: "Go, give everything to the poor, sell what you own and you will have treasure in heaven; then come, follow me.”

 

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Christ's commands are those written with his own finger at Mount Sinai.

His commands were placed in an ark and form a covenant with his people.

The existence and use of the Ark of the Covenet took place centuries before Jesus was born.

 

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Jas 5:9 . . Do not complain against one another, brethren, that you yourselves may not be judged; behold, the Judge is standing right at the door.

Although watching porn, quarrelling with a spouse, mistreating the kids, road rage, J-walking, coasting through a stop sign, spray-painting graffiti on a subway car, or cussing the neighbor’s dog, is bad enough; kangaroo-courting is even worse.

If there’s a personality clash between you and a fellow believer; God forbid you should drag other people into the middle of it! And keep in mind that God is an eavesdropper. He hears and sees everything we do, think, or say. Don't let Him catch you maliciously shredding a fellow believer's reputation, assassinating their character and/or running them into the ground behind their back.
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Jas 5:10 . . For an example of suffering and patience, brethren; take the prophets who spoke in The Lord's name.

In rock music, role models are called influences. But whatever your preference, role models and/or influences are handy for providing a pattern for the kinds of people we wish to be and/or the kinds of people we think we ought to be.

One of my favorite prophets was Noah. Can you just imagine the mockery, and the cruel remarks that poor man must have endured while he was constructing the ark? And the feelings of futility? He was a preacher of righteousness for 120 years (2Pet 2:5) and the only converts Noah won were his own wife, his three sons, and their wives. When the ark embarked, there was only a paltry eight human beings aboard.

According to Gen 6:1-2, there were other holy men on earth during Noah's days but they sold their souls for sex and subsequently died in the Flood right along with everybody else.

Noah was an oak; he never caved to the pressures of his era’s social customs nor duplicated their spiritual hypocrisy. Noah held his ground, remained true to the Bible’s God; and as a result, survived the Flood totally unharmed. He’s listed in the Bible as one of the most righteous men who ever lived.

"Son of man, when a land sins against Me by persistent unfaithfulness, I will stretch out My hand against it; I will cut off its supply of bread, send famine on it, and cut off man and beast from it. Even if these three men, Noah, Daniel, and Job, were in it, they would deliver only themselves by their righteousness: testifies the Lord God." (Ezek 14:13-14)
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Jas 5:12 . . Above all, my brethren, do not swear, either by heaven or by earth or with any other oath; but let your yes be yes, and your no be no; so that you may not fall under judgment.

Christ took an oath. (Matt 26:62-64, Mark 14:61-62)

God takes oaths. (Gen 22:15-18, Heb 6:13-18, Heb 7:20-21)

Angels swear (Rev 10:5-6)

Paul swore. (Rom 1:9)

Israel's covenanted law, which Christ came to defend (Matt 5:17-19) requires oaths on special occasions. (e.g. Ex 22:10-11, Lev 5:1, Num 5:19, Deut 29:10-15)

So then, not all oaths are wrong.

The problem is, people are too careless with their oaths. They’re wont to say “I swear to God” and/or "Hand to God" for just about everything. And they make promises sealed with the same words. Those promises are a snare because like Jesus said “you cannot make one hair white or black”. Sure enough, when you seal a promise by God's name, the forces of heaven and hell, the stars in their courses, dumb luck, brute force, circumstances beyond your control, and the neighbor's dog are going to make it impossible for you to keep that promise.

Will God grant you an excuse? Probably not because In order to grant you an excuse, He would have to compromise not only His integrity; but also the dignity of the name by which you swore; and that He will never do.

So, it's okay to give your word on a matter, but if at all possible; avoid attaching God's name to it.

"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name." (Ex 20:7)
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Jas 5:13 . . Is anyone among you undergoing hardship? Let him pray.

Q: Pray about what?

A: Though Jesus' followers weren't experiencing difficulty while he was getting ready for his fate on the cross (Luke 22:39-46) Jesus knew that they were soon to undergo a stress test that would cause them to do something really stupid if they failed to seek God's providence in what was ahead.

Most any kind of "hardship" can cause us to become irrational, lose our composure, and do something stupid, e.g. layoff, illness, death in the family, old age, betrayal, divorce, legal problems, student debt, traffic incidents, crime; etc. When that happens, it's a good idea to speak with God about the possibility of being led into doing something really stupid.
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Jas 5:13-14 . . Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praises.

Never ask the ones undergoing hardship to sing. They're really not in the mood.
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When Jesus mentions the commandments, he only talks about the ones that all of the world’s faiths treasure.

 

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Jas 5:14 . . Is anyone among you sick? Let him call for the elders of the church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of The Lord

It's all too common for religious fanatics to allow their underage children to die from treatable medical conditions on the basis of that verse. Where do we draw the line with the so-called "freedom of religion" guaranteed in the US Constitution's first amendment? Answer: We draw the line at the child's inalienable right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; which, according to America's Declaration of Independence; are not only God-given rights, but also a self evident truth that men were created with those rights.

The DOI goes on to say that all men are created equal. It doesn't say grown-up men; it says all men, which means that women and children have just as much right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness as anybody else. Parents who deny the truth of those rights are nothing in the world but wicked despots; and in point of fact the very kinds of twisted monarchs the DOI targets.

Christ addressed this issue indirectly by means of his teachings on the seventh day Sabbath; which, in a nutshell, says that the seventh day was made for man, not the other way around. (Mark 2:27)

"And he said unto them, What man shall there be among you, that shall have one sheep, and if it fall into a pit on the sabbath day, will he not lay hold on it, and lift it out? How much then is a man better than a sheep? Wherefore it is lawful to do good on the sabbath days." (Matt 12:11-12)

The sanctity of human life trumps the sanctity of the Sabbath. So then, hospitals, doctors, nurses, firemen, law enforcement, soup kitchens, rescue missions, Red Cross, Haiti emergency workers, etc. who are busy on the Sabbath do not sin. Do they break the Sabbath? Yes; but the sanctity of the Sabbath is secondary to the sanctity of human life.

So then, I would have to say, in accordance with Matt 12:11-12, that people who deny their children adequate medical care in the name of religion regard the value of their own flesh and blood as something less than that of a beast.

It's okay to have elders pray for your child, and it's okay to anoint them with oil as per James 5:14. But after that, parents really should take their children to a doctor because the sanctity of human life is far more important than strict observance of one's religious rituals.

There used to be an old saying going around in Christian circles that went something like this: When a farmer prays for a crop, he should say amen with a hoe. In other words, don't just sit back and wait for a miracle when it's in your power to take some action; and if you don't, then in my opinion, you deserve to be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law when a child in your care dies from a treatable condition.

"If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he has denied the faith, and is worse than an infidel." (1Tim 5:8)
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Jas 5:16 . . Confess your sins to one another

The word "sins" is an arbitrary editorial insertion rather than a translation; viz: it isn't in the Greek manuscripts so somebody penciled it in. So we could safely re-translate that verse to read "Confess to one another".

There's quite a number of key words in the Bible that sometimes trigger a knee-jerk-reflex in people's minds and "confess" is one of them. It would seem to me that James isn't commanding Christians to confess their sins to one another as Father Confessors for the purpose of absolution; but rather: to simply man-up and admit when they're wrong; and to do so without recriminations, without rejoinders, and without feigned indignity. (cf. Matt 18:15-17)
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1Pet 1:14-16 . . As obedient children, do not be conformed to the former lusts which were yours in your ignorance, but like the Holy One who called you, be holy yourselves also in all your behavior; because it is written: You shall be holy, for I am holy.

"conformed" is speaking of habits. Take for example alcoholism. The popular diagnosis these days is that it's a disease. Well; it if is, then it's the only disease I know of practiced by fools.

"Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: and whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise." (Prov 20:1)

Alcoholism isn't a disease; it's a habit, and one of the habits that Christ's believing followers are commanded to make a habit of avoiding.

"Do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation," (Eph 5:18)
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1Pet 1:17-18 . . And if you address as "Father" the one who impartially judges according to each man's work, conduct yourselves in reverential fear during the time of your stay upon earth

I once heard of a preacher complain that he wished his congregation were as afraid of the Devil as they are of holiness. (chuckle). Well, obviously his congregation lacked purpose; their attitude was that of drifters and vagabonds. They were all believers; they had that much going for them. They just needed somebody to throw cold water in their faces and wake them up to getting their eyes off the ground and getting their eyes up on the brass ring.

"So then, since you have been resurrected with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then will you also appear with him in glory." (Col 3:1-4)

People in heaven no doubt make a habit of treating God with reverential fear; that is: they respect both Him and His wishes. Down here, people make a habit of insolence and rebellion; even some of the people wearing a Christian ID tag.
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1Pet 1:22a . . Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit

The grammatical tense of the words "have purified" is past rather than future. In other words, the souls of the Christians to whom Peter penned his epistle were already purified before the letter arrived; and they did it not by means of a denominational affiliation; but rather, by obeying the truth; and their obedience was through the Spirit rather than through human artifice.

Q: What is soul?

A: Soul is a hot button topic; viz: it provokes endless debating that never gets to the bottom of anything, so I've elected to keep this simple and suffice it to say that "soul" refers to the core of one's being.

The Greek word for "purified" refers not to sinless perfection, rather, to hygiene; viz: washing; for example:

"Now you are clean through the word which I have spoken unto you." (John 15:3)

Many of the Old Testament's sacrifices and offerings served to cleanse the people of contamination brought on them by their sins, but did nothing to make the people sinless; not even the great day of atonement Yom Kippur. The people went right on sinning as before just as soon as the ritual was over. So purification and sinless perfection are two very different spiritual topics.
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1Pet 1:22b . . See that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently

The Greek word translated "love" in that passage is agapao (ag-ap-ah'-o) which is actually a very easy love to practice because it doesn't consist of things like affection and/or sentiment; which are components of the other love in the New Testament translated from the Greek word phileo (fil-eh'-o).

Agapao is impersonal; commonly expressed in things like charity, kindness, sympathy, lenience, and tolerance; viz: agapao isn't expressed by liking people; rather, it's expressed by being nice to people, i.e. civil; defined by Webster's as adequate in courtesy and politeness: mannerly.

Phileo, on the other hand, is personal and not as common as agapao because phileo is felt rather than expressed; viz: phileo refers to emotional attachments.

An excellent contrast between the two loves is seen by comparing John 3:16 and John 16:27.

In the first; God is shown sympathetic.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life."

In the latter, God is shown affectionate.

"The Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God."

Obtaining God's sympathy is very easy because that's on Him; whereas winning His affections is not so easy because that's on us.

"If you obey my commands, you will abide in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father's commands and abide in His love." (John 15:10)

Anyway; 1Pet 1:22b only requires Christians to be civil, which I'm convinced is within every Christian's capabilities; even for Christians whose sensitivities are those of a catcher's mitt or a wooden nickel.

A pure fervent heart refers to taking Peter's requirement seriously enough to make a conscientious effort to comply with it; viz: every Christian, even the bi-polar ones, really ought to be doing their level best to be good people not just some of the time, nor even most of the time; but all the time-- at the very least among themselves and with each other.
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