How often we forget what Jesus truly taught, and how easily we fall into the ideas of men rather than holding fast to God’s Word.
All of the ideas I expressed come from the Scriptures. I did not originate them. I qote the Scriptures in support of my ideas.
The claim that the Ten Commandments are no longer needed under the New Covenant is simply not true.
The Apostle Paul explicitly taught that nobody is anymore under the Law of Moses. And the 10 Commandments were part of the Law of Moses.
Gal 2.19 “For through the law I died to the law so that I might live for God."
This does not mean that the same laws, under a New Covenant, are not kept. We are still required to avoid murder, lust, and covetousness. But these are no longer underwritten by Moses and his Law. They are no longer part of what the book of Hebrews identified as the "Old Covenant."
When Jesus was asked what to do to gain eternal life, He answered clearly: “If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.” (Matthew 19:17). He then listed several of the Ten Commandments—showing that they still apply, and are not optional.
As I said previously, what Jesus said during his earthly ministry was said primarily to the nation Israel and was under the Old Covenant. We should understand, now that we are not under the Old Covenant, but under a New Covenant, that we follow Jesus, who never was subject to the Law of Moses and that Covenant.
That was a Covenant of obedience that in Israel fell short--Jesus never fell short. And that was a Covenant of redemption--Jesus never required redemption. That was a covenant of mercy. Jesus was siness and required no mercy from God.
You teach Jesus' statements in the Gospel as if he himself was under the Law of Moses. He lived in that era of Law, in that era of Covenant. But he was not himself subject to it, and we should understand his new Law in that sense.
It is free of all the specifics of the Old Covenant requirements. Its Moral Imperatives--that Law is still in effect, just as it was before the Law of Moses was given. We are to live in the image of God, just as Man was created to live in the beginning. This is not antinomianism--this is Generic Law, plain and simple.
But it is *not* Moses' Law. It is not the Old Covenant. And unless we understand this properly, it is not the 10 Commandments, because those 10 Commandments were attached to the entire Law, to the entire Old Covenant. To say we must keep the 10 Commandments is to say we need to keep all 613 or so requirements.
Matt 5.17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished. 19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly 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.
Some say that “Christ’s commandments” are different from the Ten Commandments, or that we no longer follow God’s law but a new one made only of love. But Jesus never said that. He taught that love is the foundation of the Law—not a replacement. He said, “On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:40). These two—the love of God and love of neighbor—summarize the Ten Commandments. They do not erase them.
Yes, Jesus indicated that love in the heart is at the core of the Law. And he summarized the Law as contributing to a necessary relationship with God and to a proper relationship with society. It is "love for God and love for one another."
But he did not say that the particular structure of the OT Law would be fulfilled in Israel apart from his work on the cross, which was different from how Israel operated under the Law as sinners.
Jesus alone fulfilled the Law as a perfect human being. Therefore, we fulfill the Law not by meeting the requirements of the Law of Moses, which testifies to our sin and inadequacy. Rather, we fulfill the Law by abiding in Jesus who alone fulfilled the Law by his own sinless life and record.
We cannot even abide in him perfectly, anymore than we can abide in the Law perfectly. But his own unique system does not require that we live perfectly in order to be justified, in contrast to the Law which did require perfection to obtain Eternal Life. Under the Law Israel obtained mercy, but not Eternal Life. The Law fell short of providing Israel with an atonement that was lasting and final.
In fact, Jesus magnified the commandments. Jesus never said "keep all 613 laws."
See Matt 5.17-19 above. Clearly, you are wrong.
Jesus reqired of Israel obedience to the Old Covenant as long as that system of Law remained in effect. It was necessary for Israel to keep that Law in order to remain in close relationship with God until Jesus himself completed the requirements necessary for eternal relationship with God.
In the Sermon on the Mount, He magnified the Ten Commandments, focusing on moral purity of the heart—not ritual or ceremonial laws.
Matt 5.17-19 required the *entire Law* of Israel, with all of its ceremonial requirements, as well. Temple law, priestly law, and sacrificial law were intimately linked with moral law, including the 10 Commandments. The entire thing was not to be marginalized or deemphasized according to Jesus.
He taught that murder begins with anger, adultery with lust, and that we must love even our enemies. He showed that true obedience must come from the heart. This is how He fulfilled the words of Isaiah: “He will exalt the law and make it honorable.” (Isaiah 42:21).
Jesus did not ask us to follow a different law—He came to fulfill the very one given by God. Not a single word of His ever removed the need to obey God’s commands. Rather, He said: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill... till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law.” (Matthew 5:17-18)
The idea that obedience is only about witnessing after we are saved is not what Jesus taught.
Jesus did indeed give the Great Commission. You are wrong to claim he didn't give that requirement of his Apostles. Much of the NT letters are exhortations to live as good witnesses of Christian righteousness. How wrong can you be in saying these commandments were not given to Christians?
He said, “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom... but he who does the will of My Father in heaven.” (Matthew 7:21). And again, “If you love Me, keep My commandments.” (John 14:15)
Even the New Covenant does not remove the commandments. It writes them on our hearts: “I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts.” (Jeremiah 31:33). It is still the same law, now engraved within, lived out by love and obedience.
The suggestion that the Law of Moses is written on the heart does not explain how this was done. The laws of God, no matter the particular covenant in effect, are always to be written on the heart!
But the specific prophecy given is explicitly explained as accomplished only by a New Covenant--one that did not require the ark, and one that was different from the Law given at Sinai. Jer 31 admits this.
The Law, with its failures, was inferred to be incapable of accomplishing this final Israeli salvation. A completely revised, new covenant was required.
Jer 31.23 It will not be like the covenant
I made with their ancestors
when I took them by the hand
to lead them out of Egypt,
because they broke my covenant,
though I was a husband to them,”
declares the Lord.
So no, Jesus did not teach that the commandments ended. He upheld them, lived them, and told us to follow them if we want to live. The notion that “Christ’s law” is something new and separate is a man-made idea. Jesus’ own words tell us plainly: if we love Him, we will keep the same commandments He gave from the beginning—because love fulfills the law, not replaces it.
No, the Christian commandments are "new" commandments. They do represent the morality of the Old Commandments, but under a new jurisdiction, under Jesus alone, disposing of the old pre-Christian structure.
The ideal of being God-like is the same as it was in Eden. But it completely omits Moses, except as a testimony to Christ's new and final system, which is not based on human perfection.
It is based on Christ's perfection alone. The Law magnificed human imperfection as a legal impediment to our obtaining Eternal Life. We must now live by the Law of Christ, which calls for us to abide in him, apart from the requirements of Moses.
The generic laws of God, involved in emulating His holiness, remain in effect. But is now administered under a completely new covenant, the commandments of Jesus being the replacement for the system of Law and its commandments.
