Yes it does.
The laws regarding the Levitical priesthood includes the 10 commandments.
“If perfection could have been attained through the Levitical priesthood (for under it the people received the law)” -- (Hebrews 7:11).
The entire old covenant law, which included the 10 Commandments, was administered through the Levitical priesthood, just as the new covenant of faith is administered through the new priesthood of Christ.
And in Hebrews 7 we are told:
“For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law…For it is clear that our Lord descended from Judah…One who has become a priest, not according to the law of a fleshly commandment, but according to the power of an endless life…For on the one hand there is an annulling of the former commandment because it was weak and useless, for the law made nothing perfect, and a better hope is introduced, by which we draw near to God...by so much more Jesus has become the guarantee of a better covenant.” -- (Hebrews 7:12-22).
The entire old covenant that was based on the 10 commandments has been
annulled. Hebrews 9 goes on to give us the details involved in the administration of the Levitical priesthood, which has been
annulled:
“Now the first covenant had regulations for worship and also an earthly sanctuary…Behind the second curtain was a room called the Most Holy Place, which had the golden altar of incense and the gold-covered ark of the covenant. This ark contained the gold jar of manna, Aaron's staff that had budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.” -- (Hebrews 9:1-4).
The stone tablets of the old covenant law, which contained the 10 Commandments, were included in the administration of the Levitical priesthood. And as we are told in Hebrews 7:
“For when there is a change of the priesthood, there must also be a change of the law” -- (Hebrews 7:12).
In addition we are told in Hebrews 8:
“For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another. But God found fault with the people and said: "The time is coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. It will not be like the covenant I made with their forefathers when I took them by the hand to lead them out of Egypt…By calling this covenant 'new,' he has made the first one obsolete” -- (Hebrews 8:7-13).
God said the new covenant that is based on faith “
will not be like” the old covenant that was based on the 10 Commandments. The old covenant based on the 10 Commandments has now been made
obsolete.
Our understanding of the "commandments" of Christ must be established on the biblical premise that the 10 Commandments are the laws of the old covenant and the old covenant has been made
obsolete. Therefore, Christ cannot be encouraging obedience to obsolete laws:
"He declared to you His covenant which He commanded you to perform, the Ten Commandments; and He wrote them on two tablets of stone." -- (Deuteronomy 4:13).
"He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant — not of the letter...for the letter kills..the ministry that brought death, which was engraved in letters on stone"-- (
2 Corinthians 3:6-8)
"By calling this covenant 'new,' He has made the first one obsolete” -- (
Hebrews 8:13).
That's the biblical premise (the 10 Commandment law in obsolete), and our understanding of Christ's "commandments" must begin on that premise.
Honor your father and mother is not the first commandment in the TEN.
The only commandments that matter are the ones based on God's eternal love, and not based on an obsolete, old covenant law.
As I said before, Paul in
Ephesians 6:2-3 is not encouraging old covenant law keeping. Paul is simply emphasizing the importance of honoring our parents out of
love, which is the spiritual intent of the old covenant law. We honor our parents because we
love them. This is exactly how Gentiles honor their parents, even though Gentiles do not have the old covenant law of 10 Commandments:
“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts” -- (Romans 2:14-15).
Writing the same letter of the law on our hearts would result in instant death, because the letter of the law was written with a hammer and chisel.
Love is not the summary of the law; love is the fulfillment of the law. There’s a difference.
"Love your neighbor as yourself." Love does no harm to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.” -- (
Romans 13:9-10).
The fulfillment the law is not obedience to the letter, it is obedience to the spiritual intent of the law. The spiritual intent of the law is
love. We rely on the
love of the Holy Spirit, and we obey the
love of the Holy Spirit. All our actions are governed by the
love of the Holy Spirit:
“And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love, whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in him. 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.” -- (1 John 4:16-17).
Yes, Jesus said TWO great commandments – not ten. (in Matthew 22)
And also what He calls the greatest -- is not even in the list you are focused on.
You will also noticed that the TWO commandments are both commands to
love. So the TWO commandments are really just ONE commandment to
love. All our actions are in obedience to the ONE
love that we express to all:
"A new commandment I give you: Love one another; as I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are My disciples, if you love one another." -- (
John 13:34-35).
Taking God’s name in vein is showing no regard for who God is or for what God does. Our high regard for God is based on
love. We worship God because He first
loved us and because we now
love Him:
“There is no fear in love; but perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us.” -- (1 John 4:118-19).
The letter of the law was observed by the Jews based on the fear of
punishment, and not based on
love:
“Once I was alive apart from law; but when the commandment came, sin sprang to life and I died. I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life actually brought death. For sin, seizing the opportunity afforded by the commandment, deceived me, and through the commandment put me to death.” -- (Romans 7:9-11).
The purpose of letter of the law was to expose the danger of sin. The law exposes the danger of sin by convicting us of sin and by condemning us for sin. This is why Paul said the law is good. The letter of the law is good, not because it achieves righteousness, but to the extent that it exposes the danger of sin:
“So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous and good. Did that which is good, then, become death to me? By no means! But in order that sin might be recognized as sin, it produced death in me through what was good, so that through the commandment sin might become utterly sinful.” -- (Romans 7:12-13).
But your answer has no relation to my question.
You keep adding words and numbers to the scriptures.
Where does Paul mention "scripture" in the verses I quoted below:
“For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts” -- (Romans 2:14-15).
Paul does not say the Gentiles do not have "scripture", He says they do not have
the law. Paul is discussing the old covenant law given through Moses.
So my question to you still remains:
How are Gentiles able to fulfill the requirements of the old covenant law, even though they never received the old covenant law?
Christ said in Mathew 5:
“You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment.” -- (Matthew 5:21-22).
The old covenant law was a command to not commit the act of murder.
The new covenant law is a command to show compassion and mercy.
The two laws are not the same.
The old command focuses on external behavior.
The new command focuses on the internal love of the heart.
The old command encourages obedience to the letter.
The new command encourages obedience to the love of the Spirit.
We can avoid committing murder even if we have no love.
But if we have love we will not commit murder.
In other words, we can obey the letter of the law and still violate God’s love, but if we obey God’s love we will not commit murder.
Our choice to not commit murder is not in obedience to the letter, but in obedience to God’s love (compassion and mercy).
Yes, we ESTABLISH the LAW, not in letter, but in Spirit, by being obedient to God’s love (compassion and mercy).
True.
“And this is His commandment: that we should believe on the name of His Son Jesus Christ and love one another, as He gave us commandment.” -- (1 John 3:23).
Yes, those who love God will not violate His love by taking His name in vain.
The LAW on stone cannot be written on our hearts. It is the Spirit of the Law that is written on our hearts. The Law on stone is written in letters. The Spirit of the Law is written in
Love (compassion and mercy).
Yes, Moses and Elijah lived by the Spirit of God’s love.
Those folks do not add any value to your invalid claims.
You keep seeing 10 Commandment where the Bible does not say 10 Commandments. You are seeing 10 Commandments in Genesis 26, not because they are there, but because you want them to be there. It's just an illusion caused by delusion. I hope you get over it soon.
