"Do we have to keep all the NT commands? I was surprised to not find any articles on google addressing this question."
The very FIRST part of my post had to do with your original question above. That is why I quoted it. Most people will seek to answer the OP question & most did, until you re-defined with later questions, with additional add-ons."
Your further posts show that your answer to that question is not only no, but that it is OK if we BREAK one of the NT commands such as lying TO ONE ANOTHER as neighbors & members of the same body. You show you ignore what the actual verse states & make an isogetical 'substitution' for to whom the text is applying!
It is not a parallel example of 'people lying to hide Jews during the holocaust!' It is talking about Christians not lying to each other, as neighbors & members of the same Body of Christ!
Colossians 3:8-10 But now you must put aside all such things as these: anger, rage, malice, slander & filthy language from your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you put off (laid aside, rendered useless) the old self with its evil practices & have put on the new self. You are being renewed in true knowledge according to the image of your Creator.
Your fallacious premise, in my opinion, implies a humanistic relativistic reasoning, that we can lie & break this NT commandment IF--it works out for the benefit of others & that you assume or actually presume that God is OK with those who lied to save Jews. God never said He OKed that, you presume that.
Ananias & Saphira's example is just one of numerous key examples to refute this.
Acts 5:3-5 Then Peter said, “Ananias, how is it that SATAN HAS FILLED YOUR HEART TO LIE TO THE HOLY SPIRIT & withhold some of the proceeds from the land? Did it not belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, was it not at your disposal? How could you conceive such a deed IN YOUR HEART? You have not lied to men, but TO God!” On hearing these words, Ananias fell down & died. And great fear came over all who heard what had happened.
They lied about giving a certain amount of their possessions to meet the needs of the saints in Jerusalem. Were they commended for this, since it was for a good cause & helping to meet the needs of their poor, fellow Christians & especially keeping widows from starving & having a place to stay? Absolutely not!
It cost them their lives for lying to God BECAUSE SATAN FILLED THEIR HEART TO LIE TO GOD & IT WAS CONCEIVED IN THEIR HEARTS! That is who they really were lying to & the source of lies come from the father of lies, Satan.
One of the reasons you give for JUSTIFYING LYING & breaking God's many commands about NOT TO LIE--is about hiding the Jews during the holocaust because the lying was suppose to show the love for one's neighbor so it was OK TO LIE.
God NEVER lies & cannot lie. He commands us to be like Him & not lie to Him or to one another as neighbors & the same members of the one Body of Christ.
Titus 1:2 This truth gives them confidence that they have eternal life, which God—who cannot (never) lie—promised them before the world began.
Numbers 23:19 God is not like people. He tells no lies. He is not like humans that He should repent. When He says something, He does it. When He makes a promise, He keeps it.
Heb 6:18 Thus by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope set before us may be strongly encouraged.
I Sam 15:29 Moreover, the Glory of Israel does not lie or repent, for He is not a man, that He should repent."
Psalm 89:35 Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie unto David.
Lev 19:11 “You will not steal...deal falsely; you will not lie to one another.
Exodus 20:16 You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
Ex 23:1 You will not spread a false report. Do not JOIN THE WICKED by being a malicious witness.
Prov 24:28 Do not testify against your neighbor without cause & do not deceive with your lips.
Prov 29:12 When a ruler is listening to lies, all of his officials will become wicked.
Ps 101:5-7 Whoever slanders his neighbor in secret, I will put to silence; the one with haughty eyes & a proud heart, I will not endure. My eyes will be on the faithful of the land, that they may dwell with me; he who walks in the way of integrity shall minister to me. No one who practices deceit shall dwell in my house; no one who tells lies shall stand in my presence.
Jer 9:3 "They bend their tongue like their bows; lies instead of truth prevail in the land, for they proceed from evil to evil & they do not take Me into account," declares the LORD.
Who IS the father of lies, the originator of lies? Satan is as Jesus taught! Jesus was contrasting His teaching of truth & no lies with the Jews' teaching & self-deception, based on the devil's lies. Their is no truth in him; his very nature is built on lies & lying, deceiving. So when a person lies, it is not from God but from the father of lies, the devil & one's own evil heart. Lying is EVIL, as many Scriptures show.
I Chron 18:20-23 Then a spirit came forward, stood before the LORD & said, ‘I will entice him.’ ‘By what means?’ asked the LORD. And he replied, ‘I will go out & be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets.’ ‘You will surely entice him & succeed,’ said the LORD. ‘Go out & do so.’ Now therefore, listen! The LORD has set a lying spirit in the mouth of all of these prophets of yours, because the LORD has determined to bring disaster upon you."
There will be NO LIARS IN the kingdom of God! Liars are excluded from God's kingdom! God hates lying; it is totally contrary to His very nature & character & that new creation in us is to be the same--created in true righteousness & holiness.
Rev 22:10-15 And he said to me, “Do not seal up the words of the prophecy of this book, for the time is near. Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong & the one who is filthy, still be filthy &let the one who is righteous, still practice righteousness &the one who is holy, still keep himself holy.
12“Behold, I am coming quickly & My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has DONE. I am the Alpha & the Omega, the first & the last, the beginning & the end.”
14Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life & may enter by the gates into the city. Outside are the dogs & the sorcerers & the immoral persons & the murderers & the idolaters AND EVERYONE WHO LOVES AND PRACTICES LYING.
Prov 6:16-19 There are six things that the LORD hates, seven that are detestable to Him: haughty eyes, a LYING TONGUE, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that run swiftly to evil, A FALSE WITNESS who gives false testimony & one who stirs up discord among brothers.
In these seven abominations that God hates & are detestable to Him, TWICE he mentions lying & only once on murder. God indeed detests lying; it is abominable in His sight.
It is NEVER OK to lie. We are to walk WISELY, asking the Lord for wisdom as to how to answer questions--which sometimes means not answering them at all or re-directing another question, as Jesus showed us. Lying is of our old self, speaking the truth in love is from our new nature.
We know that Rahab lied when she hid the Israeli spies. Was she commended in Scripture for lying in order to save the spies' lives? Absolutely not. She wasn't commended for her lying but she was commended for her faith to befriend the spies in peace & believe that God was going to give her city into their hands & asked them to remember her & her family when they DID conquer the city & spare them. The rest were in UNBELIEF & were destroyed.
Heb 11:31 By faith the prostitute Rahab, because she welcomed the spies in peace, did not perish with those who did not believe (disobedient).
2 Kings 5:15-27 Then Naaman & all his attendants went back to the man of God, stood before him & declared, “Now I know for sure that there is no God in all the earth except in Israel. So please accept a gift from your servant.” But Elisha replied, “As surely as the LORD lives, before whom I stand, I will not accept it.” And although Naaman urged him to accept it, he refused.
17“If you will not,” said Naaman, “please let me, your servant, be given as much soil as a pair of mules can carry. For your servant will never again make a burnt offering or a sacrifice to any other god but the LORD. Yet may the LORD forgive your servant this one thing: When my master goes into the temple of Rimmon to worship there &he leans on my arm &I bow down in the temple of Rimmon, may the LORD forgive your servant in this matter.” “Go in peace,” said Elisha.
But after Naaman had traveled a short distance, Gehazi, the servant of Elisha the man of God, said, “Look, my master has spared this Aramean, Naaman, while not accepting what he brought. As surely as the LORD lives, I will run after him & get something from him.” So Gehazi pursued Naaman. And when Naaman saw him running toward him, he got down from the chariot to meet him & asked, “Is everything all right?”
“Everything is all right,” Gehazi replied. “My master has sent me to say, ‘I have just now discovered that two young men from the sons of the prophets have come to me from the hill country of Ephraim. Please give them a talent of silver & two sets of clothing.’”
23But Naaman insisted, “Please, take two talents.” And he urged Gehazi to accept them. Then he tied up 2 talents of silver in 2 bags along with 2 sets of clothing & GAVE THEM to 2 of his servants, who carried them ahead of Gehazi.
24When Gehazi came to the hill, he took the gifts from the servants & stored them in the house. Then he dismissed the men & they departed. When Gehazi went in & stood before his master, Elisha asked him, “Gehazi, where have you been?” “Your servant did not go anywhere,” he replied.
26But Elisha questioned him, “Did not my spirit go with you when the man got down from his chariot to meet you? Is this the time to accept money & clothing, olive groves & vineyards, sheep & oxen, menservants & maidservants? Therefore, the leprosy of Naaman will cling to you & your descendants forever!” And as Gehazi left his presence, he was leprous—as white as snow.
Gehazi lied & hid what he did due to covetousness, which amounts to idolatry. (Col 3:5) As a result, he & his descendants would have leprosy. God takes LYING EXTREMELY SERIOUSLY. It is contrary to Who He is; it is contrary to who we are in Christ.
Example after example & command after command & warning after warning in Scripture shows that lying is not of God nor condoned nor tolerated but is evil, is of the devil & NOT to be practiced, period, for any reason, even if it 'APPEARS' good.
I Thess 5:19-22 Do not extinguish the Spirit. Do not treat prophecies with contempt, but test all things. Hold fast to what is good. Abstain from every APPEARANCE (form) of evil.
It is things like this, brother, that has caused disagreement that has led to discord & is in my opinion, false teaching, as the 7 full pages of responses have shown & growing. The evidence is there, by the 'mouth of 2 or 3 witnesses' & more. And the answers you have been given by others, in my opinion, DID answer your original question & later questions as well. But in your opinion, none of them have yet answered your question.
"I STILL have not yet seen any answers that really seem to clearly hit the nail on the head."
Even those who ascribe to the historical, grammatical & culture method of interpretation (often mislabeled as 'literal' method) do not take everything literally but when Scripture shows otherwise, then it is seen as such. It is obvious EVERY commandment in the NT doesn't apply to everyone today but the vast majority of them DO & we are to obey them because we love God.
And yes, the love of God IS obedience to His commands. It is not irrelevant to your questions. You cannot divorce the love of God FROM His commandments & keeping them (those that apply), if you are going to address them.
'God is not the author of confusion but of peace...as in every church...'
So, brother, after 7 pages of ANSWERS, clarifying questions to alleviate confusion as to what you actually are fishing for--what you think is the answer--you state you haven't found YOUR ANSWER. THAT is why I said what I said & the 7 full pages of responses demonstrate my original statement, which I still stand by.
Titus 3:8-10 This saying is trustworthy. And I want you to emphasize these things, so that those who have believed God will take care to devote themselves to good deeds. These things are excellent & profitable for the people. But avoid foolish questions & genealogies & contentions & strivings about the law; for they are unprofitable & vain.
2 Tim 2:23 But reject foolish & ignorant speculation, for you know that it breeds quarreling.
Job 15:3 Should he reason with unprofitable talk? or with speeches wherewith he can do no good?
I Cor 13:2 And though I have the gift of prophecy & understand all mysteries & all knowledge & though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains but have not love, I am nothing.
"My question is about "how do you do what God wants in situations where it would seem God wants you to do what He has said not to do...The example of "lying to protect Jews in the Holocaust" although there are MANY more. I thank you for your input, however please reread the question & I'm sure you will see what I mean. Thank you & God bless...Therefore the disagreement just goes to show that this question is not addressed in the Christian church as clearly as it needs to be. And therefore all the more reason to thoroughly flesh out an accurate biblical answer to it."
"Back to my question of "how we live as Christians without sinning when we are in a situation where it seems God wants us to disregard a NT command."
I agree that accurate, biblical answers are needed. But you will have to SHOW all of us your question above is valid by examples. And I hope you take what I have said here in a spirit of edifying correction. I have no animosity toward you at all but only seek to speak the truth in love, so that the saints might be edified.
I sense that is your desire too, but some things CANNOT go without being addressed, especially this issue about lying is OK if it is done for a good cause. You have a fallacious premise in your statement above.
You are ASSUMING that God OK's the people who lied to protect the Jews in the Holocaust. That is a logical fallacy. God NEVER said that nor affirmed that. You 'presumed' IT. But Scripture teaches otherwise in my understanding, as I have examined Scripture & I haven't even fully dealt with it.
You mentioned other examples where you think your premise is accurate. You might address those--that myself & others can examine according to the Scriptures & by the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I always welcome that with what I share. I recently had to make a correction to something I shared as there was one aspect that I hadn't researched carefully & thus spoke falsely.
Acts 17:11 Now the Bereans were more noble-minded than the Thessalonians, for they received the message with great eagerness & examined the Scriptures every day to see if these teachings were true.
"Mathetes66 said: As Jesus said to all of us, '...You know neither the Scriptures nor the power of God.' Jesus did not say this to all of us. He said this to the unbelieving pharisees."
I stand corrected on simply not expanding my quote above, so thanks for pointing that out. I didn't take the time to explain it because it would have made the post extremely long. What I meant to say is that Jesus often said similar things to many people (do you not know, have you no understanding, have you not read, does not the Scripture say, oh you of little faith, etc, etc.), INCLUDING those who believed & I included myself in this.
I was taking it as not an interpretation but as an 'application' which has been true of me on a number of occasions. By the way, Jesus did say that specific quote to the Sadducees not the Pharisees, because they did believe in the resurrection & the question was asked of Jesus by the Sadducees, who didn't believe in the resurrection nor angels.
Strong In Him specifically answered your other questions & there is no need for me to go through them as I agree for the most part with her answers.
Do we have to keep all the New Testament commands?