Do we have to keep all the New Testament commands?

Wordkeeper

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I'm one of those "good guys" that was never accepted by most people. I always looked back at history and found myself asking God over and over, "Why didn't you allow me to be born during the Renaissance era? I would have flourished there."

After some years went by, He made me realize that I would have flourished there. But I wouldn't have been tested as hard. My desire has been to love Him more. If that's true, then what environment would test me more?

It sounds crazy to people when they hear it. So what. If people want to purposely cause a rift, just remember Matthew 7:6. This is about trying to discuss His Word with someone who wants nothing more than discord.

The verse (Isaiah 45:7) is saying this...
When God made the light...the opposite was also made.
When God caused well-being...the opposite was also made.
You can't have one and not the other...at least not yet.

The verse (Isaiah 45:7) is saying this...
When God made the light...the opposite was also made.
When God caused well-being...the opposite was also made.
You can't have one and not the other...at least not yet.


That sounds very profound, but still unclear. Do you have anything more to add, any deep, underlying meaning to Isaiah 45:7? Also please unpack that dense idea in verse 9, parallel found in Israel's complaint about being MADE a vessel of dishonour:

Isaiah 45
4For Jacob my servant's sake, and Israel mine elect, I have even called thee by thy name: I have surnamed thee, though thou hast not known me.

5I am the LORD, and there is none else, there is no God beside me: I girded thee, though thou hast not known me:

6That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the LORD, and there is none else.

7I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the LORD do all these things.

8Drop down, ye heavens, from above, and let the skies pour down righteousness: let the earth open, and let them bring forth salvation, and let righteousness spring up together; I the LORD have created it.

9Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

10Woe unto him that saith unto his father, What begettest thou? or to the woman, What hast thou brought forth?


I think it's safe to conclude that we would be wise to emulate Abraham, asked to perform a ghastly act, but trusting God to know better.
 
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philadelphos

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Go through Revelation and you'll see just how bad God's wrath is going to get. And yet, it shows that God gave them chances to stop their ways, and they still refused. If people thought that God wiping out the planet with the Flood was bad, they haven't seen anything yet.

I think so. History repeats itself, the Lord is a consuming fire, and "the land itself vomiteth out her inhabitants." (Lev. 18:25)

Korah's rebellion serves as a warning, a foreshadow and pattern of future events.

"And the earth opened her mouth, and swallowed them up, and their houses, and all the men that appertained unto Korah, and all their goods. They, and all that appertained to them, went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them: and they perished from among the congregation. ... And there came out a fire from the Lord, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense." (Num. 16:32-33, 35)

"During the journey of the Israelites in the wilderness, Korah, with Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab, On, son of Peleth, and two hundred and fifty other "men of renown," rebelled against the leadership of Moses and Aaron (Num. xvi. 1-3). Moses ordered Korah and his company to appear in the Tabernacle on the following day, each bearing a censer filled with lighted incense, and the Lord would decide who were the rightful leaders of the people (xvi. 4-17). Korah and his company obeyed, and went to the Tabernacle with their lighted censers, followed by the whole congregation. The congregation was commanded to separate itself from Korah and his band, and when this order was carried out "the earth opened her mouth," and the arch conspirators "and all that appertained to them went down alive into the pit, and the earth closed upon them," while a fire from the Lord consumed their two hundred and fifty attendants (xvi. 18-35). Korah's children, however, did not die with their father (xxvi. 11). The censers of the conspirators were made into broad plates to cover the altar, as a warning to future conspirators (xvii. 1-5, Hebr.). After Korah's destruction the people murmured against Moses for having caused it, and a plague was sent by the Lord to destroy them. This plague killed 14,700 men before its ravages were stopped by an atonement offered for the people by Aaron (xvii. 6-15, Hebr.)." www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/9465-korah
 
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Strong in Him

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More specifically my question is this:

In light of the fact that there are something like 1000 commands/exhortations/instruction in the New Testament. Do we have to keep all of them all the time in order to live blamelessly before God as Christians today? Ie. Acts 24:16, Phil 2:15, 1 Tim 6:14.

Do we HAVE to keep all of them? No.
Will we WANT to try to keep them if we love God? Yes.
Will keeping all of them perfectly make us blameless before God? No.

If it was possible for us to be sinless on our own and keep God's word perfectly by our own efforts, Jesus would not have needed to come and offer his life for us.
We were chosen IN CHRIST to be holy and blameless in God's sight, Ephesians 1:4.
Jesus became sin for us so that IN HIM we might become the righteousness of God, 2 Corinthians 5:21.
If we are in Christ we are holy, blameless and righteous. If we are not in Christ, it makes no difference how many commandments we keep - though I don't think we can keep any without him, anyway.

In other words, is it possible to regularly do things(or fail to do things) that we are instructed not to do in the NT without actually sinning against God?

No.

I realize that there are some things that are obviously of paramount importance, (Like believing the Gospel). But what about all those nitty gritty instruction on how to live, how to do church etc. Are all of those binding on us? (as in we have to do them all, all the time)

It depends what you mean - but Paul wrote advice and instruction to the churches he had founded that were in certain situations/cultures and had certain problems. To insist that churches in the 21st century have to apply the advice given specifically to churches in the 1st century, is incorrect.

Where does the bible say that we have to do everything written in the NT perfectly all the time in order to keep from sinning against God?

We CAN'T keep everything perfectly all the time; that's the point. That's why Jesus had to come and die.
 
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Strong in Him

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I have personally had a conversation with Paul about this. He is amazed that we do not live right before God. He is adamant in that we should live a life free from sin. Under the law in the Old Testament people were to be good. Now Paul tells us we are to be right before God. This was the conversation I had with him because he wanted to now how this generation is receiving what he taught almost 2000 years ago.

You, personally, had a conversation with someone who died nearly 2000 years ago??
Paul, who is with God, decided he wanted to know about the church here on earth and asked you??
Woah! :eek: :eek:
 
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MikeinSeattle

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I am surprised that you would ask this question & create controversy & dissension as some of the posts show.

I am asking a very serious and relevant question that directly pertains to the believers life in every aspect of his life. Furthermore it is a question that if answered would be very beneficial and helpful to any believer who may come across it. I think in light of this it is out of place to charge me with creating distension and controversy. But I forgive you nonetheless.

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.

Obeying God's commands is a joy not a burden or duty because that is the very LOVE OF GOD EXPRESSED!

As many here have already incorrectly insinuated. My question has nothing to do with motivation to what God wants. My question is about "how do you do what God wants in situations where it would seem that God wants you to do what He has said not to do. As in the example of "lieing to protect Jews in the Holocaust" although there are many more. I thank you for your input, however please reread the question and Im sure you will see what I mean. Thank you and God bless.
 
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MikeinSeattle

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this question & create controversy & dissension as some of the posts show.

I will also suggest that perhaps (as you have alluded to) the great difficult that believers seem to have in agreeing on the answer to this question is not a reason to avoid the question.

Because this is an important question about how we should take LITERALLY EVERYTHING written in the NT. It literally gets at the very core of "how do we live the Christian life" It pertains to every one of us and how we live our lives practically to the Glory of God.

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.

A lot of people misunderstand my question and think Im asking "how do we get to heaven".

I dont particularly mind that. The people who believe that we do not really need to worry about the specifics and we just need to "love" everybody will inevitably clash with the people who are trying to "keep every "jot and tittle" of the law".

Some people think we have to keep the Old Testament commands and the New Testament commands.

Some people think we just need to keep the New Testament commands.

Some people believe that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Some people think they need to add in a particular flavor of there own "rule keeping" to get to heaven.

Obviously these are by no means unimportant things to discuss and come to biblical understanding on.


And 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 New Testament command".
I do not buy the whole "oh God loves us and He will forgive us so it doesn't matter". No it matters how we live. Yes God has cleansed us but we will be judged in this life at least for sinning against God as Christians.

Jesus told the man "go and sin no more, that nothing worse may happen to you." John 5:14

No brother. An understanding of how to walk as blamelessly as possible as Christians is of paramount importance. We need to discuss this.

I still have not yet seen any answers that really seem to clearly hit the nail on the head.

(For those who may be reading through this thread in the future I will re-post whatever anyone says who clearly answers the question or if I find something online as I continue to look, so keep skimming for my posts..)
 
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My question is about "how do you do what God wants in situations where it would seem that God wants you to do what He has said not to do. As in the example of "lieing to protect Jews in the Holocaust"

I didn't realize that was what you are asking.

The answer is love. What is the loving thing to do - bottom line is what is BEST for the people involved?

If we take a legalistic approach and say "I will not lie no matter what" ... ok so maybe you kept that. But what did you accomplish? The most obvious effect is on the Jews not protected. They were tortured and likely killed. The soldiers you turned them over to were also affected - they had even more sin heaped upon their heads by being responsible for committing even more evils. And you yourself are affected if perhaps you are a bit self-satisfied that you "kept God's law" - so your pride and self-righteousness are fed - at the expense of harm to other souls.

Considering all of that, what do you think God would want? "Lying" as addressed specifically in the Ten Commandments by the way can better be understood as purposely bearing false witness against someone so they will be seen as guilty when they are really innocent. That's a far cry from protecting the lives of innocents.

It's not always easy to DO the right thing. But we can learn to generally discern what the right thing is. Only be led by love as the highest virtue - again meaning what's ultimately best for people.

There's a reason Jesus summed everything up in "Two Greatest Commanments" - both of which are love.
 
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MikeinSeattle

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Some people think we have to keep the Old Testament commands and the New Testament commands.

Some people think we just need to keep the New Testament commands.

Some people believe that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Some people think they need to add in a particular flavor of there own "rule keeping" to get to heaven.

Obviously these are by no means unimportant things to discuss and come to biblical understanding on.

Just to be clear. I believe that salvation is by faith alone in Jesus Christ.

Rom 3

The Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— 22 the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. 26 It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

27 Then what becomes of our boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law.

And "as Christians" we study the "law" and the word of God in order to more fully know what is pleasing to God. We already know what is pleasing to God because "His law has been written on our hearts Eze. 36:26". But we dont perfectly know it. Otherwise Paul would not say:

Try to discern what is pleasing to the Lord. Ephesians 5:10

Unless we still have need of trying to discern what is pleasing to the Lord even as believers. And so this is what we are trying to do.
 
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MikeinSeattle

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The answer is love. What is the loving thing to do - bottom line is what is BEST for the people involved?

If we take a legalistic approach and say "I will not lie no matter what" ... ok so maybe you kept that. But what did you accomplish? The most obvious effect is on the Jews not protected. They were tortured and likely killed. The soldiers you turned them over to were also affected - they had even more sin heaped upon their heads by being responsible for committing even more evils. And you yourself are affected if perhaps you are a bit self-satisfied that you "kept God's law" - so your pride and self-righteousness are fed - at the expense of harm to other souls.

Considering all of that, what do you think God would want? "Lying" as addressed specifically in the Ten Commandments by the way can better be understood as purposely bearing false witness against someone so they will be seen as guilty when they are really innocent. That's a far cry from protecting the lives of innocents.

It's not always easy to DO the right thing. But we can learn to generally discern what the right thing is. Only be led by love as the highest virtue - again meaning what's ultimately best for people.

There's a reason Jesus summed everything up in "Two Greatest Commanments" - both of which are love.

This seems like it could possibly be the right answer to me. The problem is how do we know that it is? How do we know that when Jesus summed up the into those 2 commandments He REALLY WAS giving us liberty to disregard everything else that is commanded of us in the New Testament if need be as long as we were keeping those 2 commandments.

Some people might say the question of "what would God be pleased with?" in whether or not to lie to save the Jews is an easy question to answer. As you have just said.

Some other honest genuine believers would really think that under no circumstances would God be pleased with you sinning against Him by lying. They would argue, if we have the liberty to disregard EVEN ONE of all the 1000 or so commands that are in the New Testament, for the sake of keeping the command of love, then how can any believer be held accountable to anything written in the New Testament at all? Since as long as you claim that you are following the command of "love" you can disregard whatever you want to disregard.

The question seems easy to answer in a situation of life and death. It gets harder to answer when its a situation of sickness and health or comfort and discomfort or just what you want to do. Would you say that you only have the freedom to disregard commands in situations of life and death? Is that true just because you feel like thats what should be true? What gives you the authority to make that judgement call? Im not attacking you or saying you are wrong in wanting to save people from death. But if you are going to say that we have liberty to disregard the commands of the NT for the sake of love than you have to prove with scripture why God has given us the liberty to do that and under what circumstances.
 
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bekkilyn

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This seems like it could possibly be the right answer to me. The problem is how do we know that it is? How do we know that when Jesus summed up the into those 2 commandments He REALLY WAS giving us liberty to disregard everything else that is commanded of us in the New Testament if need be as long as we were keeping those 2 commandments.

John 13:34
John 3:16-17
Hebrews 11:1
Romans 8:38-39
1 John 5:9-14
Romans 6:14
Romans 8:2
 
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visionary

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I was surprised to not find any articles on google addressing this question. There is plenty on the question of whether or not the Old Testament commands are binding but not the New Testament commands.

More specifically my question is this:

In light of the fact that there are something like 1000 commands/exhortations/instruction in the New Testament. Do we have to keep all of them all the time in order to live blamelessly before God as Christians today? Ie. Acts 24:16, Phil 2:15, 1 Tim 6:14.

In other words, is it possible to regularly do things(or fail to do things) that we are instructed not to do in the NT without actually sinning against God?

I realize that there are some things that are obviously of paramount importance, (Like believing the Gospel). But what about all those nitty gritty instruction on how to live, how to do church etc. Are all of those binding on us? (as in we have to do them all, all the time) If so why? Romans 13:8 says "the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." That would lead me to believe that as long as you truly are loving your neighbor as yourself there could be ten thousand ways that you could knowingly and purposefully disregard a NT command without displeasing God at all. Is this logic faulty? Where does the bible say that we have to do everything written in the NT perfectly all the time in order to keep from sinning against God?
Only the ten engraved in stone are to be transferred and engraved in the heart. All the others are explanations of how sin is dealt with, how to live healthy, and how to govern a body of believers. etc.
 
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Halbhh

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This seems like it could possibly be the right answer to me. The problem is how do we know that it is? How do we know that when Jesus summed up the into those 2 commandments He REALLY WAS giving us liberty to disregard everything else that is commanded of us in the New Testament if need be as long as we were keeping those 2 commandments.

Some people might say the question of "what would God be pleased with?" in whether or not to lie to save the Jews is an easy question to answer. As you have just said.

Some other honest genuine believers would really think that under no circumstances would God be pleased with you sinning against Him by lying. They would argue, if we have the liberty to disregard EVEN ONE of all the 1000 or so commands that are in the New Testament, for the sake of keeping the command of love, then how can any believer be held accountable to anything written in the New Testament at all? Since as long as you claim that you are following the command of "love" you can disregard whatever you want to disregard.

The question seems easy to answer in a situation of life and death. It gets harder to answer when its a situation of sickness and health or comfort and discomfort or just what you want to do. Would you say that you only have the freedom to disregard commands in situations of life and death? Is that true just because you feel like thats what should be true? What gives you the authority to make that judgement call? Im not attacking you or saying you are wrong in wanting to save people from death. But if you are going to say that we have liberty to disregard the commands of the NT for the sake of love than you have to prove with scripture why God has given us the liberty to do that and under what circumstances.
The instructions to believers in the epistles are generally just elaborating on what Christ said to us in the gospels.

They aren't new commands different from Christ's words. But expansions, particular applications, paraphrases, sometimes direct quotes.

See post #5 for a little more on this.
 
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joshua 1 9

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Ummm, really?
Yes, I had a question about why Paul changed the word good in David's psalm to right in his epistles. Next thing I know an angel set it up so I could talk to Paul about this. I was in the receiving area of Heaven, the only place I am qualified to have access to. It took Paul 1 1/2 seconds to get there from where ever he was. He talked for 1 1/2 seconds about Davids teaching about good. He talked 1 1/2 seconds about his use of the word right. 1 1/2 seconds for him to get back and he thought about our conversation for 1 1/2 seconds. I think all in all I took up about 12 seconds of his time but now I do not remember why it adds up to that much. He was concerned that I was not living as right before God as I should be. For the most part he wanted to know how our generation is receiving his teaching. I have had dreams about Heaven that were a LOT more vivid. This is more like a vision but I really don't see very much so it does not make much sense to call this a vision. If people want to say it is my imagination, that is fine with me.
 
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Mathetes66

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"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?
 
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joshua 1 9

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You, personally, had a conversation with someone who died nearly 2000 years ago??
Paul, who is with God, decided he wanted to know about the church here on earth and asked you??
Woah! :eek: :eek:
He wanted to know how this generation is receiving his teaching from 2,000 years ago. I think Heaven is a very big planet much bigger then the Earth - only there is no moon so the seasons do not change. If you want different seasons you have to travel to different parts of the planet. I think we will be spirit there, we will not have a physical body until the resurrection when our physical body is resurrected. At the end of the 1,000 year reign of Christ there will be a New Heaven and a New Earth.
 
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joshua 1 9

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Ummm, really?
I do not know how real this was. There is a lot of distance between here and there. So it would have been impossible for me to travel all of that distance in that short of a period of time. It was like I was there in an instant.
 
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W2L

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Yarddog

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I was surprised to not find any articles on google addressing this question. There is plenty on the question of whether or not the Old Testament commands are binding but not the New Testament commands.

More specifically my question is this:

In light of the fact that there are something like 1000 commands/exhortations/instruction in the New Testament. Do we have to keep all of them all the time in order to live blamelessly before God as Christians today? Ie. Acts 24:16, Phil 2:15, 1 Tim 6:14.

In other words, is it possible to regularly do things(or fail to do things) that we are instructed not to do in the NT without actually sinning against God?

I realize that there are some things that are obviously of paramount importance, (Like believing the Gospel). But what about all those nitty gritty instruction on how to live, how to do church etc. Are all of those binding on us? (as in we have to do them all, all the time) If so why? Romans 13:8 says "the one who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law." That would lead me to believe that as long as you truly are loving your neighbor as yourself there could be ten thousand ways that you could knowingly and purposefully disregard a NT command without displeasing God at all. Is this logic faulty? Where does the bible say that we have to do everything written in the NT perfectly all the time in order to keep from sinning against God?
Not looking to debate anything on the matter but to tell you what experience I had regarding this.

I have had lots of "aha moments" with our Father in heaven. I had went through a lot of moments battling with God, not understanding the truth but living on self pride in my Christian life. As a result, I lost what was worldly important to me, my wife.

I was attempting to end my life when God intervened and revealed my sin. He then enveloped me with his love and picked me up out of my depression. I asked what I needed to do to keep from returning to my prideful life and he spoke and said, "Get baptized and fellowship with other Christians. " I obeyed.

It's important to obey what God reveals and not look back on what you were called out of, just as Abraham didn't look back when God called. Looking back is the sin committed by Lot's wife and by Israel, when called out of Egypt.

I still needed to learn how to walk in God's Spirit, though. After my baptism, I thought I needed to be obedient to the Commandments so I set out to obey them, but that is not what God wanted. I was not trying to walk in God's Spirit, I was again trying to do it myself. Pride was rearing its ugly head.

Every time I focused on obey the 10, anxiety would hit me hard. I later came to understand this was God letting me know that I wasn't walking right.

I cried out to God and he spoke loudly and said, "I didn't ask you to be perfect, Jesus has done that for you". He then gave me a vision of the bloody cross and removed the veil which kept me from seeing.

I then cast my sinful nature upon the cross , embraced it and carry it with me at all times.

Jesus is my perfection.

I let go of the desire to do it myself and surrendered to the Holy Spirit. I didn't look to obey the commandments but spent my time getting to know the Holy Spirit. I shared all, good and bad thoughts. If I got angry, I talked to God. If I was sad, I talked to God. I shared all.

After about 6 months I noticed that many of the desires which kept me bound were gone. The desire to sin was fading. Things I once loved became repulsive. I had done nothing but the Holy Spirit had changed me.

That is what God desires from his children. Faith in him and not what the world says about him. Living as Abraham.
 
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