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The commandments (the 613 laws that contain what we call The Ten Commandments) were never intended as a means of salvation, either by themselves or as an augmentation to faith. The closest thing we have today that we can compare to those commandments is the U. S. Constitution in the USA, and other constitutions and/or civil and criminal laws in other countries. Their purpose was not to be seen as a 'roadmap to heaven'. Instead, it was, and still is, to be seen as the foundation of a cohesive society, with all its members following a common set of laws.
Even the reward which God promised to the Hebrews who acepted this set of laws was limited to making their society stronger and more prosperous. Here is the promise made, which many Jews even today see as the only reward for their loyalty to Torah:
If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the Lord you God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers. He will bless the fruit of your womb, the crops of your land - your grain, new wine and oil - the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks in the land that he swore to your forefathers to give you. You will be blessed more than any other people; none of your men or women will be childless, nor any of your livestock without young. The Lord will keep you free from every disease. He will not inflict on you the horrible diseases you knew in Egypt, but he will inflict them on all who hate you. (Deuteronomy 7:12-15,NIV)
That's it; that is the reward for keeping the commandments. It was a very pragmatic, here-and-now contract. The people obeyed the Torah in this lifetime; they were rewarded in this lifetime.
By the time that Jesus Christ came among us there were some sects which believed there was an afterlife attainable by humankind. But this was by no means a universal belief; many still believed that death was a wall, not a doorway. We lived, we died, the end. And even those who believed in an afterlife were not in agreement as to what that afterlife consisted of. One of Jesus' own disciples obviously believed in reincarnation, as evidenced by his asking Jesus if the 'man born blind' was being punished for a sin he had committed. That's a question straight out of Hinduism, where a person's faults in a previous life can be 'worked out' through a physical disability in their next life.
Some sects. such as the Pharisees, believed that zealous observance of the commandments of Torah would earn for us the righteousness we needed in order to attain an afterlife. The more strictly we kept the laws and commandments, the more points we made with God. But Jesus himself 'shot down' that attitude with the following passage:
"Suppose one of you had a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Would he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, 'Come along now and sit down to eat'? Would he not rather say, 'Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink'? Would he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, 'We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.' " (The Gospel of St. Luke 17:7-10, NIV)
What we say and/or do on behalf of the kingdom of God is nothing more than what we should say and/or do. No reward is to be sought, nor any reward expected. We are to perform the tasks set before us while expecting nothing beyond the successful completion of those tasks as a reward. We are to be childlike in our faith, but not childish in our attitude toward our own work.
But if our salvation depended on our own work, either as a substitute for faith in Jesus Christ or as an augmentation to it, we would all be doomed. we simply cannot 'go the extra mile' to the extent necessary for perfection, and perfection is exactly what God requires of us. There is no such thing as 'good enough' when facing God's judgement:
Now a man came up to Jesus and asked, "Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?"
"Why do you ask me about what is good?" Jesus replied. "There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, obey the commandments."
"Which ones?" the man inquired.
Jesus replied, "Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not give false testimony, honor your father and mother, and 'love your neighbor as yourself.' "
"All these I have kept," the young man said. "What do I still lack?"
Jesus answered, "If you want to be perfect, go, sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me."
When the young man heard this, he went away sad, because he had great wealth.
Then Jesus said to his disciples, "I tell you the truth, it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. Again I tell you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God."
When the disciples heard this they were greatly astonished and asked, "Who then can be saved?"
Jesus looked at them and said, "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." (The Gospel of St. Matthew 19:16-26,NIV)
And what is impossible for man to do, God did indeed accomplish:
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. Therefore no one will be declared righteous in his sight by observing the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of sin.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished - he did it to demonstrate his justice at the present time, so as to be just and the one who justifies those who have faith in Jesus. (Romans 3:19-26,NIV)
The only righteousness acceptable to God is his own righteousness. Fortunately for us, through God's own planning and work, with the full cooperation and effort of his Son Jesus Christ, he has earned for us the righteousness that is totally unattainable through our own efforts. Our own righteousness gains us nothing. It is only through our acceptance of God's righteousness that we have assurance of eternal life.
And so where does compassion for others come in? When Jesus spoke of the kingdom he used organic examples, rather than organizational ones. He is the vine and we are the branches (John 15:1-8) and the persin with the proper grasp of the gospel is 'the seed that fell on good soil' (Matthew 13:18-23). Compassion to be real must also be organic. We can't dictate compassion like we dictate stopping at a stop sign or staying within the speed limit. Either it's there in our spiritual bodies just as a heartbeat and active EEG are there in our our natural bodies, or it isn't there at all.
And where does this compassion originate? It originates from the vine, it comes through the good soil, it is evidence that we are indeed bonded with Jesus Christ. Our compassion is in reality his compassion flowing through us and toward others, just as the vine's vitality is the true source of its branches vitality. Just as he showed compassion for those around him through his own work while he was among us, he continues to show his compassion for those around us by his work through us now.