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Friendly Reminder (2)

Sunday, July 10th, 2011 | Author:

Therefore, whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. James 4:4  (almost NASB)

Friend of the world – Who is a philos tou kosmou (friend of the world)?  This is a vitally important question, perhaps equal to the scribe’s inquiry, “Who is my neighbor?”  If we have the wrong answer to this question, we might fall prey to the same seduction Havvah experienced.

Here’s the simple answer:  a friend of the world is an enemy of God.  Obvious, but perhaps not too helpful, until we realize that God has given us quite an exhaustive list of the thoughts and behaviors of those who wish to befriend the world.  That list is found in the 613 Torah commandments.  A friend of the world disregards God’s instructions for living, replacing His instructions with guidance from the kosmos.  Since there can only be one true God, replacing His instructions with different directions about life can only mean that the replacements come from a false god.  To be a friend of the world is to be idolatrous.  To be a friend of the world is to serve a god other than YHWH.  It doesn’t require debauchery, treachery or megalomania.  It only requires asserting that God’s instructions don’t matter.

Was that a body blow?  Did that remark suddenly cause you to shudder?  If it is true that Torah disobedience puts you in the position of an idolater, are you still able to claim friendship with the Most High God?  Do you have a greater appreciation for the dilemma facing Havvah?  She wanted to do all that she was expected to do.  She wanted to be the best ‘ezer kenegdo she could possibly be.  Don’t you want something similar?  Don’t you want to be all you can be, all God intended you to be?  But are you willing to manifest that desire within the boundaries God sets?  Havvah doesn’t sin because she is selfish or power-hungry or rebellious.  She sins because she desires to improve God’s plan.  The desire is genuine and noble.  The means are sinful.  She befriends what the world has to offer in order to do what God wants.  I wonder how many of us do the same.

Of course, this truth entails two imperatives.  The first is that I must know the 613.  Not all apply to me, of course, but to ignore or disregard them is an act of rebellion, according to the implication in James.  So I must look and see which apply to me.

The second is that I am called to love my enemies.  Now I realize that this commandment (one of the 613) extends to those who willfully or ignorantly disregard the 613.  They are my enemies because they are God’s enemies because they serve another master.  And I must love them with such a compelling love that they return to the 613, the fellowship of His community and the experience of His presence.  Love of enemies doesn’t mean simply turning the other cheek to those who carry a gun.  It can also mean caring for those who carry an altered Book.

Topical Index:  enemy, friend, world, James 4:4, commandments, Havvah

 

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Where to Find God

Tuesday, June 14th, 2011 | Author:

I am the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage. Exodus 20:2  JPS

I am – Before we can look into this verse and this word (anoki), we have to step backward, to the first verse in the twentieth chapter.  Why?  Because there is something unusual about the first verse that sets the stage of this second verse.  The first verse says, “Then God spoke all these words, saying.”  What we don’t see in English is the connection between “spoke” and “words.”  Both are from the Hebrew consonants D-B-R.  Literally this says, “Then Elohiym spoke all the speakings.”  Why is this important to notice?  Because what God speaks is not simply the compilation of intelligent principles or the genius of creative insights.  God speaks who He is.  The words He speaks are an expression of His very being.  The following Ten Words (the Ten Commandments) are not just good rules for proper behavior.  They are the essence of what it means to be godly because they come from the character of God.

There is one other notable fact about this first verse.  It is the only verse in the Tanakh that uses the verb dabar without specifying the indirect object of the verb.  In other words, this verse does not tell us to whom these words were addressed.  Sarna says, “The lack of specification satisfies an inherent complexity.  On the one hand, it is ‘all the people’ as a corporate entity . . . on the other hand, each member of the community is addressed individually, . . .”[1]

Now let’s add this to an examination of Exodus 20:2.  Because the commands are addressed to one and to all, they do not discriminate between any particular group within Israel.  Furthermore, the use of anoki (“I am”) mimics ancient middle-eastern royal language, identifying the words as the divine decree over all who hear them.  This royal formula “underlines the unimpeachable sovereign authority behind the ensuing pronouncements but it also emphasizes that the demands of the Decalogue have their source and sanction in divine will, not in human wisdom.  Hence they remain eternally valid and unaffected by temporal considerations.”[2]

You might want to read that last sentence again, especially on your way to a Sunday service.  According to the language of the Bible, God’s eternal will is expressed in these commandments.  They can never be set aside or altered due to human circumstances or human progress.  They are not just rules.  They are what it means for God to manifest Himself in the world.

Where do we find God?  Where is the Master of the Universe, the King of all kings?  Right here – in these commands.  Doing them draws us near.  Changing them leaves us holding hands with Havvah in front of the Tree.

Topical Index:  I am, anoki, dabar, commandments, Exodus 20:2

[1] Naham Sarna, The JPS Torah Commentary: Exodus, p. 109.

[2] Ibid.

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Mosheh, Yeshua and Yochanan

Sunday, May 01st, 2011 | Author:

For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome. 1 John 5:3  NASB

Not Burdensome – Rules are heavy.  Regulations weigh us down.  So when John says that God’s commandments are not burdensome, we should be reminded of two other men who say that same thing.  The first is Mosheh.  “For this command which I am commanding you today; it is not too hard for you” (Deuteronomy 30:11).  The second is Yeshua.  “For my yoke is pleasant and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30).  Now comes John.  Don’t you think that John’s reference to bareiai ouk eisin (literally “heavy not are”) reminds us of the words of both Yeshua and Mosheh?  The commandments of Mosheh and Yeshua and now John aren’t crushing rules and demanding regulations.  They are the joyful evidence that we love God.

“It is easier to deceive ourselves in this matter than it is to deceive others.  If we tell them that ‘we love God’, they will look for some visible evidence; we should look for some visible evidence ourselves.”[1] This is precisely what Sha’ul has in mind when he calls us to “provoke to jealousy” those Jewish brothers who have not yet accepted Yeshua as their Messiah.  If we don’t display Torah observance, if we make the commands of the Father burdensome, what motivation do we offer these brothers for believing we serve His Son?  Who was Yochanan’s (John’s) audience?  Wasn’t it Gentiles who were followers of the Way?  Gentiles who had the opportunity to demonstrate by their actions that they followed the same God of Israel, YHWH the only true God?  And how would these Jewish brothers and sisters know that Gentile followers embraced the God of Israel unless these Gentiles joyfully exhibited obedience to the commands given by YHWH?  How would anyone know if these Gentiles disregarded the very essence of Israel’s faith – the revelation of God in the Torah?  We might ask ourselves the same question.  How would the outside observer know that we love and worship YHWH if we don’t practice His commandments?  If John and Jesus and Moses are all saying the same thing, why are we so anxious to set those commandments aside?

John makes are pretty strong assertion here.  If we love God, we do what He says and what He says isn’t a burden because it is motivated by love.  If I love my wife, I listen to her requests and I do my best to fulfill them (especially since she is my ‘ezer kenegdo) because it is good for me.  I benefit when I please her.  Of course, I am still a rebellious renegade and at times my selfish desires assert themselves.  I don’t listen to her.  I push my own agenda.  And I discover that I don’t benefit.  I am not blessed.  I repent and try again.  It’s the same with my relationship with YHWH.  But what good would come to me if I said to my wife, “I love you, but I am going to do whatever I think is best for me”?  What benefit accrues to me if I say to my heavenly Father, “Oh, I love You, but I will decide which of Your instructions I’ll follow.  After all, some of them seem too heavy for me”?  Who am I to tell God that His instructions aren’t good enough for me?

Topical Index:  not burdensome, bareiai ouk eisin, 1 John 5:3, Deuteronomy 30:11, Matthew 11:30, commandments

[1] F. F. Bruce, The Epistles of John, (Revell), p. 116.

If you happen to be in the Orlando area and you want to sit in on a graduate class on biblical interpretation, inspiration and translation, I will be teaching at the Holy Land Experience on Wednesday May 4 to Friday May 6.  Please email me if you would like to attend.

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Impossible Journey?

Monday, February 14th, 2011 | Author:

“He who has My commandments, and keeps them, he it is who loves Me, and he who loves Me shall be loved by My Father, and I will love him, and will disclose Myself to him.” John 14:21  NASB

Keeps them – From Adam until now, no man has been able to fulfill this requirement.  Plenty of men have had the commandments, but not one has kept them.  What are we to do?  You love Yeshua.  You love YHWH.  So do I.  But everyday we falter.  Everyday we slip and slide through life, trying our best to live up to what we know, discovering that we don’t know enough and that what we do know already condemns us.  Did Yeshua really set the bar so high that no one can jump over it?  Some days it certainly seems that way, doesn’t it?

There is only one solution to this human predicament and it isn’t grace.  Grace is good.  Grace is an absolute necessity.  But grace is ultimately forbearance.  Grace ultimately overlooks sin, counts it already paid for, assigns the deserved punishment to another.  Grace does not empower me to keep the commandments.  It only provides a way to remove the previous crushing burden.  Grace gives me hope, but I must turn that hope into obedience.  I know God’s plan.  Keep the commandments.  I know God counts my faith as righteousness.  But I still face the impossible journey.  I just don’t seem to be able to put His plan into action.

That’s because I don’t need a plan.  I need a partner.

If one travels the road alone, he may fall.  But if two travel together, one will hold up the other.  I need a partner who has been down this road before, who knows the way, who points out the potholes and the ditches and who can hold me up when I start to fall.  I need a partner who has kept the commandments, knows how difficult that is and is still willing to walk alongside me on that old road.  Without my partner, I just can’t make it even if grace set me free to travel this road.

The Greek verb here is tereo.  It means “to guard, to observe, to attend to carefully.”  Here the verb is a present active participle.  The grammar is important.  This means that the action of the verb is right now, as we are going along.  It also means that this participle acts as an adjective, adding to or describing the noun.  What is the noun?  It is you and me.  “The one keeping the commandments” describes us.  Look very carefully at this grammar.  Yeshua speaks about those who are in the process of keeping the commandments.  But notice the translation implies that Yeshua is speaking to those who already keep the commandments.  You and I are in the process of keeping the commandments.  That’s called trying!  We are not people who have already kept the commandments.  That would be dying!  The only point in my life where I will be able to say, “I have kept Your commandments,” is when my journey is over.  Until then, we are in the process of keeping.  Some days we progress faster than others.  Some days we fall harder than others.  But as long as the partner is walking with us, we are in the process of keeping – and we are loved by the Father.

If we reflect on our travel thus far, we will undoubtedly conclude that we have not kept the commandments.  But if we hold hands with the traveling partner, we will discover that we are still walking.  The journey isn’t finished yet.  We can keep on keeping.  There is still time to get to “kept.”

Topical Index:  keep, tereo, guard, commandments, John 14:21

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Moses Lied

Wednesday, December 08th, 2010 | Author:

For the word is very near to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may do it.  Deuteronomy 30:14

Do – “Evil is not man’s ultimate problem.  Man’s ultimate problem is his relation to God.”[1] We might need to read this line from Heschel a few more times.  It underscores the difference between the Bible and all other ethical systems.  The Bible is a guide to repairing the relationship with God.  Actually, it is more accurate to say that the Bible is God’s manual about repairing our relationship with Him.  It is not an ethical system for overcoming evil.  In fact, the Bible doesn’t even explain the existence of evil.  Such an explanation is simply not important.  What is important is God’s pursuit of Man, His desire for fellowship with us and the amazing steps He has taken to repair this breach.  No follower of the King could deny this.

But there is a reciprocal action.  God’s pursuit of Man is to be reflected in our obedience.  He loves first so that we might love second.  He chooses us so that we might choose Him.  He acts on our behalf so that we might act on His behalf.  In other words, the Bible expects us to fulfill God’s instructions for living.  It assumes that we are perfectly able to do so.  In fact, it requires us to pursue Him just as He pursued us.

Moses stood before the people.  He delivered God’s final instructions before crossing the Jordan.  “All of you were born with a sinful nature.  You are all sinners, you are all guilty because Adam fell and everyone since then is the product of a sinful constitution.  The Law only demonstrates how miserable you are since it isn’t possible for you to keep it.  That’s why I am giving you these holy instructions today, to remind you that you are helpless and hopeless before the Lord.  You will never be anything but a sinner until God rescues you.”  What?  That’s not what Moses said!  He said that God’s instructions for righteous living are not only “not too difficult,” they are so close to you that you are fully capable of doing them.  The Hebrew phrase la-asoto (you may do it) surrounds the verb asah, the verb of simple practical action.  More than 1,000 times, it is translated “do.” Another 653 times it is translated “make.”  There is nothing about this verb that suggests we are incapable of completing the action required.  In fact, just the opposite it true.  The Bible assumes we are able to do what God asks.

Moses didn’t lie.  There is nothing about being human that prevents us from doing good except our choice not to obey.  Oh, that’s a big problem, for sure, but it isn’t an inherent problem.  It doesn’t begin with a corrupt constitution.  It begins when I choose to listen to myself.  There are two impulses in a man.  The one he feeds will dominate him.  “There is always an opportunity to do a mitzvah [good deed], and precious is life because at all times and in all places we are able to do His will.  This is why despair is alien to Jewish faith.”[2]

Topical Index:  sinful nature, do, asah, commandments, evil, Deuteronomy 30:14

[1] Abraham Heschel, God In Search Of Man, p. 376

[2] Abraham Heschel, God In Search Of Man, p. 378

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Revealed!

Monday, December 06th, 2010 | Author:

Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loin coverings. Genesis 3:7

Naked – Why did Adam and Havvah realize they were naked?  Were they in such a joyous stupor prior to eating from the Tree that they just didn’t think about it?  What made them suddenly aware that they weren’t wearing clothes?  For that matter, how did they ever imagine that they needed to be covered?  Not one single example of creatures with coverings existed in the world.  No animal wore pants.  Why did they have the need to cover up?

The rabbis tell us that the discovery of their nakedness had almost nothing to do with being exposed.  Instead, it had everything to do with being revealed.  When Adam and Havvah ate from the Tree, they stripped themselves of the covering of the commandment.  They cast off the only “clothing” they needed – obedience to God’s word.  They were naked because they no longer had the protection afforded by the mitzvah (the commandment).  Once again we see that the Jewish conception of the commandments is real, tangible and concrete.  Clothed in God’s commandment, they were safe at home.  But disobedience stripped them of that clothing and now they weren’t safe anywhere.

We can “see” a bit more of the implications in the use of the Hebrew verb paqah (to open).  The pictograph is “mouth + behind + fence.”  “To open (mouth) the fence of what is behind (the future).”  When they disobeyed, they looked into their future, a future without covering.  No man can live without protection.  So they tried to cover themselves – and they failed miserably because the only real covering for human beings is God’s commandments.  Their eyes were uncovered to the truth of their predicament.  They saw that they were uncovered with uncovered eyes.

This shows us that sin is the loss of covering.  It is the loss of mitzvot.  Sin is not simply the violation of God’s rules.  It is a tangible loss of something we need to survive.  It strips us of protection.  We are revealed as creatures outside of God’s benevolence.  We are destined for death since nothing can survive without God’s covering.  Perhaps this little insight into nakedness shines light on the idea of covering in the New Testament.  Perhaps it helps us understand a bit more about the covering of the blood.  Perhaps it helps us see how vitally important the commandments are for life.

How would your behavior change today if you realized that rejecting or ignoring a commandment of the Lord left you vulnerable and unprotected?

Topical Index:  naked, covering, sin, commandments, ‘arumim, Genesis 3:7

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Whoa!

Thursday, March 11th, 2010 | Author:

Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing, but what matters is the keeping of the commandments of God.  1 Corinthians 7:19

What Matters Is – Those who claim that the writing of Paul set aside the Law and proclaim the age of grace tend to read only the first half of this verse.  Since circumcision is usually understood as the symbol of Jewish obedience, Paul’s proclamation that it is nothing allows an interpreter to say, “You see, there is no reason for us to keep the Law.  It doesn’t mean anything anymore.”  Ah, but what do we do about the rest of the verse?

Any good translation will have the phrase “what matters is” in italics or some text that indicates it is not part of the original Greek.  The Greek text is alla teresis entolon theou.  Literally, this is “but keeping the commandments of God.”  The emphatic disjunction is implied.  Circumcision doesn’t matter.  Uncircumcision doesn’t matter.  But.  Here the word alla is very strong.  There is another word for but in Greek.  It is much weaker.  This word (alla) comes with force.  In other words, Paul draws a hard line between what he has just said and what he will now say.  But what matters is keeping the commandment of God.

Whoa!  Isn’t circumcision a commandment?  How can Paul say that circumcision doesn’t matter and then turn right around and say that what matters is keeping God’s instructions which includes circumcision?  Something doesn’t make sense here.  Just reading the text without the context will only bring confusion.

Here’s the question we must ask in order to understand what Paul is saying:  Who is he writing to?  It wasn’t Christians.  There were no Christians when Paul wrote to the Gentile Messianic believers in the synagogue in Corinth.  There were Jews who believed Yeshua was the Messiah and there were Gentiles who believed that Yeshua was the Messiah.  They were worshipping in the same place.  What issue could potentially separate them?  Ethnic origin.

David Stern writes, “  . . . in God’s Messianic Community, Jews and Gentiles have equal standing before God.  On this ethnic ties, cultural expressions, customs and social or religious status have no bearing; in this regard Jewish or Gentile does not matter.  What matters is keeping the commandments . . .”[1] In other words, if you are a Gentile and you are not circumcised, so what?  You are still accepted before God by grace, grafted into His commonwealth.  If you are a Jew and you are circumcised, so what?  You are also accepted before God on exactly the same basis – grace.  Keeping the commandments is what we do after God brings us into His kingdom.  Ethnic ties don’t matter.  What matters is what we do once we are there.  What matters is the persistent commitment to live according to devotion to Him over the rest of our lives.

Topical Index:  commandments, circumcision, 1 Corinthians 7:19

[1] David Stern, Jewish New Testament Commentary, p. 456

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613

Monday, December 21st, 2009 | Author:

“For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach.” Deuteronomy 30:11

Commandment – From time to time we have spoken about the 613 mitzvot (commandments) found in the Torah.  The actual count might vary a bit but the list complied by Maimonides (in Judaism he is called Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon or Rambam) is the usual place we look to see what these commandments are.  You can see all 613 here.  But for the moment, I only want to emphasize once again these two points:  1. Most of these are commandments you will quite naturally keep as a follower of YHWH, and 2. Only a portion of the remaining commandments actually apply to any given person.  So, don’t be overwhelmed.  Don’t be frustrated.  And don’t treat them as rules.  These are the very aids you need, given by God, for life to become what it was intended to be – a radiant example of living within His care as a beacon to the dark world.  If you want to be a priest in His Kingdom, you will need to live according to His plan.

Here are the first ten:

1.  To know that G-d exists (Ex. 20:2; Deut. 5:6)

2.  Not to entertain the idea that there is any god but the Eternal (Ex. 20:3)

3.  Not to blaspheme (Ex. 22:27; in Christian texts, Ex. 22:28), the penalty for which is death (Lev. 24:16) (negative).

4.  To hallow G-d’s name (Lev. 22:32)

5.  Not to profane G-d’s name (Lev. 22:32)

6.  To know that G-d is One, a complete Unity (Deut. 6:4)

7.  To love G-d (Deut. 6:5)

8.  To fear Him reverently (Deut. 6:13; 10:20)

9.  Not to put the word of G-d to the test (Deut. 6:16) (negative).

10. To imitate His good and upright ways (Deut. 28:9)

Any problems?  I would think not.  Are these too difficult for us?  Of course not.  We may stumble in practice, but there is nothing here that surprises.  These are absolutely basic to being a follower of the one true God.  Do you feel better already, knowing that you are keeping some of the Torah commandments?  Do you see that classifying these as rules misses the point entirely?  These are instructions about the way the world exists, what actually makes up how the world is put together and how it works.

Now, if this is so obvious in the first ten of the 613, why do we choke on excuses and rationalizations when it comes to the remaining 603?  Aren’t they also God’s instructions about how the world works, how it was put together and what we must do to honor Him with our way of living?  Who gave us the authority to pick and choose which of the 613 apply?  If these ten set the stage, when did we decide that the rest were only temporary?  Who told you that following the instructions about the nature of the universe was legalism?  I would have thought that it was just the smartest thing to do.  If God hands you the roadmap of the universe, what makes you think you can arrive at the destination by drawing your own map and following it?  So, don’t be afraid of the map.  Take a look.  You just might find it does what it was intended to do – teach you God’s ways.

Topical Index: mitzvot, commandments, instructions, Torah, 613, Deuteronomy 30:11

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The Real Purpose-Driven Life

Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 | Author:

Observe them faithfully, for that will be proof of your wisdom and discernment to other peoples, who on hearing all these laws will say, “Surely, that great nation is a wise and discerning people.”  Deuteronomy 4:6

Surely – The nations will be amazed.  That’s what Moses says about an obedient Israel.  “Surely,” is the Hebrew raq.  In this context, it announces the wonderful surprise that this tiny nation of Israel has such a close relationship with God that everything it does just seems to be blessed.  Now you know the goal of the real purpose-driven live.  Moses exhorts the people to keep all the instructions for God’s way of living in order that God may use Israel to attract all the nations of the earth to Him.  The purpose-driven life is not about how blessed I will be.  It’s about how blessed others will be through me.  It’s the lesson of the fruit on a national scale.

There are 613 commandments in the Torah, but if you really inspect them, you will find that a great number of them do not apply to you.  Of those that do apply, the majority are clear, moral imperatives required for the existence of any society (for example, not murdering others).  Then there are a handful that might not seem to make sense to us today (like diet and clothing) but are still important because God asks us to be His magnets in the world.  As Paul says, we who believe in the Messiah are grafted into the commonwealth of Israel.  That means we take on the same obligations as any other citizen of God’s government.  We live under His constitution and His constitution is the Torah.

So, let’s leave behind that worn-out idea that the reason I serve God is so I will be blessed.  Blessings in my life are an accident of on-purpose living and on-purpose living is about reaching the world through God’s involvement with me and my community.  Will I be blessed?  Of course.  That’s the consequence of obedience.  Why?  Because it is through this blessing that God attracts others.  Of course, blessings do not always come in the form that we would like, but they always come in a form God can use.  If we focus our attention on the purpose of His blessing instead of the results, then we can understand why sometimes a blind man must be born blind, why a child must die and why a man must hang on the cross.  Just like the lesson of the fruit, blessings are designed to pass through you to attract and nourish others.

Why do we keep Torah?  First, because God asks us to.  He is the King of this kingdom and His will is the law of the land.  But secondly, we keep Torah because God promises that our obedience will become the vehicle that brings the lost to Him.  We keep Torah for the sake of the lost.  It is our guaranteed means of evangelism in the everyday walk of life.  It is the basis of the Great Commission – “as you are going, disciple”.  As you are walking according to God’s instructions, He will bring you into contact with those who will look at your life and say, “Something wonderful is happening here.  Tell me about it.”

Topical Index:  Torah, commandments, purpose, Deuteronomy 4:6, evangelism, raq

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How Old?

Monday, April 21st, 2008 | Author:

Beloved, I am not writing a new commandment to you, but an old commandment which you have had from the beginning; 1 John 2:7

Old – Just how old is John’s “old commandment”?  Does John start counting with the teaching of Jesus, or does his reckoning begin earlier than that?  Does John think that Jesus’ commandment, “Love one another,” is the beginning of a new way of living, or does John see a much longer history?

If you listen to most Christians today, you would surmise that John’s “old commandment” was introduced about sixty years before he wrote this sentence.  Most Christians seem to think that Jesus introduced new material and that we are now to live according to this new information.  But John uses a Greek word, palaios, that means “long standing,” not “antiquated.”  What would we think if we realized that everything Jesus taught started in Genesis, not Matthew?  Then the “old commandment” takes on a different look, doesn’t it?

Consider this:  If Jesus is God, then the message that He brings while He is in human form is going to be consistent with the same message He provided before the incarnation.  How could it be any different?  God does not change His mind about the means of redemption, does He?  He does not alter His will about how the righteous shall live, does He?  So, Jesus’ teaching must be in alignment with the will of the Father from the beginning.  After all, don’t even the new testament writers tell us that the Messiah was slain before the foundations of the world?  That means that Jesus is providing corrective commentary on the proper understanding of God’s will.  In other words, God in human form is clarifying and demonstrating what God as spirit has always taught.  If Jesus is God, then there is no better person to tell us exactly what the Father meant.

Of course, when we really look at the teaching of Jesus, we discover that it all comes from the Old Testament.  How could it be any other way?  Jesus is Jewish.  His sacred Scriptures are the scriptures of the Hebrew Bible.  His culture, religious experience and thought forms are Hebrew.  Jesus is the Old Testament man.  That means that if we want to understand the old commandments, we need to pay close attention to what Jesus says about them.  That’s the equivalent of reading God’s commentary on God’s word.  When John says that he is not writing a new commandment, he excludes any human addition to God’s will.  No man can add to the work or word of God.  Instead, John wants us to look back – way back – to the will of God found in the commandments we have had from the beginning.  So, my friends, it’s back to Genesis.  If you want to know what Jesus said, and why He said it, you will have to start at the beginning.

How old is the commandment that you follow?

Topical Index:  Commandments

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