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<\/b>It seems a constant source of confusion among Christians to determine our relationship to the Ten Commandments. How do we sort all this out?<\/p>\nby Jerry Blount<\/p>\n
<\/b>It seems a constant source of confusion among Christians to determine our relationship to the Ten Commandments. How do we sort all this out?<\/p>\n
On the one hand, Paul said,\u00a0For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace<\/i>\u00a0(Ephesians 2:14-15).<\/p>\n
On the other hand, churches today often aggressively bind things, like tithing, out of the Old Testament. Yes, it is confusing. We must not overlook the obvious,\u00a0Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, “that you<\/i>\u00a0may<\/i>\u00a0be justi<\/i>fied<\/i>\u00a0in your<\/i>\u00a0words,<\/i>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/i>prevail<\/i>\u00a0when you are judged<\/i>” <\/i>” (Romans 3:4).<\/p>\n
We may learn from the Old Testament,\u00a0For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the scriptures might have hope<\/i>\u00a0(Romans 15:4). But, our practice, and our faith, is driven by the New Testament not the old.\u00a0Then said He, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first that He may establish the second<\/i>\u00a0(Hebrews 10:9).<\/p>\n
Distinguishing (or failing to distinguish) between the Old and New Testaments is one of the telltale differences between what we might describe as Christianity indeed and Denominational Christianity.\u00a0Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on him, If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed. John\u00a0<\/i>8:31 Paul describes such as, Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord<\/i>\u00a0(Romans 6:11). The significance of the term indeed in both passages is the fact that there is often a disconnect between rhetoric and reality. Today, in common usage, Christian means many things. In scripture, it means a baptized believer in Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n
So, what of the Ten Commandments? It is okay to violate them? With the exception of the Sabbath Day provision, they each have a New Testament counterpart. Submitting to Christ’s teaching in the New Testament means submitting to nine of the Ten Commandments because they are in the New Testament<\/u><\/b>.<\/p>\n
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“You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the Lord’s table and of the table of demons.<\/i>\u00a0Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?<\/i>” (I Corinthians 10:21-22).<\/p>\n\n
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators,\u00a0nor idolaters<\/b>, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God<\/i>” (I Corinthians 6:9-10).<\/p>\n\n
“Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards,\u00a0nor revilers<\/b>, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God<\/i>” (I Corinthians 6:9-10).<\/p>\n\n\n
“So let no one judge you in food or in drink, or regarding a festival or a new moon or sabbaths,<\/i>\u00a0which are a shadow of things to come, but the substance is of Chris<\/i>t” (Colossians 2:16-17).<\/p>\n\n
“I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s Day …<\/i>” (Revelation 1:10).<\/p>\n
“Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight<\/i>” (Acts 20:7).<\/p>\n\n
” “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise:<\/i> “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.”\u00a0<\/i>” (Ephesians 6:2-3).<\/p>\n\n
“For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder<\/b>,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” <\/i>” (Romans 13:9).<\/p>\n\n
“For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery<\/b>,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” <\/i>” (Romans 13:9).<\/p>\n\n
“For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal<\/b>,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” <\/i>” (Romans 13:9).<\/p>\n\n
“For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness<\/b>,” “You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”<\/i>” (Romans 13:9).<\/p>\n\n
“For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not murder,” “You shall not steal,” “You shall not bear false witness,” “You shall not covet<\/b>,” and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself”<\/i>” (Romans 13:9).<\/p>\n
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Jesus pretty much summed up the ground rules of Christianity when asked,\u00a0“Master, which is the great commandment in the law?” Jesus said unto him, “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets<\/i>” <\/i>” (Matthew 22:36-40).<\/p>\n
The Father let His attitude be known publicly,\u00a0And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son:\u00a0hear Him<\/u><\/b><\/i>\u00a0(Mark 9:7).<\/p>\n
Today, in a church that believes in Jesus, you’ll not hear admonitions to tithe, or to follow the Ten Commandments. You’ll not hear phrases like the Christian Sabbath, etc. Each of these was a part of the old law. Jesus told his disciples, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me<\/i>\u00a0(John 14:6).<\/p>\n
We cannot claim to believe in Jesus if we do not also believe in what He said. We believe Him!<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Jerry Blount It seems a constant source of confusion among Christians to determine our relationship to the Ten Commandments. How do we sort all this out? On the one hand, Paul said,\u00a0For He Himself is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[115,176],"class_list":["post-29105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-old-law","tag-ten-commandments"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13293,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/if-we-are-to-keep-all-the-commandments-shouldnt-this-include-exodus-20\/","url_meta":{"origin":29105,"position":0},"title":"If we are to keep all the commandments, shouldn’t this include Exodus 20?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 17, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: You mention keeping all of the commandments. Does that mean all as listed in Exodus 20? Answer: Keeping all of God's commands include those that state: \"Behold, the days are coming, says the LORD, when\u00a0I will make a new covenant\u00a0with the house of Israel and with the house of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":31561,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-james-mention-of-some-of-the-ten-commandments-mean-we-are-under-all-of-them\/","url_meta":{"origin":29105,"position":1},"title":"Does James’ mention of some of the Ten Commandments mean we are under all of them?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 2, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: My fiance is Seventh Day Adventist, and I am trying to convince him we are no longer required to observe a weekly sabbath. However, he is trying to convince me otherwise. This is putting a huge strain on our relationship. I have read through the articles on this site\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":29102,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/where-does-it-say-the-commandments-were-nailed-to-the-cross-if-we-are-not-to-keep-the-commandments-then-we-would-be-free-to-sin\/","url_meta":{"origin":29105,"position":2},"title":"Where does it say the commandments were nailed to the cross? If we are not to keep the commandments, then we would be free to sin","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I read your article about\u00a0the commandments being nailed to the cross.\u00a0 I can't seem to find a reference to that in the Bible. But I have found in several books stating that we are under the law and even Christ said to keep His commandments (by the way the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":43979,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-word-commandments-always-refer-to-the-ten-commandments\/","url_meta":{"origin":29105,"position":3},"title":"Does the word “commandments” always refer to the Ten Commandments?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 14, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I have read your response about\u00a0the Ten Commandments issue and Jesus' commandments. It seems that you are making good points in your explanation. However, a friend of mine explained this verse to me. And I think he has good points, too. Will you please check his arguments for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":82435,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/are-the-ten-commandments-the-first-covenant\/","url_meta":{"origin":29105,"position":4},"title":"Are the Ten Commandments the first covenant?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 25, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: The Bible directly states that the Ten Commandments are the first covenant. Do you disagree? Answer: If the Bible\u00a0directly\u00a0states that the Ten Commandments are the first covenant, you could cite where it is found, but you did not. You made an assertion without proof and challenged me to decide\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1945,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/do-the-ten-commandments-apply-to-christians\/","url_meta":{"origin":29105,"position":5},"title":"Do the Ten Commandments apply to Christians?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 23, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: If we, as Christians, no longer follow the laws of the Old Testament, does that also apply to the Ten Commandments? Answer: People today tend to look at the Ten Commandments as an entity separate from the Mosaical Law. Yet, these ten commandments were the prelude to the body\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29105\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}