commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.’ Love is the basis of our obedience to all the commandments.
Romans 13:8-10.
Q17 At the last supper what new commandment did Jesus give His disciples?
A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. John 13:34,35.
NOTE: They had always known from their scriptures, the Old Testament, that their commandment keeping was to be of love from the heart. ‘And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: Deut 6:5,6. ‘Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.’ Leviticus 19:18 The difference now was that they were to love not as they loved themselves, but as Jesus had loved them. This gave love a new value.
Q18 Were the Ten Commandments known before they were given on Sinai?
Then said the LORD unto Moses, Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a certain rate every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law, or no. And it shall come to pass, that on the sixth day they shall prepare that which they bring in; and it shall be twice as much as they gather daily. Exodus 16:4,5.
NOTE: The manna was given before Sinai to prove whether they would keep the law they knew, showing that they already understood about the Sabbath day. Abraham and Isaac both knew about adultery. Jacob knew about bearing false witness. Abraham knew the commandments and kept them more than 400 years before Sinai. ‘Because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws … ’ Genesis 26:5 Up to this time they were passed down by word of mouth. On Mount Sinai God was setting the Ten Commandments out formally, and He Himself wrote them in stone with a finger of fire.
Q19 God gave the Ten Commandments? Did God add any more?
These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me. Deuteronomy 5:22
Q20 How does the Bible explain that the natural world lives by God’s commandments?
Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle[dove] and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; Jeremiah 8:7
Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? Job 38:31-33
Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve? Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? [gestation period]or knowest thou the time when they bring forth? Job 39:1,2.
NOTE: Bird migration, the constellations, gestation periods all work by the laws of God, in a way that no one is able fully to explain. Only the human race try to ignore the pattern of living that God has given us and put within us.
Q21 What should be our attitude to the pattern of life that God has given us for our well being?
O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandments always, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! Deuteronomy 5:29 |
