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THE
"COMMANDMENTS OF GOD" THAT CHRISTIANS OBEY, ARE
NOT THE DECALOGUE,
BUT THE LAW OF CHRIST—THE NEW TESTAMENT
Sabbatarians are constantly crying,
"We must keep God's commandments." This is true.
But where they err is in applying the term
"commandments" exclusively to the ten written on
stone. They quote such texts as l John 3:22; 2:4; Rev.
12:17; 22:14, and apply them to the old stone table law.
But they assume the very thing that they cannot prove. Do
these texts show that the word "commandments"
refers to the Ten Commandments? Not at all. Such a
position is entirely erroneous. More than eight hundred
times we have the term "commandments" in the
Bible. After a careful examination, I find that it means
more than the Ten in about ninety eight texts out of one
hundred. In the former dispensation it was a general term
for all the requirements of Moses' law. If Adventists mean
to keep the commandments of the law, they will have to
keep all the precepts of Moses; for there were many other
precepts enjoined that were as much the commandments of
God as the Ten. Circumcision, sacrifices, and all are
summed up time and again and called "the
commandments." Jesus quoted two as the greatest
"commandments of the law," and neither is in the
Decalogue (Matt. 22:35-40).
But since the law dispensation has
been superseded by the gospel, the precepts of Christ and
his inspired apostles are the commandments of God that are
binding upon Christians. The commandments referred to in
the different Epistles and Revelation are not the ones on
tables of stone, which Paul declares are abolished, but
are the requirements of the new testament. For three and
one half years Jesus preached "the gospel of the
kingdom of God" to this world. This was afterwards
written and handed to us by inspired apostles. That
gospel, which is the law of Christ, contains scores of
precepts and commandments. They are the commandments of
God, for he spoke them by his Son (Heb. 1:1, 2). The
Father gave Christ commandment what to say (John 12:49),
and he spoke this to mankind. Therefore the precepts of
the new testament are "the commandments of God and
the testimony of Jesus Christ." How dark and godless
the leaven of Adventism, which prevents people from seeing
any precepts binding as commandments other than those
which were spoken on Sinai. Surely the vail is on their
hearts.
Jesus taught men to repent, believe
the gospel, forgive their fellow men, resist evil, love
their enemies, be perfect, sin no more, pray in secret, be
baptized, wash one another's feet, observe the communion
supper, and scores of other things. These are his
commandments. Now, he says: "If ye love me, keep my
commandments" (John 14: 15). "He that hath my
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth
me" (vs. 21). "If a man love me, he will keep my
words" (vs. 23). "He that loveth me not keepeth
not my sayings" (vs. 24). "Ye are my friends, if
ye do whatsoever I command you" (John 15:14). The
"words" or "sayings" of Jesus are his
commandments. To be a commandment keeper in this
dispensation is to obey the sayings of Jesus. But where
did Jesus ever command us to keep the seventh day?
Nowhere. In his last commission Christ enjoined upon us to
teach the people "to observe all things whatsoever I
have commanded you" (Matt 28:20). If we obey that
commission we shall never teach men to observe the seventh
day Sabbath; for in all the four Gospels there is no
record that Christ ever commanded its observance. I
emphasize: Not once did Christ command the observance of
the seventh day.
Paul says. "If a man think
himself to be a prophet, or spiritual, let him acknowledge
that the things that I write unto you are the commandments
of the Lord" (1 Cor. 14:37). Then, the teachings of
Paul are the commandments of the Lord. All true
"prophets" (ministers) and "spiritual"
people acknowledge this. If the Adventists would admit
this point, they would at once see what are the
commandments now in force. All the teachings of Paul are
"the comnnandments of the Lord." Where, I ask,
in all Paul's Epistles does he command us to keep the
seventh day Sabbath ? Nowhere. The only place where he
mentions it by name is Col. 2 :14-16, and there he teaches
that it was "nailed to the cross." In Gal.
4:9-11 he reproved those who went back to its observance.
The commandments of the Lord that Christians keep say not
a word about sabbath days.
Again. says the apostle, "For
I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered
unto you" (1 Cor. 11:23), and I have "kept back
nothing that was profitable unto you" (Acts 20:20)
Where in all Paul's ministry, as recorded in the Acts and
in his Epistles, did he deliver to the churches any
instructions to keep the seventh day? Nowhere. Not a
single sentence or text can we find. Yet he kept back
"nothing that was profitable." "And ye know
what commandments we gave you by the Lord Jesus" (l
Thess. 4:2). "The commandments of us the apostles of
the Lord and Savior" (2 Pet. 3:2). All the precepts
of the New Testament, then, are the commandments of the
Lord that are binding upon Christians to observe. We are
commandment keepers when we observe these. But since there
is not a single command in the new covenant to keep the
seventh day as a Sabbath, we are under no obligation to do
so.
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