Can you solve the puzzle?

johnn · Sea Monkey Joined: 17 May 2003 Posts: 13

I have to admit that I have been thinking about this for some time.

The puzzle is this... Why did the Lord make a change in the Commandment of God? Why did He teach the "Greatest Commandment" rather than the 10 Commandments? There is a reason for the change... can you think of the reason?

It is really pretty simple, but I have to admit that it took me a long time to figure it out, so don't be embarrased if it doesn't come to you. The trick is that you have to start looking at other things He was promoting and other things He was doing, then it will come to you. It was a very interesting puzzle for me, so I thought it may be a very interesting puzzle for you also. I am a bit embarrased to say that it took me over a year to come up with a decent answer.

So, can you figure out why the Lord was teaching the "Greatest Commandment" rather than the "10 Commandments"?

RevJP · Moderator Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 7005 Location: USA

For those of us playing at home, define what you mean when you refer to the 'greatest commandment' please.
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Captain Vegetable · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2003 6:39 pm Post subject: Re: ??

Van · Posted: Mon Jun 02, 2003 9:33 pm Post subject: Greatest Commandment

The theory that I have been taught is that Jesus was summarizing the 10 commandments. The greatest commandant is to Love your God with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your mind. The the second commandant is Love your neighbor as yourself. If you keep these two, you will keep all ten.

The biblical support for this understanding is found in Matthew 22:35-39

Tiger75 · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 2:01 am Post subject: The Ten Commandments

Hi

I agree with Van on this one. The LORD, as only He could, summarised the 10 in two sentences. "Love the LORD your God", "Love your neighbour". If you split the the commandment 1-4, 5-10 you will see that these are perfect summaries.

As a slight a side. All of the commandments except the 4th are re-iterated in the New Testament. What's peoples take on this.
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RevJP · Moderator Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 7005 Location: USA

We have seen discussion on this site about commandments and covenants, I agree with Tiger that the big 10 have been reiterated in the NT, God did not do away with the 10 by sending Jesus. The convenant of the OT however is a different animal. I believe it was Cpt Veg who explained it as a contract (it could have been Ron so forgive me for not giving proper credit where credit is due) between God and His people. That covenant has changed with the coming of Christ. The covenant of the OT was never going to do what it was designed to do (save man) because we are just incapable of doing what we are supposed to.

Christ however could and did, and in doing so fulfilled the requirements of the covenant in our stead. We now have salvation available, and are still bound by the big 10.

Okay, let me know if I am off base anywhere, OT theology is not my strong suit.
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Van · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 7:34 am Post subject: Keeping the law

You do not get to heaven by being a martyr or by keeping the law. We are to keep God's law including the teachings of Christ as best we can through prayer, study, fellowship and diligently adding virture to our lives.
In addition, we are to make disciples to the ends of the earth.

But since no one comes to Jesus unless the Father draws Him, we are learn from the Old Testament and love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind. By placing our trust in God, in Christ for our salvation, by believing that the Creator sent His Son so that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have everlasting life, we place our faith in God. And God is faithful, He will keep His word. Jesus rose from the dead and left an empty tomb. God accepted His death as payment for our sins, past, present and future, once for all. Hence we do not earn our way to heaven, we demonstrate our love of Christ by keeping his commandments. As we evaluate our lives we can be encouraged that God has chosen us because our faith and love and effort at keeping the law remain strong. On the other hand, if we only try to be good, but do not have faith in God, do not love God, do not trust completely in Jesus for our salvation, then that is not a good sign. God may not have accepted our faith and baptized us into the body of Christ. We live our lives by uncertain knowledge, but we can be certain in our faith.

Phinehas · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 8:50 am Post subject: Re: covenant etc.

Captain Vegetable · Posted: Tue Jun 03, 2003 6:17 pm Post subject: Re: covenant etc.

RevJP · Moderator Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 7005 Location: USA

JP said:

johnn · Sea Monkey Joined: 17 May 2003 Posts: 13

Why the "greatest commandment"? Why did the Lord promote the Greatest Commandment rather than just repeating the 10 commandments?

Well, this is my guess on it... and I'll make one simple reference and that is the very famous story of the woman being stoned for commiting adultery... and I'm sure you remember what happened. Thou shalt not commit adultery... that is certainly one of the commandments and of course that commandment was being used as the basis for the act of stoning a woman. So why did Jesus stop it?? Well, it is pretty simple, in this case of stoning, the 10 commandments were being used to BEAT UP on someone!

10 Commandments are fine, but the proper use for the 10 commandments is for a person to use them as a guide to straighten out THEIR OWN LIVES. That is fine... use them to fix your own life. But when the 10 commandments are used to BEAT UP on others, they are being abused.

Now, with the greatest commandment, the Lord simply put the commandment in a form that CANNOT be abused. No one can use the greatest commandment to Judge another person (as can be done with the 10 commandments) So I think this change was done for a reason... for a very good reason. I think that Jesus felt compassion for those people who are tempted to use the 10 commandments to punish other folks. That is a dangerous practice. So, quite simply, if the people of that day were guided by His commandment, they would not have found themselves in a situation where they were judging and punishing others and using the excuse of "God's law" to do so.

It was a good change... it was a necessary change since the people of the day were using the 10 commandments to JUDGE AND PUNISH. It's not possible to do that with the greatest commandment. Not possible.

So in short, I think that the Lord really meant what He said..."Judge not, lest you be judged". I am saying this because all this move to get the 10 commandments up on the courthouse wall... better think about that carefully. The whole intention of such a thing is to set up a situation that will encourage people to use the 10 commandments to JUDGE AND PUNISH. Do it if you wish, since you have a free will to do so, but I would suggest that you think about it.

Personally, I think it would be best to promote the commandment that Jesus Himself promoted. That would be the safest thing to do. Be safe, be careful, follow His example. But this is just my take on it. This is just my opinion.

Thanks for reading this post. I read your answers and I am very impressed with all of them. You are a very brilliant group of people.

Phinehas · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2003 5:42 am Post subject: Re: covenant

Van · Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2003 5:57 am Post subject: Insight

Thanks for sharing your insight. I certainly agree with you in part. Jesus said get the log out of your own eye, before trying to remove the splinter from another person's eye.

In the passage Jesus summarizes the whole law and the teachings of the prophets with two commandments. First, to love God more than anything including a prideful view of self that thinks we are holier than thou. Second, Jesus said we are to love our neighbor as ourself. So, rather than think the whole of the ten commands is covered in the greatest commandment, I think the whole of the ten commandments is covered by the combined first and second greatest commandments. For example, if you love your neighbor, you will not covet his wife or possessions.

Now let me turn to being judgemental. The bible does not, repeat, does not teach that we are not to judge others. We are not to judge others hypocritically, to steal ourselves, but to imprison another for stealing.
We will be judged as we judge others so if we are impartial and compare our behavior to God's standard, then we can also compare others not to ourselves, but to God's standard.

The idea of being tolerant of pagan beliefs is not biblical. Now, when we judge, God knows our heart. Are we beating up someone to make them look bad so that we look good? If so, we are off the mark. But if we are rebuking our brothers and sisters in love, we are on target.

RevJP · Moderator Joined: 18 Apr 2003 Posts: 7005 Location: USA

Van

The Bible does not indicate internet chat as a form of church fellowship.
For example, if a person is offended by the actions of another because they violate the person's perception God's will, then they are to discuss it privately and directly. We are not to say to "A" that "B" is a big time sinner. That is gossip.

If the person does not accept the rebuke, the offended person is to come with mutual friends who have also witnessed the behavior, such that individual blind spots are minimized. Again, this is a direct and private matter. No backstabbing within the fellowship.

Now here on the internet when I post a complaint about the behavior of another poster, without first taking the matter up in a private communication, I am not following the biblical model.

Now lets turn to Romans 14. Here the message is do not judge people based in individual preferences. "You know RevJp, you should not wear red with your complexion." Or, better, "RevJp, you should not read the NIV." These sort of superficial judgments hinder the fellowship and are unnecessary. If I think it is wrong to rely upon the NIV, then I should look to other translations, but I should not think that my preferences should be applied to others. If I think it is wrong to rely only on the NIV, then to for me to rely only on the NIV is sin.

Note that this discussion is not about violating the clear teachings of God and Christ. Abortion is not a superficial matter, children die unsaved.
God may make a provision for them, that is my prayer, but I believe I should stand firm against abortion. We should love our neighbors, including the small ones. We should consider others more important than ourselves. Anyone who teaches a different gospel should expect to be rebuked by me. As Romans 14 makes clear, for me to do otherwise is sin.