The False Teaching
John 14:15:If you love me, keep my commandments. Does he mean the Ten Commandments?
Seventh Day Adventists: The great principles of God's law are embodied in the Ten Command-
ments and
exemplified in the life of Christ. They express God's love, will, and purposes
concerning human conduct and relationships and are binding upon all people in
every age. These precepts are the basis of God's covenant with His people and
the standard in God's judgment. Through the agency of the Holy Spirit they point
out sin and awaken a sense of need for a Savior. Salvation is all of grace and
not of works, but its fruitage is obedience to the Commandments.
Catholic: Ten Commandments are the precepts bearing on the fundamental obligations of religion and morality and embodying the
revealed Creator's will in relation to
man's duty to God and to his
fellow-creatures. . Christ . . . proclaimed them as binding under the New Law in Matthew 19 and in the
Sermon on the Mount (Matt. 5).
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Exposing the Error
Per Paul of Tarsus, the Ten are too hard
so God sent Jesus to die for the sinner, requiring only that one
believe to be saved. Yet the Ten remain the standard and the intent of
John 14:15 for many Christians. But Moses writes "This commandment which I command you
this day is not too hard for you, neither is it far off (Deut.30:11)." The Ten are not
too hard and Paul's gospel is rotten from the core. Jesus took from the Ten,
condemned those who relaxed them, then stiffened them instead to make
of them new laws that are indeed too hard. Example (Com'nt.#7): You have heard that it was said,'You shall not commit adultery' But I say to you that every one who looks at a woman lustfully has already
committed adultery with her in his heart (Mt.5:27,28).It was said. The I say to you are the my commandments of John 14:15. Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on rock . . .but everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand (Mat. 7:24-26).
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Declaring the Truth
These words of mine are his commandments -- not the Ten. If you keep my commandments you will dwell in my
agape-love, just as I have kept my father's commandments and I dwell in [his]
agape-love. This have I spoken to you that my joy
be in you and your joy be made full. This is my
commandment: that you be agape-loving one another, just as I agape-loved you (Jn.15:10-12).
The commands of Jesus focus on love - of the Father, of the neighbor,
of one another, of one's enemy and of Jesus. They are indeed too hard until we learn, from him, to hate life in this world as he hated his life in this world (Jn.12:25) and follow
him. Then one can do what he says and qualify to call him
Lord: Why do you call me 'lord lord', and not do what I
say? To say "Lord" without obeying only offends him, but in Christendom this is the norm. We obey his commandments when we obey these words of mine
in the Sermon on the Mount and elsewhere. To rely on the Ten, or to
trust in Paul's gospel and avoid thoughts of obedience to him is to
prove one does not love him. More
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