Yesterday morning, I was watching a T.V. minister speak on I John 5. In I John 5:2 and 3 it says, "By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome." (NKJV) This minister proceeded to state that we only have two commandments that we are expected to obey. He told the audience this without ever giving them a Bible reference! Of course, the two commandments he was referring to are: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind." "You shall love your neighbor as yourself."
Let's look at Matthew 22:36-40 and see exactly what Jesus said about these two commandments. A lawyer had come to Jesus and asked Him about which was the greatest commandment in the law. Jesus' reply was "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the LAW and the Prophets."
I want you to see a couple of things from this passage:
1. Jesus is quoting Old Testament Law with both of these commandments. See Deut. 6:5 and Lev. 19:18.
By doing this, He is confirming that the Old Testament Law is not "done away with" as many of our ministers are teaching today.
2. Jesus never said there were no other commandments than these two. He only said one was "the first greatest commandment. And the second is like it." No where did He say that we did not need to obey the other commandments. In fact, He said in verse 40, "On these two commandments HANG ALL THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS."
A couple of chapters earlier, in Matt. 19:17-19 - Jesus told the rich young ruler, "If you want to enter into life, keep the commandments." If you notice, Jesus didn't quote the two commandments mentioned above!
When the ruler asked Him which ones to keep, Jesus answered with the following: "You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and your mother, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself." Sounds like part of the 10 Commandments with the "second greatest commandment" added on, doesn't it?
The same minister mentioned above later on in his sermon mentioned the importance of "morality". Well, we cannot have any kind of morality without "moral laws" to follow and obey. Webster's definition of "sin" is "the transgression of divine and moral law committed consciously". As soon as this minister started talking about "morality", he was admitting there were more than two commandments to be obeyed.
What I really want you to get from all of this is the importance for each one of us to do as the people in Berea did in Acts 17:11 - they "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so." Please don't just take your minister's word for anything - without studying it for yourself. The same goes for any books or devotionals you may read. We are living in the last days when false teachers are trying to deceive us in any way that they can. The only way we can know what is really true is to go to the Word of God for ourselves, asking the Holy Spirit to show us what is true and what is false.
