In the first revelation of Divine Law to humankind, we read that God commanded Adam and Eve to "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth." And God said, "Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit. You shall have them for food." (Genesis 1:28-29, ESV) Then, a little later, we read that God planted a garden, and that he "took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it." (Genesis 2:15, ESV) Next, we read that "the Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.'" (Genesis 2:16-17, ESV) Of course, we all know the story about how well our primordial parents fared in obeying those first Divine commands.
In the sixth chapter of that same book of beginnings, we read that God commanded Noah to build an ark and gave him specific instructions regarding how it was to be constructed (verses 13-16). Next, God commanded him: "you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife, and your sons' wives with you." (Genesis 6:18, ESV) Continuing, we read that God further instructed Noah that "you shall bring two of every sort into the ark to keep them alive with you. They shall be male and female. Of the birds according to their kinds, and of the animals according to their kinds, of every creeping thing of the ground, according to its kind, two of every sort shall come in to you to keep them alive. Also take with you every sort of food that is eaten, and store it up. It shall serve as food for you and for them." (Genesis 6:19-21, ESV) Next, we are informed that "Noah did this; he did all that God commanded him. (Genesis 6:22, ESV) Moreover, we are informed that God later gave Noah additional instructions: "Then the Lord said to Noah, 'Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals, the male and his mate, and a pair of the animals that are not clean, the male and his mate, and seven pairs of the birds of the heavens also, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth forty days and forty nights, and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground.' And Noah did all that the Lord had commanded him." (Genesis 7:1-5, ESV)
Finally, after the flood, we are informed that God commanded Noah to leave the ark with his family and all of the animals that had accompanied them on the ark (Genesis 8:15-17). A little later, we read: "And God blessed Noah and his sons and said to them, 'Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth. The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. And as I gave you the green plants, I give you everything. But you shall not eat flesh with its life, that is, its blood. And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man." (Genesis 9:1-6, ESV) I don't know about you, but that sounds like a whole bunch of Divine commandments to me!
Even so, there were a number of other iterations of God's Law recorded in the book of Genesis. In the twelfth chapter, we are informed that God commanded Abraham to leave his homeland and his father's household and travel to a land that God would show him (verse 1). Later, God commanded him to look over the land which he intended to give him (Genesis 13:14-17). In the seventeenth chapter of Genesis, we read: "And God said to Abraham, 'As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant." (Verses 9-14, ESV)
Then, many years after Abraham's son Isaac was born, we are informed that God commanded him to sacrifice the boy (Genesis 22:1-2). However, before Abraham actually carried out the commandment to sacrifice the boy, God intervened and ordered him not to do it (Genesis 22:12). Later still, God commanded Isaac not to go to Egypt and to abide in the place where he instructed him to stay (Genesis 26:1-4). Moreover, in this same passage, we are also informed that God reiterated the promises he had made to Isaac's father, "because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws." (Genesis 26:5, ESV). In other words, God would bless Isaac because his father had obeyed God's Laws!
And, while the children of Israel were still in bondage to Egypt, we are informed in the book of Exodus that God commanded Moses to free his people from Egypt (3:7-10). Most of the remainder of the third chapter and the first half of the fourth is taken up with Moses trying to get out of the task that God had given him! Even so, as any serious student of the Hebrew Bible knows, Moses eventually obeyed God and led the Israelites out of Egypt. Moreover, just before they made their exit, and as God was preparing to strike down Egypt's firstborn sons, God commanded the Israelites to observe their first Passover (Exodus 12:1-20). We should also note that this commandment was given to them prior to the formal ratification of God's covenant with the children of Israel at Mount Sinai. Finally, as the Israelites traveled out of Egypt, the author of Exodus informs us that God gave both Moses and the Israelites a series of instructions/commandments regarding their journey (see Exodus 14-17). Thus, according to the account, Moses and the Israelites came at last to the foot of Mount Sinai, and God gave to them his "Ten Commandments" (see Exodus 19-20).
Of course, all of the commandments which followed the ten which are listed and reiterated throughout the remainder of Torah were addressed to the children of Israel and were considered to be the foundation of God's covenant with them. In this connection, we should also note that this iteration of God's Law was intended for a primitive, agrarian people who (for the most part) did NOT have access to God's Holy Spirit. Moreover, we must never forget that this iteration of God's Law was designed to accommodate a paternalistic society in which slavery and violence were the norm. Likewise, it is incumbent upon us to remember that these people were highly superstitious and had very little awareness or understanding of things like the workings of the human body, effective medical treatments, mental health, and sexual orientations. Hence, as this iteration was so obviously designed to address the needs and circumstances of a particular people in a particular place and time, it stretches credulity to suggest that all of the hundreds of commandments which make up the Torah are universal or eternal in their application. For instance, as we now understand that slavery is morally wrong, most of us would consider all of the commandments associated with that practice to be superfluous or obsolete.
We should also point out that NO ONE within the ACOGs or the more traditional sects of Christianity have suggested that all of the various iterations of God's Law which we have examined in this post have been carried forward into the New Covenant. In other words, ALL of the people who have suggested that Christians should include commandments contained in these former versions of God's Law advocate some form of cherry picking. Indeed, in our world, it is currently IMPOSSIBLE to scrupulously obey all of the individual commandments contained in these previous iterations of God's Law (currently, there is NO Holy of Holies, ephod, or altar on earth). Moreover, most students of the New Testament are willing to acknowledge that Jesus Christ presented yet another version/iteration of God's Law!
Indeed, as I have stated here repeatedly over the last few years, Jesus said that God's entire Law was comprehended by just two commandments which were drawn from Torah! In the Gospel of Matthew, we read that one of the Pharisees (who was an expert in Torah) asked Jesus which of the commandments was the greatest. We are informed there that Jesus replied: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (22:37-40, ESV) In other words, ALL of the 613 commandments of Torah are based on those two principles! So, we see that Jesus Christ identified these two commandments as having universal and eternal application. Moreover, for a people who would have access to God's Holy Spirit, this iteration of God's Law would cover any and all circumstances which might arise in someone's life.
In short, Jesus Christ didn't do away with God's Law. On the contrary, not only did he FULFILL the iteration of God's Law found in Torah (the one designed for the children of Israel), he also identified a version of God's Law/commandments which would apply to all people, places and times! Jesus Christ and his apostles also provided numerous examples of how these principles could be applied in every day life. In this iteration of God's Law, there would NOT be hundreds of commandments which addressed many of the different aspects of this physical life which we are currently experiencing. In this version of God's Law, the disciples of Christ (with the Holy Spirit to guide them) would apply those two commandments and other teachings and examples provided by Christ and his apostles to their lives in the here and now and, later, in God's Kingdom. For Christians, it is THIS iteration of God's Law which defines sin and identifies God's expectations regarding the behavior of his people.
For those of you who may be interested, this article was also posted on the "Banned by HWA" blog, and there is an extensive commentary thread associated with the post on that website.
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