Christ and His Apostles Also Viewed the Law as An Inseparable Whole

In the previous post, we discussed how the children of Israel were instructed be obey ALL of the commandments of Torah. In this post, we will demonstrate that Christ and his apostles regarded that legislation as an inseparable whole.

Matthew 5:17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. 18 For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Matthew 7:12 “So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets."

Matthew 22:34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Romans 13:8 Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

Galatians 5:34 But when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced the Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Galatians 5:14 For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”

James 2:8 If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. 9 But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

All of the above quotations from The English Standard Version of the Bible.

They Were Told to Obey ALL of It

The Law of the Pentateuch was viewed by YHWH as an INSEPARABLE WHOLE!

Leviticus 20:22 You shall therefore keep all my statutes and all my rules and do them, that the land where I am bringing you to live may not vomit you out.

Deuteronomy 6:1-2 Now this is the commandment—the statutes and the rules—that the Lord your God commanded me to teach you, that you may do them in the land to which you are going over, to possess it,  that you may fear the Lord your God, you and your son and your son's son, by keeping all his statutes and his commandments, which I command you, all the days of your life, and that your days may be long.

Deuteronomy 6:24-25 And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive, as we are this day. And it will be righteousness for us, if we are careful to do all this commandment before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us.’

Deuteronomy 11:8 You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess

Deuteronomy 11:32 you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.

Deuteronomy 28:1 And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 28:15 But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

Deuteronomy 28:58 If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God

Deuteronomy 31:12 If you are not careful to do all the words of this law that are written in this book, that you may fear this glorious and awesome name, the Lord your God

Deuteronomy 32:45-46 And when Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he said to them, “Take to heart all the words by which I am warning you today, that you may command them to your children, that they may be careful to do all the words of this law.

Joshua 23:6 Therefore, be very strong to keep and to do all that is written in the Book of the Law of Moses, turning aside from it neither to the right hand nor to the left

All quotes from The English Standard Version of the Bible.

The Passage from Torah Which Annihilates Herbert Armstrong's Theology

Herbert Armstrong and his followers have claimed that SOME of the commandments of Torah are still binding on Christians of the New Covenant. More particularly, these folks claim that 1) the Ten Commandments [especially the Sabbath], 2) the biblical festivals, 3) clean and unclean meats, and 4) tithing are still binding on Christians. They excuse Christians from most of the other commandments of Torah which deal with sacrifices and offerings, old covenant rituals, and civic responsibilities. In doing so, they have effectively divided the commandments of Torah into different categories as a vehicle for determining which commandments are still applicable to Christians - a justification for accepting some and rejecting others!

The Armstrong conception of the Law, however, is clearly contradicted by this passage from Torah:

And now, O Israel, listen to the statutes and the rules that I am teaching you, and do them, that you may live, and go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God that I command you. Your eyes have seen what the Lord did at Baal-peor, for the Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the Lord your God are all alive today. See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? (Deuteronomy 4:1-8, ESV)

In this passage, we find:

1) The Law was addressed to Israel

2) They were instructed not to add to it or take anything away from it

3) They were commanded to keep ALL of these commandments when they inhabited the Promised Land

4) This Law would make them unique among the nations of the earth

In other words, this passage of Scripture contradicts the premise that New Testament Christians are obligated to keep SOME of the commandments of Torah.

The Things That Are Really Destroying Our Families

Unfortunately, rather than confront the issues that present the greatest threats to the institution of the family, too many Christians focus on shiny objects - scapegoats as the reasons for the decline of the family in modern society. They point to things like homosexuality, transgenderism, abortion, pornography, and the like as posing the greatest threats to the family and society more generally speaking. This allows folks to blame others for their problems and ignore the serious consequences of their own personal failures.

This state of affairs brings to mind a prophecy which the Apostle Paul is said to have written in his second letter to his young protégé Timothy. He wrote: "For a time is coming when people will no longer listen to sound and wholesome teaching. They will follow their own desires and will look for teachers who will tell them whatever their itching ears want to hear. They will reject the truth and chase after myths." (II Timothy 4:3-4, NLT) Thus, we are reminded that the truth is sometimes uncomfortable or even hurts at times!

In terms of a reality check, I have composed a list of the things which clearly cause the greatest damage to our families (HINT: it is NOT gay parents, drag queens, or transgender athletes):

1. Alcohol and Drug Abuse

2. Domestic Violence (mental and physical)

3. Familial Sexual Perversion (incest/pedophilia/rape)

4. Economic Realities (2 incomes needed, affordable housing, health care, inflation)

5. Divorce and Alienation

6. No Time Allocated for Family Activities (dining, recreation, talking)

7. Ignoring Grand Parents and Extended Family

8. Paternalism/Misogyny

9. Decline in Church Attendance/Religious Belief

10. Computer Games and I Phones (time consumption)

These all are REAL problems which confront families (and too often damage or destroy them) here and around the world. Think about it! How do they compare to those phony ones which the "defenders" of family values usually point to? What do you think?

The ACOG's Have Produced Yet Another Fascist!

A friend recently brought an article written late last year by Bill Lussenheide to my attention. The article, From Madrid to Missoula: When Marxist Chaos Meets Faith and Family – Western Montana News, is a radical statement on the current state of America's Culture Wars. According to Mr. Lussenheide, what happened to Spain in the 1930s represents "a cautionary tale wrapped in tapas and gunpowder" for all of us.

For Bill, the cities of the United States exhibit many parallels to the cities of Spain just before the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War. He wrote: "The cities were full of Godless and untamed Marxist philosophy, and crazy chaos masquerading as culture. Madrid, Barcelona—urban playgrounds of the left—buzzed with increasingly radical and violent thinking." In Mr. Lussenheide's view, the cities are full of Marxist, atheistic, anarchists; and rural America is full of God-loving, gunslinging folks just brimming over with plain old common sense. In other words, Bill has embraced the ever-popular formula of "us against them."

Indeed, this is a phenomenon that we have seen repeated over and over again in the annals of human history. When more traditional folks feel unsettled and threatened by the pace of change in the society around them, a suitable and plausible scapegoat is sought out and identified as the source of all of society's problems. This allows the bewildered traditionalists something to sink their teeth into and fight against. In short, they become a righteous band whose mission is to save sinful society from its own excesses!

In Bill's reality, Christianity and traditional moral values are under attack by the godless hordes of the Left. In his view, the other side in the Culture Wars is demonic, self-righteous, and intellectually arrogant. In short, any behavior or beliefs that fall outside of what he and his ilk would define as traditional moral values, family, or WASP culture is seen as threatening and/or aggressively undermining what's "normal" and "good."

Mr. Lussenheide solemnly warned his readers that "if history is any guide, the longer the cities and the liberals anywhere insist on rewriting the rules while ignoring the country at large, the closer we get to a Spanish-style reckoning." He went on to warn: "Marxist cities can tweet all they want about inclusivity, spending recklessly and sexual liberation, but when the rural heartland decides the experiment has gone too far, there’s no hashtag to fix that. Spain is a warning, and the U.S. liberal urban elite seem hell-bent on treating it as just a historical, forgotten footnote."

Interestingly, Mr. Lussenheide never mentions the fascist dictatorship which was established under Francisco Franco as a consequence of the Spanish Civil War! Unfortunately, as with too many of the folks who identify with the modern American rightwing led by Donald Trump, Bill wants everyone to believe and act the way that he does. In his America, there is no room for drag queens, transexuals, pointy-headed intellectuals, and "liberal" artists! No, Bill and his supporters want conformity, and they are not bashful about insisting upon it! 

What does all of this have to do with God, Jesus Christ, and Christianity? My answer: "EXACTLY!" Bill and his buddies aren't really interested in any of that. They seek to impose their worldview on folks who do NOT share their worldview. Hint, there is NOTHING Christian or democratic about that!

Turn the other cheek -- really? by Reginald Killingley

Turn the other cheek — really? 

What did Jesus mean when He told His disciples to "turn the other cheek" (Matthew 5:39; Luke 6:29)? 

Did He mean we should allow people to bully and abuse us, letting them physically slap us around willy-nilly? Was He really telling us to give away our clothing to those who might sue us or assault us for it? 

As with any kind of understanding, context is everything in determining how to apply Scripture. 

In verse 38 of Matthew 5, Jesus establishes the context. He cites the principle of retaliation enunciated in the Pentateuch: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. 

In other words, the normal response of human beings to mistreatment has always been to pay back in kind. "You hurt me, so I will hurt you in a similar fashion. Now we're even." And so the natural demand for equity or fairness is met.  

Under such an ethos, if someone slaps you, you slap them back, just as hard. That just makes everything even. That’s just normal. 

Jesus, though, is telling His followers that they should not seek payback for hurt. His disciples should not behave as normal. 

It would be hard enough to obey if He were telling them — and us — simply not to retaliate, not to hit back when hurt. 

But Jesus doesn't stop there. The response He expects goes much further. He tells His disciples: Don't just passively refrain from retaliation but proactively seek to behave in a way that defies every expectation. Do the diametrically opposite thing. Your response must be 180 degrees from what it normally would have been.  

In other words, don't just not retaliate — actively help your adversary.

Don't just remain neutral towards your enemies (which would still be a good step above seeking revenge), but go much further by actively loving them and blessing them and doing good to them and praying for them (verse 44)! 

No wonder Christians who practiced such a response were accused of having turned the world "upside down"! (Acts 17:6, KJV.) 

And no wonder either that Jesus calls this behavior "perfect" (verse 48). Perfection for the Christian requires going completely against the grain of the normal and natural human response to mistreatment. 

Jesus Himself demonstrated this perfect behavior when He showed us His love by suffering and dying for us even when we were His enemies (Romans 5:6, 8, 10). 

If we're still wondering about justice, if we're asking ourselves whether God condones the mistreatment of His people, the answer is clear. 

We are not to plot revenge. We are not to seek payback. 

Justice — revenge, if necessary — belongs to God. He will mete out perfect justice, with perfect love, in His perfect time.

 In the meantime, our job is to emulate the perfect love Jesus has for us. We “retaliate” with love for those who mistreat us. 

Jesus was willing to love us in spite of all our faults and sins and failings. He freely gave us His love when we had treated Him with evil. He expects us to do no less for those who hurt us.

- Reginald Killingley

The Scope of Sin: A Case in Point

In the Hebrew Bible (the Old Testament to Christians), there are a number of explicit commandments which defined the parameters of sin for the children of Israel. Jews have traditionally claimed that there are 613 individual commandments contained in Torah. These commandments also covered all aspects of the life of an Israelite: moral/ethical, clean/unclean, ritual/sacrificial, sanitation/health, slave/property, crops/livestock, wealth/tithing, defense/war, vows/oaths, and legal/justice. Moreover, at the apex of these laws, stood the Ten Commandments which underscored the fundamental responsibilities of the people of the covenant. These, in turn, were summarized by Two Great Commandments: Love for God and love for each other.

These commandments were meant to reflect and outline God's expectations of his people. Now, just as these laws were intended to be comprehensive in their scope, they were also meant to apply to whatever circumstances the people might find themselves: wandering in the wilderness, conquering the Promised Land, the rule of the judges, and the kingdom(s). In other words, this legislation was meant to cover or apply to whatever circumstances the people happened to find themselves in at any given time. Nevertheless, as with any such body of laws, there is always some confusion over the theoretical and practical application of those laws.

There is, however, a story in the Hebrew Scriptures which perfectly illustrates the real-world application of these principles, along with the scope and ubiquitousness of the sins defined by Torah. This is the story of King David's dalliance with a married woman. In short, this narrative clearly illustrated why God established some of the boundaries outlined in Torah.

In the Second book of Samuel, we read: "In the spring of the year, when kings normally go out to war, David sent Joab and the Israelite army to fight the Ammonites. They destroyed the Ammonite army and laid siege to the city of Rabbah. However, David stayed behind in Jerusalem." (II Samuel 11:1, NLT) This is the first in a long series of bad decisions by the king. Instead of leading his men into battle, he decided to remain in Jerusalem where there really wasn't anything to occupy his mind and energy.

Continuing, we read: "Late one afternoon, after his midday rest, David got out of bed and was walking on the roof of the palace. As he looked out over the city, he noticed a woman of unusual beauty taking a bath. He sent someone to find out who she was, and he was told, 'She is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam and the wife of Uriah the Hittite.'" (II Samuel 11:2-3) After a nap, the king decided to take a rooftop stroll and spotted a beautiful woman taking a bath. Now, even though David already had seven wives, his sexual lust went into hyperdrive, and he sent one of his servants to find out the identity of the woman. Notice too, that he was informed that the woman was already married!

As the narrative continues, we see that this last tidbit of information was completely ignored. Resuming our story, we read: "Then David sent messengers to get her; and when she came to the palace, he slept with her. She had just completed the purification rites after having her menstrual period. Then she returned home. Later, when Bathsheba discovered that she was pregnant, she sent David a message, saying, 'I’m pregnant.'" (II Samuel 11:4-5) We are only five verses into the story, and David has already violated a number of Torah commandments! As King and individual Israelite, he has failed to remember God's Law. He has also placed something before his duty to God, dishonoring God's name, committing adultery, coveting his neighbor's wife, and taking what did not belong to him. In short, his decisions demonstrated a less than whole-hearted devotion to God and a failure to love his soldiers, Uriah, and Bathsheba and the life which she carried within her womb as himself!

Continuing with the account, we learn that David told his commander to send Uriah back to Jerusalem, and then he attempted to get the unsuspecting husband to sleep with his wife - to trick him into thinking that he had impregnated his wife. (II Samuel 11:6-8) Uriah, however, thought about his fellow soldiers who were still fighting in the field and decided that it would be inappropriate for him to enjoy the company of his own wife while they were deprived of the comfort of their families. (II Samuel 11:9-13) In short, Uriah was more honorable than the king he served.

How did David respond to this turn of events? We read: "So the next morning David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to Uriah to deliver. The letter instructed Joab, 'Station Uriah on the front lines where the battle is fiercest. Then pull back so that he will be killed.' So Joab assigned Uriah to a spot close to the city wall where he knew the enemy’s strongest men were fighting. And when the enemy soldiers came out of the city to fight, Uriah the Hittite was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers." (II Samuel 11:14-17) Thus, David added bearing false witness and murder to the long list of his sins! He made one bad decision after another and had completely alienated himself from his God and fellow Israelites. Worse yet, David appeared to be oblivious to the horror which his decisions had wrought. (II Samuel 11:18-27)

The account of the fallout from David's sins continues into the following chapter. We read there: "So the Lord sent Nathan the prophet to tell David this story: 'There were two men in a certain town. One was rich, and one was poor. The rich man owned a great many sheep and cattle. The poor man owned nothing but one little lamb he had bought. He raised that little lamb, and it grew up with his children. It ate from the man’s own plate and drank from his cup. He cuddled it in his arms like a baby daughter. One day a guest arrived at the home of the rich man. But instead of killing an animal from his own flock or herd, he took the poor man’s lamb and killed it and prepared it for his guest.'" (II Samuel 12:1-4) A moral fog had descended over the king, and he appeared to be incapable of recognizing and acknowledging what he had done. God's response was to send one of his prophets to tell him a seemingly unrelated story about a wealthy man's treatment of a man with very modest means.

The recognition was not immediate. We read: "David was furious. 'As surely as the Lord lives,' he vowed, 'any man who would do such a thing deserves to die! He must repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.'" (II Samuel 12:5-6) Interestingly, David immediately recognized the horrible injustice in the story, but he appears to still not have connected it to his own behavior in the matter of Uriah and Bathsheba!

Of course, God didn't leave him hanging! We read: "Then Nathan said to David, 'You are that man! The Lord, the God of Israel, says: I anointed you king of Israel and saved you from the power of Saul. I gave you your master’s house and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah. And if that had not been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then, have you despised the word of the Lord and done this horrible deed? For you have murdered Uriah the Hittite with the sword of the Ammonites and stolen his wife.  From this time on, your family will live by the sword because you have despised me by taking Uriah’s wife to be your own. This is what the Lord says: Because of what you have done, I will cause your own household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man before your very eyes, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I will make this happen to you openly in the sight of all Israel.'" (II Samuel 12:7-12)

In short, David's bad decisions had led him into a horrendous series of sins which had devastating consequences for himself, Bathsheba, their child, Uriah, the king's family, and the entire kingdom. More importantly, David had not just violated many of the individual commandments within the framework of God's covenant with Israel, he had also violated the Two Great Commandments which served as the foundation of God's eternal Law - the one which applied to all of the peoples of the earth. In other words, King David failed to love the Lord his God with all of his heart and soul, and to love his neighbors as he loved himself - to treat others the way that he would like to be treated.

In the words of the New Covenant, David had failed the basic expectation which God has of all of his people. That is "Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you. For the world offers only a craving for physical pleasure, a craving for everything we see, and pride in our achievements and possessions. These are not from the Father but are from this world." (I John2:15-16) Likewise, David had violated another principle of the New Covenant related to both the first and second of the Great Commandments. John also wrote: "If someone says, 'I love God,' but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers." (I John 4:20-21, NLT) In other words, David could NOT have truly loved God while simultaneously treating other people the way that he had!

Yes, our great and merciful God forgave David's sins. Nevertheless, this story was recorded for our benefit. It demonstrates the insidious, pervasive nature, and far-reaching consequences of sin. It is also a cautionary tale about the deceptiveness of sin - how one bad decision can lead to others. Thank God we have this example to help us avoid the pitfalls of sin! Amen!