Question 99. What rules must we observe in order to understand the Ten Commandments correctly?

 

Question 99. What rules must we observe in order to understand the Ten Commandments correctly?

Answer. In order to understand the Ten Commandments correctly, the following rules must be observed: 1. The law is perfect, and requires that every one follow its righteousness fully and for ever, and that he should thoroughly and completely fulfill all his duties, and forbid any sin, even the least.

2. The law is spiritual, and covers not only words, actions, and manners, but also the understanding, will, affections, and all other parts of the soul.

3. The same things in various respects are commanded or forbidden in several commandments.

4. Where a duty is commanded, the opposite sin is also forbidden, and where a sin is forbidden, the opposite duty is commanded, and where a promise is added, the opposite threatening is included, and where a threatening is added, the opposite promise is included.

5. What God forbids is not always to be done, but what he commands is always our duty. A special duty is not always to be done.

6. Under one sin or duty, all the same kind of things are forbidden or commanded, including all their causes, means, occasions, forms, and challenges to them.

7. What is forbidden or commanded to us, we are bound to help others to avoid or do it, according to their positions and duties.

8. What is commanded to others, we are bound to help them, according to our positions and missions, and we are bound to take care not to join ourselves in what is forbidden to them.

 

According to the doctrine, if you do not strictly observe the ordinances that God has established, you are taking God's name in vain. The ordinances, words, and actions mentioned here do not refer to the ceremonial law, the judicial law, and the moral law separately, but to them as a whole. The doctrine is that even though the ceremonial law has been abolished, the moral law still refers to the ordinances and words of the law.

Most believers have doubts about whether they must strictly follow all the Ten Commandments since Jesus died on the cross and fulfilled the law. They are internally suffering from the question of whether they must follow the rules that are impossible for humans to keep or whether they can avoid keeping them.

The Old Testament era strictly observed the Ten Commandments. However, God instructed them to do so because they were sinners and could not keep them perfectly. Therefore, through the sacrificial offering, they were to realize that they were sinners and cry out to God.

However, in the New Testament era, Jesus died on the cross for the law, thus fulfilling the law. Those who are in Christ are also dead to the law. Therefore, they are considered to have fulfilled the law. If Jesus fulfilled the law, and then tried to keep the law again, it would mean returning to the previous state. The previous state was a state of sin. Since Jesus gave freedom from this state of sin, why do believers try to enter the shackles of sin and wear the yoke of the law again?

Whether it is the moral law or the Ten Commandments, if we think about what God is saying through these regulations, we can find that sin comes from greed. If believers think that simply disobeying God's command is sin, they do not understand God's will. Sin starts from greed, that is, the desire to become like God. We are to realize this through each regulation.

Therefore, it is impossible to memorize all the provisions of these laws, but it is necessary to engrave in mind the Ten Commandments that are expressed representatively and think about God's will. And if the saints act under the illumination of the Holy Spirit, they will not be captivated by fleshly things.

Those who are in Christ are free from the letter of the law, and act while thinking about the contents of the law written in their hearts through the guidance of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, they are free from the law, but they have not completely abolished the law, but have completed it. The saints are only free from the letter of the law.

Spiritual warfare takes place in my mind. It is a war between the mind of the flesh and the mind of the spirit. The mind of the flesh and the mind of the spirit that sits in heaven are at war every day. If we do not remember that we die every day, we will fall every day. That is why Satan's thorns fly at the saints.