A few years ago when reading the Bible I had a thought of "what are the New Testament commands?" I looked it up and found there are 1050 Do's and Don'ts listed in the New Testmament! I had never thought of it before but then when I went to church, my Pastor preached on it! Sometimes that happens to me where the preacher and I have been studying the same things. It's really cool and makes me think the Lord is guiding my study.
Here's the PDF of 1,050 New Testament Commands ⤵️
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Here's a link to the website I found the 1050 New Testament Commands on (I did not make this) ⤵️
https://www.abc.net.au/reslib/201407/r1308729_17984331.pdf
The Old Testament commands, which have been said to be 613 laws, include the easily recognizable "10 Commandments" found in Exodus 20:1-17 and Deuteronomy 5:6-21. Many Old Testament laws from God's old covenant with the Jewish people, which was replaced with the New Covenant which was opened to include the gentiles who believed on Christ, when Jesus, the son of God, came to earth, fulfilled the law, fulfilled every prophecy of what the Messiah would do, willingly died on the cross, and rose from the dead 3 days and 3 nights later. Jesus Christ gave us a new covenant based on faith in Him as the son of God, loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and loving our neighbor as ourself, and being led by the spirit of God into righteousness (right standing with God). Some commandments from the Old Testament did carry over though and they are reiterated in the New Testament and many more practical and life-giving commands were added.
Today I read in Matthew where Jesus told the rich young ruler to follow these commandments, which are listed in the Old Testament, but then he adds a personal command not listed in the Old Testament which was to sell all that he had and follow Him. It looks to me like this may have been a call to be one of Jesus' disciples, which would have been one of the greatest honors in history, but the ruler left Jesus sad because he had many things and didn't answer the call of discipleship like the other 12 disciples had done.
Matthew 19:16-22: The rich young ruler asked Jesus: “Teacher, what good thing shall I do so that I may obtain eternal life?”
Jesus responds: "If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.” 18 Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “You shall not commit murder; You shall not commit adultery; You shall not steal; You shall not give false testimony; 19 Honor your father and mother; and You shall love your neighbor as yourself.”
20 The young man *said to Him, “All these I have kept; what am I still lacking?”21 Jesus said to him, “If you want to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.” 22 But when the young man heard this statement, he went away grieving; for he was one who owned much property.
Which Commands Does God Ask Us To Follow?
The question comes in of which commandments is Jesus asking us to follow in the New Covenant? I don't believe all the commandments of the Old Testament were meant to be burdensome, as David loved God's law, and I don't believe the commandments of the New Testament are meant to be either. Following God's law brings life, love, happiness, peace, and fruitfulness in our lives.
The New Testament: THE LAW OF LOVE
Jesus also says in John 13:34-35: 34 A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. 35 By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.”
In Matthew 22:36-40, a Pharisees (religious leader like a priest of that time) asked Jesus 36 "Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. his is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. n these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."
It All Comes Back to Love.
Loving God first with everything we are and have to the best or ability and loving and neighbor and even our enemy as ourself. If we live by those two objectives, we will naturally follow a lot of the heart of why God gave us the law and commandments because a lot of is is based around loving Him, staying holy, and loving others. For example, you wouldn't lie to or about someone you love, you wouldn't steal from them, you wouldn't commit adultery on them...
King David, who God called "a man after my own heart, which shall fulfill all my will" said in the Old Testament in Psalm 119:130: "The entrance of thy words giveth light; It giveth understanding unto the simple." The more we read the Bible, the more we understand God's heart and what the point of the law was, which is I believe is to keep us holy, set apart from the world, and connected to the Lord and bearing much fruit. Not distracted in sin, evil, and wasteful lives.
The Old Covenant and Laws Were Good - But the New Covenant Is Better
The law was good in the old testament, though much of the ceremonial side of it, the rules for priests, the rules of hand washing, dietary laws, cleanliness laws, etc are not carried in to the New Testament, and the commands of God are good in the New Testament too. David loved God's law. I think that's not talked about much when people seem to demonize the Old Testament law. Also the old testament has laws that science later found to be life-saving before germs were discovered or microscopes invented. God is so wise and the more we obey Him before understanding why, the more blessing we will enjoy, and often later find out why. I personally often follow the dietary laws of the Old Testament like not eating pork or crustaceans as they are bottom feeders and cause parasites, but I don't look at bacon or no bacon as a salvation issue. I order my mashed potatoes loaded at times but as a general rule, I stay away from what God called unclean and I see the wisdom God had in saying not to eat that stuff.
We Are Called & Blessed To Know & Study God's Word & Commands
In Psalm 1:1-6 David says: 1 "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. 3 And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper. 4 The ungodly are not so: but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. 6 For the LORD knoweth the way of the righteous: but the way of the ungodly shall perish."
The New Covenant Is Based On Faith In Christ And Love for Him
This morning in my Bible study I said to myself "God is not a legalist." God gave us rules to keep us from leaving Him and from hurting others, but His commandments are meant to be kept in relationship with Him. The Pharisees kept many rules but missed that Jesus was God when He came to the earth - the Messiah who they were waiting for, and then they killed Him. When people follow God's laws like guidelines without relationship they lose the connection with God that is meant to be had through the love, study, teaching, and obedience of and to His Word. We can start judging one another instead of loving them and majoring on minors. Thankfully God always made provision for us falling short.
In the Old Testament He gave us forgiveness through the sacrifices the priests would make for the people's sins and through their own sacrifices they brought out of repentance, and in the New Testament through the sacrifice of God Himself, for our sins through Jesus His son, and through our repentance. It's quite an amazing mystery but it's always basically been the same at the root of it all: a heart that's toward the Lord doesn't want to sin, but when we do, we ask the Lord for forgiveness, and He delights in cleansing us from all unrighteousness and blessing us and having friendship with us. It's always been about the heart, but the law and the commands are like guard rails that show us if we are living out of sin or living in righteousness. Sin brings death and righteousness brings life. We should want to follow God's commandments and want no darkness in our hearts or life. If you will spend time with God regularly and study His Word, listen for His voice, and meet with other believers, you will become more like Christ and come to love His ways.
I hope this was a blessing to you! I may keep working on this blog, but I just wanted to share what I've been thinking about today.
God bless you!
Camille
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