New Commands for a New
Covenant
Recently, I have been tackling the teaching that claims
believers in Jesus Christ are to keep the law as previously stated in the Ten
Commandments. I have been told that keeping the fourth commandment regarding
the Sabbath is the true test of loyalty to Jesus Christ, even though it is not
once taught to the New Testament Church.
This teaching goes so far as to say that the mark of the
beast of Revelation is to worship on Sunday. Pity the poor Christians who are
put to death for their refusal to submit to the laws of Islam, or to bow to the
beasts of North Korea and Communist China, but made the mistake of gathering
for worship on Sundays. Because they did not worship on the Sabbath, they were
not true followers of Christ, and because they did worship on Sundays, they
accepted the mark of the beast, which means they are not authentic martyrs of
the kingdom of heaven.[1] I hope the tragic irony of such teaching does not
escape us.
This morning I received wonderful comfort and encouragement
from this Scripture, and hope you will take the time to meditate on it for your
own joy in our Lord Jesus Christ.
19 By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure
our heart before him; 20 for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our
heart, and he knows everything. 21 Beloved, if our heart
does not condemn us, we have confidence before God; 22 and whatever we ask we receive from him, because we keep his
commandments and do what pleases him. 23 And this is his commandment, that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another, just as he has commanded us. 24 Whoever keeps his commandments
abides in God, and God in him. And by this we know that he abides in us, by the
Spirit whom he has given us.[2]
First, John is addressing something that he says, “By this we shall know that we are of the
truth and reassure our heart before him" (vs 19). There is something
in what John is writing that will cause believers in Jesus Christ to “know” that we are in the truth of God,
and will actually “reassure” our
hearts before God. It is one thing to reassure our hearts before one another,
and in our denomination or belief-system. It is another thing to know that we
have reassurance in the presence of God, with no doubt that we are “of the truth."
Second, John is dealing with the scenario of “whenever our heart condemns us” (vs
20). So, the context of telling us we can know we are of the truth, and can
reassure our hearts before God, is that believers experience these times when
our heart condemns us. The authority for knowing we are in the truth is not our
heart. There are times that our hearts will be mistaken. There will be times
that our own hearts condemn us because we know that we have done something
wrong, or because we have a long-standing experience of being told we are wrong.
Third, while our hearts condemning us might lead us to
think that God condemns us, it is God who is the source of our reassurance. God
is greater than our heart, and he knows everything, so we go to him for our
truth, and have every reason to reassure ourselves with what he tells us.
Fourth, we now see this clear connection between having “confidence before God” (21), asking and
receiving (22), and keeping his commandments (22). One would think it is Jesus’
commandments that cause our hearts to feel condemnation, but Paul was very
clear that “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in
Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has set you free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin
and death”.[3]
If, then, our
prayers are answered because we keep God’s commandments, doesn’t that mean we
are to keep the Ten Commandments? The answer is: NO!
John is so
clear here. He declares, “And this is his
commandment,” giving us an obvious declaration of what he is referring to.
It is especially interesting because, in the old covenant, God was very clear
about what he was talking about when he referred to his commandments. Everyone
knew he meant the Ten Commandments, and keeping all the sacrifices that
accompanied what was written in stone.
However, in
the New Testament, the reference to the commandments is not that which was
written in stone.[4] The Ten
Commandments were given for a season, to serve as a guardian in order to lead
Israel to Christ, the fulfillment of the covenant with Abraham.[5] The law, the
Ten Commandments, were not added to the Abrahamic covenant, to perpetuate the idea that now we walk by faith
and works. Rather, the law was added to the life of Israel (not the covenant
with Abraham), because of the transgressions of the people. The nation needed
to be governed by something until Christ came and fulfilled the promise to
Abraham. Once Christ came, the law is gone, the Ten Commandments are gone, the
stone tablets are gone, the temple in Jerusalem is gone.
One of the
Scriptures that came to mind as I was meditating on the above passage was
Paul’s description of the Church as “one
new man” that replaced both Jews and Gentiles as identities within the body
of Christ.[6] This is why
Paul would tell the Galatians there was no longer “Jew or Gentile,” but God's children are all “one in Christ Jesus."
Now that we
are under a new covenant, living as this one new man, ourselves being built
together as the temple in which God lives by his Holy Spirit,[7] we put into
practice the commandment of God, but in a way that suits the covenant with
Abraham, a covenant based on promise. This covenant is applied through the
offspring of Abraham, the Christ. So, when we come to Christ, we leave the
temporary old covenant, and enter into the complete fulfillment of the
Abrahamic covenant.
What are the “commandments” of the new covenant?
Simply stated:
1.
“that we believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ”
2.
“that we… love one another”
Now to clarify, John says, “just as he has commanded us.” This means that these two commands
are John’s focus on two things Jesus already commanded, or taught.
The command of the gospel is: “Believe in
the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved” (Acts 16:31). How do we obey that command?
By believing “in the name of his Son
Jesus Christ," just as John tells us in I John 3. Jesus began his
ministry by “proclaiming the gospel of
God, and saying, ‘The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.’”[8] He told Nicodemus that, if we
believe in him, we will not perish but have eternal life.[9]
To people who thought they already believed
in God, he announced, “Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said,
‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’”[10] It is a fairly clear picture that believing in Jesus Christ is the
command of the gospel.
It
is also very clear that Jesus presented loving one another as his command. “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.”[11]
Jesus presented this as his command, declaring his right to make such a command
of his disciples. It was a new command, because the work of the law was
completed (it was only added to Israel’s life until Abraham’s offspring, the
Christ, appeared[12]),
and Jesus was expressing what was the rule of the new covenant, that God’s
children love one another.
Jesus
added that loving one another would be a chief characteristic of the
brotherhood of believers, “By
this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one
another.”[13] He also clarified that the other things he commanded, which
revolved around abiding in him as branches to the vine, had the aim of leading
them to love one another, “These things I command you, so that you will love one another.”[14]
And so, while John recorded these sayings of Christ in his
gospel account, he referred to them here, concluding that, “Whoever keeps his commandments abides in God, and God in him.”[15] In other words, whoever believes in Jesus, and
loves the brotherhood of believers, abides in God, and God abides in him. This
is what Jesus taught the night before his death, and it is what the church has
taught ever since. The new covenant has given us new hearts and presented us
with new commands that befit the covenant of promise God made with Abraham.
When our heart condemns us, perhaps because we have done
wrong, or because of old patterns of thinking that leave us believing God must
surely be disappointed in us, we do not look to our success in keeping the Ten
Commandments to reassure ourselves that all is well between us and God. We look
to see if we are still believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, still seeking to
love one another as he loves us, and experiencing the Holy Spirit testifying to
our spirits that we are the children of God.[16]
Jesus Christ has the right to give us his own commandments
in this new covenant because it is the covenant in his blood. He has already
met all the requirements of the law. In his fulfillment of the law, he has also
fulfilled God’s promise to Abraham, “In you shall all
the nations be blessed.” [1]And, for me, meditating on these things has certainly reassured my heart
that I am one of the blessed and beloved children of God. I believe in Jesus
Christ, I love the brotherhood of believers, and I have God’s Spirit testifying
to my spirit that I am a child of God. That is what it means to keep Jesus’
commands. So, as God's word promised, this truth has reassured my heart that
all is well between myself and my Father.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1]
Revelation 6:9-11
[2]
I John 3:19-24
[3]
Romans 8:1-2
[4]
Galatians 3 is a very clear lesson on how the laws written in stone have been
replaced by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
[5]
Galatians 3 also explains how the law was a temporary guardian leading up to
the coming of Christ. Jesus declaration of “it is finished” included the
completion of the law’s assignment. A new covenant was now in effect.
[6]
Ephesians 2:15
[7]
Ephesians 2:22
[8]
Mark 1:14-15
[9]
John 3:16
[10]
John 7:38
[11]
John 13:34
[12]
Galatians 3:19 (read context of chapter)
[13]
John 13:35
[14]
John 15:17
[15]
I John 3:24
[16]
Romans 8:16
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