4-21-15
If You Love Me, Keep My Commandments.
What is the significance of keeping Jesus’ commandments?
In the search for the truth concerning salvation, I have been led to this question and its ramifications. It seems that in the current culture of the world-wide Church, only one of the commandments attributable to Jesus is recognized as being valid, the other is deemed to have been fulfilled by the original disciples of Jesus and no longer valid today other than from a historical perspective. However, since Jesus instructs to keep His commandments, it might be wise to search the truth of this matter out.
The first commandment Jesus gave is found in John chapter 13, then again in chapter 14, and once again in chapter 15. Each time Jesus mentions this commandment, He further defines it, and in the end what we are left with is a command to lay our lives down for our friends as He has laid His life down for us. The second commandment that can be reasonably assigned to Jesus is the one aforementioned, found in Acts chapter 1, and verse 4. In the text concerning Jesus’ first commandment, Jesus said, “A new commandment I give to you.” The text of the second commandment simply reads, “He commanded them,” however, in the statement we are considering, Jesus very clearly states the plural of the word, “commandment,” indicating more than one. Thus, the statement, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” applies to all the commandments Jesus gave as His own and cannot reasonably be assigned to just one. If we are to keep Jesus’ commandments we must first discern which commandments are His.
Thus, the question we must ask ourselves is, “Is the commandment found in Acts 1 one of Jesus’ commandments: why or why not?” The difference between the wordings of the two texts cannot preclude the second commandment. The fact that “Jesus commanded them,” ‘them” being the charter members of His Church, shows this to be a commandment of Jesus. As long as the Church exists, it seems to me the commandment is valid. Moreover, this is the only commandment Jesus gave to the Church; it is not reasonable that the Church would be exempt from keeping it. Furthermore, in this second commandment, Jesus is addressing His disciples, just as He was in the first commandment. A disciple is one who follows another’s teachings. The word, “Christian,” means, “One who follows Christ,” thus we are all Jesus’ disciples and just as we were commanded to love one another, we are commanded to wait for the baptism with the Spirit. The fact that we are not all in Jerusalem is a moot point in my view because experientially, all who wait for this baptism receive it. This fact proves its validity.
We might also consider that there is no other similar commandment in all of the scripture. This means that this commandment can only be assigned to Jesus. It is uniquely His commandment. The fact that the disciples perfectly obeyed it cannot fulfill it in such a way that it ceases to be Jesus’ commandment, nor can they fulfill it in such a way that no others are obligated to fulfill it. If the disciples fulfilled this commandment they also fulfilled the other commandment and Jesus’ instruction to keep His commandments was directed to twelve men alone.
Now, we might explore the meaning of the word “keep,” seeing that it is the word Jesus used in conjunction with His commandments. The word “keep,” very simply means to, “observe with prescribed acts.” Thus indicating the commandments of Jesus prescribe acts that cannot be described as one-time occurrences, otherwise there would be no need to observe Jesus’ commandments with prescribed acts. Once the act had been executed, there would be no need of a continual observance. Take Jesus’ first commandment as an example. If we should lay our lives down for our friends one time at one occurrence, are we thus observing Jesus’ commandment? Are we keeping Jesus’ commandment? I say no. To observe this commandment with the prescribed act indicated by the commandment is to lay one’s life down for their friends continuously.
Since Jesus defines this commandment with the phrase, “No greater love has any man than this, that he lay his life down for his friends,” then promptly lays His life down and dies a perpetual death; we too are compelled to die to ourselves daily, a perpetual observance of the commandment. However, we must recognize that Jesus did not instruct us to die to ourselves, Jesus instructed us to lay down our lives for our friends. There is a huge difference between the two acts. If we search the scriptures honestly, we can but find two commandments that Jesus gave as His own.
Having laid this groundwork, let us return to our first question, “What is the significance of keeping Jesus’ commandments?” To answer this question it might help if we consider the significance of the old covenant commandments. Our Bibles are divided into the Old and New Testaments. The word “Testament,” is a synonym of the word “will.” A “will,” or in this case, “testament,” is a legal document that contains verbiage describing the desires of a person for the disbursement of their estate after they are deceased. It is the last will or desire of the deceased; their testimony after death. Another synonym of the word “will,” is the word, “contract,” because a will is essentially a contract. Before a person dies they draw up a legal document detailing how they want their estate to be settled. The verbiage of the will is essentially commandments, not requests, because the requests of the deceased are binding on the parties named in the will. The contract contains the desires of the deceased person in order for others to inherit their estate; the estate being whatever is left in the possession of the deceased at their passing. They may give their estate to their heirs or disinherit the heirs and gift a total stranger. They may dictate that the estate be divided between several or one. Whatever they dictate, the will is a legal binding contract. It can be contested but is very rarely overturned. The wording of the will then is “The Law” governing the disbursement of the estate. The law is made up of the commands (commandments) of the deceased that allow for the receiving of their estate.
A modern example of this would be a will that stated the beneficiaries of the estate but commanded that the beneficiary could not inherit until a certain age was reached. In this case, the will would be provided with a commandment so stating. The commandment would be the law of the will. Another example would be an entire estate that would be placed into a trust with the beneficiary receiving a monthly check. The beneficiary would be prevented from inheriting the entire estate by the law made of commandments that stated the prerequisites that governed the will. The law of the will is the commandments that determine the eligibility of the beneficiary to inherit the estate. Stated in Bible terms, the commandments make up the law of the covenant, the word “covenant” being another word for will.
In the case of the old covenant, the word covenant being the same as will, it was the estate of animals that was inherited by the beneficiaries. The animals sacrificed were innocent of any wrongdoing deserving of death, therefore, their innocence, health, peace, favor, and wellbeing could be inherited by the beneficiaries of their estates. The old covenant, or will, stated that only Jews could be beneficiaries but before they could receive their inheritance, they had to keep the commandments, or mandates, of the covenant. God, the Father, was the executor of the estates of the animals and executed the will when the beneficiaries lined up with the mandates of the will. Speaking Biblically, “When the Jews kept the law they received the blessings of the covenant,” “The Law,” being the commandments of the will.
The old covenant ended with Jesus’ death on the cross and some thirty years later the Jewish temple was destroyed and the sacrifice of innocent animals ceased. Since the old covenant was a will based upon the estates of innocent animals sacrificed through no fault of their own and this practice has ended, the old covenant no longer has any benefit to bestow upon those who keep its commandments. The Law of the old covenant is defunct because there is no longer an estate to inherit as animals are temporal beings; they have a limited lifespan. Thus, any estate of an animal is temporal, meaning that the beneficiaries receive a temporary benefit. Moreover, these facts show the importance of Jesus’ commandments. In order to receive the estate of Christ Jesus, we must keep Jesus’ commandments. Jesus’ commandments make up the law of the new covenant. No other commandments are relevant to the new covenant.
The new covenant better stated is the new will. It is new because it is the will of the estate of Jesus Christ because it was Jesus who died upon the cross. Although He was raised from the dead, He was not raised the same as He died. He died the Son of God but He was raised Lord of Lords and King of Kings. It is His estate that is valid today. He was an eternal being therefore His estate is eternal. This means the keeping of Jesus’ commandments is critical to receiving the inheritance of His estate. Together, they are the law of the new covenant. In other words, Jesus’ commandments determine who receives His estate. Those who keep Jesus’ commandments make themselves eligible by the keeping of His commandments; they become beneficiaries of His estate thereby. Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
It is interesting to note that Jesus was a Jew and belonged to the lineage of God’s chosen people. As such, His estate should have belonged to His people, the Jews. However, the Jews rejected Jesus as their King, crucified Him, and He died outside their capitol city a common criminal, with other common criminals. Jesus, having foreknowledge of these events, made out His will in such a way that any human being could take advantage of His estate equally. Nevertheless, it is important to realize the Jews lost their inheritance by the rejection of Jesus as King. It is the exercising of faith on Jesus as Lord, the keeping of Jesus’ second commandment, which completes salvation
However, even though every human being has equal access to Jesus’ estate, we do not automatically receive it. We must first keep the commandments that make up the law of the new covenant. In other words, Jesus’ will contains mandates that govern eligibility of inheriting. The will itself states whosoever will, then imposes mandates of behavior. These mandates are stated as commandments. Unlike most modern wills, Jesus’ will states, “You can inherit my estate if you keep my commandments,” then presents two commandments. We might note that Jesus’ estate is boundless, just as God is boundless. It is not temporal in any way. Jesus’ estate is beyond anything we can think or ask. When Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments,” He was pointing out how we become beneficiaries of His estate; He was trying to instruct us on receiving our inheritance. Our receiving of His estate is about our reciprocating the love He has shown us.
One aspect of love is respect. In fact, a very large part of love is respect and the word “respect” could very well be a synonym of the word “love.” Love without respect is not love at all. When the Jews rejected Jesus as Lord, they disrespected Him. In other words, they proved their love for Him to be shallow and fleeting. If we respond to Jesus’ first commandment to receive whatever benefit there is available through it but ignore the second commandment altogether, we are not loving Jesus, we are disrespecting Him and the keeping of Jesus’ commandments is predicated on love (respect). Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.”
The Jews loved their religion. They loved and respected their religion so much they were willing to kill the Saviour in order to protect their religion. I wonder if a similar phenomenon is present in the Church. The second commandment of Jesus is universally ignored even though it is the only commandment Jesus issued as Lord. Could it be that Christians are more interested in the religion of Christianity than they are in the Lord of Christianity?
Jesus’ commandments are personal; Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” The invitation to keep Jesus’ commandments goes out to each and every man, woman, and child, individually. It is up to each of us to make the decision to keep His commandments. Even though Christianity is corporate, made up of denominations, churches, even Christian families, the responsibility is on each of us to keep Jesus’ commandments.
Now, as to the nature of Jesus’ estate, Jesus was God, as much God as the Father or the Holy Spirit in the eons past. However, at the point Jesus came to earth as a babe, He laid aside all those attributes that made Him God and came to earth as a man and as a man, He died on the cross (Phil. 2:6-8). It is belief in His death that makes us eligible to inherit His estate. This is where the keeping of Jesus’ commandments becomes critical for the Christian. Therefore, the first mandate of Jesus’ will requires behavior necessary for inheriting Jesus’ estate as a man. As a man, Jesus was innocent of any behavior deserving of death or punishment of any kind; He was the epitome of innocence. Thus, by keeping the first of Jesus’ commandments, we inherit Jesus’ innocence, which is better understood as righteousness. By keeping this commandment we are clothed in Jesus’ righteousness. As long as we keep, that is, observe this commandment with prescribed acts, we retain a clothing of righteousness that is not dependent on any of our behavior outside of keeping this commandment. This is because Jesus died based upon a charge of behavior He was innocent of. Through keeping this commandment we inherit a righteousness that is independent of our actions.
However, Jesus was not just a man when He died upon the cross, for although He laid aside those qualities that made Him God, He remained God in essence. Thus when He died on the cross, He died not only as man, but also as God, and as God, He has another estate to bequeath. This requires two commandments and two acts of faith. You see, when someone hears the truth that Jesus died for them, in their stead, to pay the penalties for their sins, it takes faith, or belief in that truth to cause them to lay down their life. Similarly, if we believe that He has been raised from the dead with all authority in heaven and earth and holds the keys of salvation, we must respect Him and the commandment He gave as such. The commandments of Jesus are kept by faith. It is because we believe He died for us that we are willing to lay our lives down but we must also believe that He was raised different than He died in order to receive the estate of the Son of God.
By keeping the second of Jesus’ commandments, we stand to inherit Jesus’ estate as God. You see, it was the Son of God that died on the cross but the Son of God was not raised from the dead. Jesus was raised from the dead with a new title and authority. He was raised from the dead as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. This is the reason Jesus sits at the right hand of God in the heavens and the Holy Spirit is on the earth as the executor of His estate. Jesus has executive duties over all of creation and He has sent the Holy Spirit to earth as His representative as part of those executive duties.
Because Jesus died as Son of God, the estate of the Son of God is available for inheritance by those who keep Jesus’ second commandment. In Acts 1:4 Jesus commanded those who had received His righteousness to wait for the Holy Spirit to come and empower them. In Acts 2:4 the Holy Spirit empowered those who waited and flowed out of their mouths as one of the many gifts of tongues. Jesus said, “Take up your cross and follow me,” then promptly laid His life down for His friends only to pick it back up again by the power of the Holy Spirit. When Jesus died on the cross, He went down into hell and remained there for three days. At the end of three days the Holy Spirit came and Jesus took His life back up. If we are to follow Jesus, we must lay our lives down and take them back up. We do this through the baptism with the Spirit. In order to receive the baptism with the Spirit, you have to lay your life down. You cannot speak in tongues and do any other thing that requires active thought. Speaking in tongues effectively makes Jesus Lord of your life.
Remember, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” The word “keep,” means, “to observe with prescribed acts.” The act of speaking in tongues accomplishes that goal. It is the prescribed act of the observance of both of Jesus’ commandments. The purpose of keeping Jesus’ commandments is the becoming of sons and daughters of God. If I can remind you once more of Jesus’ first commandment, to lay one’s life down for their friends; if we observe Jesus’ commandments with prescribed acts we move from being sons of man to being sons of God and Sons of God have supernatural power to help their friends as demonstrated by The Son of God, Jesus.
Once again, let me be perfectly clear, the new covenant is a will. The will contains the law of the new covenant with its commandments. If we fail to keep the law of the new covenant we will fail to receive the blessings of Jesus’ estate; we will fail to receive our inheritance in Christ Jesus. It is not sufficient to keep one commandment and not the other. The last thing God says in His Word is that anyone who adds to or takes away from His word will lose their part in the Holy City. If we take one of Jesus’ commandments away by adding an understanding that is not presented by the scripture, we stand to lose the righteousness we gain by keeping Jesus’ first commandment. Moreover, if we ignore Jesus’ second commandment and pretend it doesn’t apply to the modern Church, we have effectively removed it from the scripture, in which case, our part will be removed from the Lamb’s book of life.
That it is possible to remove from the scripture by interpretation is presented clearly by Mark 7. This is where Jesus accuses the Pharisees of doing just that with their interpretation of the commandment of the old covenant to honor father and mother. By keeping the interpretation of the commandment presented by the Pharisees, the Children of Israel were sinning against God and instead of receiving blessings, they were receiving curses.
Let me remind you again, Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” The first commandment is an invitation with empowerment. In other words, Jesus has commanded that any person who desires to lay their life down for their friends would be empowered to do so. This means that each and every human being is empowered to lay their life down and receive the baptism with the Spirit, which is the action of the gift of tongues pouring out of the belly. All they have to do is act on the invitation.
However, the second commandment is a demand of behavior because Jesus died as Son of God but was raised as Lord of Lords and King of Kings. Jesus gave His life through a tortuous death that His friends would be able to inherit His entire estate, both the estate of His manhood and the estate of His godhood. He died having laid aside His power and authority but was raised with all authority in heaven and in earth. In order to complete their salvation, those who have received His righteousness through belief in His death, must take their lives back up by acting on His Lordship through the empowering of the Holy Spirit, who is the executor of Jesus’ estate. If they fail to keep the second commandment, they stand to lose everything they have gained. By issuing the second commandment with all the power and authority of heaven and earth, Jesus sought to make sure that all who laid their lives down would pick them back up again, thus completing their salvation.
Let’s consider this time line again. Jesus issues an edict that states that all who desire to follow Him will have the power and authority to do so, then freely gives His life for His friends. After three days in hell, having suffered terrible torment and humiliation in order to provide for those who would follow, righteousness, joy, and peace, healing, health, and well being, He issues a direct order to those who have received a gift beyond anything they could dream of. The only logical course of action having received such an outstanding gift would be obedience. Any other course of action is illogical.
Jesus did everything He could to ensure that none would be lost. Those who laid their lives down for their friends only to be empowered by the life of Jesus were given Godlike abilities to witness of the love and power of Jesus, power to witness of Jesus’ resurrection (Acts 1:8). The purpose of this power was two-fold. It could be used to bless the saints and convince those who had not yet believed of the love and mercy of God. Thus all would be saved.
However, it can be shown by the scripture that the baptism with the Holy Spirit fell out of favor with the early church and men interpreted that the second of Jesus’ commandments had been fulfilled by the original twelve while they also disdained the gift of tongues. This is shown most readably by 1Corinthians 12, 13, and 14. After trying to bring a better understanding into the things of the Spirit, Paul instructed, “Do not forbid any one from speaking in tongues.” The very notion that he had to issue this edict proves the intention of some in the Church to squelch the practice. The scriptures were twisted to take the emphasis off of Jesus’ commandments and the concept of the new covenant being a will was obscured. A new path was devised for the Church, one that was more fitting for the sensibilities of man. Essentially there was a hostile takeover of the Church by man. Jesus said, “The kingdom of God suffers violence and the violent take it by force.” For two thousand years now those who have received Jesus’ righteousness by obedience to Jesus’ first commandment have demanded salvation from the one they disrespect by their disobedience. While professing their love for Him, they practice disrespecting Him. Those who keep both of the commandments of Jesus receive their inheritance lawfully, without violence. Those who receive Jesus’ righteousness (salvation from sin) but deny Jesus the place of Lordship must violently overthrow Jesus’ Lordship in order to receive God’s blessings. This possibility exists because of God’s mercy.
While the interpretation of Jesus’ second commandment is universal to the Church today, the Word of God still exists in its pure form. Any man can turn to Acts 1:4 and see that Jesus commanded the charter members of His Church to wait for the baptism with the Spirit and that when they received, they spoke in tongues. Any man has the potential to see that nowhere in the scriptures is it said that obedience to this commandment is no longer required. Every man can judge for himself whether the only commandment Jesus gave the Church applies to the Church today. The understanding of the new covenant being a will, the last will and testament of the man, Christ Jesus, proves the validity of the last commandment of Jesus Christ, Lord of Lords and King of Kings.
As absurd as it seems, there is clearly two parts to salvation, two commandments to keep in order to inherit Jesus’ estate and salvation is more than just righteousness, it is becoming a child of God. The gift of tongues, that strange and wonderful gift, is at the heart of it all. The prescribed act of the keeping of Jesus' second commandment is the gift of tongues pouring out of the belly. By their disdain of the gift of tongues and the seeking to control the gift, the Church has bound the estate of Jesus Christ in heaven. Remember, Jesus said, "Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, whatever you loose on earth will be loosed out of heaven." Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, the future charter members of the Church. It is the Church that determines what flows out of heaven and what stays bound up in heaven. There is a time and place for everything but the whole of the Church needs to hear 1Corinthians 14:40, "Do not forbid anyone from speaking in tongues." Paul just spent three chapters encouraging the use of tongues by his teaching on them. If it was important enough that Paul, who wrote three quarters of the New Testament, felt compelled to tell the Corinthians, "I speak in tongues more than you all," is it possible that speaking in tongues is more important than we realize?