THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
The Ten Commandments The first five books of the Bible set the tone for the entire Bible. Without understanding their intent, it is nearly impossible to understand Christ and the other 61 books. This self-paced Bible Study is intended to help in that understanding. Even the Sadducees, Pharisees and Scribes of Jesus’ time misunderstood the intent. They knew the Letter of the Law, had lost the understanding of its intent. Many assume the Ten Commandments came along with Moses and are surprised to learn that they have existed since the beginning of Genesis. At a later time, we plan to put together a study of the entire Pentateuch. For now, we will focus on the Ten Commandments.
5/8/2015 Page 1 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
ABOUT THE WRITER I was born and raised in Kentucky. As long as I can remember, I have been fascinated by the Bible and interested in studying it. My maternal line was mainly Baptist and my paternal line was mostly Methodist. Of course, I attended both of them while growing up. As late as my late teens, I was certain that I was being called to be a minister. I have had a long road to that end as I wasn’t ordained officially until 1999 when I was 55 years old. Along the way, my church stops included Lutheran, Christian, Presbyterian and Catholic. My wife was a life-long Catholic until she was 45. The diversion to becoming a minister was due to the fact that I simply could not bring myself to teach (or preach) anything that I did not fully understand. I was, to put it mildly, inquisitive. I attended a Presbyterian College (Centre College of Kentucky) in Danville, Kentucky. There, I learned a lot about the Bible – its origin and teachings. Since then, I have read the entire Bible cover to cover at least 3 times and presided over 750 services. My resources are listed at the end of this compilation. Many of my sermons and studies have been about learning. In 1997, I lead a 16 week Bible Study for the Fairview Texas Church of God where I am the Elder. The topics covered what the Bible says that we are to become. When the study was completed, I was urged to publish the study in some format. Again, this was derailed due to family and health issues, and then I lost the manuscript. Early in 2012, I found my notes again and was encouraged, once again, to get them published. Finally, in 2014, I quit working on it (it may never be called “DONE”), and gave bound copies to the church members. They encouraged me to distribute it. Since then, I have put together this self-pace Bible Study, one about the Ten Commandments, one about the Signs of the End Times and I am completing one about the Pentateuch – verse by verse. In truth, whichever you are about to read can only be really described as a lifetime work. I hope you enjoy it and learn from it. Wayne Hinton
5/8/2015 Page 2 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 1 The Origin of The Law God had led the Israelites out of Egypt. While in Egypt in captivity for 430 years, their heritage was forgotten. The Ten Commandments had been in effect since the creation. Genesis 2: 1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. o The Sabbath Day was made Holy from the beginning. Genesis 3: 11 And He said, "Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you that you should not eat?" 12 Then the man said, "The woman whom You gave to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I ate." 13 And the LORD God said to the woman, "What is this you have done?" The woman said, "The serpent deceived me, and I ate." 14 So the LORD God said to the serpent: "Because you have done this, You are cursed more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly you shall go, And you shall eat dust All the days of your life. 15 And I will put enmity Between you and the woman, And between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel." 16 To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you." 17 Then to Adam He said, "Because you have heeded the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you, 5/8/2015 Page 3 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
saying, 'You shall not eat of it': "Cursed is the ground for your sake; In toil you shall eat of it All the days of your life. 18 Both thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you, And you shall eat the herb of the field. 19 In the sweat of your face you shall eat bread Till you return to the ground, For out of it you were taken; For dust you are, And to dust you shall return." o Bearing false witness was a punishable sin from the beginning Genesis 4: 6 So the LORD said to Cain, "Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 "If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door. And its desire is for you, but you should rule over it." 8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him. 9 Then the LORD said to Cain, "Where is Abel your brother?" He said, "I do not know. Am I my brother's keeper?" 10 And He said, "What have you done? The voice of your brother's blood cries out to Me from the ground. 11 "So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother's blood from your hand. 12 "When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth." 13 And Cain said to the LORD, "My punishment is greater than I can bear! 14 "Surely You have driven me out this day from the face of the ground; I shall be hidden from Your face; I shall be a fugitive and a vagabond on the earth, and it will happen that anyone who finds me will kill me." 15 And the LORD said to him, "Therefore, whoever kills Cain, vengeance shall be taken on him sevenfold." And the LORD set a mark on Cain, lest anyone finding him should kill him. o Murder was a punishable sin from the beginning
5/8/2015 Page 4 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Genesis 6: 5 Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. 6 And the LORD was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. o The Bible does not need to give the details of the wickedness of the people. o It has already been made clear that the Ten Commandments were in effect since creation. o The wickedness of men at the time of Noah was the breaking of God’s laws Since the Israelites forgot and broke God’s laws from the beginning in the Garden of Eden, it is no great surprise that, after 430 in captivity, the laws were forgotten. Therefore, God told Moses to repeat them for the Israelites – and for us! The Ten Commandments have been referred to as the “Decalogue” and the “Ten Words”. Whatever term you choose, remember that God has given them to us for a reason. They are to show us how He wants us to treat Him and to treat our fellow man FYI - Roman Catholic and Lutheran communions make one commandment of what the Greek Orthodox and Reformed call the first two. Therefore, to keep the total number to ten, the tenth is be divided into two commandments. This question has been presented by people who have had those and other churches’ versions given to them. The purpose of the law of God was to show: man’s awful sinfulness in his moral distance from God, man’s need for a mediator if he ever was to approach God... and man how to live more abundantly by using the unchangeable perfections of the nature of God as revealed in the moral law as his guide However, always remember what Paul wrote to the Galatians: 5/8/2015 Page 5 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Galatians 2. 16 By observing the (works of) the law no one will be justified All that Yahweh is, says, and does is embodied in this one affirmation: “I am Yahweh.” The rest of the statement will become one of the great formulas of Scripture, used 125 times to describe the character and graciousness of Yahweh: “who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” In brief, the short phrase “I Am” means that He is the one who has always existed, exists today and will exist forever. Remember this: It’s not what you have to be to be a Christian, it’s what you want to be if you are a Christian. If you are truly a Christian, then you WANT to obey God and His commandments.
5/8/2015 Page 6 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 2 The 1 Commandment st
EXODUS 20: 1 And God spoke all these words (to Moses), saying: 2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 "You shall have no other gods before Me.” “Before/beside me” are better translations than the Bibles that read “except me”. According to the Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Volume 2, page 422 “Nowhere does this Hebrew phrase mean ‘except me’ … The Hebrew preposition ‘al has such a wide use that no one translation can be affirmed to the exclusion of the others. … W. F. Albright (From Stone Age Christianity, 2nd edition (New York, Doubleday, 1957) translated it, ‘Thou shalt not prefer other gods to me.’ The result, however, is the same: ‘I will not give my glory to another’ (Isaiah 42.8)” The scripture says clearly, then, that God does not want us putting any god higher in our priority than Him. All that Yahweh is, says, and does is embodied in this one affirmation: “I am Yahweh.” The rest of the statement will become one of the great formulas of Scripture, used 125 times to describe the character and graciousness of Yahweh: “who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.” In today’s world, it is easy to see what people hold as priority higher than God. We can include movie idols, music stars, automobiles, homes, vacations, sex, and many more examples. This is clear from where we spend our money for one thing. And our time, for another. We place some of these things higher than God by using them to avoid church fellowship and attending services, by buying what we cannot afford instead of giving our tithes and by listening to music that is abhorrent to God. And, of course, we suspect there are many who put themselves above God.
5/8/2015 Page 7 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 3 The 2 Commandment nd
EXODUS 20.4-6 4 "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 5 you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 6 but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. The 2nd commandment discusses the mode of worshipping God where the 1st discussed the object of our worship. Also, there are 2 parts to the 2nd commandment – first the precept then the penalty. The Hebrew word for “jealous” does not mean suspicious, distrustful or envious. When it is applied to God, it means: 1. An attribute that demands exclusive devotion. (Exodus 34.14; Deuteronomy 4.24; 5.9; 6.15) 2. An attribute of anger that is directed against all who oppose Him. (Numbers 25.11; Deuteronomy 29.20; Psalm 79.5; Ezekiel 5.13; 16.38, 42; 25.11; Zephaniah 1.18) 3. An energy He has expended on vindicating people (2 Kings 19.31; Isaiah 9.7; 37.32; Joel 2.18; Zechariah 1.14; 8.2) The natural mind of physical man cries out for something to help him in his worship of God. He wants some physical object to “remind” him of the invisible God - some “aid” to worship. Yet, that is exactly what is forbidden in this commandment! John 4: o 23 "But the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him. 5/8/2015 Page 8 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD o 24 "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth." When man erects a mental or physical image of God, he automatically limits in his own thought and worships the God who will not be limited! We are told to worship Him in spirit and truth. He knows that our feeble minds cannot begin to envision anything about His true appearance. John describes what he saw in a vision as God the Father. Revelation 4: o 1 After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I heard was like a trumpet speaking with me, saying, "Come up here, and I will show you things which must take place after this." o 2 Immediately I was in the Spirit; and behold, a throne set in heaven, and One sat on the throne. o 3 And He who sat there was like a jasper and a sardius stone in appearance; and there was a rainbow around the throne, in appearance like an emerald. o 4 Around the throne were twenty-four thrones, and on the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white robes; and they had crowns of gold on their heads. o 5 And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices. Seven lamps of fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. o 6 Before the throne there was a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the midst of the throne, and around the throne, were four living creatures full of eyes in front and in back. Does that sound like any description of God you have seen in any pictures that have been painted? If this is the best description that John can give us of God after seeing Him in a vision, we have to admit we have no way to make a physical likeness of Him. Leviticus 26:
5/8/2015 Page 9 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD o 1 'You shall not make idols for yourselves; neither a carved image nor a sacred pillar shall you rear up for yourselves; nor shall you set up an engraved stone in your land, to bow down to it; for I am the LORD your God. This commandment does not seem to ban all pictures and statues. It does mean that we are not to bow down to them. “Children who repeat the sins of their fathers evidence it in personally hating God; hence they too are punished like their fathers.” Reads The Expositor’s Bible Commentary. Moses made that clear in Deuteronomy: o Deuteronomy 24: o 16 "Fathers shall not be put to death for their children, nor shall the children be put to death for their fathers; a person shall be put to death for his own sin. Ezekiel expounded on this even further and in greater detail. o Ezekiel 18: o 1 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying, o 2 "What do you mean when you use this proverb concerning the land of Israel, saying: 'The fathers have eaten sour grapes, And the children's teeth are set on edge'? The children of Israel were blaming their ill fortune to the sins of their fathers Ezekiel is saying that is sour grapes – you CAN do something about it! o 3 "As I live," says the Lord GOD, "you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. It cannot be used as an excuse The following, through verse 28, is a repetitive way of getting the message across – a literary tool common in the Bible. o 4 "Behold, all souls are Mine; The soul of the father As well as the soul of the son is Mine; The soul who sins shall die. o 5 But if a man is just And does what is lawful and right; 5/8/2015 Page 10 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD o 6 If he has not eaten on the mountains, Nor lifted up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, Nor defiled his neighbor's wife, Nor approached a woman during her impurity; o 7 If he has not oppressed anyone, But has restored to the debtor his pledge; Has robbed no one by violence, But has given his bread to the hungry And covered the naked with clothing; o 8 If he has not exacted usury Nor taken any increase, But has withdrawn his hand from iniquity And executed true judgment between man and man; o 9 If he has walked in My statutes And kept My judgments faithfully-He is just; He shall surely live!" Says the Lord GOD. o 10 "If he begets a son who is a robber Or a shedder of blood, Who does any of these things o 11 And does none of those duties, But has eaten on the mountains Or defiled his neighbor's wife; o 12 If he has oppressed the poor and needy, Robbed by violence, Not restored the pledge, Lifted his eyes to the idols, Or committed abomination; o 13 If he has exacted usury Or taken increase-Shall he then live? He shall not live! If he has done any of these abominations, He shall surely die; His blood shall be upon him. o 14 "If, however, he begets a son Who sees all the sins which his father has done, And considers but does not do likewise; o 15 Who has not eaten on the mountains, Nor lifted his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, Nor defiled his neighbor's wife; o 16 Has not oppressed anyone, Nor withheld a pledge, Nor robbed by violence, But has given his bread to the hungry And covered the naked with clothing; o 17 Who has withdrawn his hand from the poor And not received usury or increase, But has executed My judgments And walked in My statutes-He shall not die for the iniquity of his father; He shall surely live! o 18 "As for his father, Because he cruelly oppressed, Robbed his brother by violence, And did what is not good among his people, Behold, he shall die for his iniquity.
5/8/2015 Page 11 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD o 19 "Yet you say, 'Why should the son not bear the guilt of the father?' Because the son has done what is lawful and right, and has kept all My statutes and observed them, he shall surely live. o 20 "The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself. o 21 "But if a wicked man turns from all his sins which he has committed, keeps all My statutes, and does what is lawful and right, he shall surely live; he shall not die. o 22 "None of the transgressions which he has committed shall be remembered against him; because of the righteousness which he has done, he shall live. o 23 "Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?" says the Lord GOD, "and not that he should turn from his ways and live? o 24 "But when a righteous man turns away from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and does according to all the abominations that the wicked man does, shall he live? All the righteousness which he has done shall not be remembered; because of the unfaithfulness of which he is guilty and the sin which he has committed, because of them he shall die. o 25 "Yet you say, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' Hear now, O house of Israel, is it not My way which is fair, and your ways which are not fair? o 26 "When a righteous man turns away from his righteousness, commits iniquity, and dies in it, it is because of the iniquity which he has done that he dies. o 27 "Again, when a wicked man turns away from the wickedness which he committed, and does what is lawful and right, he preserves himself alive. o 28 "Because he considers and turns away from all the transgressions which he committed, he shall surely live; he shall not die. o 29 "Yet the house of Israel says, 'The way of the Lord is not fair.' O house of Israel, is it not My ways which are fair, and your ways which are not fair? 5/8/2015 Page 12 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD o 30 "Therefore I will judge you, O house of Israel, every one according to his ways," says the Lord GOD. "Repent, and turn from all your transgressions, so that iniquity will not be your ruin. o 31 "Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel? o 32 "For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies," says the Lord GOD. "Therefore turn and live!" God is spirit and must be worshipped in spirit
5/8/2015 Page 13 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 4 The 3 Commandment rd
EXODUS 20.7 YOU SHALL NOT TAKE THE NAME OF JEHOVAH YOUR GOD IN VAIN; FOR JEHOVAH WILL NOT LEAVE UNPUNISHED THE ONE WHO TAKES HIS NAME IN VAIN. Where the 1st commandment dealt with the object (internal) and the 2 nd dealt with the mode (external), the 3rd deals with the expression or profession of the mouth The Hebrew word used her for “name” does not just mean the word Jehovah, YHWH or whatever is your preference; it includes: 1. His nature, being and very person a. Psalms 20: i. 1 May the LORD answer you in the day of trouble; May the name of the God of Jacob defend you; b. Luke 24: i. 46 Then He said to them, "Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, ii. 47 "and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. c. John 1: i. 2 But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name: 2. His teaching or doctrine a. Psalms 22: i. 22 I will declare Your name to My brethren; In the midst of the assembly I will praise You. b. John
5/8/2015 Page 14 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
i. 17:6 "I have manifested Your name to the men whom You have given Me out of the world. They were Yours, You gave them to Me, and they have kept Your word. ii. 26 "And I have declared to them Your name, and will declare it, that the love with which You loved Me may be in them, and I in them." 2. His moral and ethical teaching (Micah 4.5) Micah 4: i. 5 For all people walk each in the name of his god, But we will walk in the name of the LORD our God Forever and ever. Some vain uses include: 1. Express mild surprise 2. Fill in the gaps in speeches or prayers 3. Confirm something is true or false If God’s name is used lightly, how shall the righteous survive in times of distress? Proverbs 18: o 10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; The righteous run to it and are safe. This commandment does not relate to legitimate oaths Deuteronomy 6: o 13 "You shall fear the LORD your God and serve Him, and shall take oaths in His name. Psalms 63: o 11 But the king shall rejoice in God; Everyone who swears by Him shall glory; But the mouth of those who speak lies shall be stopped. Isaiah 45: o 22 "Look to Me, and be saved, All you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other.
5/8/2015 Page 15 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD o 23 I have sworn by Myself; The word has gone out of My mouth in righteousness, And shall not return, That to Me every knee shall bow, Every tongue shall take an oath. Jeremiah 4: o 2 And you shall swear, 'The LORD lives,' In truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; The nations shall bless themselves in Him, And in Him they shall glory." o o 16 "And it shall be, if they will learn carefully the ways of My people, to swear by My name, 'As the LORD lives,' as they taught My people to swear by Baal, then they shall be established in the midst of My people. o Romans 1: 9 For God is my witness, whom I serve with my spirit in the gospel of His Son, that without ceasing I make mention of you always in my prayers, 9: 1 ¶ I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. o 1 Corinthians 15: 31 I affirm, by the boasting in you which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily. o Philippians 1: 8 For God is my witness, how greatly I long for you all with the affection of Jesus Christ. o Revelation 10: 5 The angel whom I saw standing on the sea and on the land raised up his hand to heaven 6 and swore by Him who lives forever and ever, who created heaven and the things that are in it, the earth and the things that are in it, and the sea and the things that are in it, that there should be delay no longer,
5/8/2015 Page 16 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD Most refer to Matthew 6 as the Lord’s Prayer. I contend that John 17 is the closest we have to a prayer of Christ. In Matthew 6, Christ is giving instruction – an abbreviated example of how we should pray. Matthew 6: o 9 "In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. What are the names for God? 1. Elohim = #430 = plural of #433, Eloha (a deity or god), from #410, El = any deity or idol; appears over 2500 times in OT; root may mean strong or mighty; majority of usage is referring to heathen gods or idols 2. El Shaddai = #7706 = the almighty; all-powerful; occurs about 50 times in OT; origin means mighty, unconquerable; “the God who is enough”; “the God who is self-sufficient” 3. Yahweh; Jehovah = #3068 = eternal, self-existent one 4. Theos = #2316 = the supreme Divinity; exceeding, God 5. Kurios = #2962 = supreme in authority; God, Lord, master, Sir – Matthew 23. 8 "But you, do not be called 'Rabbi'; for One is your Teacher, the Christ, and you are all brethren. 9 "Do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. So, how come priests and pastors are called ‘Father’? Why are Jewish leaders called ‘Rabbi’? Matthew 7. 21 ¶ "Not everyone who says to Me, 'Lord, Lord,' shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 22 "Many will say to Me in that day, 'Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?' 23 "And then I will declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!'
5/8/2015 Page 17 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD o Some people profess to be following the Bible and Christ, but they do not do as they say to do John 15: 14 "You are My friends IF you do whatever I command you. What about shortened derivatives? You know the ones … gee, gosh, darn etc. Think about it. Damn = 1. To pronounce an adverse judgment upon. See synonyms at condemn. 2. To bring about the failure of; ruin. 3. To condemn as harmful, illegal, or immoral: a cleric who damned gambling and strong drink. 4. Theology. To condemn to everlasting punishment or a similar fate; doom. 5. To swear at. Doggone = To damn. ... (Alteration of Scots dagone, from dag on (it): dag, confound (probably alteration of goddamn) + on.) Golly = used to express mild surprise or wonder. (Alteration of God.) Jeez = Used to express surprise or annoyance. (Alteration of Jesus).
5/8/2015 Page 18 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 5 The 4 Commandment th
EXODUS 20.8 Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and hallowed it. This is a REVELATION; it is NOT A REGULATION; REMEMBER = it has already in effect since the creation. To help us understand, remember that Strong’s Concordance translates its word #7676 as Shabbat meaning intermission. The Hebrew word for day was Strong’s #3117 = yowm = day = sunset to the next sunset KEEP IT HOLY = HOW DO YOU DO THAT? First, it says “do all your work”. We are told that the man who does not work shall not eat. 2 Thessalonians 3: o 10 For even when we were with you, we commanded you this: If anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. We have heard that every day should be held holy. We have also heard that any day you choose can be your ‘Sabbath’. The Bible seems to indicate otherwise. God chose His day of the week – the 7th – to be the Sabbath. WHY ARE THE OTHERS NOT TO WORK “WITHIN YOUR GATES”? 5/8/2015 Page 19 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Mark 2: 27 And He said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, and not man for the Sabbath. 28 "Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath." Here, we are told that the Sabbath was made for man. God rested on that day of the week as an example for us. Psychologists have shown that working seven days a week is not the best way for a worker to be productive. We all need a day off. God knew that when he created us. And He made the Sabbath for that purpose – to relieve us of our daily, paid job John 1: 1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2 He was in the beginning with God. 3 All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made. God, using Jesus Christ as His Creation manager, made ALL things. That includes the Sabbath Day. Ephesians 3: 9 and to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God who created all things through Jesus Christ; Paul repeats John’s assertion that God used Jesus Christ to create ALL things. Hebrews 1: 1 God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, 2 has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; Paul, writing to the Hebrews, again repeats that God, through Jesus Christ, 5/8/2015 Page 20 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
made the worlds. As he told the Ephesians, Christ created ALL things. Genesis 2: 1 Thus the heavens and the earth, and all the host of them, were finished. 2 And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. 3 Then God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, because in it He rested from all His work which God had created and made. Since He made all things, it makes sense that He also created the Sabbath Day as a day of rest for every working person. Not only did He create the Sabbath, He observed it and expected others to do the same. Luke 4: 14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all. 16 So He came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read. 17 And He was handed the book of the prophet Isaiah. And when He had opened the book, He found the place where it was written: 18 "The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; 19 To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD." Jesus visited the synagogue on the Sabbath Day and participated in the fellowship. The Bible says He made the Sabbath Day ‘Hallowed’ or ‘made it holy’. That means that He set it apart from the other six days of the week – for us.
5/8/2015 Page 21 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses has it phrased a bit differently with more explanation.
5/8/2015 Page 22 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Deuteronomy 5.12-15 12 'Observe the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, as the LORD your God commanded you. 13 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 14 but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the LORD your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your ox, nor your donkey, nor any of your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates, that your male servant and your female servant may rest as well as you. 15 And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORD your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. Why us “...as the LORD your God commanded you ...” added? He is stressing that it is not of individual interpretation. God established it. Notice, too, the extra emphasis that strangers (visitors) within your gates (on your property) were not to work on the Sabbath, either. Of course we all have situations that arise. The Bible calls it the “ox in the ditch”. Luke 14: 5 Then He answered them, saying, "Which of you, having a donkey or an ox that has fallen into a pit, will not immediately pull him out on the Sabbath day?" This shows that some work must be done on the Sabbath. It is a matter of attitude and of putting God first. Exodus 31: 12 And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 13 "Speak also to the children of Israel, saying: 'Surely My Sabbaths you shall keep, for it is a sign between Me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I am the LORD who sanctifies you.
5/8/2015 Page 23 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
o Notice here that there is no separation between the weekly Sabbath and the other Holy Days prescribe in The Torah o All of the Holy Days are Sabbaths to be observed. 14 'You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 'Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death. 16 'Therefore the children of Israel shall keep the Sabbath, to observe the Sabbath throughout their generations as a perpetual covenant. 17 'It is a sign between Me and the children of Israel forever; for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, and on the seventh day He rested and was refreshed.'"
The creation and the exodus are not the motivation for observing the Sabbath … the observance is a reminder of them.
5/8/2015 Page 24 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 6 Commandment #5
EXODUS 20.12 Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.
DEUTERONOMY 5.16 Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you. According to Strong’s Concordance, the word translated as honor is the Hebrew word ‘kabad’ (#3513) which means = to be heavy, either in a good sense or a bad sense. Matthew 15: 4 "For God commanded, saying, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.' 5 "But you say, 'Whoever says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is a gift to God" - 6 'then he need not honor his father or mother.' Thus you have made the commandment of God of no effect by your tradition. Jesus gives us an example of how the priests of His time had perverted the commandment. Mark 7: 10 "For Moses said, 'Honor your father and your mother'; and, 'He who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.'
5/8/2015 Page 25 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD 11 "But you say, 'If a man says to his father or mother, "Whatever profit you might have received from me is Corban"-' (that is, a gift to God), 12 "then you no longer let him do anything for his father or his mother, 13 "making the word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down. And many such things you do."
Ephesians 6: 1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. 2 "Honor your father and mother," which is the first commandment with promise: 3 "that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth." 4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. 5 Bondservants, be obedient to those who are your masters according to the flesh, with fear and trembling, in sincerity of heart, as to Christ; 6 not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but as bondservants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart, 7 with goodwill doing service, as to the Lord, and not to men, 8 knowing that whatever good anyone does, he will receive the same from the Lord, whether he is a slave or free. 9 And you, masters, do the same things to them, giving up threatening, knowing that your own Master also is in heaven, and there is no partiality with Him. Here, Paul explains the fuller intent of the commandment – that the parents should also treat their children right as well as anyone doing work for them. In these New Testament verses, the Greek word for HONOR is Strong’s #5091 = timao meanings to honor; value; esteem reek Lexicon = to estimate; to fix the value of something belonging to oneself; to revere; to venerate. But what about Luke 14.26 = HATE = (Strong’s #3404 = to detest; by extension - to love less). This same word is used in Matthew 5.43, 44; 6.24; 5/8/2015 Page 26 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
24.10; Luke 6.22, 27; 16.13; John 7.7; 15.18; Romans 7.15; 1 John 3.13; Revelation 2.6, 15; 17.16. According to the Greek Lexicon it means to hate, pursue with hatred, detest; ... the signification to love less, to postpone in love or esteem, to slight, through oversight of the circumstance that ‘the Orientals, in accordance with their greater excitability, are wont both to feel and to profess love and hate where we Occidentals, with our cooler temperament, feel and express nothing more than interest in, or disregard and indifference to a thing’ However, if we put this interpretation against Titus 3.3 we have another use of the word “hate” to deal with. Titus 3: 1 ¶ Remind them to be subject to rulers and authorities, to obey, to be ready for every good work, 2 to speak evil of no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing all humility to all men. 3 For we ourselves were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another. The Greek word here used is Strong’s #4767 = stugnetos = odious, hateful; the Greek Lexicon translates it as hated; detestable The “hate” used here is much different than the word “hate” used elsewhere we have seen. According to the Expositor’s Bible Commentary then, we have determined that the commandment “... to “honor” one’s parents” involves: 1. prizing them highly 2. caring, showing affection for them 3. showing respect, fear, or revering them When Ephesians 6.1 (above) says, “Obey your parents,” it immediately and necessarily qualifies it with “in the LORD.” Parents are to be shown honor (v.2), but nowhere is their word to rival or be a substitute for God’s Word.
5/8/2015 Page 27 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
The promise in Ephesians 6.2-3 attached to this commandment to revere one’s parents is unique even though there is a sense in which the promise of life stands over all the commandments (Deuteronomy 4.1; 8.1; 16.20; 30.1516). The promise of a long life in the land refers primarily to the land of Canaan and the people of Israel. The national character of this language can be confirmed by referring to Deuteronomy 4.26, 33, 40; 32.46-47. The captivity of Israel would be caused, in part, by a failure to honor their parents (Ezekiel 22.7, 15). This commandment possesses what we might call a ceremonial or a national promise, but it does have present-day individual application in the same way that all the commandments were meant to give a new quality of life (without creating a merit system to gain eternal life).” The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: This commandment forms a kind of bridge between the first table and the second. Obedience to parents is not merely a neighbourly virtue; we do not honour them simply as our fellow-men: they are the vicegerents of God to our childhood; through them He supplies our necessities, defends our feebleness, and pours in light and wisdom upon our ignorance; by them our earliest knowledge of right and wrong is imparted, and upon the sanction of their voice it long depends. It is clear that parental authority cannot be undermined, nor filial disobedience and irreverence gain ground, without shaking the foundations of our religious life, even more perhaps than of our social conduct. Accordingly this commandment stands before the sixth, not because murder is a less offence against society, but because it is more emphatically against our neighbour, and less directly against God. The human infant is dependent and helpless for a longer period, and more utterly, than the young of any other animal. Its growth, which is to reach so much higher, is slower, and it is feebler during the process. And the reason of this is plain to every thoughtful observer. God has willed that the race of man should be bound together in the closest relationships, both spiritual and secular; and family affection prepares the heart for membership alike of the nation and the Church. With this inner circle the wider ones are concentric. 5/8/2015 Page 28 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
The pathetic dependence of the child nourishes equally the strong love which protects, and the grateful love which clings. And from our early knowledge of human generosity, human care and goodness, there is born the capacity for belief in the heart of the great Father, from Whom every family in heaven and earth derived its Greek name of Fatherhood (Ephesians 3:15). Woe to the father whose cruelty, selfishness, or evil passions make it hard for his child to understand the Archetype, because the type is spoiled! or whose tyranny and self-will suggest rather the stern God of reprobation, or of servile, slavish subjection, than the tender Father of freeborn sons, who are no more under tutors and governors, but are called unto freedom. But how much sorer woe to the son who dishonours his earthly parent, and in so doing slays within himself the very principle of obedience to the Father of spirits! No earthly tie is perfect, and therefore no earthly obedience can be absolute. Some crisis comes in every life when the most innocent and praiseworthy affection becomes a snare--when the counsel we most relied upon would fain mislead our conscience--when a man, to be Christ's disciple, must "hate father and mother," as Christ Himself heard the temptation of the evil one speaking through chosen and beloved lips, and said "Get thee behind Me, Satan." Even then we shall respect them, and pray as Christ prayed for His failing apostle, and when the storm has spent itself they shall resume their due place in the loving heart of their Christian offspring. So Jesus, when Mary would interrupt His teaching, said "Who is My mother?" But imminent death could not prevent Him from pitying her sorrow, and committing her to His beloved disciple as to a son. From the letter of this commandment streams out a loving influence to sanctify all the rest of our relationships. As the love of God implies that of our brother also, so does the honour of parents involve the recognition of all our domestic ties. And even unassisted nature will tend to make long the days of the loving and obedient child; for life and health depend far less upon affluence and luxury 5/8/2015 Page 29 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
than upon a well-regulated disposition, a loving heart, a temper which can obey without chafing, and a conscience which respects law. All these are being learned in disciplined and dutiful households, which are therefore the nurseries of happy and righteous children, and so of long-lived families in the next generation also. Exceptions there must be. But the rule is clear, that violent and curbless lives will spend themselves faster than the lives of the gentle, the loving, the law-abiding and the innocent.
5/8/2015 Page 30 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 7 Commandment #6 EXODUS 20.13 Exodus 20.13 - You shall not murder. Deuteronomy 5.17 - You shall not murder. This is the first of the “THOU SHALT NOT” Commandments. According to Expositor’s Bible Commentary: We have now clearly passed to the consideration of man's duty to his fellowman, as a part of his duty to his Maker. It is no longer as holding a divinely appointed relation to us, but simply as he is a man, that we are bidden to respect his person, his family, his property, and his fair fame. And the influence of the teaching of our Lord is felt in the very name which we all give to the second table of the law. We call it "our duty to our neighbour." But we do not mean to imply that there lives on the surface of the globe one whom we are free to assault or to pillage. The obligation is universal, and the name we give it echoes the teaching of Him who said that no man can enter the sphere of our possible influence, even as a wounded creature in a swoon whom we may help, but he should thereupon become our neighbour. Or rather, we should become his; for while the question asked of Him was "Who is my neighbour?" (whom should I love?) Jesus reversed the problem when He asked in turn not To whom was the wounded man a neighbour? but Who was a neighbour unto him? (who loved him?) Social ethics, then, have a religious sanction. It is the constant duty and effort of the Church of God to saturate the whole life of man, all his conduct and his thought, with a sense of sacredness; and as the world is for ever desecrating what is holy, so is religion for ever consecrating what is secular. In these latter days men have thought it a proof of grace to separate religion from daily life. The Antinomian, who maintains that his orthodox beliefs 5/8/2015 Page 31 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
or feelings absolve him from the obligations of morality, joins hands with the Italian brigand who hopes to be forgiven for cutting throats because he subsidises a priest. The enthusiast who insists that all sins, past and future, were forgiven him when he believed, approaches far nearer than he supposes to the fanatic of another creed, who thinks a formal confession and an external absolution sufficient to wash away sin. All of them hold the grand heresy that one may escape the penalties without being freed from the power of evil; that a life may be saved by grace without being penetrated by religion, and that it is not exactly accurate to say that Jesus saves His people from their sins. It is scarcely wonderful, when some men thus refuse to morality the sanctions of religion, that others propose to teach morality how she may go without them. In spite of the experience of ages, which proves that human passions are only too ready to defy at once the penalties of both worlds, it is imagined that the microscope and the scalpel may supersede the Gospel as teachers of virtue; that the self-interest of a creature doomed to perish in a few years may prove more effectual to restrain than eternal hopes and fears; and that a scientific prudence may supply the place of holiness. It has never been so in the past. Not only Judaea, but Egypt, Greece, and Rome, were strong as long as they were righteous, and righteous as long as their morality was bound up in their religion. When they ceased to worship they ceased to be self-controlled, nor could the most urgent and manifest self-interest, nor all the resources of lofty philosophy, withhold them from the ruin which always accompanies or follows vice. Is it certain that modern science will fare any better? So far from deepening our respect for human nature and for law, she is discovering vile origins for our most sacred institutions and our deepest instincts, and whispering strange means by which crime may work without detection and vice without penalty. Never was there a time when educated thought was more suggestive of contempt for one's self and for one's fellow-man, and of a prudent, sturdy, remorseless pursuit of self-interest, which may be very far indeed from virtuous. The next generation will eat the fruit of this teaching, as we reap what our fathers sowed. The theorist may be as pure as Epicurus. But the disciples will be as the Epicureans. 5/8/2015 Page 32 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Is there anything in the modern conception of a man which bids me spare him, if his existence dooms me to poverty and I can quietly push him over a precipice? It is quite conceivable that I can prove, and very likely indeed that I can persuade myself, that the shortening of the life of one hard and grasping man may brighten the lives of hundreds. And my passions will simply laugh at the attempt to restrain me by arguing that great advantages result from the respect for human life upon the whole. Appetites, greeds, resentments do not regard their objects in this broad and colourless way; they grant the general proposition, but add that every rule has its exceptions. Something more is needed: something which can never be obtained except from a universal law, from the sanctity of all human lives as bearing eternal issues in their bosom, and from the certainty that He who gave the mandate will enforce it. It is when we see in our fellow-man a divine creature of the Divine, made by God in His own image, marred and defaced by sin, but not beyond recovery, when his actions are regarded as wrought in the sight of a Judge Whose presence supersedes utterly the slightness, heat and inadequacy of our judgment and our vengeance, when his pure affections tell us of the love of God which passeth knowledge, when his errors affright us as dire and melancholy apostacies from a mighty calling, and when his death is solemn as the unveiling of unknown and unending destinies, then it is that we discern the sacredness of life, and the awful presumption of the deed which quenches it. It is when we realise that he is our brother, holding his place in the universe by the same tenure by which we hold our own, and dear to the same Father, that we understand how stern is the duty of repressing the first resentful movements within our breast which would even wish to crush him, because they are a rebellion against the Divine ordinance and against the Divine benevolence. Is it asked, how can all this be reconciled with the lawfulness of capital punishment? The death penalty is frequent in the Mosaic code. But Scripture regards the judge as the minister and agent of God. The stern monotheism of the Old Testament "said, Ye are Gods," to those who thus pronounced the behest of Heaven; and private vengeance becomes only 5/8/2015 Page 33 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
more culpable when we reflect upon the high sanction and authority by which alone public justice presumes to act. Now, all these considerations vanish together, when religion ceases to consecrate morality. The judgment of law differs from my own merely as I like it better, and as I am a party (perhaps unwillingly) to the general consent which creates it; he whom I would assail is doomed in any case to speedy and complete extinction; his longer life is possibly burdensome to himself and to society; and there exists no higher Being to resent my interference, or to measure out the existence which I think too protracted. It is clear that such a view of human life must prove fatal to its sacredness; and that its results would make themselves increasingly felt, as the awe wore away which old associations now inspire.... murder ... While the Hebrew possesses seven words for killing,... rasah - appears only forty-seven times in the OT. ... the factors of premeditation and intentionality are present ... Without exception ... it carries the idea of murder with intentional violence. ... premeditation and deliberateness ... Murder does not apply to beasts; animals are to be food for us. Genesis 9: 3 "Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you. I have given you all things, even as the green herbs. Murder does not prevent someone to defending one’s home from night-time burglars. Exodus 22: 2 "If the thief is found breaking in, and he is struck so that he dies, there shall be no guilt for his bloodshed. Murder does not apply to accidental killings. Deuteronomy 19: 4 "And this is the case of the manslayer who flees there, that he may live: Whoever kills his neighbor unintentionally, not having hated him in time past 5 "as when a man goes to the woods with his neighbor to cut timber, and his hand swings a stroke with the ax to cut down the tree, and the
5/8/2015 Page 34 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
head slips from the handle and strikes his neighbor so that he dies-he shall flee to one of these cities and live; Murder does not apply to the execution of murderers by the state. Genesis 9: 6 "Whoever sheds man's blood, By man his blood shall be shed; For in the image of God He made man. Murder does not apply to involvement with one’s nation in certain types of war. It does apply, however, to self-murder (i.e., suicide); to all accessories to murder (2 Samuel 12.9) = David had Uriah the Hittite murdered; and to those who have authority but fail to use it to punish known murderers (1 Kings 21.19) = Ahab 2 Samuel 12: 9 'Why have you despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in His sight? You have killed Uriah the Hittite with the sword; you have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the people of Ammon. 1 Kings 21: 19 "You shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "Have you murdered and also taken possession?"' And you shall speak to him, saying, 'Thus says the LORD: "In the place where dogs licked the blood of Naboth, dogs shall lick your blood, even yours."'" Matthew 5 21 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.' 22 "But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, 'Raca!' shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, 'You fool!' shall be in danger of hell fire. don’t even be angry Roman 13. 7 Render therefore to all their due: taxes to whom taxes are due, customs to whom customs, fear to whom fear, honor to whom honor. 5/8/2015 Page 35 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD 8 Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he 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 bear false witness," "You shall not covet," and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 10 Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfillment of the law. The first 4 commandments told us how to worship God. The 5th commandment told us how to treat our parents. Commandments 6-10 tell us how to treat our fellow man.
5/8/2015 Page 36 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 8 Commandment #7 Exodus 20:14 "You shall not commit adultery. Deuteronomy 5.18 - You shall not commit adultery. The Old Testament word translated as ‘adultery’ is Strong’s #5003 (na aph) meaning a woman that breaketh wedlock. The New Testament words are Strong’s #3428, 3429, 3430, 3431 all from the base word moichao meaning adultery. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: This commandment follows very obviously from even the rudest principle of justice to our neighbour. It is among those that St. Paul enumerates as "briefly comprehended in this saying, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself." And therefore nothing need here be said about the open sin by which one man wrongs another. Wild and evil theories may be abroad, new schemes of social order may be recklessly invented and discussed; yet, when the institution of the permanent family is assailed, every thoughtful man knows full well that all our interests are at stake in its defence, and the nation could no more survive its overthrow than the Church. But when our Lord declared that to excite desire through the eyes is actually this sin, already ripe, He appealed to some deeper and more spiritual consideration than that of social order. What He pointed to is the sacredness of the human body--so holy a thing that impurity, and even the silent excitement of passion, is a wrong done to our nature, and a dishonour to the temple of the Holy Ghost. Now, this is a subject upon which it is all the more necessary to write, because it is hard to speak about.
5/8/2015 Page 37 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
What is the human body, in the view of the Christian? It is the one bond, as far as we know in all the universe, between the material and the spiritual worlds, one of which slopes thence down to inert molecules, and the other upward to the throne of God. Our brain is the engine-room and laboratory whereby thought, aspiration, worship express themselves and become potent, and even communicate themselves to others. But it is a solemn truth that the body not only interprets passively, but also influences and modifies the higher nature. The mind is helped by proper diet and exercise, and hindered by impure air and by excess or lack of food. The influence of music upon the soul has been observed at least since the time of Saul. And hereafter the Christian body, redeemed from the contagion of the fall, and promoted to a spiritual impressibility and receptiveness which it has never yet known, is meant to share in the heavenly joys of the immortal spirit before God. This is the meaning of the assertion that it is sown a natural (soulish) body, but shall be raised a spiritual body. In the meantime it must learn its true function. Whatever stimulates and excites the animal at the cost of the immortal within, will in the same degree cloud and obscure the perception that a man's life consisteth not in his pleasures, and will keep up the illusion that the senses are the true ministers of bliss. The soul is attacked through the appetites at a point far short of their physical indulgence. And when lawless wishes are deliberately toyed with, it is clear that lawless acts are not hated, but only avoided through fear of consequences. The reins which govern the life are no longer in the hands of the spirit, nor is it the will which now refuses to sin. How, then, can the soul be alert and pure? It is drugged and stupified: the offices of religion are a dull form, and its truths are hollow unrealities, assented to but unfelt, because unholy impulses have set on fire the course of nature, in what should have been the temple of the Holy Ghost. Moreover, the Christian life is not one of mere submission to authority; its true law is that of ceaseless upward aspiration. And since the union of husband and wife is consecrated to be the truest and deepest and most far-reaching of all types of the mystical union between Christ and His 5/8/2015 Page 38 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Church, it demands an ever closer approach to that perfect ideal of mutual love and service. And whatever impairs the sacred, mysterious, all-pervading unity of a perfect wedlock is either the greatest of misfortunes or of crimes. If it be frailty of temper, failure of common sympathies, an irretrievable error recognised too late, it is a calamity which may yet strengthen the character by evoking such pity and helpfulness as Christ the Bridegroom showed for the Church when lost. But if estrangement, even of heart, come through the secret indulgence of lawless reverie and desire, it is treason, and criminal although the traitor has not struck a blow, but only whispered sedition under his breath in a darkened room. “Adultery” can be used of either men or women. The punishment for adultery is death (Deuteronomy 22.22) while the penalty for seduction of a virgin is an offer of marriage or money (Exodus 22.16-17, Deuteronomy 22.23-29), adultery is distinguished from fornication in the OT. Deuteronomy 22: o 22 "If a man is found lying with a woman married to a husband, then both of them shall die-the man that lay with the woman, and the woman; so you shall put away the evil from Israel. Exodus 22: o 16 "If a man entices a virgin who is not betrothed, and lies with her, he shall surely pay the bride-price for her to be his wife. o 17 "If her father utterly refuses to give her to him, he shall pay money according to the bride-price of virgins. A man can commit adultery against a marriage other than his own, the woman only against her own. Proverbs 5: o 15 Drink water from your own cistern, And running water from your own well. o 16 Should your fountains be dispersed abroad, Streams of water in the streets? 5/8/2015 Page 39 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD o 17 Let them be only your own, And not for strangers with you. o 18 Let your fountain be blessed, And rejoice with the wife of your youth. o 19 As a loving deer and a graceful doe, Let her breasts satisfy you at all times; And always be enraptured with her love. o 20 For why should you, my son, be enraptured by an immoral woman, And be embraced in the arms of a seductress? o 21 For the ways of man are before the eyes of the LORD, And He ponders all his paths. Jesus explained the intent of the commandment beyond the simple words: Matthew 5: o 27 "You have heard that it was said to those of old, 'You shall not commit adultery.' o 28 "But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.
5/8/2015 Page 40 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 9 Commandment #8 Exodus 20.15 - You shall not steal Deuteronomy 5.19 - You shall not steal The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: "Thou shalt not steal."-- Exodus 20:15. There is no commandment against which human ingenuity has brought more evasions to bear than this. Property itself is theft, says the communist. "It is no grave sin," says the Roman text-book, "to steal in moderation"; and this is defined to be, "from a pauper less than a franc, from a daily labourer less than two or three, from a person in comfortable circumstances anything under four or five francs, or from a very rich man ten or twelve francs. And a servant whom force or necessity compels to accept an unjust payment, may secretly compensate himself, because the workman is worthy of his hire."(37) A moment's reflection discovers this to be the most naked rationalism, choosing some of the commandments of God for honour, and some for contempt as "not very grave" and wholly ignoring the principle that whoever attacks the code at any one point "is guilty of all," because he has despised it as a code, as an organic system. Nothing is easier than to confuse one's conscience about the ethics of property. For the arrangements of various nations differ: it is a geographical line which defines the right of the elder son against his brothers, of sons against daughters, and of children against a wife; and the demand is still more capricious which the state asserts against them all, under the name of succession duty, and which it makes upon other property in the form of a multitude of imposts and taxes. Can all these different arrangements be alike binding? Add to this variability the immense national revenues, which are apparently so little affected by individual contributions, and it is no wonder if men fail to see that honesty to the public is a duty as immutable and stern as any other duty 5/8/2015 Page 41 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
to their neighbour. Unfortunately the evil spreads. The same considerations which make it seem pardonable to rob the nation apply also to the millionaire; and they tempt many a poor man to ask whether he need respect the wealth of a usurer, or may not adjust the scales of Mine and Thine, which law causes to hang unfairly. It is forgotten that a nation has at least the same authority as a club to regulate its own affairs, to fix the relative position and the subscription of its members. Common honesty teaches me that I must conform to these rules or leave the club; and this duty is not at all affected by the fact that other associations have different rules. In three such societies God Himself has placed us all--the family, the Church, and the nation; and therefore I am directly responsible to God for due respect to their laws. It is not true that the statute-book is inspired, any more than that the regulations of a household are divinely given. Yet a Divine sanction, such as rests upon the parental rule of fallible human creatures, hallows also national law. I may advocate a change in laws of which I disapprove, but I am bound in the meantime to obey the conditions upon which I receive protection from foreign foes and domestic fraud, and which cannot be subjected to the judgment of every individual, except at the cost of a dissolution of society, and a state of anarchy compared with which the worst of laws would be desirable. This revolt of the individual is especially tempting when selfishness deems itself wronged, as by the laws of property. And the eighth commandment is necessary to protect society not merely against the violence of the burglar and the craft of the impostor, but also against the deceitfulness of our own hearts, asking What harm is in the evasion of an impost? What right has a successful speculator to his millions? Why should I not do justice to myself when law refuses it? There is always the simple answer, Who made me a judge in my own case? But when we regard the matter thus, it becomes clear that honesty is not mere abstinence from pillage. The community has larger claims than this upon us, and is wronged if we fail to discharge them.
5/8/2015 Page 42 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
The rich man robs the poor if he does not play his part in the great organisation by which he is served so well: every one robs the community who takes its benefits and returns none; and in this sense the bold saying is true, that every man lives by one of two methods--by labour or by theft. St. Paul does not exhort men to refrain from theft merely in order to be harmless, but to do good. That is the alternative contemplated when he says, "Let the thief steal no more, but rather let him labour, working with his hands the thing that is good, that he may have whereof to give to him that hath need" (Ephesians 4:28). o FOOTNOTES: (37) Gury, Compend., i., secs. 607, 623. “This commandment... recognizes that the LORD owns everything in heaven and earth ... and only he can give it or take it away. ... no man must despotically enslave or kidnap his fellow man or usurp the rights to property he has not owned or been given.”
5/8/2015 Page 43 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 10 Commandment #9 Exodus 20:16 "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. Deuteronomy 5.20 - You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: “St. James called the tongue a world of iniquity. And against its lawlessness, which inflames the whole course of nature, each table of the law contains a warning. For it is equally ready to profane the name of God, and to rob our neighbour of his fair fame. Jesus Christ regarded verbal professions as a very poor thing, and asked, "Why call ye Me Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I command you?" He aimed a parable at the hollowness of merely saying, "I go, sir." But, worthless though such phrases be, the act which substitutes professions for actual service is no trifle; and our Lord felt the importance of words, empty or sincere, so profoundly as to stake upon this one test the eternal destinies of His people: "By thy words thou shalt be justified, and by thy words thou shalt be condemned." Now, the tongue is thus important because it is so prompt and willing a servant of the mind within. We scarcely think of it as a servant at all: our words do not seem to be more than "expressions," manifestations of what is within us. But a thought, once expressed, is transformed and energetic as a bullet when the charge is fired; it modifies other minds, and the word which we took to be far less potent than a deed becomes the mover of the fateful deeds of many men. And thus, being at once powerful and unsuspected, it is the most treacherous and subtle of all the forces which we wield. And the ninth commandment does not undertake to bridle it by merely forbidding us in a court of justice to wrong our fellow-man by perjury.
5/8/2015 Page 44 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
We transgress it whenever we conceive a strong suspicion and repeat it as a thing we know; when we allow the temptation of a biting epigram to betray us into an unkind expression not quite warranted by the facts; when we vindicate ourselves against a charge by throwing blame where it probably but not certainly ought to lie; or when we are not content to vindicate ourselves without bringing a countercharge which it would perplex us to be asked to prove; when we give way to that most shallow and meanest of all attempts at cleverness which claims credit for penetration because it can discover base motives for innocent actions, so that high-mindedness becomes pride, and charity withers up into love of patronising, and forbearance shrivels into lack of spirit. The pattern and ideal of such cleverness is the east wind, which makes all that is fair and sensitive to shut itself up, forbids the bud to expand into a blossom, and puts back the coming of the springtime and of the singing bird. There are very gifted persons who have never found out that a kindly and winning phrase may have as much literary merit as a stinging one, and it is quite as fine a thing to be like the dew on Hermon on as to shoot out arrows, even bitter words. It is a pity that our harsh judgments always speak more loudly and confidently than our kindly ones, but the reason is plain: angry passion prompts the former, and its voice is loud; while the calm reflection which tones down and sweetens the judgment softens also the expression of it. It has to be remembered, also, that false witness can reach to nations, organisations, political movements as well as individuals. The habit of putting the worst construction upon the intentions of foreign powers is what feeds the mutual jealousies that ultimately blaze out in war. The habit of thinking of rival politicians as deliberately false and treasonable is what lowers the standard of the noblest of secular pursuits, until each party, not to be undone, protests too much, raises its voice to a falsetto to scream its rival down, and relaxes its standard of righteousness lest it should be outdone by the unscrupulousness of its rival. And there is yet another neighbour, against whom false witness is woefully rife, both in the Church and in society. That neighbour is mankind at 5/8/2015 Page 45 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
large. There is a prevalent theory of human sinfulness which unconsciously scoffs at the appeals of the gospel, striving indeed to influence me by love, gratitude, admiration for the Perfect One, and desire to be like Him, by the hope of holiness and the shame of vileness, but telling me at the same time that I have no sympathies whatever except with evil. The observation of every day shows that man's nature is corrupt, but it also shows that he is not a fiend--that he has fallen indeed, but remembers yet in what image he was made. But the world cannot upbraid the Church for these exaggerations, since they are but the echo of its own. "I do believe, Though I have found them not, that there may be Words which are things, hopes which will not deceive, And virtues which are merciful, nor weave Snares for the failing; I would also deem O'er others' griefs that some sincerely grieve; That two, or one, are almost what they seem, That goodness is no name, and happiness no dream." Childe Harold, III., cxiv. Cynicism is false witness; and if it does not greatly wrong any one of our fellow-men, it injures both society and the cynic. If he is of a coarse fibre, it excuses him to himself in becoming the hard and unloving creature which he fancies that all men are. If he is too proud or too selfrespecting to yield to this temptation, it isolates him, it chills and withers his sympathies for people quite as good as himself, whom he thinks of as the herd.
5/8/2015 Page 46 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
As for the more flagrant sins, so for this, the remedy is love. Love sympathises, makes allowance for frailty, discovers the germs of good, hopeth all things, taketh not account of evil. Hosea 4: o 2 By swearing and lying, Killing and stealing and committing adultery, They break all restraint, With bloodshed upon bloodshed.
5/8/2015 Page 47 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Chapter 11 Commandment #10 Exodus 20.17 - You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s. Deuteronomy 5.21 - You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife; and you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, his male servant, his female servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: It will be remembered that the order of the catalogue of objects of desire is different in Exodus and in Deuteronomy. In the latter "thy neighbour's wife" is first, as of supreme importance; and therefore it has been thought possible to convert it into a separate commandment. But this the order in Exodus forbids, by placing the house first, and then the various living possessions which the householder gathers around him. What is thought of is the gradual process of acquisition, and the right of him who wins first a house, then a wife, servants, and cattle, to be secure in the possession of them all. Now, between foes, we saw that the evil temper is what leads to the evil deed, and the man who nurses hatred is a murderer at heart. Just so the householder is not rendered safe, and certainly not happy in the enjoyment of his rights, by the seventh commandment and the eighth, unless care be taken to prevent the accumulation of those forces which will some day break through them both. To secure cities against explosion, we forbid the storage of gunpowder and dynamite, and not only the firing of magazines. But the moral law is not given to any man for his neighbour's sake chiefly. It is for me: statutes whereby I myself may live. And as the Psalmist pondered on them, they expanded strangely for his perception. "I have kept Thy testimonies," he says; but presently asks to be quickened,--"So 5/8/2015 Page 48 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
shall I observe the testimony of Thy mouth,"--and prays, "Give me understanding, that I may know Thy testimonies." And at the last, he confesses that he has "gone astray like a lost sheep" (Psalms 119:22, Psalms 119:88, Psalms 119:125, Psalms 119:176). Starting with a literal innocence, he comes to feel a deep inward need, need of vitality to obey, and even of power to understand aright. If the sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, it follows that they are a spirit, and inward loyalty is the necessary condition upon which external obedience can be accepted. The cheers of a traitor, the flattery of one who scorns, the ritual of a hypocrite, these are quite as valuable, as indications of what is within, as a reluctant relinquishment to my neighbour of what is his. I must not covet. Plainly this is the sharpest and most searching precept of all; and accordingly St. Paul asserts that without this he would not have suffered the deep internal discontent, the consciousness of something wrong, which tortured him, even although no mortal could reproach him, even though, touching the righteousness of the law, he was blameless. He had not known coveting, except the law had said "Thou shalt not covet." Here, then, we perceive with the utmost clearness what St. Paul so clearly discerned--the true meaning of the Law, its convicting power, its design to work not righteousness, but self-despair as the prelude of selfsurrender. For who can, by resolving, govern his desires? Who can abstain not only from the usurping deed, but from the aggressive emotion? Who will not despair when he learns that God desireth truth in the inward parts? But this despair is the way to that better hope which adds, "In the hidden part Thou shalt make me to know wisdom. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean." And as a strong interest or affection has power to destroy in the soul many weaker ones, so the love of God and our neighbour is the appointed way to overcome the desire of taking from our neighbour what God has given to him, refusing it to us. “... the root hamad is ‘to desire earnestly,’ ‘to long after’... deals with man’s inner heart ... shows that none of the previous nine commandments could be observed merely from an external or formal act. Every inner instinct that led up to the act itself was also included.” 5/8/2015 Page 49 of 50
THE TEN COMMANDMENTS FAIRVIEW CHURCH OF GOD
Matthew 15: o 18 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come from the heart, and they defile a man. o 19 "For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. Romans 7: o 7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through the law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the law had said, "You shall not covet." o 8 But sin, taking opportunity by the commandment, produced in me all manner of evil desire. For apart from the law sin was dead. o 9 I was alive once without the law, but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. o 10 And the commandment, which was to bring life, I found to bring death. o 11 For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it killed me. o 12 Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good. o 13 Has then what is good become death to me? Certainly not! But sin, that it might appear sin, was producing death in me through what is good, so that sin through the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. The Ten Commandments are revelatory not regulatory!!
5/8/2015 Page 50 of 50
