(Note: Please pardon the brevity of this post. Think of it as more of an outline.)
From the title, your mind probably went to the Ten Commandments. This is excusable because, like me, any mention of “God’s Commandments” when we were growing up, specifically meant “The Ten Commandments”.
However, The Ten Commandments (TTCs) are not the first commandments of God. Not even close. To understand this, we must set some groundwork.
Before God gave TTCs at Sinai, it was common for God to speak with man. From Adam to Moses, communication with God was a normal part of a believer’s life. It was to be expected. Several thousands of years existed before one word of the Bible was written.
At Sinai there were commandments given to the people BEFORE TTCs were given. God gave specific instruction to the people and the priests who were present.
There were priests of God before the Levitical priesthood was established by the Law given at Sinai. This is important. The priests before the Law were typically the oldest living males within families. Unlike the Levitical priests who were segregated from the rest of the Jews, the early priests were in and among their families, households, and tribes. Some even ruled entire cities. As rulers, in their regions and in their families, communication with God and obedience to God were taught as common expectations of a holy people.
The commandments of God are not only what was written on stone at Sinai. They include “…every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” These words, as the Jesus taught, are what constitutes the life of man. It is therefore imperative that the words of God must have been spoken from the beginning of man. An interesting scripture concerning this can be found in 1st Samuel 3:1 “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” This does not mean “there were not enough copies of the Torah”. This is literally: “men rarely heard from God”.
Now, I’m going to skip a bit here to get to my conclusion. This bit assumes you understand the changing of the testament: from Old to New; and how that affects our communication with God.
Now “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” so we may ask “To what type of relationship are we reconciled to God?” In the New Covenant, in Christ, we may call God “our Father”. The obligation of our Father is this “The Father loves the Son and shows him all that He Himself is doing.” The sons of God (all are sons who are in Christ) are then prompted to “do only what they see their Father doing”. This describes the synergy between God the Son and God the Father before the world was made. It is to this synergy that all are restored in Christ. And it is marked by regular communication between the Father and the sons.
What is the means of this communication? Spirit to spirit. The spirit in men in Christ is the Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit who was with the Father and Son at the beginning of the world. The picture of creation in Genesis 1 is the Spirit hovering over the face of the waters and Christ instructing the Spirit to create what He proclaims. This authority to create, of course, was given to Christ by His Father. So, the order of creation was from God to Christ to the Holy Spirit and then to being. Christ was given “all the Father has” and was the only One with the commensurate authority to perfectly carry out creation.
So, if we are able to receive it, commands of God existed before the world was made and commands of God are in and throughout the scriptures from the beginning to the end. It is by these commands that man lives.
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Notice it does not say “those who are led by Biblical teachings”. That would have excluded God speaking to us Spirit to Spirit. That would have also created another priestly system where only those who could recite the scriptures would be elevated to the ranks of leadership. This also explains how certain Jews could recite the whole Old Testament but reject Jesus: they were not led by the spirit but by the black and white of the letters and puffed up in their own knowledge.
God commands us today. It is by this direction that we live. Under the Law, God said nothing about the rock beside me. But now, as a son of God, He may ask me to remove the rock from the room. If I refuse to do this I am disobedient even though the Law is silent on the matter. Now, because I have the Spirit of God in me, God’s Laws, not the Levitical Laws which includes the 10 Commandments but His very being and nature, are written on my heart. Because of this transformation I too, like Christ, may properly represent my Father in the earth.
His words, then, the words that proceed from His mouth to me, are His commandments to me. They are the food by which I live in the Spirit.
“..the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
By heeding these commands we show that we are His workmanship. This is an interesting choice of words. The use of the word “workmanship” to describe us signifies that, by examining the thing built, one may understand the builder. This is why Jesus could proclaim “When you see me you see the Father.” As sons of God, we show that we are His workmanship by living by His commands, by every word that proceeds from His mouth. He is our Father and the Father loves the sons.
From the title, your mind probably went to the Ten Commandments. This is excusable because, like me, any mention of “God’s Commandments” when we were growing up, specifically meant “The Ten Commandments”.
However, The Ten Commandments (TTCs) are not the first commandments of God. Not even close. To understand this, we must set some groundwork.
Before God gave TTCs at Sinai, it was common for God to speak with man. From Adam to Moses, communication with God was a normal part of a believer’s life. It was to be expected. Several thousands of years existed before one word of the Bible was written.
At Sinai there were commandments given to the people BEFORE TTCs were given. God gave specific instruction to the people and the priests who were present.
There were priests of God before the Levitical priesthood was established by the Law given at Sinai. This is important. The priests before the Law were typically the oldest living males within families. Unlike the Levitical priests who were segregated from the rest of the Jews, the early priests were in and among their families, households, and tribes. Some even ruled entire cities. As rulers, in their regions and in their families, communication with God and obedience to God were taught as common expectations of a holy people.
The commandments of God are not only what was written on stone at Sinai. They include “…every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” These words, as the Jesus taught, are what constitutes the life of man. It is therefore imperative that the words of God must have been spoken from the beginning of man. An interesting scripture concerning this can be found in 1st Samuel 3:1 “Now the boy Samuel ministered to the Lord before Eli. And the word of the Lord was rare in those days; there was no widespread revelation.” This does not mean “there were not enough copies of the Torah”. This is literally: “men rarely heard from God”.
Now, I’m going to skip a bit here to get to my conclusion. This bit assumes you understand the changing of the testament: from Old to New; and how that affects our communication with God.
Now “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” so we may ask “To what type of relationship are we reconciled to God?” In the New Covenant, in Christ, we may call God “our Father”. The obligation of our Father is this “The Father loves the Son and shows him all that He Himself is doing.” The sons of God (all are sons who are in Christ) are then prompted to “do only what they see their Father doing”. This describes the synergy between God the Son and God the Father before the world was made. It is to this synergy that all are restored in Christ. And it is marked by regular communication between the Father and the sons.
What is the means of this communication? Spirit to spirit. The spirit in men in Christ is the Holy Spirit. This is the same Holy Spirit who was with the Father and Son at the beginning of the world. The picture of creation in Genesis 1 is the Spirit hovering over the face of the waters and Christ instructing the Spirit to create what He proclaims. This authority to create, of course, was given to Christ by His Father. So, the order of creation was from God to Christ to the Holy Spirit and then to being. Christ was given “all the Father has” and was the only One with the commensurate authority to perfectly carry out creation.
So, if we are able to receive it, commands of God existed before the world was made and commands of God are in and throughout the scriptures from the beginning to the end. It is by these commands that man lives.
“For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.”
Notice it does not say “those who are led by Biblical teachings”. That would have excluded God speaking to us Spirit to Spirit. That would have also created another priestly system where only those who could recite the scriptures would be elevated to the ranks of leadership. This also explains how certain Jews could recite the whole Old Testament but reject Jesus: they were not led by the spirit but by the black and white of the letters and puffed up in their own knowledge.
God commands us today. It is by this direction that we live. Under the Law, God said nothing about the rock beside me. But now, as a son of God, He may ask me to remove the rock from the room. If I refuse to do this I am disobedient even though the Law is silent on the matter. Now, because I have the Spirit of God in me, God’s Laws, not the Levitical Laws which includes the 10 Commandments but His very being and nature, are written on my heart. Because of this transformation I too, like Christ, may properly represent my Father in the earth.
His words, then, the words that proceed from His mouth to me, are His commandments to me. They are the food by which I live in the Spirit.
“..the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.”
By heeding these commands we show that we are His workmanship. This is an interesting choice of words. The use of the word “workmanship” to describe us signifies that, by examining the thing built, one may understand the builder. This is why Jesus could proclaim “When you see me you see the Father.” As sons of God, we show that we are His workmanship by living by His commands, by every word that proceeds from His mouth. He is our Father and the Father loves the sons.
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