More proof. What I am seeing is, it depends on who does the study. Imagine that.
However I do appreciate the studies being compiled.
https://evidencebasedliving.human.cornell.edu/blog/are-plant-based-diets-really-better-for-you/
The Ten Commandments are the Covenant, did you know?
- Thread starter vassal
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However I do appreciate the studies being compiled.
https://evidencebasedliving.human.cornell.edu/blog/are-plant-based-diets-really-better-for-you/
This one is the best so far. It is pretty extensive. I am actually still reading it.
Vegetarian and vegan diets: benefits and drawbacks - PMC
Keywords: Nutrition, Plant-based diets, Vegetarian, Vegan, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity, Dementia, Cancer
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
That source admits the evidence is "mixed" and explicitly cites a massive study of 250,000 people that found "no difference in mortality rates" between vegetarians and meat-eaters. It also confirms my point that these studies are often flawed because they fail to account for other "health-conscious" lifestyle factors like not smoking or drinking.More proof. What I am seeing is, it depends on who does the study. Imagine that.
However I do appreciate the studies being compiled.
https://evidencebasedliving.human.cornell.edu/blog/are-plant-based-diets-really-better-for-you/
I’ll save you some reading because again it’s not gonna prove anything. Here’s a brief AI overview:This one is the best so far. It is pretty extensive. I am actually still reading it.
Vegetarian and vegan diets: benefits and drawbacks - PMC
Keywords: Nutrition, Plant-based diets, Vegetarian, Vegan, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity, Dementia, Cancer
This study indicates that the longevity advantage associated with vegetarianism disappears when comparing vegetarians to meat-eaters with similar healthy lifestyles, such as regular exercise and not smoking. The research suggests that previous studies often failed to account for these external habits, making it difficult to isolate meat avoidance as a direct cause of longer life. When controlling for these lifestyle factors, no significant difference in mortality rates was found between meat-eaters and vegetarians. Consequently, the findings suggest that moderate meat consumption is not inherently detrimental to longevity within an otherwise healthy lifestyle.
Here’s you a few to read:This one is the best so far. It is pretty extensive. I am actually still reading it.
Vegetarian and vegan diets: benefits and drawbacks - PMC
Keywords: Nutrition, Plant-based diets, Vegetarian, Vegan, Cardiovascular disease, Diabetes, Hypertension, Obesity, Dementia, Cancer
Natural toxins in food
Plant Secondary Metabolites as Defense Tools against Herbivores for Sustainable Crop Protection - PMC
Plants have evolved several adaptive strategies through physiological changes in response to herbivore attacks. Plant secondary metabolites (PSMs) are synthesized to provide defensive functions and regulate defense signaling pathways to safeguard ...
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Anti-nutrients of plant-based food: physicochemical properties, effects on health and degradation techniques- a comprehensive review
This review explores the presence of anti-nutritional factors (ANFs) and other harmful components in plant-based foods, focusing on their health impli…
www.sciencedirect.com
Also here’s a quick list:
PLANT GROUP: Beans and Legumes (Soybeans, Kidney Beans)
DEFENSE CHEMICAL: Lectins
BIOLOGICAL EFFECT: Blocks nutrient absorption and causes GI distress.
PLANT GROUP: Nightshades (Potatoes, Peppers)
DEFENSE CHEMICAL: Solanine
BIOLOGICAL EFFECT: Neurotoxin that causes confusion and nausea.
PLANT GROUP: Leafy Greens (Spinach, Rhubarb)
DEFENSE CHEMICAL: Oxalates
BIOLOGICAL EFFECT: Binds to calcium and forms kidney stones.
PLANT GROUP: Grains and Seeds (Whole Grains, Corn)
DEFENSE CHEMICAL: Phytic Acid
BIOLOGICAL EFFECT: Locks onto iron and zinc so the body cannot use them.
PLANT GROUP: Cruciferous (Broccoli, Kale)
DEFENSE CHEMICAL: Glucosinolates
BIOLOGICAL EFFECT: Can disrupt thyroid function and iodine absorption.
PLANT GROUP: Stone Fruits (Apple/Cherry pits)
DEFENSE CHEMICAL: Amygdalin
BIOLOGICAL EFFECT: Releases hydrogen cyanide in the digestive tract.
PLANT GROUP: Squash and Melons (Zucchini, Cucumber)
DEFENSE CHEMICAL: Cucurbitacins
BIOLOGICAL EFFECT: Causes vomiting, diarrhea, and hair loss in extreme cases.
PLANT GROUP: Roots (Parsnips, Celery)
DEFENSE CHEMICAL: Psoralens
BIOLOGICAL EFFECT: Causes skin sensitivity and irritation.
Tit 2:13-14
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Zealous of good works.
God wants to redeem us from ALL INIQUITY, not some of it and not only by Justification. Purify us too.
The work of salvation is not just about believing.. it is also a transformation.
A change of heart.
Obeying the 10 commandments are the fruits of our faith.
Not to earn salvation but because we believe in Jesus and His saving grace.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
We are not being legalistic... Jesus said to do good works to glorify the father.
13 Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; 14 Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.
Zealous of good works.
God wants to redeem us from ALL INIQUITY, not some of it and not only by Justification. Purify us too.
The work of salvation is not just about believing.. it is also a transformation.
A change of heart.
Obeying the 10 commandments are the fruits of our faith.
Not to earn salvation but because we believe in Jesus and His saving grace.
Mat 5:16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.
We are not being legalistic... Jesus said to do good works to glorify the father.
You've already made up your mind.
Like I said.. it is your choice what type of diet you eat.
I know that Adam was much healthier then this generation. I know that sin has greatly affected us over time, and we are much weaker then what God desired us to be like.
The wisdom of men is foolishness..
science once taught that smoking cigarettes were good for you. And science once taught that removing part of brain was a cure for depression.
In their day science was trusted as wisdom.
For me I like to look at what God originally gave us to Eat. And what we will be eating when sin is no longer an issue.
no more death = a vegetarian diet.
the Tree of life will not have pork chops growing on it.
Rev 22:2 In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
The diet can affect us mentally but that is your choice. What you do with the body God has given you is between you and God.
Let's talk about the 10 commandments.
Nah just trying to help. You come off as a complete, what they call these days, “Karen”. You consider words you don’t agree with as insults. You are possibly mad at yourself because your “proof” attempt that you were proud of failed. So instead of admitting your failure, you threw out baseless insults about my walk with God and my fruit without knowing me at all. then you again followed up with more studies that contained no proof possibly agreeing you even more.
Jesus drank alcohol and ate meat. People say oh well it was a different time. Jesus could have miraculously produced all the fruit and veggies He wanted but yet He still chose to eat meat.
My mind is made up because of the research I’ve read and the experiments I’ve done myself with eating food.
I agree Adam was probably healthier but again you say “I know” when we have zero evidence of Adam’s health. You believe that because white claimed that Adam was twice as tall and had 20 times the vital force. Baseless claims from a false prophet. Just as vegetarianism being better is a baseless claim from the same false prophet.
Another baseless claim. Science never once taught that smoking was good for us. Lack of evidence against smoking was not evidence for it. And lobotomy isn’t removing part of the brain. It is severing the connection to the prefrontal cortex. Was it good? Of course not but without medications, other surgical options, or dietary research, it was seen as being better than keeping people confined in a straight jacket for the rest of their life.
Let’s look at who was the first to kill an animal on earth. That would be God Himself. Who was the first to favor meat over fruit? That would be God Himself. Who commanded that people eat meat for thousands of years? That would be God Himself. Get out of your sop and read the Bible. If you want to further expand your dietary knowledge, read actual research not just a flawed sda study.
Trust me I’m well aware of how diets can affect us mentally. I would be less worried about how a diet can affect me and more worried about how following a false prophet can affect me if I were you. A diet will affect this life. Following a false prophet will affect eternity.
This thread is over 6,000 posts into an argument over the 10 commandments. Plain scripture has been shown that we are no longer under mosaic law. You and your SDA friends refuse to take your ellen white goggles off and see any of it. Your mind is already made up.
Like was said, you have much deeper issues than doctrine. Not sure why you are trying to convince everyone by each reply. Any one of God and His Christ would be ashamed.
Ellen White googles? Yeah that isn’t insult
As if any of these insults are necessary. All comments like this do is antagonize. Make people mad and chance them retaliating. Which is a sin. But then there is only spiritual repercussions when you do it on the internet. So no worries huh?
well you just called me a Karen and falsely accused me again Yet you profess Christ. If you are not ashamed of your words which you shall be judge by. By the stumbling block you put before others that says all we need to know.
I am done with you in respect to this. This is at Least the third admonition. I will let you to your mire
I consider telling people to not follow false prophets loving. Pretty sure Jesus would also.
Again, writings written by a false prophet are false doctrine. I want him to follow Jesus not ellen white. Pretty sure that’s not a sin.
I said you come off as a Karen. Not sure how I falsely accused you. I just simply stated how you’re acting. An observation of someone isn’t falsely accusing them.
You’re the one supporting false doctrine and a false prophet. That’s what I have issues with. Good day. And cheer up.
Within the context of Paul Confronting Peter who reverted back to Cephas Gal 2:15-21, Paul says, "If I rebuild what I have torn down, I prove myself to be a lawbreaker (Gal 2:18)."
IOW, is the lawbreaker (the applicable noun) considered to be lawless (the applicable adjective)?
IOW, is the lawbreaker (the applicable noun) considered to be lawless (the applicable adjective)?
The Ten Commandments
1.1 Their Origin and Nature
The Ten Commandments did not originate with Moses or at Sinai. Their roots extend to the very foundation of creation itself. The Sabbath commandment for example was established by God at the completion of creation week before sin entered the world and before any human institution or covenant existed:
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He had rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Genesis 2:2-3 NKJV
The prohibition on murder reflects the sanctity of human life which God established at creation when He declared that every human being is made in His own image:
Whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God He made man.
Genesis 9:6 NKJV
This prohibition existed and carried divine weight long before the Mosaic covenant. Similarly the prohibition on adultery and the sanctity of marriage was established at creation itself when God joined the first man and woman and declared them one flesh. (Genesis 2:24). These moral realities are not Jewish inventions. They are embedded in the creation order itself and apply to all humanity made in the image of God.
1.2 God Wrote Them Himself
The most significant distinguishing characteristic of the Ten Commandments is that they were written directly by God Himself. This distinguishes them from every other portion of the Mosaic legal code which was written through Moses as an intermediary:
And He gave Moses when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai two tablets of the Testimony tablets of stone written with the finger of God.
Exodus 31:18 NKJV
And the tablets were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.
Exodus 32:16 NKJV
1.3 God Declared Them His Covenant — Five Times
God did not leave any ambiguity about the status and identity of the Ten Commandments. He declared them to be His covenant not once but five times throughout Scripture, each declaration reinforcing the same identification with unmistakable clarity.
Declaration One
And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant the ten commandments.
Exodus 34:28 KJV
Declaration Two
And he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform even ten commandments and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
Deuteronomy 4:13 KJV
Declaration Three
The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers but with us even us who are all of us here alive this day.
Deuteronomy 5:2-3 KJV
This declaration is particularly significant because it is spoken immediately before God repeats the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5 making the identification between the covenant and the commandments unmistakable.
Declaration Four
And he wrote on the tables according to the first writing the ten commandments which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly and the Lord gave them unto me.
Deuteronomy 10:4 KJV
Declaration Five
There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel.
1 Kings 8:9 KJV
Five independent declarations in Scripture all pointing to the same identification. The Ten Commandments are the covenant of God. Not the Law of Moses. Not the ceremonial regulations. The Ten Commandments specifically and distinctly.
1.4 Their Physical Location — Inside the Ark
God made the distinction between the Ten Commandments and the rest of the law visible and permanent through the physical arrangement He ordained. The Ten Commandments written by His own finger were placed inside the ark of the covenant where His presence dwelt. The Book of the Law written by Moses was placed beside the ark as a witness:
Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God that it may be there as a witness against you.
Deuteronomy 31:26 NKJV
Inside versus beside. God's own writing versus Moses' writing. The eternal covenant versus the legal code added as a witness. This physical arrangement was not accidental. It was a permanent and deliberate visual declaration of the categorical difference between the two bodies of law.
1.5 God Spoke Them Directly and Added No More
A further distinction of the highest significance is the manner in which God communicated the Ten Commandments versus every other part of the law. The Ten Commandments were spoken directly by God to the entire assembly of Israel from the fire on the mountain. And when He had finished speaking them Scripture records something it records about no other portion of the law:
These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire of the cloud and of the thick darkness with a great voice and he added no more.
Deuteronomy 5:22 KJV
He added no more. God spoke the Ten Commandments directly to all Israel with a great voice from the fire and then stopped. Everything else in the Mosaic legal code came through Moses as an intermediary. This distinction between the direct divine speech of the Ten Commandments and the mediated communication of all other law is confirmed again by Moses himself in Deuteronomy 5:5 where he acknowledges his role as intermediary for the rest of the law while the Ten Commandments were spoken directly by God to the people.
1.1 Their Origin and Nature
The Ten Commandments did not originate with Moses or at Sinai. Their roots extend to the very foundation of creation itself. The Sabbath commandment for example was established by God at the completion of creation week before sin entered the world and before any human institution or covenant existed:
And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had made and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it because in it He had rested from all His work which God had created and made.
Genesis 2:2-3 NKJV
The prohibition on murder reflects the sanctity of human life which God established at creation when He declared that every human being is made in His own image:
Whoever sheds man's blood by man his blood shall be shed for in the image of God He made man.
Genesis 9:6 NKJV
This prohibition existed and carried divine weight long before the Mosaic covenant. Similarly the prohibition on adultery and the sanctity of marriage was established at creation itself when God joined the first man and woman and declared them one flesh. (Genesis 2:24). These moral realities are not Jewish inventions. They are embedded in the creation order itself and apply to all humanity made in the image of God.
1.2 God Wrote Them Himself
The most significant distinguishing characteristic of the Ten Commandments is that they were written directly by God Himself. This distinguishes them from every other portion of the Mosaic legal code which was written through Moses as an intermediary:
And He gave Moses when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai two tablets of the Testimony tablets of stone written with the finger of God.
Exodus 31:18 NKJV
And the tablets were the work of God and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.
Exodus 32:16 NKJV
1.3 God Declared Them His Covenant — Five Times
God did not leave any ambiguity about the status and identity of the Ten Commandments. He declared them to be His covenant not once but five times throughout Scripture, each declaration reinforcing the same identification with unmistakable clarity.
Declaration One
And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant the ten commandments.
Exodus 34:28 KJV
Declaration Two
And he declared unto you his covenant which he commanded you to perform even ten commandments and he wrote them upon two tables of stone.
Deuteronomy 4:13 KJV
Declaration Three
The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The Lord did not make this covenant with our fathers but with us even us who are all of us here alive this day.
Deuteronomy 5:2-3 KJV
This declaration is particularly significant because it is spoken immediately before God repeats the Ten Commandments in Deuteronomy 5 making the identification between the covenant and the commandments unmistakable.
Declaration Four
And he wrote on the tables according to the first writing the ten commandments which the Lord spake unto you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly and the Lord gave them unto me.
Deuteronomy 10:4 KJV
Declaration Five
There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone which Moses put there at Horeb when the Lord made a covenant with the children of Israel.
1 Kings 8:9 KJV
Five independent declarations in Scripture all pointing to the same identification. The Ten Commandments are the covenant of God. Not the Law of Moses. Not the ceremonial regulations. The Ten Commandments specifically and distinctly.
1.4 Their Physical Location — Inside the Ark
God made the distinction between the Ten Commandments and the rest of the law visible and permanent through the physical arrangement He ordained. The Ten Commandments written by His own finger were placed inside the ark of the covenant where His presence dwelt. The Book of the Law written by Moses was placed beside the ark as a witness:
Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God that it may be there as a witness against you.
Deuteronomy 31:26 NKJV
Inside versus beside. God's own writing versus Moses' writing. The eternal covenant versus the legal code added as a witness. This physical arrangement was not accidental. It was a permanent and deliberate visual declaration of the categorical difference between the two bodies of law.
1.5 God Spoke Them Directly and Added No More
A further distinction of the highest significance is the manner in which God communicated the Ten Commandments versus every other part of the law. The Ten Commandments were spoken directly by God to the entire assembly of Israel from the fire on the mountain. And when He had finished speaking them Scripture records something it records about no other portion of the law:
These words the Lord spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire of the cloud and of the thick darkness with a great voice and he added no more.
Deuteronomy 5:22 KJV
He added no more. God spoke the Ten Commandments directly to all Israel with a great voice from the fire and then stopped. Everything else in the Mosaic legal code came through Moses as an intermediary. This distinction between the direct divine speech of the Ten Commandments and the mediated communication of all other law is confirmed again by Moses himself in Deuteronomy 5:5 where he acknowledges his role as intermediary for the rest of the law while the Ten Commandments were spoken directly by God to the people.
The Law of Moses
2.1 Why It Was Added — The Golden Calf
The Law of Moses did not exist at creation. It was not part of God's original design for humanity's relationship with Him. It was added alongside the eternal covenant as a direct response to Israel's catastrophic transgression at the very foot of Mount Sinai.
While Moses was on the mountain receiving the covenant from God the people descended into complete moral and spiritual collapse. They built a golden calf, worshipped it, and engaged in the kind of idolatrous immorality they had witnessed in Egypt:
And the Lord said unto Moses arise get thee down quickly for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them they have made them a molten image. Deuteronomy 9:12 KJV
Moses reminded Israel of this rebellion in his farewell address just before he died and they entered the promised land without him, so that no generation would ever forget the reason the additional law had been necessary:
Remember and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt until ye came unto this place ye have been rebellious against the Lord. Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you. Deuteronomy 9:7-8 KJV
The additional laws, the sacrificial system, the Levitical priesthood, the detailed civil and ceremonial codes, all of these were added alongside the eternal covenant as God's gracious provision for a sinful and unholy people who had demonstrated their inability to draw near to Him without a structured system of mediation and atonement. They were not part of the original divine design. They were the divine response to human failure.
2.2 Its Temporary Purpose
The temporary nature of the Law of Moses as distinct from the eternal Ten Commandments is confirmed repeatedly throughout Scripture. When God kept the people away from the mountain the second time because of their disobedience the physical separation was itself a declaration that the relationship had changed. The elaborate legal system that followed was designed to manage that distance.
The prophet Jeremiah writing centuries after Moses confirmed that a New Covenant was coming that would supersede the arrangement made at Sinai. Significantly this New Covenant would not introduce entirely new content but would write the same law on transformed hearts:
Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt which my covenant they brake although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:31-33 KJV
The New Covenant does not introduce different content. It writes the same law on a different medium. Stone becomes heart. External obligation becomes internal desire. The same law that God wrote with His own finger on tablets of stone is now written by His Holy Spirit on the hearts of His people. The newness is not in the content but in the method and the power of delivery.
2.3 What the Law of Moses Was Pointing To
The Law of Moses in all its elaborate detail was not merely a legal code for managing sinful behaviour. It was an extended prophetic picture of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Every sacrificed lamb pointed to the Lamb of God. Every high priest entering the holy of holies pointed to the eternal High Priest. Every Passover celebration pointed to the final Passover fulfilled at the cross. Every feast, every ritual, every ceremony was a shadow whose substance was Christ.
The prophet Isaiah saw this centuries before the cross and described the suffering servant whose sacrificial death would accomplish what the entire Levitical sacrificial system had only ever been able to anticipate:
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed Him stricken smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5 NKJV
And Ezekiel confirmed that under the New Covenant God would accomplish through His Spirit what the external law alone had never been able to produce. Not by abolishing the law but by internalising it:
I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.
Ezekiel 36:27 KJV
2.1 Why It Was Added — The Golden Calf
The Law of Moses did not exist at creation. It was not part of God's original design for humanity's relationship with Him. It was added alongside the eternal covenant as a direct response to Israel's catastrophic transgression at the very foot of Mount Sinai.
While Moses was on the mountain receiving the covenant from God the people descended into complete moral and spiritual collapse. They built a golden calf, worshipped it, and engaged in the kind of idolatrous immorality they had witnessed in Egypt:
And the Lord said unto Moses arise get thee down quickly for thy people which thou hast brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves they are quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them they have made them a molten image. Deuteronomy 9:12 KJV
Moses reminded Israel of this rebellion in his farewell address just before he died and they entered the promised land without him, so that no generation would ever forget the reason the additional law had been necessary:
Remember and forget not how thou provokedst the Lord thy God to wrath in the wilderness from the day that thou didst depart out of the land of Egypt until ye came unto this place ye have been rebellious against the Lord. Also in Horeb ye provoked the Lord to wrath so that the Lord was angry with you to have destroyed you. Deuteronomy 9:7-8 KJV
The additional laws, the sacrificial system, the Levitical priesthood, the detailed civil and ceremonial codes, all of these were added alongside the eternal covenant as God's gracious provision for a sinful and unholy people who had demonstrated their inability to draw near to Him without a structured system of mediation and atonement. They were not part of the original divine design. They were the divine response to human failure.
2.2 Its Temporary Purpose
The temporary nature of the Law of Moses as distinct from the eternal Ten Commandments is confirmed repeatedly throughout Scripture. When God kept the people away from the mountain the second time because of their disobedience the physical separation was itself a declaration that the relationship had changed. The elaborate legal system that followed was designed to manage that distance.
The prophet Jeremiah writing centuries after Moses confirmed that a New Covenant was coming that would supersede the arrangement made at Sinai. Significantly this New Covenant would not introduce entirely new content but would write the same law on transformed hearts:
Behold the days come saith the Lord that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah. Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt which my covenant they brake although I was an husband unto them saith the Lord. But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days saith the Lord I will put my law in their inward parts and write it in their hearts and will be their God and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:31-33 KJV
The New Covenant does not introduce different content. It writes the same law on a different medium. Stone becomes heart. External obligation becomes internal desire. The same law that God wrote with His own finger on tablets of stone is now written by His Holy Spirit on the hearts of His people. The newness is not in the content but in the method and the power of delivery.
2.3 What the Law of Moses Was Pointing To
The Law of Moses in all its elaborate detail was not merely a legal code for managing sinful behaviour. It was an extended prophetic picture of the person and work of Jesus Christ. Every sacrificed lamb pointed to the Lamb of God. Every high priest entering the holy of holies pointed to the eternal High Priest. Every Passover celebration pointed to the final Passover fulfilled at the cross. Every feast, every ritual, every ceremony was a shadow whose substance was Christ.
The prophet Isaiah saw this centuries before the cross and described the suffering servant whose sacrificial death would accomplish what the entire Levitical sacrificial system had only ever been able to anticipate:
Surely He has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows yet we esteemed Him stricken smitten by God and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions He was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement for our peace was upon Him and by His stripes we are healed. Isaiah 53:4-5 NKJV
And Ezekiel confirmed that under the New Covenant God would accomplish through His Spirit what the external law alone had never been able to produce. Not by abolishing the law but by internalising it:
I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and ye shall keep my judgments and do them.
Ezekiel 36:27 KJV
Jesus Christ and the Distinction of the Laws
3.1 Jesus Confirmed the Eternal Standing of the Commandments
The most authoritative testimony on the continuing validity of the Ten Commandments comes from Jesus Christ Himself whose words carry the weight of all authority in heaven and earth. (Matthew 28:18). He addressed the question of the law with complete directness and left no room for the interpretation that the commandments were abolished at His coming:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:17-19 KJV
Heaven and earth are still present. By the explicit standard Jesus Himself established not one jot or tittle of the law has passed away. And the warning He placed on those who teach others to break even the least commandments carries direct implications for any theological position that treats the Ten Commandments as obsolete.
3.2 Jesus Named the Commandments Specifically
When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life Jesus did not point him to a new framework or a different standard. He pointed him directly to the Ten Commandments and quoted them by name:
Jesus said to him if you want to enter into life keep the commandments. He said to Him which ones? Jesus said you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness honour your father and your mother and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. Matthew 19:17-19 NKJV
These are commandments drawn directly from the Decalogue. Jesus did not say these things are no longer relevant under My ministry. He said if you want to enter into life keep the commandments and then identified them from the Ten.
3.3 Jesus Distinguished Between the Eternal Commandments and Human Traditions
Throughout His ministry Jesus consistently distinguished between the eternal commandments of God and the traditions that human beings had built around them or used to replace them. When the Pharisees challenged Him about His disciples not following the tradition of the elders He responded:
Full well ye reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your own tradition.
Mark 7:9 KJV
And then He gave a specific example. The Pharisees had used a tradition called Corban, a religious vow that dedicated money to God, as a way of circumventing the commandment to honour father and mother by providing for their material needs. Jesus said this was using tradition to reject the commandment of God. The commandment stands. The tradition that replaces or nullifies it does not.
3.4 Jesus Declared Himself Lord of the Sabbath
The Sabbath commandment specifically deserves particular attention because it is the commandment most frequently claimed to have been abolished under the New Covenant. Jesus addressed this question directly not by abolishing the Sabbath but by declaring His ownership of it:
The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27-28 NKJV
Lord of the Sabbath. You cannot be Lord of something that no longer exists. You cannot declare ownership of something you are abolishing. When Jesus called Himself Lord of the Sabbath He was claiming governing authority over it. He was saying this is Mine. I define what it truly means. And what He said it means is a gift made for man at creation for all humanity not for Israel alone.
Furthermore when Jesus spoke prophetically about the destruction of Jerusalem which occurred decades after His death and resurrection He made a specific reference that demolishes the argument that the Sabbath was abolished at the cross:
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the sabbath day.
Matthew 24:20 KJV
He was speaking to His post-resurrection followers about events that would happen decades after His death. Why would fleeing on the Sabbath matter at all if the Sabbath had been abolished at the cross? The only coherent explanation is that Jesus fully expected His followers to still be observing the Sabbath long after His resurrection. This single verse constitutes one of the most powerful evidences in the entire New Testament for the continuing observance of the Sabbath by the followers of Jesus.
3.5 The New Covenant Established at the Last Supper
On the night before His crucifixion Jesus established the New Covenant with His own blood. The significance of the moment cannot be overstated. And in that same conversation He tied the New Covenant inseparably to the keeping of His commandments:
If ye love me keep my commandments.
John 14:15 KJV
He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. John 14:21 KJV
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings.
John 14:24 KJV
The New Covenant established in His blood and the keeping of His commandments are presented in the same conversation as inseparable realities. The man who establishes the New Covenant with His blood is the same man who says if you love Me keep My commandments. These are not in tension. They are complementary expressions of the same covenant relationship.
3.1 Jesus Confirmed the Eternal Standing of the Commandments
The most authoritative testimony on the continuing validity of the Ten Commandments comes from Jesus Christ Himself whose words carry the weight of all authority in heaven and earth. (Matthew 28:18). He addressed the question of the law with complete directness and left no room for the interpretation that the commandments were abolished at His coming:
Think not that I am come to destroy the law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy but to fulfil. For verily I say unto you till heaven and earth pass away one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law till all be fulfilled. Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments and shall teach men so shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven but whosoever shall do and teach them the same shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Matthew 5:17-19 KJV
Heaven and earth are still present. By the explicit standard Jesus Himself established not one jot or tittle of the law has passed away. And the warning He placed on those who teach others to break even the least commandments carries direct implications for any theological position that treats the Ten Commandments as obsolete.
3.2 Jesus Named the Commandments Specifically
When the rich young ruler asked Jesus what he must do to have eternal life Jesus did not point him to a new framework or a different standard. He pointed him directly to the Ten Commandments and quoted them by name:
Jesus said to him if you want to enter into life keep the commandments. He said to Him which ones? Jesus said you shall not murder you shall not commit adultery you shall not steal you shall not bear false witness honour your father and your mother and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. Matthew 19:17-19 NKJV
These are commandments drawn directly from the Decalogue. Jesus did not say these things are no longer relevant under My ministry. He said if you want to enter into life keep the commandments and then identified them from the Ten.
3.3 Jesus Distinguished Between the Eternal Commandments and Human Traditions
Throughout His ministry Jesus consistently distinguished between the eternal commandments of God and the traditions that human beings had built around them or used to replace them. When the Pharisees challenged Him about His disciples not following the tradition of the elders He responded:
Full well ye reject the commandment of God that ye may keep your own tradition.
Mark 7:9 KJV
And then He gave a specific example. The Pharisees had used a tradition called Corban, a religious vow that dedicated money to God, as a way of circumventing the commandment to honour father and mother by providing for their material needs. Jesus said this was using tradition to reject the commandment of God. The commandment stands. The tradition that replaces or nullifies it does not.
3.4 Jesus Declared Himself Lord of the Sabbath
The Sabbath commandment specifically deserves particular attention because it is the commandment most frequently claimed to have been abolished under the New Covenant. Jesus addressed this question directly not by abolishing the Sabbath but by declaring His ownership of it:
The Sabbath was made for man and not man for the Sabbath. Therefore the Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath.
Mark 2:27-28 NKJV
Lord of the Sabbath. You cannot be Lord of something that no longer exists. You cannot declare ownership of something you are abolishing. When Jesus called Himself Lord of the Sabbath He was claiming governing authority over it. He was saying this is Mine. I define what it truly means. And what He said it means is a gift made for man at creation for all humanity not for Israel alone.
Furthermore when Jesus spoke prophetically about the destruction of Jerusalem which occurred decades after His death and resurrection He made a specific reference that demolishes the argument that the Sabbath was abolished at the cross:
But pray ye that your flight be not in the winter neither on the sabbath day.
Matthew 24:20 KJV
He was speaking to His post-resurrection followers about events that would happen decades after His death. Why would fleeing on the Sabbath matter at all if the Sabbath had been abolished at the cross? The only coherent explanation is that Jesus fully expected His followers to still be observing the Sabbath long after His resurrection. This single verse constitutes one of the most powerful evidences in the entire New Testament for the continuing observance of the Sabbath by the followers of Jesus.
3.5 The New Covenant Established at the Last Supper
On the night before His crucifixion Jesus established the New Covenant with His own blood. The significance of the moment cannot be overstated. And in that same conversation He tied the New Covenant inseparably to the keeping of His commandments:
If ye love me keep my commandments.
John 14:15 KJV
He that hath my commandments and keepeth them he it is that loveth me and he that loveth me shall be loved of my Father and I will love him and will manifest myself to him. John 14:21 KJV
He that loveth me not keepeth not my sayings.
John 14:24 KJV
The New Covenant established in His blood and the keeping of His commandments are presented in the same conversation as inseparable realities. The man who establishes the New Covenant with His blood is the same man who says if you love Me keep My commandments. These are not in tension. They are complementary expressions of the same covenant relationship.
The Jerusalem Council and Gentile Believers
4.1 What Acts 15 Was Actually About
The Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15 is frequently cited as the definitive statement that Gentile believers are not required to keep the Sabbath or the Ten Commandments. This interpretation requires a careful examination of what the council was actually addressing. The specific crisis that convened the council was a very particular question. Certain Jewish believers were teaching that Gentile converts must be circumcised according to the custom of Moses in order to be saved. The question before the council was not whether Gentile believers should keep the Ten Commandments. The question was whether circumcision as a means of salvation was required for Gentiles. These are entirely different questions. The council gave four immediate practical requirements for Gentile believers. These were not presented as an exhaustive list of every commandment a Christian would ever be required to keep. They were urgent practical guidelines for new Gentile believers coming out of paganism to live in fellowship with Jewish believers without causing immediate and serious offence. To argue that because the Sabbath was not mentioned in these four requirements it is therefore abolished is to make an argument from silence that the text simply cannot bear.
By the same logic the council's silence on murder, theft, adultery and idolatry would mean these are also no longer required of Gentile believers. No serious interpreter accepts that conclusion. The argument from silence cannot be applied selectively.
4.2 The Detail Most Interpreters Miss
Immediately after giving the four practical requirements James added a statement that is critically important for understanding the council's assumption about Gentile believers and the Sabbath:
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. Acts 15:21 KJV
James was pointing out that Gentile believers would have ongoing access to the Torah being read and explained every Sabbath in the synagogues. The assumption quietly embedded in the text of Acts 15 itself is that Gentile believers would be present in the synagogue on the Sabbath learning from Scripture. This is not the language of a council that has just concluded the Sabbath is irrelevant to Gentiles. It is the language of a council that assumes Gentile believers will continue to engage with the word of God on the Sabbath.
4.3 Isaiah's Vision of Gentile Believers and the Sabbath
The prophet Isaiah writing seven hundred years before the Jerusalem Council provided the most direct and explicit statement in all of Scripture about Gentile believers and their relationship to the Sabbath. He wrote in the context of the messianic age which is the era in which we now live:
Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my covenant. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Isaiah 56:6-7 KJV
Sons of the stranger. Foreigners. Gentiles. Joining themselves to the Lord in the messianic age. Keeping the Sabbath. Taking hold of His covenant. Being brought to His holy mountain and made joyful in His house of prayer. This is the most direct prophetic statement in all of Scripture about Gentiles and the Sabbath and it is completely unambiguous. God describes Gentile believers in the age of His Messiah keeping the Sabbath and promises extraordinary blessing to them for doing so.
The same Isaiah passage immediately continues:
For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. Isaiah 56:7 KJV
For all people. Not for Jews only. For all people. The house of prayer to which Gentile Sabbath keepers are brought is the same house Jesus quoted when He cleansed the temple. The connection is deliberate and unmistakable.
4.1 What Acts 15 Was Actually About
The Jerusalem Council recorded in Acts 15 is frequently cited as the definitive statement that Gentile believers are not required to keep the Sabbath or the Ten Commandments. This interpretation requires a careful examination of what the council was actually addressing. The specific crisis that convened the council was a very particular question. Certain Jewish believers were teaching that Gentile converts must be circumcised according to the custom of Moses in order to be saved. The question before the council was not whether Gentile believers should keep the Ten Commandments. The question was whether circumcision as a means of salvation was required for Gentiles. These are entirely different questions. The council gave four immediate practical requirements for Gentile believers. These were not presented as an exhaustive list of every commandment a Christian would ever be required to keep. They were urgent practical guidelines for new Gentile believers coming out of paganism to live in fellowship with Jewish believers without causing immediate and serious offence. To argue that because the Sabbath was not mentioned in these four requirements it is therefore abolished is to make an argument from silence that the text simply cannot bear.
By the same logic the council's silence on murder, theft, adultery and idolatry would mean these are also no longer required of Gentile believers. No serious interpreter accepts that conclusion. The argument from silence cannot be applied selectively.
4.2 The Detail Most Interpreters Miss
Immediately after giving the four practical requirements James added a statement that is critically important for understanding the council's assumption about Gentile believers and the Sabbath:
For Moses of old time hath in every city them that preach him being read in the synagogues every sabbath day. Acts 15:21 KJV
James was pointing out that Gentile believers would have ongoing access to the Torah being read and explained every Sabbath in the synagogues. The assumption quietly embedded in the text of Acts 15 itself is that Gentile believers would be present in the synagogue on the Sabbath learning from Scripture. This is not the language of a council that has just concluded the Sabbath is irrelevant to Gentiles. It is the language of a council that assumes Gentile believers will continue to engage with the word of God on the Sabbath.
4.3 Isaiah's Vision of Gentile Believers and the Sabbath
The prophet Isaiah writing seven hundred years before the Jerusalem Council provided the most direct and explicit statement in all of Scripture about Gentile believers and their relationship to the Sabbath. He wrote in the context of the messianic age which is the era in which we now live:
Also the sons of the stranger that join themselves to the Lord to serve him and to love the name of the Lord to be his servants every one that keepeth the sabbath from polluting it and taketh hold of my covenant. Even them will I bring to my holy mountain and make them joyful in my house of prayer. Isaiah 56:6-7 KJV
Sons of the stranger. Foreigners. Gentiles. Joining themselves to the Lord in the messianic age. Keeping the Sabbath. Taking hold of His covenant. Being brought to His holy mountain and made joyful in His house of prayer. This is the most direct prophetic statement in all of Scripture about Gentiles and the Sabbath and it is completely unambiguous. God describes Gentile believers in the age of His Messiah keeping the Sabbath and promises extraordinary blessing to them for doing so.
The same Isaiah passage immediately continues:
For mine house shall be called an house of prayer for all people. Isaiah 56:7 KJV
For all people. Not for Jews only. For all people. The house of prayer to which Gentile Sabbath keepers are brought is the same house Jesus quoted when He cleansed the temple. The connection is deliberate and unmistakable.