Take for example, Col. Cheirographon means anything written by hand, but can more specifically apply to a legal document, bond, or note of debt. What Paul is saying is that, by His death, Christ has justified us—brought us into alignment with His Law—and wiped out the note of guilt or debt that we owed as a result of our sins.
And Gal. See vs. Therefore, Jesus died cursed to redeem us from that curse! Thanks a million OliveTree. Peter had a dream in which he was told that nothing which was created by God was unclean, interpreted as, the foods which the Jews were told not to eat was seen as being OK to eat, in the New Testament.
Some laws were created to set the Jewish people apart from the surrounding peoples. Michael Peters dream wasnt about what food you could or could not eat.
God was using food in the dream to teach Peter about the Gentiles. Peter himself interpreted his dream…that it rejected the Pharisaic idea that Gentiles, people, were unclean or common. God never told anyone to eat unclean animals… or that this law was abolished.
The vision of the sheet from heaven is usually interpreted to mean that the dietary laws in the Torah have been revoked. But this interpretation is not supported by the text. First, this interpretation contradicts earlier Scripture.
We are left with Holy Scripture that hopelessly contradicts itself. The result of such thinking is that no Scripture is certain, and no mandate of God is definite. Though there is discussion of eating with Gentiles, there is no mention of eating unclean animals before or after the vision.
Neither is that interpretation born out by the remainder of Acts, which continues to paint the believers as a Torah-observant sect of Judaism. Paul reproved those who compelled the Gentiles in Acts and the Epistles to keep the ceremonial Law. Do you observe all the sacrifices? The idea that God would institute an unattainable standard and demand obedience to said standard is a premise that is fundamentally flawed.
Jesus is the standard by which every man ever born will be judged. If man refuses to be like Him he will be rejected. Read the sermon on the Mount. It describes who will be allowed entrance into Heaven. Then what about Romans 1 Receive one who is weak in the faith, but not to disputes over doubtful things. To his own master he stands or falls. Indeed, he will be made to stand, for God is able to make him stand. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind.
He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks. They were given because they were Gods laws! There is no way our messiah done away with them. There are some of the laws that apply to preists, some to women, some can only be kept if there is a temple. But like the article says, we need to go to the principle behind the laws. If we treat others the way we want to be treated we fulfill the law..
I um… this definitely got my attention. Remember folks that we do need God. And out of love we wish to be with him. Because we love him we want to please him and he is please when we follow his ways.
Loving God means putting him before yourself. He loves you and wants you to love him back. That makes him happy. OK love you, bye! The dream had nothing to do with food; the dream was to show Peter that he was not forbidden to go into the home of of Gentile and preach Christ to them.
You really need to reread the New Testament, acts 15, Galatians 3: , Romans 3: We still keep the moral laws of God but are not bound by the laws of Moses. If Christ has already fulfilled the Law through His death at the Cross as final sacrifice then anyone who has Christ has been freed from the requirements of the Law. Praise the Lord for His Great Love!
I am baffled…really…if the law has been fulfilled and done away with through the death of Jesus why should I have to worry about sinning or not? The law guides and shows us how we should live, Christ died and saves those who believe, accept and live how He lived.
So His rightoeusness is credited to our account — while we remain in a sinning state, just as incapable of achieving our own righteous as before our salvation. There is no free pass for living in sinful deeds and desires because to do so spits on our identity in Christ and His atonement to secure it, and discredits Him before all who witness our lives. What would be more correct to say, is that we live with the possibility of sinning. But walking after the Spirit, we no longer live a life of disobedience to God.
We live a life of loving obedience. Thus, we fulfill the law in our own lives, as Christ did in his. Which cannot be accomplished in your flesh, only by the spirit of the living God. So that when you work for good, it is no longer you that works, but God that works in you, for His glory. Fleshly self-righteousness is the threshing floor that divides the wheat from the chaff, the goats from the sheep, are you trusting in what the Lord Jesus did for you on the cross fully?
Or are you trusting in your own ability to be righteous by works of the law? Galatians I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.
And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. Everyone seems to ignore these verses and in particular verse Has the priesthood changed? Obviously it has unless you discount the book of Hebrews. So now we have the commandments law of Jesus to keep. Amen, turning to the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the cross, and away from self-righteousness by works of the flesh is what is acceptable to God!
By sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. I ask ; To whom did God the Father give all authority in heaven and in earth?
To Jesus or to Paul? In Acts 3: 21 We are told that once Jesus ascended to heaven; he then must remain in heaven, until the restitution of all things; speaking of course of the time of his second coming.
While the angels confirmed that Jesus would indeed return to the earth one day. Matthew gives us a detailed description of the signs which would accompany his return to this earth. Acts 3: 21 tells us that once Jesus ascended to heaven; he then must remain in heaven, until the restitution of all things; speaking of course of the time of his second coming. Deut and John ; teach us ; it is only by the testimony of two witnesses that a matter is to be established as truth.
This is vitally important, because of all the men who were allegedly said to have been with Paul during his miraculous encounter with Jesus; none of these men share any personal accounts of what they actually seen or heard. Remember, this is the same man who had been persecuting the believers in Christ and was actually on his way to Damascus to round them up for imprisonment.
Jesus asked: Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not the things that I say. Who is your Lord? Paul or Christ. The moral law of God still stands but because of the sacrifice of Christ and our acceptance of that sacrifice we are no longer judged by it. Do we keep it. Yes because it is Gods standard and the spirit of God who dwells in us leads us to obedience.
Take the Sabbaths. Why would anyone call a commanded day off a burden? They are great blessings. The Lord says if you work to fulfill the righteous requirements of the law, and do not keep all of the requirements perfectly, you are under a curse. The law was never given to make you or keep you right with God, it was given to show you how desperately you need a savior. Repent and trust in the finished of the Lord Jesus on the cross for righteousness and right standing before your God.
James ESV For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. Nukes, if the law has been fulfilled by Jesus and we no longer have to keep the law to show our love for God, not for salvation —what about the 10 commandments—are they still in effect for us today, or have they passed away???
And if the 10 commandments are still valid and in effect, are you keeping the Sabbath the 4th commandment?? Are you keeping the Sabbath as holy and set apart, and if not, why not? Why do you ignore the 4th commandment while considering the other 9 commandments as valid???
Man must sacrifice his sins out of his overwhelming love for God. He must be perfect as the Father in Heaven is perfect. No greater love than a man lay down His life for His friends. Jesus laid down His life for us, we lay down our lives for Him by denying our selves of our sins.
All else is love of self and results in Hell. Better to find a new interpretive paradigm. Seems to me there is something twisted there. The Law of God. This is simply all the instructions that we have received from our Creator. In Hebrew, this would be referred to as the Torah. The Law of Sin. The context is that we are all under the law of sin. The Law of Sin and Death. The Law of the Spirit. The Law of Faith.
By what kind of law? By a law of works? No, but by the law of faith. The Law of Righteousness. Paul taught that as we obeyed the Law of Faith, it produced righteousness in our lives. The Law of Christ. Meaning what? They are the same thing.
To follow the law of Christ is the same as following the Law of God.. The law of Christ has to be a different law. If it is not a different law then Paul is a false teacher when he tells the uncircumcised not to seek circumcision. Only keeping the law of God. Jesus will come back again but he will come back as a blackman, he have try white but fail ,he will bring a new commandment but he will put a little of old commandment, all his sent like senpaul,senpiter sentjude,etc fail him,sentobinna ,sentchukwudi etc will make him perfect for his will for the world,he will not even die again.
If we have to stringently obey the Ten Commandments then the 7th Day Adventists are correct in saying we still have to have a Saturday Sabbath. But Paul instructed the Corinthians about their giving in 1 Cor. On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside and store it up, as he may prosper, so that there will be no collecting when I come.
The Christians in the Apostles time met on Sunday not Saturday. Another argument they have is that Paul wentbto the synagogues to discuss the Gospel with the Jews. He had to. That is when the Jews assembled. The Spiritual fulfillment of the Saturday Sabbath is Hebrews for that talks about the rest we have in God because we have the Spirit of God living in us. Paul, the Apostle, did NOT make any distinction between moral law, ceremonial law or civil law. Under the New Covenant we live by the Holy Spirit guiding us directly and through our conscience.
Sorry Gordon, I have to disagree. It is not just the Seventh Day Adventists that keep the 4th commandment, but also the many Messianic congregations of Jews and gentiles. Ex records that the Lord made it the seventh day holy. There is much evidence in the writings of the early church fathers that believers met together on the shabbat, and that they met in the synagogues.
The edicts demanding first day services are a feature of the 4th CE. Is there also a strong case for abandoning any of the other commandments? In this day and age, should we not also abandon honouring parents and allow adultery? The whole intent of Sabbath was to pause in attempts at self-provision in a deliberate remembrance and reliance on God to be our faithful Provider, and we but minor though required participants in providing for ourselves. His people were to TrusT Him to provide enough beforehand to carry them during those years — and so also to provide enough in 6 days to suffice for 7th.
There are ways we can observe Sabbaths every day, or week. This is my Personal way to observe the Sabbath because it observes what I believe God had in mind behind the commandment. Consider it valid or not as you will; I compel no one to do the same. Hi, there is nothing healthier than people discussing and digging into Gods word seeking For His Truth.
Have you considered the context of Romans 14 and the observance of days. The whole chapter is about food and that is food defined by scripture as food. It has nothing to do with keeping the Sabbath or not. There is plenty of evidence in the Bible that the first day of the week is very special.
Look a little more closely and see what happened on that day. How about the commandment to circumcise every male child in the 8th day. Yes in Galatians 5 if u leaves the law ur falling from grace, and if ur circumcised Christ will profit u nothing, if ur circumcide ur adapted to do the whole law. The Sabbath on the seventh day goes back even further than Ex If you do the research you will find Constantine I changed it in AD.
He worshiped the sun, so thus Sunday. After that, a pope in the Catholic church accepted it as the day of rest for Christians. That would have been a pretty big change for the people, and would have needed some explanation.
Craig you can keep the Sabbath and still worship on the Sunday then right? Yes David. It seems many forget that the day of rest Sabbath was not established with and for the Jewish nation…it was designated in creation week and reaffirmed with the calling of the Jewish nation as His chosen people…reminding them to keep it holy, for two reasons, He created and He delivered them from Egypt. There are those who would suggest that with the dawn of the christian church a new Sabbath was designated, but there is certainly no edict in scripture that this should be done, nor does it indicate that because Jesus is our rest that the day of rest is no longer to be observed.
There is no doubt in my mind that if God saw it important to set aside and emphasise, remember the Sabbath day, if there was to be a change or setting aside for a new day, it would have been equally emphasised and stated. He is our Passover Lamb, sacrificed for our sins so that we might be forgiven and reconciled to God, the Father.
He also at times is referring to the oral commands as laid down by the Pharisees known as the Talmud which were the traditions of men. The old system replaced by the new system of law. I think most people would find the comparison between Deuteronomy , and Hebrews rather eye opening.
In Deuteronomy the 10 commandments are described as the covenant on stone, aka the first covenant. We believers are clearly under the New covenant.
Does this mean we can run around killing people, lying and committing adultery? Of course not. A pretty cursory reading let alone a serious study! The former things were written for our instruction Rom.
We can accept the covenant He offers us in Christ, or we can reject it. We are not offered the authority to rewrite it. If church leaders would simply study the change in covenants so clearly stated in Hebrews 8, a great deal of religious confusion would vanish.
Chris, The New Covenant is referenced in Ezek. By this we may know that we are in him: 6 whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.
What commandments? How did Jesus walk? He kept the Torah. He observed the Sabbath and kept it holy. There is absolutely no mention of a new covenant with Gentiles, as the church proclaims. The new covenant did not begin with the death of Christ on the Cross, nor was it brought into effect on the day of Pentacost, with the giving of the holy spirit.
Israel as a whole had rejected their Messiah and missed the initial opportunity to enter the kingdom of God, however, there will be another opportunity in the very near future. Jeramiah chapter 31 speaks of a future time when all the 12 tribes of Israel will have 1 king Jesus and God will write his law on there hearts, this is a picture of the instituting of the new covenant. Ezekiel 37 , and speaks of the time when the 2 sticks Israel and Judah will one day be reunited as one nation.
While this new covenant will not be made with Gentiles per say, non-the-less Gentiles have always been invited into the Kingdom of God, but only when they agreed to live by the same covenant laws Israel was under.
Nothing has changed. They are restricted from buying or selling on the Sabbath as a means of keeping it holy. Therefore, as Revelation 15 says; And he the beast had power to give life unto the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak, and cause that as many as would not worship the image of the beast should be killed. Therefore, the mark of the beast is associated with all men throughout the earth who neglect to keep the Sabbath holy.
It is these men and women who are buying and selling on the sabbath because they do not honor God as the creator and Lord of the Sabbath.
This is what is meant by Revelation And the great dragon was cast out — that serpent of old called the Devil and Satan, who deceiveth the whole world.
The world as a whole has in fact been decieved. Few find the narrow road which leads to life, while many take the broad road which leads to destruction. Jesus has all authority in heaven and earth. If you want the true meanings look at the Hebrew over the Greek, Remember, Yeshua was born Jewish, he went to Temple or synagogue, he partook in all the feast.
Consider the original roots of the faith. Rome gave the title of christian to believer, search true history. Hebrews In that he saith, A new covenant, he hath made the first old.
Now that which decayeth and waxeth old is ready to vanish away. Romans For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace. Romans What then? God forbid. Donald, I used to believe this, but the Lord has recently opened my eyes.
The great mystery that Paul says has been revealed is the wall or barrier separating Jew from Gentile has been removed, and now there is one body and one spirit, and that means one law for Jew and Gentile as well.
Ephesians ESV 1 I therefore, a prisoner for the Lord, urge you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, 2 with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, 3 eager to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.
For they preach, but do not practice. That includes you and me and everyone else. Dale, When reading the Bible one must always determine the verses are being directed to. Matthew is being spoken to the Jews only. Because no one can comply with the law those again-see Hebrews attempting to preach the law are following Moses, the law giver; however, that teaching is countered by verses like Galatians Christ is become of no effect unto you, whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.
I stand firm on my original comment. No,, I used to believe the same thing.. If you adopt a child he follows the rules of your house. Not the house he came from. They were Gods laws. The way he wants HIS people to live. Because, he said he would write his laws on our hearts and minds. That IS the new covenant.
Remember how we always say that we are NOT saved by works, but after we come to faith in Jesus, good works should be in evidence in our lives, produced my the Holy Spirit. The Greek for commandments is the same as used by the Lord when He is giving the Sermon on the Mount and says, Matthew ESV 19 Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
Jesus is speaking here of the commandments the Torah and He says that whoever does these commandments the Torah and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. Walking in and keeping the Torah begins with keeping the Sabbath Day as holy set apart. This was my first step in understanding that the Torah is for us today not as a means of salvation, but to show our love for God for God by keeping His commandments instructions. It was changed by the Catholic Church, and it is a tradition of man, not a command of God.
Jesus kept the Sabbath. The Apostle Paul and the other apostles observed the Sabbath and the Torah. Paul says in Romans ESV 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. All scriptural doctrines have their foundation in the Old Testament scriptures. When Paul says to Timothy that the scriptures made him wise unto salvation, he was referring to the Old Testament scriptures Tenakh. Dale, 1 Billy Graham taught Decision Theology but since everyone ever born is dead in sin, Ephesians , no one will seek god, Romans There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God.
This is why Christ came — to fulfil the law through his blood and resurrection. None thinks they will be saved by following the law. Or, if they do, they are misled. Salvation was always by faith. Think of Abraham, he beloved God and it was accounted to him as righteousness. Gods laws are eternal. I follow them because he wrote his law on my heart and mind.
And the story of Moses has a strange echo in the life of Egyptian pharaoh Akhenaten, the first monotheist known to history. He reigned from to BC, and proclaimed that there was only one true God, Aten, the sun disc.
All others were false, their temples were closed, their images destroyed and their names erased. When Akhenaten died, the old religious system revived and then obliterated his memory and, had it not been for the chance discovery of his tomb in the 19th century, the experiment would have been forgotten.
In the Bible, Moses did not invent monotheism. He is horrified when God tells him to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites out, and arranges for his brother Aaron to be the front man and deliver the speeches. Janner-Klausner, as a woman, could not be an orthodox rabbi. He is buried in Moab, in the valley opposite Beth Peor, but to this day no one knows where his grave is.
But Alex Goldberg, an orthodox rabbi, takes an unemphatic view of the historicity of Moses. Much in the New Testament confirms the Torah, not only in its negative commands against adultery, murder, theft, and coveting, but also in its positive command to love one another Rom.
In the end, only Jesus could accomplish this. On the other hand, new covenant believers do not work that way. For our purposes in considering the theology of work, the previous explanation suggests several points that may help us to understand and apply the laws in Exodus that relate to the workplace. They are to be taken seriously but not slavishly. On the one hand, items in the Ten Commandments are worded in general terms and may be applied freely in varied contexts.
On the other hand, particular laws about servants, livestock, and personal injuries exemplify applications in the specific historical and social context of ancient Israel, especially in areas that were controversial at the time. These laws are illustrative of right behavior but do not exhaust every possible application. Christians honor God and his law not only by regulating our behavior, but also by allowing the Holy Spirit to transform our attitudes, motives, and desires Rom.
To do anything less would amount to sidestepping the work and will of our Lord and Savior. Christians should always seek how love may guide our policies and behaviors. The Ten Commandments are worded as general commands either to do or not do something. These laws fit the social and economic world of ancient Israel. They are not an exhaustive legal code, but they function as exemplars, serving to curb the worst excesses and setting legal precedent for handling difficult cases.
Gordon J. They are to be thought of not as the ten most important commands among hundreds of others, but as a digest of the entire Torah. The foundation of all the Torah rests in the Ten Commandments, and somewhere within them we should be able to find all the law. All the law, as well as the prophets, is indicated whenever the Ten Commandments are expressed.
That is, when applying the Ten Commandments, we will take into account related passages of Scripture in both the Old and New Testaments. The first commandment reminds us that everything in the Torah flows from the love we have for God, which in turn is a response to the love he has for us. Nothing else in life should concern us more than our desire to love and be loved by God. The other concern—be it money, power, security, recognition, sex, or anything else—has become our god.
Observing the Ten Commandments is only conceivable for those who start by having no other god than God. In the realm of work, this means that we are not to let work or its requirements and fruits displace God as our most important concern in life. Jesus warned of exactly this danger. But almost anything related to work can become twisted in our desires to the point that it interferes with our love for God. How many careers come to a tragic end because the means to accomplish things for the love of God—such as political power, financial sustainability, commitment to the job, status among peers, or superior performance—become ends in themselves?
When, for example, recognition on the job becomes more important than character on the job, is it not a sign that reputation is displacing the love of God as the ultimate concern? A practical touchstone is to ask whether our love of God is shown by the way we treat people on the job. If we put our individual concerns ahead of our concern for the people we work with, for, and among, then we have made our individual concerns our god.
In particular, if we treat other people as things to be manipulated, obstacles to overcome, instruments to obtain what we want, or simply neutral objects in our field of view, then we demonstrate that we do not love God with all our heart, soul, and mind. In this context, we can begin to list some work-related actions that have a high potential to interfere with our love for God. Doing work that violates our conscience. Working in an organization where we have to harm others to succeed.
Working such long hours that we have little time to pray, worship, rest, and otherwise deepen our relationship with God. Working among people who demoralize us or seduce us away from our love for God. Working where alcohol, drug abuse, violence, sexual harassment, corruption, disrespect, racism, or other inhumane treatment mar the image of God in us and the people we encounter in our work. If we can find ways to avoid these dangers at work—even if it means finding a new job—it would be wise to do so.
If that is not possible, we can at least be aware that we need help and support to maintain our love of God in the face of our work. David W. But when we approach the high calling of our work with gratitude and thanksgiving, we understand that God in our work is the meaning and purpose, and the rest of God becomes ours in abundance. The second commandment raises the issue of idolatry. Idols are gods of our own creation, gods that have nothing to them that did not originate with us, gods that we feel we control.
In ancient times, idolatry often took the form of worshiping physical objects. But the issue is really one of trust and devotion. On what do we ultimately pin our hope of well-being and success? Anything that is not capable of fulfilling our hope—that is, anything other than God—is an idol, whether or not it is a physical object.
The story of a family forging an idol with the intent to manipulate God, and the disastrous personal, social, and economic consequences that follow, are memorably told in Judges In the world of work, it is common to speak of money, fame, and power as potential idols, and rightly so.
Yet when we imagine that we have ultimate control over them, or that by achieving them our safety and prosperity will be secured, we have begun to fall into idolatry. The same may occur with virtually every other element of success, including preparation, hard work, creativity, risk, wealth and other resources, and favorable circumstances. As workers, we have to recognize how important these are.
The distinctive element of idolatry is the human-made nature of the idol. At work, a danger of idolatry arises when we mistake our power, knowledge, and opinions for reality.
But what is wrongful use? It includes, of course, disrespectful use in cursing, slandering, and blaspheming. But more significantly it includes falsely attributing human designs to God. Regrettably, some Christians seem to believe that following God at work consists primarily of speaking for God on the basis of their individual understanding, rather than working respectfully with others or taking responsibility for their actions.
The third commandment also reminds us that respecting human names is important to God. Do you know the name of the person who empties your trash can, answers your customer service call, or drives your bus?
If these examples do not concern the very name of the Lord, they do concern the name of those made in his image. The issue of the Sabbath is complex, not only in the book of Exodus and the Old Testament, but also in Christian theology and practice. The first part of the command calls for ceasing labor one day in seven. The other references in Exodus to the Sabbath are in chapter 16 about gathering manna , Exodus the seventh year and the goal of weekly rest , Exodus penalty for violation , Exodus , and Exodus In the context of the ancient world, the Sabbath was unique to Israel.
On the one hand, this was an incomparable gift to the people of Israel. No other ancient people had the privilege of resting one day in seven. Six days of work had to be enough to plant crops, gather the harvest, carry water, spin cloth, and draw sustenance from creation.
While Israel rested one day every week, the encircling nations continued to forge swords, feather arrows, and train soldiers. Israel had to trust God not to let a day of rest lead to economic and military catastrophe. Read more here about a new study regarding rhythms of rest and work done at the Boston Consulting Group by two professors from Harvard Business School.
It showed that when the assumption that everyone needs to be always available was collectively challenged, not only could individuals take time off, but their work actually benefited. Harvard Business Review may show an ad and require registration in order to view the article. Does it take seven days of work to hold a job or two or three jobs , clean the house, prepare the meals, mow the lawn, wash the car, pay the bills, finish the school work, and shop for the clothes, or can we trust God to provide for us even if we take a day off during the course of every week?
Can we take time to worship God, to pray and to gather with others for study and encouragement, and, if we do, will it make us more or less productive overall? The fourth commandment does not explain how God will make it all work out for us. It simply tells us to rest one day every seven. The polarity that actually undergirds the Sabbath is work and rest. Both work and rest are included in the fourth commandment. The six days of work are as much a part of the commandment as the one day of rest.
Although many Christians are in danger of allowing work to squeeze the time set aside for rest, others are in danger of the opposite, of shirking work and trying to live a life of leisure and dissipation.
What we need is a proper rhythm of work and rest, which together are good for us, our family, workers, and guests. The rhythm may or may not include twenty-four continuous hours of rest falling on Sunday or Saturday. The proportions may change due to temporary necessities the modern equivalent of pulling an ox out of the well on the Sabbath, see Luke or the changing needs of the seasons of life.
If overwork is our main danger, we need to find a way to honor the fourth commandment without instituting a false, new legalism pitting the spiritual worship on Sunday worship against the secular work on Monday through Saturday.
If avoiding work is our danger, we need to learn how to find joy and meaning in working as a service to God and our neighbors Eph. There are many ways to honor—or dishonor—your father and mother. But Jesus pointed out that obeying this commandment requires working to provide for your parents Mark We honor people by working for their good. For many people, good relationships with parents are one of the joys of life.
Loving service to them is a delight, and obeying this commandment is easy. But we are put to the test by this commandment when we find it burdensome to work on behalf of our parents.
We may have been ill-treated or neglected by them. They may be controlling and meddlesome. Being around them may undermine our sense of self, our commitment to our spouses including our responsibilities under the third commandment , even our relationship with God. Even if we have good relationships with our parents, there may come a time when caring for them is a major burden simply because of the time and work it takes.
If aging or dementia begins to rob them of their memory, capabilities, and good nature, caring for them can become a deep sorrow. We are not told how this will occur, but we are told to expect it, and to do that we must trust God see the first commandment. Because this is a command to work for the benefit of parents, it is inherently a workplace command. The place of work may be where we earn money to support them, or it may be in the place where we assist them in the tasks of daily life.
Both are work. When we take a job because it allows us to live near them, or send money to them, or make use of the values and gifts they developed in us, or accomplish things they taught us are important, we are honoring them. When we limit our careers so that we can be present with them, clean and cook for them, bathe and embrace them, take them to the places they love, or diminish their fears, we are honoring them.
We must also recognize that in many cultures, the work people do is dictated by the choices of their parents and needs of their families rather than their own decisions and preferences. Even Jesus experienced such parental misunderstanding when Mary and Joseph could not understand why he remained behind in the temple while his family departed Jerusalem Luke In our workplaces, we can help other people fulfill the fifth commandment, as well as obeying it ourselves.
We can remember that employees, customers, co-workers, bosses, suppliers, and others also have families, and then can adjust our expectations to support them in honoring their families. When others share or complain about their struggles with parents, we can listen to them compassionately, support them practically for example, by offering to take a shift so they can be with their parents , perhaps offer a godly perspective for them to consider, or simply reflect the grace of Christ to those who feel they are failing in their parent-child relationships.
Sadly, the sixth commandment has an all-too-practical application in the modern workplace, where 10 percent of all job-related fatalities in the United States are homicides. Jesus said that even anger is a violation of the sixth commandment Matt. As Paul noted, we may not be able to prevent the feeling of anger, but we can learn how to cope with our it. Murder is intentional killing, but the case law that stems from the sixth commandment shows that we also have the duty to prevent unintended deaths.
A particularly graphic case is when an ox a work animal gores a man or woman to death Exod. This principle is well established in law in most countries, and workplace safety is the subject of significant government policing, industry self-regulation, and organizational policy and practice. Yet workplaces of all kinds continue to require or allow workers to work in needlessly unsafe conditions. Christians who have any role in setting the conditions of work, supervising workers, or modeling workplace practices are reminded by the sixth commandment that safe working conditions are among their highest responsibilities in the world of work.
The workplace is one of the most common settings for adultery, not necessarily because adultery occurs in the workplace itself, but because it arises from the conditions of work and relationships with co-workers. The first application to the workplace, then, is literal. Married people should not have sex with people other than their spouses at, in, or because of their work. Obviously this rules out sex professions such as prostitution, pornography, and sex surrogacy, at least in most cases, to the degree workers have a choice.
But any kind of work that erodes the bonds of marriage infringes the seventh commandment. There are many ways this can occur. Work that encourages strong emotional bonds among co-workers without adequately supporting their commitments to their spouses, as can happen in hospitals, entrepreneurial ventures, academic institutions and churches, among other places.
Working conditions that bring people into close physical contact for extended periods or that fail to encourage reasonable limits to off-hour encounters, as could happen on extended field assignments.
Work that subjects people to sexual harassment and pressure to have sex with those holding power over them. Work that demands so much time away physically, mentally, or emotionally that it frays the bonds between spouses. All of these may pose dangers that Christians would do well to recognize and avoid, ameliorate, or guard against.
Yet the seriousness of the seventh commandment arises not so much because adultery is illicit sex, as because it breaks a covenant ordained by God. In fact, the Old Testament frequently uses the word adultery , and the imagery surrounding it, to refer not to sexual sin but to idolatry.
Therefore, any breaking of faith with the God of Israel is figuratively adultery, whether it involves illicit sex or not. Therefore, work that requires or leads us into idolatry or worshipping other gods is to be avoided.
Christian actors may find it difficult to perform profane, irreligious, or spiritually demoralizing roles. Everything we do in life, including work, tends in some degree either to enhance or diminish our relationship with God; over a lifetime, the constant stress of work that diminishes us spiritually may prove devastating.
The distinctive aspect of covenants violated by adultery is that they are covenants with God. In an interview with the Deseret News, Levy-Lyons said moral relativism can go too far. While the literal interpretation of the commandments can sometimes bend to accommodate evolving social norms, she says the spirit of the law should remain inviolable. To appeal to millennials, Levy-Lyons says the Ten Commandments should be interpreted not just in individual terms — as guidelines for personal behavior — but in systemic terms, as a roadmap for addressing problems that extend beyond individual action alone.
I hope they will get engaged with religion to reinterpret it. Christian Tyler, a year-old actor and model who lives in Salt Lake City, says he needs no re-interpretation to make the Ten Commandments applicable to his life.
For Tyler, who was baptized into the LDS Church in , the literal interpretation of "thou shalt not kill" has a particularly visceral significance. Tyler says he knew that if everyone abided by the Ten Commandments, his cousin would still be here today. For Tyler, the Ten Commandments are a form of discipline, guiding not just his own behavior but preserving the moral fabric of our society.
We lose our moral compass and our society gives over to the rule of whoever has the biggest muscles and can exert their power over everyone else. Cookie banner We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from.
By choosing I Accept , you consent to our use of cookies and other tracking technologies. Christian Tyler holds a bottle that belonged to his best friend and cousin, who was shot to death, at his home in Salt Lake City on Monday, March 26,
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