Since the Ten Commandments, the safe meat laws, and the tithing laws were divinely created long before Moses was even born, they were in existence before the Old Covenant was created on Mount Sinai. Those laws, obviously, then, did not come into existence with the creation of the Old Covenant. That means that the Lord ALWAYS expected those laws to be obeyed regardless of the creation of any covenant and regardless of the mainstreamer supposed later dismantling of that covenant, UNLESS one or more of those laws was SPECIFICALLY SINGLED OUT BY NAME as annulled, similar to the way the sacrifice, circumcision, Levitical priesthood, and eternal death penalty laws were specifically singled out by name by the Apostles as now abolished. No such specific naming and itemizing of the Ten Commandments, the safe meat, or the tithing laws, as abolished, can be found anywhere in the New Testament, so they are still fully intact and quite valid. The Ten Commandments, including the fourth one to rest on Saturdays, were in full force even when Adam and Eve walked on the earth. The implications of this one fact alone are profound for those who continue to mistakenly believe that certain Mosaic laws, such as the Saturday Sabbath, for example, have been annulled after the sacrificial death of Jesus. Verses in Genesis and elsewhere clearly show that the Ten Commandments were in effect long before Moses walked on the earth, and that the listing of those commandments in stone at Mt. Sinai was merely a formal codification of pre-existing laws. Most traditional, mainstream Christians incorrectly believe that since, supposedly, the Ten Commandments and God’s Covenant with the Jews at Mt. Sinai came into existence at the same time and that since the Old Covenant was abolished (actually, vastly improved) after the death of Jesus Christ, then the Ten Commandments were logically abolished, too. The Ten Commandments, though, were SEPARATE from the Old Covenant, and they existed from the time of Adam and Eve to today and will continue to exist forever. The New Testament repeatedly warns Christians 13 (thirteen) times to obey the Ten Commandments.
Romans 4:15: “Where there is no law there is no transgression.” 1 John 3:4: “Sin is the transgression of the law.” Plenty of transgressions, though, occurred in Genesis, which means plenty of laws were broken.
Genesis 26:5: “because Abraham obeyed my voice and kept my charge, my COMMANDMENTS, my statutes, and my laws.”
1,2) The FIRST and SECOND COMMANDMENTS, according to Exodus 20:3-5, say “You shall have NO OTHER GODS BEFORE ME” and “You shall NOT MAKE FOR YOURSELF A CARVED IMAGE …… you shall not bow down to them nor serve them.”
Genesis 35:1-4, though, shows that these 2 commandments definitely were in full force during the time that the patriarch Jacob lived, which was hundreds of years before Moses arrived:
“God said to Jacob, “Arise, go up to Bethel, and dwell there; and make there an altar to the God who appeared to you when you fled from your brother Esau.” 2 So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “PUT AWAY THE FOREIGN GODS that are among you, and purify yourselves, and change your garments; 3 then let us arise and go up to Bethel, that I MAY MAKE THERE AN ALTAR TO THE GOD who answered me in the day of my distress and has been with me wherever I have gone.” 4 So they GAVE TO JACOB ALL THE FOREIGN GODS THAT THEY HAD, and the rings that were in their ears; and Jacob HID THEM UNDER THE OAK which was near Shechem. (Genesis 35:1-4). Jacob knew how important it was to worship only the true God and to get rid of the idols.
The patriarch Job lived before Moses was born. Job was worried that his sons might be using God’s name in a careless and disrespectful way. Job was aware that taking the Lord’s name in vain was wrong. The following verses prove that the third commandment to not take the name of the Lord in vain was also in force:
3) The THIRD COMMANDMENT, according to Exodus 20:7, says “You shall NOT TAKE THE NAME OF THE LORD YOUR GOD IN VAIN”. JOB 1:5: “And when the days of the feast had run their course, Job would send and sanctify them, and he would rise early in the morning and offer burnt offerings according to the number of them all; for Job said, “It may be that my sons have SINNED, AND CURSED GOD IN THEIR HEARTS.’ Thus Job did continually.” Leviticus 18:21: “You shall not give any of your children to devote them by fire to Molech, AND SO PROFANE THE NAME OF YOUR GOD: I am the Lord.”
4) The FOURTH COMMANDMENT, revealed by Exodus 20:8, says to “remember the Sabbath day, to KEEP IT HOLY.” Exodus 16:23-28: “he said to them, “This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the Lord; bake what you will bake and boil what you will boil, and all that is left over lay by to be kept till the morning.’” 24 So they laid it by till the morning, as Moses bade them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. 25 Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the Lord; today you will not find it in the field. 26 Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none.” 27 On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. 28 And the Lord said to Moses, ‘How long do you refuse to keep my commandments and my laws?’ “ These verses refer to the time BEFORE the Israelites arrived at Mount Sinai where the Ten Commandments were later codified in stone. Therefore it is quite obvious that God expected people to rest on the Sabbath, which always refers to Saturday in the Bible, even before the Ten Commandments were formally codified.
5) The FIFTH COMMANDMENT, according to Exodus 20:12, says to “HONOR your father and your mother.” God quite convincingly told us how sinful it was when Adam and Eve dishonored their only Father, God, by disobeying Him in the Garden of Eden. Genesis 3:17: “And to Adam he said,
“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife,
and have eaten of the tree
of which I COMMANDED YOU,
‘YOU SHALL NOT EAT OF IT,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in toil you shall eat of it all the days of your life;”
6) The SIXTH COMMANDMENT says: “You shall NOT MURDER” according to Exodus 20:13. Genesis 4:8-11: “Cain said to Abel his brother, “Let us go out to the field.”[a] And when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel, and killed him. 9 Then the Lord said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know; am I my brother’s keeper?” 10 And the Lord said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood is crying to me from the ground. 11 And now you are cursed from the ground, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand.” After Noah’s Flood, people knew that God was opposed to murder and demanded that murderers be severely penalized. Genesis 9:5,6 says: “For your lifeblood I will surely require a reckoning; of every beast I will require it and of man; of every man’s brother I will require the life of man. 6 Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for God made man in his own image.”
7) The SEVENTH COMMANDMENT says ” You SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY” according to Exodus 20:14. Genesis 39:7-9 reveals that Joseph knew that adultery is sinful: “ And after a time HIS MASTER’S WIFE cast her eyes upon Joseph, and SAID, “LIE WITH ME.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Lo, having me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my hand; 9 he is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept back anything from me except yourself, because you are his wife; how then can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?” Genesis 20:3 reminds us again that adultery is a sin when God warned Abimelech , king of Gerar, not to commit adultery with Sarah: “But God came to Abim?elech in a dream by night, and said to him, ‘BEHOLD, YOU ARE A DEAD MAN, because of the woman whom you have taken; for she is a man’s wife.’ ” Joseph lived about 250 years before the Ten Commandments were officially codified by Moses at Mt. Sinai.
8) The EIGHTH COMMANDMENT says “You SHALL NOT STEAL” according to Exodus 20:15. In Genesis 30:33 Jacob discussed the wages he would receive from Laban, his employer, for greatly increasing the size of Laban’s flocks: “So my honesty will answer for me later, when you come to look into my wages with you. Every one that is not speckled and spotted among the goats and black among the lambs, IF FOUND WITH ME, SHALL BE COUNTED STOLEN.” Jacob had previously agreed with Laban to receive as compensation ONLY all the speckled, spotted, and black goats, and to let Laban keep all the other sheep and goats. Jacob knew that theft was wrong.
9) The NINTH COMMANDMENT says “You SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS against your neighbor” according to Exodus 20:16. Job knew that lying was a serious sin. Job 31:5,6: “If I have walked with falsehood, and my foot has hastened to deceit; 6 (Let me be weighed in a just balance,
and let God know my integrity!)“ Of course a classic example of lying involved Satan’s claim to Eve that she would not die if she ate the forbidden fruit. The horrendous consequences of the serpent’s lie prove quite well that lying is extremely wrong and therefore sinful.
10) The TENTH COMMANDMENT says “You SHALL NOT COVET” according to Exodus 20:17: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant, or his maidservant, or his ox, or his ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” God punished Adam and Eve for coveting the forbidden fruit breaking the Tenth Commandment in Genesis 3:6-17.
The New Testament, describing the Ten Commandments as “the commandments,” reminds us numerous times to still obey them and those verses will be listed here soon.
Remember that you can confidently assume that God is not deliberately lying to you in any verse because He told us that He does not lie. Hebrews 6:18: “……it is impossible for God to lie ……” 1 Corinthians 14:33: “For God is not the author of confusion.” Therefore we can confidently assume that the original Greek in the New Testament is not really self contradictory concerning law keeping. Since God will not lie or try to confuse us then we need to really believe LITERALLY the following 13 verses that plainly tell us that Christians still need to obey the law.
1) 1 John 3:4: “…… SIN IS THE VIOLATION OF THE LAW”
2) Romans 2:13: “For not the hearers of the LAW are just in the sight of God, but the DOERS of the LAW will be justified.”
3) Romans 6:1,2: “…… Shall we continue in SIN that grace may abound? 2 CERTAINLY NOT! How shall we …… live any longer in it?”
Romans 6:1,2: “What shall we say then? Shall we keep on doing WRONG THINGS so that God will be more kind to us? 2 NO, SURELY NOT! We died to our WRONG WAYS and no longer live in them.” (Worldwide English [New Testament])
Romans 6:1,2: “So what do we do? Keep on SINNING so God can keep on forgiving? I SHOULD HOPE NOT! 2 If we’ve left the country where SIN is sovereign, how can we still live in our old house there? Or didn’t you realize we packed up and left there for good? (The Message) The word “SIN” appears in this and other verses, so remember, according to 1 John 3:4 above, it means ONLY one thing, BREAKING either the food, festival, tithing, Saturday rest, or some other OT or NT law or a combination of those laws.
4) Romans 6:15: “…… Shall we SIN because we are not under LAW but under grace? CERTAINLY NOT!”
5) Romans 3:31: “Well then, if we are saved by faith, does this mean that we no longer need to OBEY God’s LAW? JUST THE OPPOSITE! In fact, only when we trust Jesus can we truly OBEY Him.” (The Living Bible)
Romans 3:31: “Are we abolishing Moses’ Teachings by this faith? THAT’S UNTHINKABLE! Rather, we are SUPPORTING Moses’ teachings.” (God’s Word Translation)
6) Romans 6:16: “Do you not know that …… you are that one’s slaves whom you obey, whether of SIN leading to death, or of OBEDIENCE leading to RIGHTEOUSNESS?” 7) Romans 6:18: “And having been set free from SIN, YOU BECAME SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS.” 8) Romans 6:19: “…… For just as you presented your members as slaves of UNCLEANNESS, and of LAWLESSNESS leading to more lawlessness, SO NOW PRESENT YOUR MEMBERS AS SLAVES OF RIGHTEOUSNESS FOR HOLINESS.” The Greek definition of UNCLEANNESS includes the Levitically “unclean” or forbidden foods. The Greek definition of LAWLESSNESS refers primarily to breaking the Old Testament, Mosaic LAWS. The word “righteousness” in these Roman verses usually refers to the Jewish LAW keeping type of righteousness. So according to the green, capitalized phrase above, Paul clearly commands us to start or to continue obeying the LAW.
9) Matthew 19:17: “….. BUT IF you want to enter into life, KEEP the commandments.” 10) Revelation 22:14: “Blessed are those who DO His commandments, that they may HAVE THE RIGHT to the tree of life ……” Remember, the Ten Commandments contain the one requiring rest on Saturday, not Sunday, which was started by the Catholics.
11) JUDE 1:4: “…… (impious, PROFANE) persons …… PERVERT THE GRACE …… of our God into LAWLESSNESS ……” (The Amplified Bible)
12) Matthew 7:23: “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART from Me, you who practice LAWLESSNESS.” 13) Matthew 13:41,42: “…… His angels …… will gather …… those who practice LAWLESSNESS 42 and will cast them into the FURNACE OF FIRE ……”
Yes, the death of Jesus did wipe away and atone for our sins (violations of the law), BUT IT WAS GENERALLY ONLY FOR OUR PAST, REPEAT, PAST SINS, NOT NEW, UNREPENTED OF, DELIBERATE SINS AFTER OUR INITIAL REPENTANCE AND BAPTISM!!
ROMANS 3:24,25: “…… GRACE, through …… Jesus: …… 25 in His pity God let the SINS OF EARLIER TIMES GO UNPUNISHED.” (Bible in Basic English) That is why we need to keep on obeying the law after our baptism. New, post baptismal sins, though, when confessed and sincerely repented of, can also be forgiven (1 John 1:9, 2:1,2). Abandoning one’s conversion and baptism, however, or deliberately and consistently sinning may ultimately be judged as unforgiveable according to Hebrews 6:4-6, and 10:26-27.
Remember, only 7 verses in the entire Bible say literally that Christians are no longer under the law, but every single one of those 7 verses focuses only on a very narrow range of laws, which are the sacrifice, circumcision, Levitical priesthood, or eternal death penalty laws. The topic is never the general law, so that means the safe meat, mostly prophetic festivals, and tithing laws are still in full force despite what the popular, verse skipping, mainstream churches fanatically preach. Please read the page ROMANS 6:15: “…… SHALL WE SIN BECAUSE WE ARE NOT UNDER LAW BUT UNDER GRACE? GOD FORBID! ……
Scripture taken from the Contemporary English Version © 1991, 1992, 1995 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1946, 1952, and 1971 the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.