Law's Requirements

It is one small commandment, one of the Ten, that has big impact: “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). It is easy for us to pass over this commandment that simply means a person cannot take what does not belong to them without permission. It means you cannot take my truck, house, or property without my saying so. It means that if I am a business owner, you cannot harm my business because you are upset and you cannot take any of my merchandise without paying for it. Such is at the heart of a free and prospering land. After all, who would buy a house if anyone could come and take it? Who would take the chance of starting a business if it is not protected by law? 

 

We could go through a similar exercise as this with each one of the Ten Commandments, which are the summary of God’s will for how He wants us to reflect His character (Lev. 19:2). The Law is a wonderful gift of God to us, something that glorifies God and benefits us (Deut. 4:1-8). It is no wonder that the psalmist could write: “The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.” (Psalm 119:72)

 

This is a wonderful discovery to make since we uncovered in the previous catechism question (#6) that part of the way we glorify God is, “…by obeying His will, commands, and law.” It is important to ask the next question of The New City Catechism: “What, then, does the law of God require? The answer given is this: “Personal, perfect, and perpetual obedience; that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love our neighbor as ourselves. What God forbids should never be done and what God commands should always be done.”  

 

In this answer we find seven requirements of God’s good law (Deut. 10:13) listed. 

 

To begin, it is not merely corporate obedience, nor is it asking for your neighbor or friend to obey God and, as long as they do, you don’t have to obey. No, each person is to obey God, that means God’s teaching on His will, His law, requires: “Personal…obedience….” For example, the fifth commandment says, “Honor your father and your mother” (Exodus 20:12). Though the commandment, as seen in the context of the Old Testament, implies honor to all who are in authority over us, it does start with honor shown to one’s own parents. That means you must honor your parents. That is a strong call for personal obedience.

 

Next, we discover in Genesis 2:16-17 and in Genesis 3:1-19 that one seemingly insignificant sin plunged the whole world into sin and a curse for sin. Of course, there are no small or insignificant sins since all sin separates us from God (Isaiah 6:1-5; 59:2). Therefore, God demands, “perfect…obedience… (Matthew 5:48).” 

 

Not only does God require perfect obedience from each person, He also requires continual obedience, that is, always keeping His will. After all, it wasn’t enough for Adam and Eve to obey God for a while and then stop doing it. God requires continual obedience. The catechism puts it this way: “…and perpetual obedience….”

 

What is more, it is not merely obeying God outwardly that God requires, yet not doing it out of love from the heart (Isaiah 29:13; Matthew 15:8). God wants us to worship and love Him alone as God (Deuteronomy 6:4-6; Matthew 22:37-38): “…that we love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength….” 

 

Additionally, the fifth requirement flows out of the fourth (1 John 4:7-21), and that is to love others as self—and thus to put them ahead of self, seeking God’s best for them (Matthew 22:39; 1 Cor. 13:1-8)“…and love our neighbor as ourselves….” 

 

The fourth and fifth requirements are at the heart of these obligations, for they summarize all seven. This is how Matthew 22:37-40 says it: "And [Jesus] said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

 

The sixth requirement is part of a duo of closing responsibilities: “What God forbids should never be done….” Given all that has been said above, this first part of the due follows. An example is the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14).

 

The other half of the closing duo is this: “…and what God commands should always be done.”  Like with number six, this follows from all said above. An example is Leviticus 19:18: “You…shall love your neighbor as yourself.” This means to fall short of loving your neighbor and what that requires, is sin. 

 

We have become so used to the will of God as revealed in His laws, especially the Ten Commandments, that we take them for granted. Yet, when we take the time to look at what God requires behind His laws not only helps us in obeying them, but shows us just how good and wise they are. 

 

Thank You, God, for Your laws!

 

Your Joyful Catechizing Pastor,

 

Tom

The Ten Words

What I thought “those other churches do” is value the Ten Commandments. Wow!  I couldn’t be further from the truth! It was Jesus Himself who taught He did not come to abolish the Law (Matt. 5:17), the only one who enters the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 7:21) and the truly happy one (Luke 11:28) is the one who hears and keeps the word, the will, of God. Even the Apostle Paul, who many view as the champion of God’s grace, teaches that the outgrowth of true saving and sanctifying grace is following the will of God, which He delineates is summarized in the Ten Commandments (Rom. 13:8-10). 

 

The Ten Commandments, actually referred to as the “Ten Words” in the Old Testament (Exodus 34:28; Deut. 4:13; 10:4), summarize the  will of God as revealed in Scripture. What is more, it is not only God’s Law that reveals His wisdom (Deut. 4), it is God’s briefly stated “Ten Words” that reveal so much wisdom in such a small package. 

 

The wisdom of God is particularly seen in the three main uses of the Law that Scripture teaches. Once we grasp these, we will also see how knowing the Ten Words is helpful to a true follower of Jesus Christ. 

 

The first purpose of the law is to teach a person that God is a perfectly holy God, from whom all sinners are separated because of their sin (Isa. 59:2; Rom. 1:18-3:20; Gal. 3:23; 1 John 1:5-6) and so we need a Savior (Rom. 3:21-26; 2 Cor. 5:21). We will see this purpose stated in the answer to question #15 in The New City Catechism, which we will examine in a future article.

 

The second purpose of the law, as we also will be reminded of in the answer to question #15 in The New City Catechism, is to teach us how to live as a new person in Jesus Christ (Rom. 13:8-10). 

 

The third purpose of the law is to restrain people from the full practice of sin and lawlessness (1 Tim. 1:8-11). Law itself cannot change a person and/or save them. But a culture that has been impacted by the Christian worldview and thus is ordered by Law rooted in the Ten Words benefits all and helps preserve the culture, much like salt (Matt. 5:13). 

 

In all these ways, now we can see just how we are well-served by learning the Ten Words. We are ready to see how question and answer 8 in The New City Catechism helps us with this: “What is the law of God stated in the Ten Commandments? Answer: You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below—you shall not bow down to them or worship them. You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God. Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony. You shall not covet.”  

 

Thank You, God, for Your Ten Words!

 

Your Joyful Catechizing Pastor,

 

Tom

 

Glorifying God

There are some words we use as Christians that are a regular part of our vocabulary and yet we never stop to define them or to think about what they mean. There is no word of which this is truer than that of “glory” and “glorify.” We often talk about glorifying God and yet what does that mean and how do we glorify God?

 

If you can’t answer that, you have come to the right place, that is the sixth question and answer of The New City Catechism. We learned in question and answer four that one of the purposes for which God created us was to glorify Him. Now, the catechism explains how to do this. Here is what we read: “How can we glorify God? Answer: We glorify God by enjoying him, loving him, trusting him, and by obeying his will, commands, and law.”  

 

The Hebrew words behind “glory” and “glorify” mean literally “weight,” “weighty,” or “to show to be weighty.” God’s glory, then, is His weightiness, His magnificence and greatness that is unique and which He does not share with anyone else (Isaiah 42:8; 46:9-10). When we glorify God, then, we are not making Him look weighty or magnificence, but we are acknowledging and showing the weightiness, the magnificence which is part of the essence of God (Psalm 96:6-8). The Greek terms used in the Old Testament Greek translation and then the New Testament itself mean the same things (cf. Matt. 5:16; 1 Cor. 10:31). 

 

This sixth answer of the Catechism highlights some of the key ways we glorify God.

 

First, we glorify God “by enjoying Him.” Paul explains this in Philippians 1:20-23. Paul affirms that Christ is magnified in him when he values Jesus Christ even more than life. The way that this plays out for Paul in 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 is that God is glorified through the cheerful giving of self, resources, and finances to meet the needs of others. One of the points of each of these passages is that when the Lord is served out of delight, this glorifies Him more than doing it merely out of duty, just like when a wife is more honored when a husband brings home flowers out of delight for her as opposed to mere duty. 

 

Next, we glorify God by “loving him.” Since God is eternally and essentially love (1 John 4:8), one who has loved for eternity within the Trinity (John 17:24-26), and since He created us in His image (Genesis 1:26-28), this means that God made us to love Him (Deut. 6:5; Matt. 22:37) and others (Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:39). In fact, love of others flows out of our love for God (Matt. 22:37-40; 1 John 4:20). We are made to love and we will love something(s) or someone(s) first and foremost. We are to love our Lord and Savior more than anyone or anything else (Luke 14:25-26), for this not only displays His glory in whose image we are created, it also displays His worth, He is preeminent over all (Rom. 11:36; Col. 1:15, 17), and we should love Him as such. This glorifies Him.  

 

What is more, we glorify God by “trusting him.” One place we discover this is in Psalm 50:15, where Asaph reveals why God has ordained prayer as a means of provision. He has done so because in our dependence upon Him, our trust in Him, through prayer, we glorify Him: “…and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.” Let me illustrate how this works.

 

Imagine that you have had severe abdominal pain for a couple excruciating days and you finally meet with your physician about it. Tests are run and then he shares with you the good news. He has determined what is wrong and there is a medication for you to take for two weeks that will stop the pain. In fact, the pain should diminish within a couple days of starting on the medication. The question is, “Will you take the medication?” Imagine that you have been treated by your physician for several years and always found him to be very capable. You have had very good success with him. Let me ask again, “Will you take the medication?” No doubt the answer would be, “Yes.”

 

Suppose you go on the medication, and it works as he said it would. Two months later you have a friend who has the same abdominal pain you previously had. You tell them about your experience and recommend your physician. 

 

What has happened in this scenario? You went to your physician and asked for help, which is similar to prayer and asking God for help. Your physician receives the honor because you asked—demonstrating you were not sufficient to treat yourself, but he knew how to help you. As a result, you receive the benefit.

 

The same is true when we trust in God and go to Him in prayer.

 

There is something else that happened in this scenario. Not only did you trust your physician and asked for help. You also trusted him with his prescribed treatment, and you did what he told you to do. You took the medication. This leads us to the next and last way we glorify God, according to The New City Catechism.

 

Finally, it is said here that we glorify God by “obeying his will, commands, and law.”  In Deuteronomy 11:1 we read: “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.” See also John 14:15, where Jesus Himself said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” 

 

What we have shown, then, is that since God is glorified through enjoying, loving, and trusting Him, He also is glorified through our obeying Him.

 

The New City Catechism has reminded us in question and answer four God created us to glorify Him. Now, in this sixth question and answer, we have learned how to glorify Him. Nothing could be more important for us to understand and to do than this. May we, then, glorify Him in whatever we do (1 Corinthians 10:31). 

 

Tom