Keeping Jesus' Commandments in Light of the Law
The concept of keeping Jesus' commandments is deeply intertwined with the broader understanding of God's law throughout biblical tradition. From the Old Testament, the expectation for God's people was to "keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies" as written in the Law of Moses, with the promise of success and blessing [2]. The Psalms emphasize the desire to "observe Your law and keep it with all my heart" [3] and to "keep his statutes, and observe his Lawes" [1]. Josephus notes that those diligent in the worship of God also observed His laws [7].
In the New Testament, Jesus affirmed the enduring significance of the law, stating that he "came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them" [8]. Augustine interprets this to mean that Christ did not abolish the law but brought it to its intended purpose [8]. The Apostle Paul, while emphasizing salvation by grace through faith, also speaks of righteousness as obedience to God's law [4]. Charles Hodge explains that the Decalogue serves as a perfect code, and perfect obedience to its spirit constitutes perfect obedience to the law [13].
The nature of keeping these commandments is often understood as an expression of love for God. John Gill, commenting on 1 John 5:3, states that "keeping of the commandments of God is an evidence of love to God" [9]. This love demonstrates that one's affection is not merely verbal but active and sincere, leading to greater manifestations of God's love [9]. Similarly, 1 John 2:3 connects knowing God with keeping His commandments, indicating that obedience is a sign of genuine knowledge and relationship with the divine [12].
However, the relationship between keeping commandments and salvation has been a point of theological discussion. John Calvin notes that a lawyer, imbued with a belief in legal righteousness, asked Jesus what works were necessary for salvation. Jesus' response referred him to the law, implying that the lawyer's understanding of righteousness was tied to works [10]. Yet, the New Testament also presents Christian liberty as freedom from the law in certain respects, particularly from its curse and the bondage of Jewish ordinances [5]. John Chrysostom warns against observing the Law in a way that "overthrows the Gospel," suggesting that reliance on legal observance can disparage faith as insufficient for salvation [11].
The commandments of God are not considered burdensome for believers. John Gill, again on 1 John 5:3, asserts that God's "commandments are not grievous; heavy, burdensome, and disagreeable" [9]. This perspective aligns with the idea that the law, when understood through the lens of Christ, is not a means to earn salvation but a guide for living righteously out of a transformed heart [6]. The moral law, as described in the Old Testament, requires obedience of the heart, not just outward conformity [6].
Sources
- Psalms “Psalms 105:45 (Geneva1599) — That they might keepe his statutes, and obserue his Lawes. Prayse ye the Lord.”
- 1 Kings “1 Kings 2:3 (NASB) — "Keep the charge of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, according to what is written in the Law of Moses, that you may succeed in all that you do and wherever you turn,”
- Psalms “Psalms 119:34 (NASB) — Give me understanding, that I may observe Your law And keep it with all my heart.”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Righteousness — Is obedience to God's law -- De 6:25; Ro 10:5; Lu 1:6; Ps 1:2. God loves -- Ps 11:7. God looks for -- Isa 5:7. Christ Is the Son of. -- Mal 4:2. Loves. -- Ps 45:7; Heb 1:9. Was girt with. -- Isa 11:5. Put on, as breast-plate. -- Isa 59:17. Was sustained by. -- Isa 59:16. Preached. -- Ps 40:9. Fulfilled all. -- Mt 3:15. Is made to his people. -- 1Co 1:30. Is the end of the law for. -- Ro 10:4. Has brought in everlasting. -- Da 9:24. Shall judge with. -- Ps 72:2; Isa 11:4; Ac 17:31; Re 19:11. Shall reign in. -- Ps 45:6; Isa 32:1; Heb 1:8. Shall execute.”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Liberty, Christian — Foretold -- Isa 42:7; 61:1. Conferred By God. -- Col 1:13. By Christ. -- Ga 4:3-5; 5:1. By the Holy Spirit. -- Ro 8:15; 2Co 3:17. Through the gospel. -- Joh 8:32. Confirmed by Christ -- Joh 8:36. Proclaimed by Christ -- Isa 61:1; Lu 4:18. The service of Christ is -- 1Co 7:22. Is freedom from The law. -- Ro 7:6; 8:2. The curse of the law. -- Ga 3:13. The fear of death. -- Heb 2:15. Sin. -- Ro 6:7,18. Corruption. -- Ro 8:21. Bondage of man. -- 1Co 9:19. Jewish ordinances. -- Ga 4:3; Col 2:20. Called the glorious liberty of the children of God -- Ro”
- Torrey's Topical Textbook “Torrey's Topical Textbook: Law of God, The — Is absolute and perpetual -- Mt 5:18. Given To Adam. -- Ge 2:16,17; Ro 5:12-14. To Noah. -- Ge 9:6. To the Israelites. -- Ex 20:2-17; Ps 78:5. Through Moses. -- Ex 31:18; Joh 7:19. Through the ministration of angels. -- Ac 7:53; Ga 3:19; Heb 2:2. Described as Pure. -- Ps 19:8. Spiritual. -- Ro 7:14. Holy, just, and good. -- Ro 7:12. Exceeding broad. -- Ps 119:96. Perfect. -- Ps 19:7; Ro 12:2. Truth. -- Ps 119:142. Not grievous. -- 1Jo 5:3. Requires obedience of the heart -- Ps 51:6; Mt 5:28; 22:37. Requires perfect obedience -- De 27:26; Ga 3:10; Ja”
- Project Gutenberg “Flavius Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews, CHAPTER 8, section 24: who were diligent about the worship of God, and the observation of his laws, and who did not reject what Moses had said to them; while the other wished them all manner of happiness also; and when these last put up the like prayers, the former praised them. After this, curses were denounced upon those that should transgress those laws, they, answering one another alternately, by way of confirmation of what had been said. Moses also wrote their blessings and their curses, that they might learn them so thoroughly, that they might n”
- Schaff ANF/NPNF (Patristic) “NPNF1 Vol 4: Augustine — Anti-Manichaean, Anti-Donatist — BOOK XIX. (part 6): or acknowledge that Christ himself has already destroyed them; and from this acknowledgment it must follow, either that this text is spurious in which Christ is made to say that he came not to destroy the law, but to fulfill it, or that the words have an entirely different meaning from what you suppose. 7. AUGUSTIN replied: If you allow, in consideration of the authority of the Gospel, that Christ said that He came not to destroy the law and the prophets, but to fulfill them, you should show the same consideration to”
- 1 John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 John 5:3: For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments,.... Keeping of the commandments of God is an evidence of love to God; this shows that love is not in word and tongue, in profession only, but in deed and in truth; and that such persons have a sense of the love of God upon their souls, under the influence of which they act; and such shall have, and may expect to have, greater manifestations of the love of God unto them: and his commandments are not grievous; heavy, burdensome, and disagreeable; by which are meant, not so much the precepts of the moral law, w”
- CCEL (Reformed) “John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, section 73: the characters of those whom he addressed. Here he is questioned by a Doctor of the Law as to the means of obtaining eternal life; and the question is not put simply, but is, What can men do to attain it? Both the character of the speaker and his question induced our Lord to give this answer. Imbued with a persuasion of legal righteousness, the lawyer had a blind confidence in works. Then all he asked was, what are the works of righteousness by which salvation is obtained? Justly, therefore, is he referred to the law, in which ther”
- CCEL/NPNF (Eastern Orthodox) “John Chrysostom, Homilies on Galatians–Colossians–Thessalonians: the kingdom? Listen to Paul’s words, that the observance of the Law overthrows the Gospel, and learn, if thou wilt, how this comes to pass, and tremble, and shun this pitfall. Wherefore dost thou keep the sabbath, and fast with the Jews? Is it that thou fearest the Law and abandonment of its letter? But thou wouldest not entertain this fear, didst thou not disparage faith as weak, and by itself powerless to save. A fear to omit the sabbath plainly shows that you fear the Law as still in force; and if the Law is needful, it is so ”
- 1 John (Baptist/Reformed) “John Gill on 1 John 2:3: And hereby we do know that we know him,.... Either the Father, with whom Christ is an advocate; not as the God of nature, and by the light of it, nor as the lawgiver and Judge of the whole earth, and by the law of Moses; but as the God of all grace, as a God pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin, as the Father of Christ, and as in him by the Gospel; and this not in a mere notional and speculative way, but with love and affection; not with fear and trembling, as devils know him, nor in theory, as formal professors and hypocrites, but with a knowledge, joined with h”
- CCEL (Reformed (Old Princeton)) “Charles Hodge, Systematic Theology, Vol. 3, section 39: duty. (2.) Because our Lord held it up as a perfect code, when he said to the young man in the Gospel, “This do and thou shalt live.” (3.) Every specific command elsewhere recorded may be referred to some one of its several commands. So that perfect obedience to the decalogue in its spirit, would be perfect obedience to the law. Nevertheless, there are many things obligatory on us, which without a further revelation of the will of God than is contained in the decalogue, we never should have known to be obligatory. The great duty of men un”