I follow Jon Lilley’s blog because I find it interesting.
In his Agree/Disagree post, Jon posted the following thought provoking question.
If all Christians acted like Christ, the whole world would be Christian. – Mahatma Gandhi. This quote really got me thinking. What do you think? Let me know in the comments below… I look forward to reading your thoughts! http://jonlilley.com/2013/04/13/agree-or-disagree-2/
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I believe my thoughts would be too long for Jon’s comments section, although there are some long ones there… some interesting comments if you care to check them out, at the link above. To answer the question, I would look at how Christ lived. (Bearing in mind that He was the only person to have the Holy Spirit without measure.) Nevertheless, I believe He came to show us HOW to live God’s way.
We know He was the perfect, sinless, sacrifice.
So clearly, He must have kept the law. When he lived, there was no New Testament. He lived and taught from the Old Testament. Unlike the way we live today…
He must have kept all ten of the Ten Commandments.
So how did He do it?
Let’s look at the Ten Commandments
You shall have no other gods before Me.
Throughout the Old Testament there were many examples, and corrections of God’s chosen people worshipping other gods… Baal, Molech and Ashtoreth, to mention but a few. Clearly, Christ did not deviate in His loyalty to His Father.
“For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” John 6: 38 “My food is to do the will of Him who sent me, and to finish His work.” John 4: 34
And in the face of His impending arrest…
“…O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.” Matthew 26: 39
To the end Jesus put His Father first, and kept the first commandment. What about us? It is so easy to think we do, and so easy to slip into putting our own will and desires first… which leads me to the second commandment…
You shall not make for yourself any graven image.
Throughout the Old Testament, prophets, major and minor, castigated the people time and again for breaking the second commandment, making idols and images, then worshipping them. ′ · Isa 44: 15 -17 demonstrates the foolishness of a man who grows a tree, cuts it down, burns some to bake with, and with the remainder…
“And the rest of it he makes into a god, his carved image. He falls down before it and worships it, prays to it and says ‘Deliver me for you are my god’ ” Isa 44:17
Nowhere in the scriptures do we read of Jesus worshipping an image, or bowing to an image. Can we say the same for ourselves?
- Are all the ‘pictures’ of Jesus – images?
- What about the statues of Mary and the saints?
- Are stained glass windows ‘idols’.
Being sensible, I doubt anyone worships a stained glass window, a ‘picture’ of Jesus, or any of the statues of ‘holy’ people. In fact most people would say they are a help to worship. What God would say… well that’s something we don’t know.
But if we want to live as Christ did, we have to do as Christ did.
His relationship with His Father was through the Father’s word. In looking at how Christ lived, through the commandments, I have only covered two of them. I will look at the others in subsequent posts. Shalom
Hold the Faith 
I think Gandhi’s words – which have to be seen in the wider context in which he said them – still speak a great deal about the human condition in general.
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Yes, Matthew, I agree. When it all comes down to it, we each need to be very aware of what our behaviour says about our beliefs. In ‘Christ and the Ten Commandments’, I am looking at the broader picture in order to do that. The first part of the quote from Gandhi is, “If all Christians acted like Christ…” So I set out to explore Christ’s life.
Thank you for your comment, it helped me clarify my thoughts.
Susan
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I am curious as to why you omitted the Preamble to the Decalogue in your discussion about the Decalogue? The Decalogue in Ex 20 does not begin with verse 3, in actuality it begins with verse 1 followed by verse 2 containing God’s Title, Authority, and to whom He was speaking?
Exodus 20 in the NASB begins–
1 Then God spoke all these words, saying,
2 “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
followed by the first commandment to them.
Was this omission intentional or an oversight? It’s omission leaves out the necessary hermeneutical context obtained from reading verses within chapter and Book if the verses are to be correctly interpreted.
Thanks.
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The focus of this series is Christ keeping the Ten Commandments, not the commandments of and by themselves. This is why I started with verse three, which, as you recognised in your comment is the first commandment to the people. Had I been doing a series solely on the Ten Commandments, those first two verses would have been necessary.
Hope this answers your question,
Susan
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Susan, Ahhh yes thank you. I now better understand the perspective of my Lord keeping and fulfilling the requirements of all law on my behalf which as a sinner I could never have. You’re going to have an interesting series ahead. I look forward to more and I’ll catch up on all of them on my travels. Cheers!
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Glad it clarified things for you. We still have to do our part though, to walk in His steps to the best of our abilities.
Susan
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Can you clarify this statement a bit more, “We still have to do our part though, to walk in His steps to the best of our abilities.”
What catches my eye is–
–“do our part” and
–“the best of our abilities”
What do you mean by those specifics in relation to the salvation that was secured by Christ and the ongoing life of the Christian?
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I passed my driving test many years ago… but the road rules are still in effect.
Your questions have given me an idea for a final post, after this series is completed. Thank you.
In the meantime you might find my novel, Hold the Faith interesting. Although it is fictional, it is based on fact and shows how the early Christians lived and the challenges they faced. Check out my website at http://holdthefaith.net
Back to getting book 2 in the series ready.
Susan
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Thank you for you quick replies. Not sure where you are but in Dallas, TX it is already midnight so I do appreciate the responses.
I understand your analogy–tough part with analogies is that as some point when pushed they breakdown and you do have a good example.
Where I might see the difficulty with the analogy though is this–
(i) Our drivers licenses were earned by us because of we proving ourselves deserving of it. Whereas Salvation is in no part connected to us passing a test. It was a gift the Authority Gifted it to us we merely accepted it as fact.
(ii) Now that we have received license and are “drivers” I doubt it that you or I have a desire to break the law, yet on occasion we have violated it willingly or unwillingly. Why would not also grant that as Christians the renewal of our mind by the Holy Sprit would change us so that we no longer have a desire of take pleasure in Sin. Yes even as Christians we will sin, yet it is not the desire or lifestyle of a true believer to live that way. When it does occur brings me to–
(iii) unlike the drivers license I am not the one holding onto the License of Gift Giver in order to ensure the wont take away the Gift. Rather it is the Authority that gave me the Gift (drivers license) that is holding onto me. He makes sure that when I slip I cannot fall out of my standing with Him and loose it.
Just some thoughts to what you analogy suggests.
Cheers,
Ben
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Thank you for your reasoned comments…
Short answer…. if you are thinking I believe we ‘earn’ salvation, no, I don’t. Salvation is by grace through faith (the latter being a work).
Long answer… will come in the post.
As I said, thank you for your comments, They have made a good framework for that particular blog post.
I am in Australia by the way, and only able to see the messages come in because I am busy on my computer going over the manuscript of my second novel.
Cheers
Ben
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