Law List

     I’ve listed verses that I think are important in the study of God's laws, from the New Testament first and then, just a few from the Old Testament, since there are so many, and I made some comments at the end. The reason for this study is because many preach and teach that the laws of Jehovah are now invalid and this could not be true or Christ's call to repentance would be weightless. First I want to give you God's Ten Commandments as it is presented, according to the original Hebrew text, in the Literal Translation in the J. P. Green Interlinear Bible:

 1]  "I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out from the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. You shall not have any other gods beside Me."

 2] "You shall not make a graven image for yourself, of any likeness which is in the heavens above, or which is in the earth beneath, or which is in the waters under the earth; you shall not bow down to them, and you shall not serve them; for I am Jehovah your God, a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of fathers on children, on the third and fourth generations, to those who hate Me; and doing kindness to thousands, to those loving Me, and to those keeping My Commandments."

 3] "You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain; for Jehovah will not leave unpunished the one who takes His name in vain."

 4] "Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy; six days you shall labor and do all your work; and the seventh day is a sabbath to Jehovah your God; you shall not do any work, you, and your son, and your daughter, your male slave and your girl slave, and your livestock, and your stranger who is in your gates. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea and all which are in them, and He rested on the seventh day; on account of this Jehovah blessed the sabbath day and sanctified it."

 5] "Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long on the land which Jehovah your God is given to you."

 6] "You shall not murder."

 7] "You shall not commit adultery"

 8] "You shall not steal."

 9] "You shall not testify a witness of falsehood against your neighbor."

 10] "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male slave, or his slave-girl, or his ox, or his ass, or anything which belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:2-17).

     Do these ten commands present a different understanding then what you have read in your Bible? They should because God's personal name is presented 8 times in the first five commandments. This is a Biblical truth. More at the end.

NEW TESTAMENT

Matthew 5:17-19 “Do not think that I came to annul the law or the

    prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill…”

Matthew 7:21,23 “Not everyone who says to Me, Lord, Lord, will

    enter the Kingdom of heaven. But the ones doing the will of My

    Father in Heaven…and then I will declare to them, I never knew

   you, depart from Me, those working lawlessness.”

Matthew 13:41 “The Son of man will send His angels and they will

   gather out of His Kingdom all the offences and those that practice

   lawlessness”

Matthew 19:17 “…But if you desire into life, keep the commandments.”

Matthew 22:40 “On these two commandments all the law and the

    prophets hang.”

Luke 11:28 “…blessed are those hearing the word of God, and

    keeping it.”

Luke 16:17 “But it is easier for heaven and earth to pass away then one

   tittle of the law to fail.”

   

John 8:55 “…But I know Him and I keep His word.”

John 15:10 “If you keep My commandments, you will continue in My

   love; as I have kept My Father’s commandments and continue in

    His love.”

Romans 2:12,13 “For as many as sinned without law will also perish

   without law. And as many as sinned within law will be judged

    through law. For not the hearers of  the law are just with God but

   the doers of the law shall be justified.”

Romans 3:31 “Then do we make law of no effect through faith? Let it

   not be! But we "establish" law.” ("abide by" or "stand by" is a

    better translation from Strong's #2476, since Jehovah already

    established the law in Exodus 20).

Romans 5:13 “for sin was in the world until law, but sin is not

    charged where there is no law.”

Romans 6:15 “What then? Shall we sin because we are not under

    law, but under grace? Let it not be!”

Romans 7:6 “But now we have been set free from the law, having

    died to that in which we were held, so that we serve newness in spirit

   and not in oldness of letter.”

Romans 7:12 “So indeed the law is holy, and the commandment is

   holy, just and good.”

Romans 7:25 “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then

   I myself with  the mind truly serve the law of God and with the

    flesh the law of sin.”

1 Corinthians 7:19 “Circumcision is nothing and un-circumcision

   is nothing; but the keeping of God’s commands.”

2 Corinthians 6:14 “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.

   For what partnership does righteousness have with lawlessness?”

2 Corinthians 7:1 "Then having these promises, beloved, let us

   cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and of spirit,

    perfecting holiness in fear of the Lord."

Ephesians 5:6 “…for through these the wrath of God comes on

   the sons of disobedience.”

1 Timothy 1:8 “And we know that the law is good, if anyone uses

   it lawfully”

1 Timothy 6:14 “that you keep the commandment spotless, blameless

   until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

Hebrews 1:9 “You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness…”

Hebrews 8:10 “…giving My law into their minds and I will write

    them on their hearts…”

James 1:25 “But the one looking into the perfect law of liberty, and

    continuing in it, this one not having become a forgetful hearer, but

   a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in the doing.”   

James 2:10-13 “For whoever shall keep all the law and stumble in

   one, he has become guilty of all…”

1 John 1 6-10 “…If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous

   that He may forgive us the sins…”

1 John 2:3 “And by this we know we have known Him, if we keep

    His commandments.”

1 John 2:7 “Brothers, I do not write a new commandment to you,

    but an old commandment which you had from the beginning. The

   old commandment is the word which you heard from the beginning.”

1 John 2:24 “Then what you heard from the beginning, let it abide in

   you. If what you heard in the beginning abides in you, you will abide

   both in the Son and in the Father.”

1 John 3:4 “Everyone practicing sin also practices lawlessness and sin

   is lawlessness.”

1 John 3:22 “And whatever we ask, we receive from Him because we

   keep His commandments, and we do the things pleasing to Him.”

1 John 5:2,3 “…when we love God and keep His commandments.

    For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments; and

   His commandments are not heavy.”

Revelation 12:17 “And the dragon was enraged over the woman, and

   went away to make war with the rest of her seed, those keeping the

   commandments of God, and having the testimony of Jesus Christ.”

Revelation 14:12 “Here is the patience of the saints; here are the ones

   keeping the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus Christ.”

Revelation 22:14 “Blessed are the ones doing His commandments

    that their authority will be over the tree of life…”

OLD TESTAMENT

Psalm 40:8 “...I (Jesus) delight to do Your will, O My God and your

    law is within My inmost soul.”

Psalm 19 7-11 “The law of Jehovah is perfect converting the soul…

   And Your servant is warned by them; in keeping of them is great

   reward.”

Proverbs 2:1 "My son, if you receive My words and treasure up My

    commandments with you."

Isaiah 2:3 “...Come let us go up to the mount of Jehovah, to the house

   of the God of Jacob. And He will teach from His ways, and we will

   walk in His paths. For out of Zion the law will go forth, and the word

   of Jehovah from Jerusalem.”

Isaiah 5:24 “…and their blossom shall go up like dust, because they

    have cast away the law of Jehovah of host; and despised the word of

   the Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah 8:16 "Bind up the testimony, seal the law up among My disciples."

Jeremiah 6:19 "Hear O earth, behold, I will bring evil on this people,

    the fruit of their thoughts. For they have not listened to My words and

   My laws they have rejected."

Micah 4:1,2 “But it shall be in the end of the days, the mountain of the

    house of Jehovah shall be established on the top of the mountains;…

   And many nation will come and say, Come let us go up to the

    mountain of Jehovah … For the law shall go forth out of Zion, and

    the word of Jehovah from Jerusalem.”

Micah 6:6-8 “With what shall I come before Jehovah, to bow myself

   before the loftiness of God? Shall I come before Him with burnt

    offerings, with calves, sons of a year? Will Jehovah be pleased with

   thousands of rams, with ten thousands of torrents of oil? Shall I give

   my firstborn for my transgressions, the fruit of my body for the sin of

   my soul? He has declared to you, man, what is good and what does

    Jehovah require of you, but to do justice, and to love mercy and to

    walk humbly with your God.”

There are many others in the Old Testament

COMMENTS

     God Jehovah, who does not change, including His laws, first because He personally spoke them from Mount Sinai and wrote them on stone with His own finger and because they are a transcript of His divine character and the foundation of His system of government, which He revealed to the Israelites, at first in their conscience, then in the wilderness at Mt. Sinai, because the laws became distorted or forgotten during their four hundred years of slavery in Egypt and His people needed to be re-education on His pure righteousness. There was an additional purpose connected with these commands, the Israelites were to display them by their actions to the nations, to show the rewards of keeping His perfect guidelines. The Israelites were to be a nation of priest to the world, to the glory of God Jehovah. Unfortunately, the Israelites demonstrated the effects of both, sometimes pleasing God and other times ignoring His laws and not asking for His directions. God's chosen people, having experienced both God's blessings and His hot anger, the result should have given a clearer understanding of Jehovah and His wisdom, but they didn't choose the wiser path, but mostly ignored the lessons God was teaching them, which is evident throughout the Old Testament. Even shortly after the Israelites were given Jehovah's laws by voice, the Israelites transgressed the second of Jehovah's Ten Commandments, worshiping a golden calf, which Aaron made for them from their gold jewelry. Because of this, Jehovah killed 3000 by the hand of the Levit's that day, as a consequence for their transgressions, and an example for those looking on and also for us. Was this necessary? He will not change His laws because they are righteous, complete and just. The Old Testament's written records demonstrated examples and results of sin for future generations, including our current generation. If He had changed any law, this would have been a sad declaration that His laws and Himself were not perfect. This also would have altered the need to send His only-begotten Son to pay the penalty for man's sins. His laws were not changeable then and His laws have stood since then, because God's laws are part of His system of government, which were established at creation and are the desire of all in the kingdom of God, our future home, if we so choose. Christ's atonement at Calvary didn't cancel the need to obey God's perfect laws, Christ only paid the price necessary for a transgression of God's laws, which have been forgiven so it would not be necessary for those to endure the requirement of the second death, an everlasting death, "But for the cowardly and the unbelieving, and those having become foul, and murderers, and fornicators, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all the lying ones, their part will be in the lake burning with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." (Revelation 21:8). Christ fulfilled (perfectly kept) the laws of God to qualify Himself as the "Lamb of God" and we are to follow Jesus as He walked perfectly in His Father's laws; He is God's sent example for us to follow.

     Should we continue to do just as Adam did in the beginning, when he decided to sin, which contaminated the human race, or would it not be wise to learn from Adam's mistake? Christ may have paid the price, but if you remember, Jesus came calling all to repentance. What kind of repentance could He be calling us to, if not the transgressing of His Father’s laws? Our repentance doesn’t cancel, change or erase the sin already committed, but it brings on a change of our desire to not sin again; it's a product of the converted heart by our understanding of our own guilt. Jehovah's concern is that we come to understand, regret and hate our sins and put Jehovah's righteousness in our heart and to avoid sinning again. If the laws were discarded, as some suggest, then our repentance would not be required. If Jesus came to abolish the law, then, calling humanity to repentance would not have been necessary, "From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, repent! For the kingdom of Heaven has drawn near." (Matthew 4:17), "I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." (Mark 5:32) and "No, I say to you; but if you do not repent, you will all perish in the same way." (Luke 13:3). Repentance is that we do not repeat the same transgression of God's perfect commands and laws, as we did in the past; healing the heart of it's sickness.

     The Sacrificial System was set up for God’s chosen people, for an atonement for their sins, which was also a shadow pointing the way for Christ’s perfect atonement for us, as the sacrificial "Lamb of God". Christ was successful, during His first advent as the only man, to have never sinned; He was therefore, the one and only perfect human sacrifice, ending the need for a sacrificial system. Christ's blood was required for forgiveness of a transgression of God’s laws, because death would eventually become the outcome of allowing sin to fully mature. The sacrificial laws are the laws that were “nailed to the cross”, "blotting out the handwriting in the ordinances against us, which were contrary to us, even He has taken it out of our midst, nailing it to the cross." (Colossians 2:14).

      According to the sacrificial system, the sinner was to come to the Temple and confess his sin/sins, then, to kill the sacrifice, which the sinner supplied, then these sins were kept at the temple till the day of atonement (representing the end of the age), then all the sins of that years were transferred to the scapegoat (representing Satan) and sent to the wilderness with that yearly collection of sins (representing Satan's 1000 year of bondage on a lifeless earth). This only pertained to confessed sins, the confessing sinner was forgiven but the sacrificial animal still had to shed blood to pay the price of his personal sin, and this is what Christ was called to do, to pay the price for our sins. Confession and repentance is still necessary, so that we would face our transgressions and not want to sin again, this is still necessary for the forgiveness process, and so is God’s laws, the Ten Commandments, being the description of righteousness. Before Christ first advent, the un-confessed and un-repented sinner was to be stoned to death by the congregation or whatever the appropriate sentence for each sin was, as described in the Mosaic laws.

      An important reality of keeping God's law, if studied, the law itself is perfect, just, loving and beautiful, if honored by all, we would live in harmony. It's the transgression of His laws that are ugly, painful and deadly. Living by them is comforting, compassionate and just for those around us. Can there be order without laws? God's laws will be exercised naturally in God's kingdom, because those in the Book of Life will have already made their personal commitment to alter their own character; for serving God in righteousness, and at Christ second coming, they will be made permanent to righteousness, "The one acting unjustly, let him still act unjustly; and the filthy, let him still be filthy; and the righteous, let him still do righteousness; and the holy, let him still be holy." (Revelation 22:11). This is to happen right before Christ returns, because the next verse says, "And, behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to give to each as his work is." (Revelation 22:12). This verse points out that our actions are an important part in God's judgment and our actions are ruled by our heart and our heart is ruled by our understanding, and what is most important is that our understanding of God's truth is located in our heart, which can only be found pure in God's word.