Nuggets from the Word of God: Matthew 22 (pt 1)

THE COMMANDMENTS (1)

“And when the multitude heard this, they were astonished at his doctrine.” —Matt. 22:33

“They were astonished at His doctrine.” Three of the four evangelists use this same phrase to describe the popular reaction to the teaching of the Savior. Well they might. The Lord Jesus Christ could take men deeper into truth with a short sentence than most preachers can with an hour long sermon.

We have lost our concept of sin, both in our culture and in the “established” church. The tragic result is at least two fold. First, we have an inadequate concept of the holiness of God. Second, we lack a real appreciation of the glory of the gospel. The apostle Paul said of ‘the law,’ “When the commandment came, sin revived, and I died.” Subsequently he affirmed the law as “holy, and just, and good.” (See Rom. 7:9, 12) In the interest of sharpening our appreciation of God’s grace and quickening our sense of His holiness, we will spend the next several weeks (D.V.) meditating on that distillation of ‘the law of the Lord’ popularly referred to as “The Ten Commandments.” I am well aware that we are neither saved nor sanctified by ‘keeping the commandments.’ But the New Testament makes it abundantly clear that the gospel does not destroy the law, and that redeemed men should aspire to live no less than to its standard.

Worthy of particular note is Paul’s reference to ‘the commandment’ in the singular, rather than plural. He sees the law, in spite of its apparent diversity, as one. Then recall that the Savior reduced the Ten to two:

“When the Pharisees had heard that he had put the Sadducees to silence, they were gathered together. Then one of them, which was a lawyer, asked him a question, tempting him, and saying, Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. [Mt. 22:34-40].”

Then, through the apostle James we are taken even deeper. “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all [Jas. 2:10].” The obvious lesson is, no part of the law can be singled out as more important than another. The law, “the commandment,” is an entity. It is a revelation of the character of God, and when we violate it, He is violated. When we offend, He is offended! If it were merely a matter of keeping rules, we might be more or less successful. But given this perception of the divine law, we are at best miserable failures. Hence the need, the desperate need of the gospel of the grace of God if we are to have any “hope of glory.”

The question then becomes, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” There is a more or less familiar hymn that declares, “A ruler once came to Jesus by night, to ask him the way of salvation and light; The Master made answer in words clear and plain, ‘Ye must be born again.’” The reference, of course, is to Nicodemus, as recorded in John 3 where the Savior says “clear and plain,” “Except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” But, earlier and with specific reference to “eternal life,” another ‘ruler’ came to Jesus and said “Good Master, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal life [Mt. 19:16, cf. Luke 10:25]?” The Son of God directed him to the commandments, saying, “If thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments. And he saith unto Him, Which?” Remarkably, He who reduced the ten to two by-passed what He had referred to as “the first and great commandment,” and declared the second: “Jesus said, Thou shalt do no murder, Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother: and, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.” (See Mt. 19:16-19ff) Without hesitation the young man replied, “All these things have I kept from my youth up,” but added, What lack I yet?” revealing his uneasiness that, as good as he (thought) he was, he might not be good enough.

Without challenging his candid response, the Savior replied, “If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell what you have and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven: and come and follow Me.” (v.21) “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful: for he had great possessions.” He fared well with respect to the “second commandment,” but failed miserably with respect to the first. God had a competitor in his life. And, ‘half a loaf will not do.’