10 Commands In The New Covenant
The 10 Commands in the New Covenant of the Bible is the sacred subject of our holy teaching today. The Bible tells us that Yahshua the Messiah came as the Mediator of a new Testament (Hebrews 8:6). Very sadly, many people don’t believe the Ten Commandments of the Bible still apply to all of us today. The popular belief that the New Covenant abolishes Elohim’s Law reflects a misunderstanding of the Bible. Yahweh tells us that He altered the original Covenant in making “a better Covenant, which was established on better promises.” But keep in mind it was not established on different laws. The Law stayed the same! Today, we are going to dig deeper into this very important biblical topic and show once and for all to all the unbelievers out there that the New Covenant did not abolish the Ten Commandments of the Old Covenant of the Bible! As always, we will let the Bible interpret itself as we humbly ask the Holy Spirit of Yahweh for sacred wisdom in teaching you the real truth about this matter. May you have the eyes to see and the ears to hear for this true and faithful Good News of the coming heavenly Kingdom.
Yes, the Ten Commandments from the Old Testament of the Bible stayed the same in the New Testament! There was, however, a weakness, in the original Covenant. That weakness was with the people, not with the Law! “Because finding fault with them (people), He (Yahweh) says: “Behold, the days are coming, says Yahweh, when I will make a new Covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah” (Hebrews 8:8). It was because the people “did not continue in my Covenant, and I disregarded them (the people), says Yahweh” (Hebrews 8:9). In the Old Covenant, Yahweh wrote the Law on tablets of stone. It was just external, not part of the thinking and motives of the people. It was only in their literature but not in their hearts. In the new Covenant, Yahweh writes the Law in the minds and hearts of His people (Hebrews 8:10, Jeremiah 31:33-34). To enable people to internalize His Law—to love it and obey it eagerly and willingly—Yahweh makes this promise: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them” (Ezekiel 36:26-27). His Spirit enables His people to obey His holy Laws. Without His Spirit, you can not obey the Law! Those who disregard Yahweh’s Law don’t have the Holy Spirit and its fruits.
Furthermore, people lacking the Holy Spirit are incapable of wholehearted obedience. Why? Because the carnal mind is enmity against Elohim; for it is not subject to the Law of Elohim, nor indeed can be. So then, those who are in the flesh can not please Elohim” (Romans 8:7-8). This is why the Old Covenant and the New Covenant differ. The apostle Paul clearly explains that “what the Law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh” Elohim has accomplished by sending Yahshua Messiah, who overcame the pulls of the flesh and “condemned sin (lawlessness) in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the Law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit” (Romans 8:3-4, 1 John 3-4). Yes, the new thing promised in the New Testament or New Covenant is, in fact, neither a new Law nor freedom from the Law, but a sincere inward desire and determination on the part of Yahweh’s people to obey the Law already given to them. Listen! The passages below from the New Testament confirm, either explicitly or by example, that Yahshua the Messiah and the apostles viewed the 10 Commandments as a necessary part of believers life.
First Commandment: Then Yahshua said to him, “Away with you, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship Yahweh your Elohim, and Him only you shall serve.’ (Matthew 4:10). “Yashua said to him, You shall love Yahweh your Elohim with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ “This is the first and great Commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38). And yes, it is very, very important that we all know the true name of the Holy One we worship in heaven!
Second Commandment: “Little children, keep yourselves away from idols. Amen.” (1 John 5:21). “Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the Kingdom of Elohim? Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites..” (1 Corinthians 6:9). “And do not become idolaters as were some of them…” (1 Corinthians 10:7). “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry” (1 Corinthians 10:14). “For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah and Yahweh” (Ephesians 5:5).
Third Commandment: “Again you have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not swear falsely, but shall perform your oaths to Yahweh. “But I say to you, do not swear at all: neither by heaven, for it is Yahweh’s throne” (Matthew 5:33-34). “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Master, Master,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. “Many will say to Me in that day, Master, Master, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name? “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!” (Matthew 7:21-23). “So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven” (Luke 11:2). “Let as many servants as are under the yoke count their own masters worthy of all honor, so that the name of Yahweh and His doctrine may not be blasphemed” (1 Timothy 6:1).
Fourth Commandment: “So He (Yahshua) came to Nazareth, where He had been brought up. And as His custom was, He went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day, and stood up to read” (Luke 4:16). “But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down” (Acts 13:14). “And when the Jews went out of the synagogue, the Gentiles begged that these words might be preached to them the next Sabbath” (Acts 13:42). “And the next Sabbath almost the whole city came together to hear the word of Elohim” (Acts 13:44). “And on the Sabbath day we went out of the city to the riverside, where prayer was customarily made; and we sat down and spoke to the women who met there” (Acts 16:13). “Then Paul as his custom was, went in to them, and for three Sabbaths reasoned with them from the Scriptures” (Acts 17:2). “And he reasoned in the synagogue every Sabbath, and persuaded both Jews and Greeks” (Acts 18:4). “For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: “And Elohim rested on the seventh day from all His works” (Hebrews 4:4). “There remains therefore a rest for the people of Elohim” (Hebrews 4:9). And yes, it is very, very important for all of us to know what the true Sabbath day of the Bible is!
Fifth Commandment: But He (Yahshua) answered and said to them, “Why do you also transgress the commandment of Elohim because of your tradition? “For Elohim commanded, saying, ‘Honor your father and your mother; and, he who curses father or mother, let him be put to death.’ “But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, “Whatever profit you might have received from me has been dedicated to the temple’–‘is released from honoring his father or mother.’ “Thus you have made the commandment of Elohim of no effect by your tradition” (Matthew 15:3-6). So He (Yahshua) said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, Elohim. But if you want to enter into life, keep the Commandments.” He said to Him (Yahshua), “Which ones?” Yahshua said, ‘You shall not murder,’ You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 19:17-19). “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise: “that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.” (Ephesians 6:2-3).
Sixth Commandment: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder,’ and whoever murders will be in danger of judgment. “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ‘Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire’ (Matthew 5:21-22). For the commandments, “You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘ You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,” and if there is any other commandment , are all summed up in this saying, namely, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Romans 13:9). Now for the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries,, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in the past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of Yahweh” (Galatians 5:19-21). For whoever shall keep the whole Law, and yet stumble in one point, he is guilty of all. For He who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” Now if you do not commit adultery, but you do murder, you have become a transgressor of the Law. So speak and so do as those who will be judged by the law of liberty” (James 2:10-12). Read also Matthew 19:17-18.
Seventh Commandment: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ “But I say to you that whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). Nor let us commit sexual immorality, as some of them did, and in one day twenty-three thousand fell (1 Corinthians 10:8). Out of the same mouth proceed blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not to be so. Does a spring send forth fresh water and bitter from the same opening? Can a fig tree, my brethren, bear olives, or a grapevine bear figs? Thus no spring can yield both salt water and fresh “James 3:10-12). Read also Matthew 19:17-18, Romans 13:9, 1 Corinthians 6:9, Ephesians 5:5, Galatians 5:19-21.
Eighth Commandment: Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need (Ephesians 4:28). Read also Matthew 19:17-18, Romans 13:9.
Ninth Commandment: Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds (Colossians 3:9). Therefore, putting away lying, each one speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another (Ephesians 4:25). Read also Matthew 19:17-18, Romans 13:9.
Tenth Commandment: And He (Yahshua) said to them, “Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses” (Luke 12:15). What shall we say then? Is the Law sin? Certainly not! On the contrary, I would have not known sin except through the Law. For I would not have known covetousness unless the Law had said, “You shall not covet.” (Romans 7:7). But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints (Ephesians 5:3). For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Messiah and of Yahweh (Ephesians 5:5). Read also Romans 13:9.
Yes, the 10 Commands in the new Covenant are just continuation of the Ten Commandments of the Old Testament which are still all binding today even though some selectively use parts of the apostle Paul’s writings to say that he taught against Elohim’s Laws. Yet Paul makes one of the most powerful and unambiguous statements in support of keeping Yahweh’s Law when he said, “Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the Commandments of Yahweh is what matters” (1 Corinthians 7:19). Paul clearly explained his personal view of Elohim’s Law: “Therefore the Law is holy, and the Commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12). Paul also markedly told those judging him that he had continued to use the Old Testament Scriptures as the authority for his beliefs: “I confess to you, that according to the Way which they call a sect, so I worship the Elohim of my fathers, believing all the things which are written in the Law and in the Prophets” (Acts 24:14). The apostle John clearly defines sin, telling us that “sin is the transgression of the Law” (1 John 3:4). Like Paul, John describes the saints as “those who keep the Commandments of Yahweh and the faith of Yahshua” (Revelation 14:12). John also gives us this sobering warning: “He who says, I know Him, and does not keep His Commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4). The apostle Peter also delivers a similar warning: “For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the knowledge of the Master and Savior Yahshua, they are again entangled in them and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. For it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, and to turn away from the holy Commandment delivered to them” (2 Peter 2:20-21). The truth is so clear!
In closing, Yahweh said to Moses, “Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and always keep all My Commandments, that it might be well with them and with their children forever!” (Deuteronomy 5:29). Yes, each person must choose whether to obey the living Elohim, who gave us the Ten Commandments. And Yahshua Messiah said, “If you keep My Commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s Commandments and abide in His love” (John 15:10). We should always remember Yahshua’s words, “If you want to enter into life, keep the Commandments” (Matthew 19:17). Again, in the final chapter of the Bible, Yahshua the Messiah through the apostle John reminds us of the supreme importance of Yahweh’s Commandments to our eternal life: “Blessed are those who do His Commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Revelation 22:14). Yes, the choice is ours! Our loving Father in heaven Yahweh admonishes us to consider our choice when He said: “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil, in that I command you today to love Yahweh your Elohim, to walk in His ways, and to keep His Commandments…I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing; therefore choose life, that both you and your descendants may live” (Deuteronomy 30:15-19). The Ten Commandments were never abolished or done away with! The weakness or the fault was, and is with the people, not the Law! There is simply no excuse for believing that Yahshua came to abolish any Commandments of Yahweh! May the love and truth and peace and mercy and grace of Almighty Yahweh be with you all, especially to our dear brothers and sisters of the same faith. These things we humbly ask and pray to Yahweh through the saving name of Yahshua the Messiah, our Master and King, Amen. Halleluyah, Shalom!