According to the scriptures if we break any one of God's 10 commandments we stand guilty before God of sin *JAMES 2:10-11 and all those who continue in known unrepentant sin do not enter into the kingdom of heaven because they count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing and do dispite to the Spirit of God's Grace *HEBREWS 10:26-39. God's 4th commandment is one of God's 10 commandments that give us the knowledge of what sin is *ROMANS 3:20; EXODUS 20:8-11. According to the scriptures no one is living by faith if they are knowingly breaking God's commandments neither do they love God or their fellow man *JAMES 2:18-26; HEBREWS 10:26-39; JOHN 14:15; JAMES 2:10-11.
May God bless you as you seek him through his Word.
I have had to think long and hard about my response to all that you have written. What you write does not sit easily with my spirit, yet I realize that I am dealing with a carefully constructed doctrine that is taught throughout your denomination.
James 2:10-14. 'For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one
point, he is guilty of all
.
For he that said, Do not commit adultery, said also, Do not kill. Now if thou commit no adultery, yet if thou kill, thou art become a transgressor of the law.
So speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by the law of liberty.
For he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath shewed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth against judgment.'
This passage of scripture from James 2 highlights a subtle distinction between 'whosoever shall keep the whole law' and 'they that shall be judged by the law of liberty'. The former 'shall have judgment without mercy' whilst the latter will find that 'mercy rejoiceth against judgment'.
To which of these two groups do you belong, I wonder?
In James 1:25 it says, 'But whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed.'
Here the law of liberty is called PERFECT, if the hearer be a doer also. But what is the law of liberty? This law is closely connected to the law referred to in James 2:8.
In James 2:8 it says, 'If ye fulfil the royal law according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself, ye do well:'
Our freedom to love in Spirit and truth, and to live fearlessly, comes from Jesus Christ. Galatians 5:1.'Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage.'
Whenever we have discussed faith, you have stated that you walk by faith. Yet, no sooner have you stated this, than you say that to walk by faith means to follow the Ten Commandments. These Ten Commandments are laid down in Exodus 20:1-17 and each contains a negative:
'no other gods before me'
'not make unto thee any graven image'
'not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain;'
'thou shalt not do any work'
'that thy days may be long upon the land'
'shalt not kill'
'shalt not commit adultery'
'shalt not steal'
'shalt not bear false witness'
With every negative, or warning, comes the threat of punishment. This threat of punishment is a judgment, a curse, not a mercy. Hence we find, that death is nearly always the punishment for transgression of the Ten Commandments.
Here is the judgment against idolatry.
Deut. 17:6. 'At the mouth of two witnesses, or three witnesses, shall he that is worthy of death be put to death; but at the mouth of one witness he shall not be put to death.'
And the judgment for not keeping the weekly sabbath. [Exodus 31:15] 'Six days may work be done; but in the seventh is the sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD: whosoever doeth any work in the sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.'
Deuteronomy 11:26-28. 'Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.'
These words help to clarify responsibility under the covenant of law, made between God and Israel. Under the law, there were to be blessings and curses. To break any commandment would result in a punishment.
In the present age of grace, we know that the curse of the law, the punishment for sin, was borne by Christ upon the cross.
Galatians 3:9-14. 'So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham. For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed
is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
But no man is justified by the law in the sight of God,
it is evident: for, The just shall live by faith.
And the law is not of faith: but, The man that doeth them shall live in them.
Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us: for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree: That the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus Christ;
that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.'
'The reconciliation of law with liberty, issuing in a service which is perfect freedom, is attained through the Spirit of Christ: 'the law of the Spirit of life in Jesus Christ hath made me free' [Rom.8:2], the spirit of adoption superseding the spirit of bondage, that love may cast out fear. Law, then, is no longer a law
under which, but a law
by which we act, becoming a law of our spiritual nature.' [Dean Scott - Speaker's Commentary]
Smith Wigglesworth, whose writings never deviate from matters of faith, wrote:
'The Holy Ghost shows us that we must never look back to the law of sin and death from which we have been delivered. God has brought us into a new order of things, a life of love and liberty in Christ Jesus that is beyond all human comprehension. Many are brought into this new life through the power of the Spirit of God, and then, like the Galatians, who ran well at the beginning, they try to perfect themselves on the lines of legalism. They go back from the life in the Spirit to a life on natural lines. God is not pleased with this, for He has no place for the man who has lost the vision. The only thing to do is repent. Don't try to cover up anything. If you have been tripped up on any line, confess it out, and then look to God to bring you to a place of stability of faith where your whole walk will be in the Spirit.' [The Pentecostal Evangel, Nov.25,1922]
I can see blessing and benefit stem from an agreed day of rest each week, but the legal requirement to take a specific day, with the threat of punishment for non-compliance, is not what I understand as grace.
Christians choosing to assemble on Sunday, under no obligation or threat of punishment, was a practice that helped to differentiate between grace and law.
