“He that hath My commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me: and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and will manifest Myself to him.” (John 14:21)
In this Scripture Jesus makes a distinction between having His commandments and keeping them. Most translations read has and keep. The Good News Bible reads accept and keep. God’s Word Translation Bible reads knows and obeys. The Mace New Testament reads has received and keeps. The meaning of the words in the Greek is broad and doesn’t help. We have to look to the circumstances of the times in which Jesus lived.
There were the Pharisees which the Bible portray as hypocrites. Jesus is speaking and teaching His disciples. And when He teaches them, He makes a distinction between having His commandments and keeping them or obeying them. The commandments of Jesus are not separate or different from God’s commandments. Their interpretation by the Pharisees who had the commandments and demanded that the people obey them found loopholes by which they could say they obeyed, but the intention of God in the commandment was not kept. Jesus points this out them various times.
Jesus points out that by their tradition, they have disobeyed God’s commandments. “But He answered and said unto them, Why do ye also transgress the commandment of God by your tradition? For God commanded, saying, Honour thy father and mother: and, He that curseth father or mother, let him die the death. But ye say, Whosoever shall say to his father or his mother, It is a gift, by whatsoever thou mightest be profited by me; And honour not his father or his mother, he shall be free. Thus have ye made the commandment of God of none effect by your tradition.” (Matthew 15:3-6) Jesus also points out to them that they pick and choose which parts of the commandments they obey. “Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier matters of the law, judgment, mercy, and faith: these ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” (Matthew 23:23)
Jesus tells us we need to be more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees to enter the kingdom of heaven. “For I say unto you, That except your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom of heaven.” (Matthew 5:20) In God’s eyes, the scribes and Pharisees had the commandments of God, but they were not keeping them. There are two requirements to loving God and receiving the revelation of Him, having His commandments and obeying them. And Jesus warned His disciples and warns us today not to be like the Pharisees, finding loopholes and only partially obeying His commandments.
The Truth of the Gospel is that we cannot in our human nature be righteous. It is only through the righteousness of Jesus. When we receive Jesus as our Lord and Savior, He clothes us with His righteousness. We stand on His obedience to the law. We cannot stand on our righteousness because we cannot obey completely. We all come short. “But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:21-23).
It’s not tradition that we fall on, but rather the cultural norm of today. If we have been to church, have gone to Sunday School or have had any other teaching in a church, we have received God’s commandments. Some of us were even required to memorize the ten commandments. We have, have received and know the commandments of God, even if we have not received Jesus as Lord of our lives. Yet we do not keep them in God’s eyes. Christianity is counterculture to the world today. What is acceptable and normal in the world is not acceptable to God according to His commandments. And because things are acceptable to the world, we accept them, but they are contrary to God’s commandments.
Our eyes immediately turn to others. “They” are not keeping God’s commandments. But the Scriptures are for us. We are to look inward constantly. Those of us who have made Jesus Lord of our lives, need to consult with the Lord at every step. Are the words I am saying, the things I am doing or not doing, and the desires of my heart approved by my Lord? Is Jesus sitting on the throne of my life? It’s not merely about doing good and not doing wrong. Some things are good, but they may not be what God wants.
For those of us who have made Jesus Lord, the commandments of God are written in our hearts. “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart.” (2Corinthians 3:3) The Holy Spirit continually speaks to us God’s will. We have God’s commandments and when we obey them, we show we love our Lord, and that God loves us. And God reveals Himself to us.
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