"Where is the mandate to be baptized in the Ten Commandments?"
The Letters Of The Law
The statements above are so common for preachers who avoid the keeping of the seventh-day Sabbath. The Sabbath is in the middle of the Ten Commandments, and thus to avoid it is to get rid of God's Moral Law.
When I was young I never heard of a preacher that considered the Ten Commandments as literally ten precepts alone. Even at that age, I understood that it is not only the letter that one should follow but also the spirit of the law (principles behind each precept). Maybe I'm not yet exposed to those kind of teachings then.
This legalistic view of the law, strictly following every letter of the law without considering its spirit, is actually an old problem of humanity. Man always wanted to enumerate the "do's and dont's" and try to find holes in it.
This was exactly the mentality of the people when Christ came to this earth. Obeying the law became a burden to them. Consider the story of the rich young man in Matthew 19:16-30 and another story with the one "well-versed in the Law" in Matthew 22:35-40.
Young Man: “What good things should i do to have eternal life?”
Jesus: “..keep the commandments.”
Young Man: “which?”
(In Tagalog, “Alin-alin?”)
Pharisee: “Which of the commandments are the most important?”
You see? That is how most humans regarded the law. They want it to be enumerated to them, just like a checklist. But that is not what God wants us to do. God wants us to obey His law in SPIRIT and in TRUTH (John 4:23).
It is the 10th commandment that the young man disobeyed.
Exodus 20:17 "Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's." KJV
Maybe somebody will ask, "Where is the 'giving of wealth to the poor' in the 10th commandment?" Yes, we cannot read it word-for-word but the essence, the spirit, the principle is there. The 10th commandment is about contentment or being satisfied.
Jesus followed the young man's way of thinking toward God's law by enumerating it for him, and immediately the young man said "All these things have I kept from my youth up..". At this very moment it is evident that the young man regarded the law in letters only.
When the young man continued with "what lack I yet?", Jesus steered his mind towards the "keeping of the law in spirit". The story tells us that the young man "had great possessions". So Jesus told the young man to "go and give your wealth to the poor", the young man was saddened.
Thus, the story tells us that giving wealth to the poor is another way of obeying the 10th commandment. If we are satisfied to the blessings that God is giving us, then don't "covet others' possessions". It means be satisfied. And the result of this is by "giving our wealth to the poor" especially if we are "in great possessions". This is how the spirit of the law works.
The Spirit of the Law
James told us that the Moral Law should be regarded as one entity (James 2:10). The first four is about loving God, and the next six is loving co-creatures. So the Moral Law is all about love. “Love your God..and your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:37-40). This is the ultimate spirit of the law: LOVE.
Many said that this is the new commandment of Christ as a replacement to the Ten Commandments. But it is not.
Deut. 6:5 “Love Jehovah thy God with all your heart..”
Lev. 19:18 “..love thy neighbor as thyself”.
Lev. 19:34 “..the stranger that journeys with you..thou shall love him as thyself.”
Zech. 8:17 “..and let none of you devise evil in your hearts against your neighbor..”
These are texts from the Old Testament, and Christ connected it to the Moral Law as what we had read from Matthew chapters 19 and 22. So both in the Old and New Testament, the spirit and letters of the law are in effect.
The Example of Jesus
Isaiah 42:21 "The LORD is well pleased for his righteousness' sake; he will magnify the law, and make it honourable."
Matthew 5:17-19 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill.."
Keep this in mind: Destroying or abolishing the law (Ten Commandments) is not making it honourable.
Examples of the Godly Man Both From Old and New Testament
David: “Great peace have those who love Your law..nothing causes them to stumble..Your law is my delight. The law is perfect, converting the soul..” Ps 119:165,174; 19:7.
Paul – “the law is holy, just, and good. For I delight in the law of God.” Rom 7:12,22
James – ‘it’s the law of liberty.” James 1:25
How did they arrive in such statements if their thinking of the Moral law is that it is limited and burdensome? The answer?
They viewed the Ten Commandments in a broader sense, not word-by-word, not as checklist, but even in its spirit. This is how God expects us to view it also.
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