Luke 18:18-21 (Romans 13:8-10)
I have heard some people bring up both of these texts to insinuate that when Yeshua and Paul mentioned the commandments they did not really mean each and every commandment in Torah.
In Luke 18, a rich young ruler comes to Yeshua and asks Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Yeshua responds by telling this man that he should keep the commandments. Our Messiah then goes on to mention five commandments total: do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, and honor your parents. Was Yeshua, in quoting only these five, implying that the other five of the ten commandments are not important?
I really do not believe that most people using this argument think it through completely. I realize that they are for the most part attempting to by-pass the fourth commandment (concerning the Sabbath) but in doing so are they also saying that commandments against idolatry and blasphemy (second and third commandment) are not important? What about the first commandment of the ten (Exodus 20:1-17) that teaches a man to not have other mighty ones besides Yahweh; is that important?
We should realize that Yeshua was not giving the young man an exhaustive study of the Torah in ten seconds. He was only beginning to quote a few commandments of Torah to briefly explain what He meant by saying, "You know the commandments (verse 20)." It is possible (but we can't be for sure here) that as Yeshua was naming off the commandments, the young man interrupted him in verse 21 by saying, "I have kept all these from my youth." In other words while the young man listened to Yeshua name off commandments, he hurriedly explained to Yeshua that he knew all of the commandments so there was no need to go through them.
It is similar with the Pauline text in Romans. Paul is discussing man-to-man relationships therefore he specifically names commandments that deal with this horizontal plane. Paul is not saying that there aren't other commandments, he is only giving a short list and then telling his readers that all the man-to-man commandments can be summarized by loving ones neighbor as yourself. If you truly love your neighbor as yourself then you won't do things like steal from him or give a false testimony against him.
In Luke 18, a rich young ruler comes to Yeshua and asks Him what he must do to inherit eternal life. Yeshua responds by telling this man that he should keep the commandments. Our Messiah then goes on to mention five commandments total: do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, and honor your parents. Was Yeshua, in quoting only these five, implying that the other five of the ten commandments are not important?
I really do not believe that most people using this argument think it through completely. I realize that they are for the most part attempting to by-pass the fourth commandment (concerning the Sabbath) but in doing so are they also saying that commandments against idolatry and blasphemy (second and third commandment) are not important? What about the first commandment of the ten (Exodus 20:1-17) that teaches a man to not have other mighty ones besides Yahweh; is that important?
We should realize that Yeshua was not giving the young man an exhaustive study of the Torah in ten seconds. He was only beginning to quote a few commandments of Torah to briefly explain what He meant by saying, "You know the commandments (verse 20)." It is possible (but we can't be for sure here) that as Yeshua was naming off the commandments, the young man interrupted him in verse 21 by saying, "I have kept all these from my youth." In other words while the young man listened to Yeshua name off commandments, he hurriedly explained to Yeshua that he knew all of the commandments so there was no need to go through them.
It is similar with the Pauline text in Romans. Paul is discussing man-to-man relationships therefore he specifically names commandments that deal with this horizontal plane. Paul is not saying that there aren't other commandments, he is only giving a short list and then telling his readers that all the man-to-man commandments can be summarized by loving ones neighbor as yourself. If you truly love your neighbor as yourself then you won't do things like steal from him or give a false testimony against him.
