Luke 18:18-21
(Romans 13:8-10)
I have heard both of these texts used to insinuate that when Yeshua and Paul mentioned the commandments, they didn’t really mean each and every commandment in the law.
In Luke 18, a rich, young ruler comes to Yeshua and asks what he must do to inherit eternal life. Yeshua responds by saying: keep the commandments. He goes on to mention five commandments: do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, and honor your parents. Was Yeshua, in stating only these five, implying that the other five of the ten commandments are not important?
I don’t believe that people using this argument think it through completely. I realize they are for usually attempting to by-pass the fourth commandment (concerning the Sabbath), but in doing so are they also saying that the commandments against idolatry and blasphemy (second and third commandment) are not important? What about the first commandment, that teaches us to not have other mighty ones before Yahweh; is that important?
We should realize that Yeshua was not giving the young man an exhaustive study of the law in ten seconds. He only began mentioning a few commandments to briefly explain what He meant by saying, "You know the commandments (vs. 20)."
It is possible (but we can't be for sure) 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 felt he knew and obeyed all of the commandments, so there was no need to go through them.
It is similar with the text in Romans. Paul is discussing human-to-human relationships, therefore he specifically names commandments that deal with the horizontal plane.
Paul is not saying there aren't other commandments, he is only giving a short list, and then telling his readers that all the human-to-human commandments can be summarized by loving your 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 what he must do to inherit eternal life. Yeshua responds by saying: keep the commandments. He goes on to mention five commandments: do not commit adultery, do not murder, do not steal, do not bear false witness, and honor your parents. Was Yeshua, in stating only these five, implying that the other five of the ten commandments are not important?
I don’t believe that people using this argument think it through completely. I realize they are for usually attempting to by-pass the fourth commandment (concerning the Sabbath), but in doing so are they also saying that the commandments against idolatry and blasphemy (second and third commandment) are not important? What about the first commandment, that teaches us to not have other mighty ones before Yahweh; is that important?
We should realize that Yeshua was not giving the young man an exhaustive study of the law in ten seconds. He only began mentioning a few commandments to briefly explain what He meant by saying, "You know the commandments (vs. 20)."
It is possible (but we can't be for sure) 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 felt he knew and obeyed all of the commandments, so there was no need to go through them.
It is similar with the text in Romans. Paul is discussing human-to-human relationships, therefore he specifically names commandments that deal with the horizontal plane.
Paul is not saying there aren't other commandments, he is only giving a short list, and then telling his readers that all the human-to-human commandments can be summarized by loving your 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.