Avoiding Evil

“Honor your father and your mother” is the fifth commandment given to us by God. This commandment not only includes our biological mother and fathers, but also other human authorities in our lives such as political leaders, police, pastors, and so on. According to Deuteronomy the people had kings and judges, and other higher officials who they were to respect and honor not simply their father and mother.

The opposite of honor is dishonor, which means that anytime we dishonor the authorities in our lives, that God has put in place, then we break this command. Unless they ask us to do something that causes us to sin against God, then we should honor them as our authority. God is our heavenly father and ultimate authority in our lives. We live in a society that focuses more on the individual than on a group of people and as a result in many unfortunate ways the family is breaking down. These commandments go unobserved today as children are spoiled and honored above their parents and enter many stages of rebellion against their parents, against authorities and even against the Church. This is a violation of God’s command.

The sixth commandment is “You shall not kill.” This is another commandment that is often passed over as being simple, and yet it means so many different things. Most people know that it is wrong to kill someone, meaning to literally kill them, but we often pass over the fact that we should not injure them or ourselves in any way. This means that when we harm someone with our tongues, slander their name, or even withhold something that they need to live, then we are in a sense killing them. We can commit murder, mentally, spiritually, or physically. By corrupting others morally, enticing others to sin, or poisoning peoples spirits with false teaching we are committing spiritual murder. As I have said before, we live in a world today that is focused on the individual self, and when we do this we have a greater tendency to care only for ourselves and not others causing us to break this commandment more often than we recognize.

The other thing prohibited in this commandment is harming ourselves. We should not harm ourselves in anyway whether it is placing ourselves in the way of danger for no reason, or gluttony we are harming our bodies, the very temple of the spirit of God. When we slight our time with God and no longer take the time to develop our relationship with him we are committing spiritual murder of ourselves and are guilty of breaking this command. God is our creator and he declared his creation to be “very good,” we have no right to destroy that which God has made. It is implied that if we are not to kill others and ourselves then we are to protect and honor others and ourselves instead. This including doing things for others that helps to build them up, keeps them safe, and saves them. We should seek to help people to grow spiritually and not to hinder them. In the same way we should do what we can to protect our bodies from harm, and to grow spiritually in God’s commands.

The third commandment is, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” This commandment is not as narrow as many try and make it out to be, meaning there is more to it than simply saying the name of God in an inappropriate way. Taking God’s name in vain is done more often than we realize, for example even worshipping other gods and idols is giving away credit and honor that only God deserves to something other than him and this is taking his name in vain. Using God’s name in a light, passing way is also dishonoring God’s name. He is a holy and righteous God and deserves our utmost respect above all other authorities in our lives. Deuteronomy teaches us that God wants to be in fellowship with him, and any time that we use his name in vain we are removing ourselves from fellowship. Any sin a Christian commits is taking God’s name in vain, because we are proclaiming the name of Christ in our lives, and dishonoring it by our actions. If at any time we break any one of the Ten Commandments, we break the third one. Watson brings up the fact that it is implied in this command that we should not dishonor God’s name, but in fact we should honor his name instead. Any time we do not honor God, or we dishonor him in anyway then we break this command. We must take our commitment to him seriously by seeking holiness and avoiding evil.

The fourth commandment is “Remember the Sabbath-day to keep it holy.” The Sabbath day should be set apart for the worship and honoring of God. Watson makes the point that God gives us six whole days to do our work and only requires one day devoted fully to his worship. God wants to be acknowledged and honored in worship and he also wants to give us rest as well. Any command God gives is always for our own good, and yet in our present day we do not completely set aside the Sabbath day to honor God, and we have even made it almost impossible. In most cases TV, naps, and many other things take the place of reading the word and meditation on God and his commands. God wants us to remember him each week because he knows that we so quickly forget, and in doing so we prepare ourselves for a week of living in holiness to him. God has every right to ask us to set aside a day for him, and we have every responsibility to do so, even when we are surrounded by things that distract us.

In the days of Moses, God gave his people a gift, the summary of the law in the 10 Commandments. These ten laws were at the very heart of the covenant relationship between God and his people. The first four commandments are related to a person’s relationship with God himself, and the last six are focused on human relationships. Jesus summed up the entire 10 commandments when he said to “Love the Lord your God with all of your heart with all of your mind and with all of our soul, and love your neighbor as yourself.” We cannot disobey any of the first four commandments and say that we love God with all of our heart, and in the same way we cannot disobey any of the last six commandments and say that we love our neighbor as ourselves. Obedience is what is demanded from us in the law. According to Watson obedience is the rule of the commandments and love is the sum. In our willingness to be obedient to our God and delighted in his commands, we show our love for Him, for those who love God will diligently work to obey his decrees. God is our God and we should work meticulously to bring glory to his name through our obedience.

Apart from what the world tells us the Ten Commandments are authoritative rules that we must follow, not suggestions that we should think about. They convey a basic morality that is required by God for His people, and observing them is just as important to us today as it was back when they were given to the Hebrew people. In this paper I will attempt to discuss the importance of each commandment in our lives today.

The first commandment is “Thou shall have no other gods before me.” There should be nothing else in our life that has priority over God, we owe Him our allegiance. God is our God and we should have no other.

If we are not to have any other before our God then the assumption is that the one true God is our God. Watson states that “Christians are condemned who profess to own God for their God and yet do not live as if he were there God.” Because we profess him to be our God we owe him our greatest adherence and even though he deserves far more then we can give he should get no less.

When studying Deuteronomy it is clear that the Israelites had a tendency to follow the false gods of other nations, forsaking the real God. They often placed their faith and trust in things other than God himself which eventually cost them all dearly. This same commandment applies to us today in view of the fact that we often trust in other things more than God and according to Watson we, “make it a god.” We have a tendency in our present society to fall into humanism and ultimately we begin trusting in our own abilities, strengths, and knowledge above God. People today are tempted to place their trust in money, security, and other earthly things rather than placing their trust in God, which is making these things their god and breaking the first command.

Apart from trust, if we love anything other than God we also make that very thing our god. A big thing in our present civilization is entertainment and all too often we spend more time watching TV, reading magazines, and listening to the radio than we do spending time with our God we claim to love. We love our pleasure, we love our food, and we love our comfort more than we love our God, which shows that we do not honor our God, we disgrace his holy name.

The second commandment is “You shall not make for yourself an idol.” The first commandment dealt with what we worship, the second deals with how we worship. Watson explains that it is impossible to make a true image of God and therefore to worship an image is absurd and unlawful. God declares himself to be a jealous God, wanting us to worship him and him alone in the way he chooses to be worshiped. Worship styles are part of a common battle in our churches today. We have an inclination to create the way we want to worship for ourselves and then try to worship God in our way instead of his. When worship comes to the point were we are seeking to please ourselves and not to please God we make our worship style our idol. By breaking this commandment we also break the first one, in that we are making something more important in our life than God himself.

Many tend to worship God in the image that they have created him to be. In order to worship God for who he is and not worship a false image we must have knowledge of God that does not come simply from within ourselves. If we have a false understanding of God and make him out to be something that he is not then we are not worshiping the true God, but a false one. I wonder how many churches today are worshiping a God that they created and not the God of the bible. It is our responsibility to get to know the true God that we worship through his word and through our personal experience with him. God wants us to worship him and him alone in his own image and not in the image that we create for him.

There is a God who created this world and all that is in it, He does exist and He is in control of all things. There is only one God, who reveals Himself as three separate persons, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He has created all reality out of nothing, and this world depends upon Him, not only for its existence but for its sustenance. God maintains and governs the world, and he is the author of all history. His most precious creations are humans, in which he made in his own likeness and who he has not abandoned but he is a part of their day to day life. God’s perfection makes Him the absolute standard of right and also requires His just condemnation of wrong. He is a very loving, patient, and forgiving God, but he is also a strong and Jealous God. He never changes, God is the same now as he was when he created the world, and he will always be the same. He is very much a part of the world, and yet very much separate. He maintains some of the human personality such as mind, will, and emotion, in which he can communicate and form relationships with people. However, God does not have the limitations that humans do, since he is all-knowing, all-powerful, and ever-present. God reveals his love for humanity in the Bible in which He has spoken his words through man, throughout history. His word is ultimate truth, and its message is completely perfect, straight from God himself which is a standard for his creation to know Him and live by. God also reveals his ultimate, incomprehensible love through His only Son who was born of a virgin, was without sin, and died on the cross taking on the sin of all humanity. God loves his creation so much that He came, died for them, and was resurrected three days later, in order to save his creation from perishing.

In this world God also has a rival, an enemy who tries to destroy every good thing God stands for and has created, that is Satan. Satan is a hinderance and stumbling block to not only God’s people, but his purpose and plan.

The universe is not a self-enclosed system in which everything happens because of other events within the system, although it does have that aspect. As creator, God maintains the universe all the time, and can act within nature. He sustains the world by natural laws, which people can observe, predict, and rely upon and Since both normal and abnormal phenomena are the work of God, miracles constitute a part of His order. God has not only created the earth, and everything on it, he has also created the stars the heavens, and everything else. The only spiritual realm of this world is through God himself, all other things that are outside of God and his word are false and wicked. God has a plan and purpose for the universe he has created, which means our life and existence has a purpose. He did not just create the world and leave it to run by itself, but he has created it, he maintains it and he has a plan for it. He has known us, even before we were in our mothers womb, and he has a complete plan for our lives if we choose to follow Him. Since man’s rebellion has adversely affected and corrupted the physical world, God will establish a new heaven and a new earth. Until then, God holds humanity responsible for their environment as stewards of His creation.

Knowledge is possible, and is very much a part of our lives. Knowledge about God and knowing God are two different things, but our knowledge both of God and about God comes from the spirit He has given us. We cannot trust ourselves and our own knowledge but must lean on the knowledge that comes from the Lord, since that is ultimate truth. Knowledge does not just come from sense experience alone, or reason alone, but is a combination of sense experience, reason, and some inate knowledge that God has already planted within us. We pursue knowledge and truth, and evaluate it looking for those universal truths, which provide a meaningful framework for understanding the world. Science may be a good tool to gain understanding of some things it cannot be the ultimate standard for truth, and knowledge. Both science and the truth of Gods revelation work together to help us understand and gain knowledge. Knowledge of the world is not the only possible knowledge, but knowledge about God is also a possible reality. Since again God is very much a part of our lives and this world he wants us to know him personally, and He wants to interact with his creation on a one on one basis in which he does through his inspired Word, Prayer, and Worship. He has revealed knowledge about Himself to us, and continues to do so as we grow in His word. Because of our own limitations and God’s insights into the natural and supernatural world, we need God’s revelation as guide in order to both acquire and evaluate knowledge. God reveals his knowledge through the universe, through the nature of humanity, through Jesus Christ, and through His written word, which serves as a reliable and authoritative guide.

God has given us moral laws which govern human conduct and shows us the difference between right and wrong. These laws to live by, are not just the ten commandments but on the words of God throughout his Bible. God gives us so many different commandments and laws to follow, that our life may prosper and glorify his name. The laws that God has given us apply to all humans not just some and God’s laws are the same regardless of time, cultures or individuals. There is no exception to Gods moral laws, and they apply regardless of how we feel, or what we think. God has planted inside us when he created us and intuition of right and wrong, He has also given us His word, and the Holy Spirit to correct us, and to reveal what is right and what is wrong. Its not something that we can choose, there is either right, or wrong, no in between, no exceptions. Morality is exactly the same for all cultures. If something is deemed by God to be wrong, it does not matter what time period, what part of the earth, or what culture you are from it is wrong. In view of the fact that God gives us rules and moral regulations to live by, he also allows consequences and punishment when we disobey.

In the beginning man was good, until man chose to sin, and became corrupt. Man is now born into sin and is inherently bad. Just look at children, you never ever have to teach a child how to be bad they already know how to do that, but you do have to teach them to be good. We cannot depend on ourselves to accomplish anything because what we do on our own is corrupt and is never good enough. Man has a choice to go by his own strength or God’s, and we can choose to serve God or not. Through God alone can we accomplish great things and through God alone can we be good. God must judge sin but wants to forgive. Forgiveness is always something costly. Death means more that physical death, and its God’s judgment on sin. Death does not end human existence. The body may die but the spirit lives on in either heaven or hell. Man has a problem of sin, and can in no way enter heaven while he is corrupt, man cannot solve his problems by himself. God must intervene. He did this in the substitutionary death and subsequent resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Humanity was created in the image of God. While people resumeble God in areas such as personality, volition, emotions, morals, and creativity, they differ from Him in their limitations both physical and mental. Humanity corrupted this likeness of God by rebellion but the likeness has not been obliterated.

Humanity rebelled against its creator. While the race was not so created, it still reflects Adamic contamination by refusing to live by God’s revealed laws. God reacts to this rebellion with wrath and punishment. However, He also provides forgiveness. Humanity can become children of God by adoption because of Jesus Christ’s substitutionary death and subsequent resurrection from death. This adoption comes with the presence of the Holy Spirit who conforms the adopted to the image of God.

The Bible is God’s complete and correct written word. We can classify the Bibles teachings into our characteristics: the authority of Scripture; the clarity of Scripture; the necessity of Scripture; and the sufficiency of Scripture. We should continually be aware of the characteristics of the bible as we study its teachings. The characteristics of the bible help to understand the Scripture more as we study, and it helps us to see what the whole bible says about itself.
The authority of Scripture means, “all the words in Scripture are God’s words in such a way that to disbelieve or disobey any word of Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God.” The Bible itself claims that all the words of Scripture are God’s words, and furthermore God is said to speak through the prophets, thus what the prophet says in God’s name, God says.

It is one thing to say that the Bible claims to be the words of God, but it is another thing to be convinced that it is true. One thing we must realize is that without the work of the spirit we will in no way understand or accept the truths of the Bible. Because of sin we think incorrectly about God and creation, and therefore we must fully depend on the Holy Spirit overcoming the effects of sin, enabling us to see the Bible and this world for what it is.

In order to consider the authority of scripture we must also consider the truthfulness of scripture and it’s inerrancy. The inerrancy of Scripture means that Scripture in the original manuscripts does not contain anything that is contrary to fact. Therefore since the words of the Bible are God’s words, it is correct to conclude that all of the words in scripture are completely true without error in any part. We can also say that God’s word is the Ultimate Standard of Truth, it is not simply true, but it is truth itself. We can be assured with complete confidence that no fact will ever be discovered that will contradict the Bible, and we can see in history that nothing has been able to contradict it or prove it false for two thousand years. If the inerrancy of Scripture is in any way limited or disregarded, or made relative to a view of truth contrary to the Bible’s own, the authority of Scripture is inescapably impaired. If we cease to maintain the total inerrancy of the Bible, then great and grave confusion results. The Bible loses its authority and purpose. If Scripture is to remain authoritative in our lives, as God has made it to be, then we cannot deny that the Bible is completely inerrant.

Another characteristic of the bible is the clarity of Scripture. Clarity of Scripture means, “the Bible is written in such a way that its teachings can be understood by all who will read it seeking God’s help and being willing to follow it.” It is a mistake to think that scripture is impossible to understand, in fact the Old and New Testaments affirm that scripture is written in such a way that its teaching are able to be understood by ordinary believers. God’s word is said to be such that even the “simple” understand it rightly and are made wise by it (Ps. 19:7). Grudem makes a point of saying that “God’s Word is so understandable, so clear, that even this kind of person (the simple person) is made wise by it.” Failure to understand what the scriptures say falls on the person that is reading and never on the scriptures themselves. The New Testament frequently states that the ability to understand the Scriptures rightly is a moral and spiritual issue, rather than an intellectual ability (1 Cor 2:14).

The necessity of Scripture is another characteristic. The necessity of Scripture is the fact that “the Bible is necessary for knowing the gospel, for maintaining spiritual life, and for knowing God’s will.”

The Bible is necessary for knowledge of the Gospel, (Romans 10:13-17) Paul’s says “everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved, but how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in Him who they have never heard?… So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by preaching of Christ.” One must either read the gospel message in the Bible, or hear it from another but that fact is that the message comes from the scriptures, and if no one could ever read it or hear it, then no one would ever be saved.

The Bible is necessary for maintaining Spiritual Life, (Deut 8:3) “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God”. Our spiritual life is maintained by daily nourishment with the Word of God, just as our physical lives are maintained by daily nourishment with physical food.
Sin corrupts our thinking processes, and distorts our perception of right and wrong, making us unable to see God, or know God without scripture, and therefore the Bible is necessary for certain knowledge of God’s will.
The sufficiency of Scripture means that “Scripture contained all the words of God he intended His people to have at each stage of redemptive history, and that it now contains everything we need God to tell us for salvation, for trusting him perfectly, and for obeying him perfectly.” God has told us what he wants us to know in his word, nothing more, and nothing less, so we should rejoice in that and be content. The Bible is also sufficient to equip us for living the Christian life. Anything that God wants us to do; we should be well equipped to do it through His sufficient words. The sufficiency of Scripture should remind us that no modern day revelation should be placed on a level equal to Scripture.
In conclusion, we can see and understand that there is nothing else in this world that can take the place of Scripture. It is God’s inerrant word, and every word can be used to further bring us wisdom, and benefit our lives. There has never been anything and there never will be anything that compromises the truth found in the word, and everything mentioned has and will come to pass. It is completely legitimate for us to say that Scripture is sufficient, clear, inerrant, necessary, and it is the ultimate authority for our lives.