Under the conditions and promises of the new covenant, is it possible for
all Christians to obey the ten commandments?
[Further Study]
Matthew 5:48 "Be ye therefore perfect, even as
your Father which is in heaven is perfect."
1 Corinthians 10:13 "There hath no temptation
taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you
to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to
escape, that ye may be able to bear it."
Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ:
nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now
live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave
himself for me."
Philippians 2:13 "For it is God which worketh
in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure."
Hebrews 13:20-21 "Now the God of peace, that
brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through
the blood of the everlasting covenant, Make you perfect in every good work to do his
will, working in you that which is wellpleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ;
to whom be glory for ever and ever. Amen."
The new covenant succeeds where the old fails because it is fulfilled, not in our own human strength, but in the power of faith in the indwelling Christ.
"The same law that was engraved upon the tables of stone is written by the Holy Spirit upon the tables of the heart. Instead of going about to establish our own righteousness we accept the righteousness of Christ. His blood atones for our sins. His obedience is accepted for us. Then the heart renewed by the Holy Spirit will bring forth 'the fruits of the Spirit'. Through the grace of Christ we shall live in obedience to the law of God written upon our hearts. Having the Spirit of Christ, we shall walk even as He walked....
"God's work is the same in all time, although there are different degrees of development and different manifestations of His power, to meet the wants of men in different ages. Beginning with the first gospel promise, and coming down through the patriarchal and Jewish ages, and even to the present time, there has been a gradual unfolding of the purposes of God in the plan of redemption. The Saviour typified in the rites and ceremonies of the Jewish law is the very same that is revealed in the gospel. The clouds that enveloped His divine form have rolled back; the mists and shades have disappeared; and Jesus, the world's Redeemer, stands revealed. He who proclaimed the law from Sinai, and delivered to Moses the precepts of the ritual law, is the same that spoke the Sermon on the Mount, the great principles of love to God, which He set forth as the foundation of the law and the prophets, are only a reiteration of what He had spoken through Moses to the Hebrew people: 'Hear, 0 Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord: and thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.' Deuteronomy 6:4-5. 'Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.' Leviticus 19:18. The teacher is the same in both dispensations. God's claims are the same. The principles of His government are the same. For all proceed from Him 'with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.' James 1:17." Patriarchs and Prophets, pages 372, 373.