The Other Six Commandments

I have spent a considerable amount of time recently studying the Sermon on the Mount.

These words of Jesus begin in Matthew chapter 5.

His words have been with us for a very long time.

Centuries ago, theologians extracted from them the “Six Smaller Commandments”.

Personally, I do not care for the word “smaller” but I have kept it here for historical accuracy.

Just what are the six smaller commandments?

Do not respond to violence with violence.

Do not divorce your spouse.

Do not swear oaths.

Do not be angry without cause.

Do not look lustfully at someone.

Love your enemies.

In looking at these individually, I have drawn a few conclusions.

The first seems to be in direct opposition to the “eye for an eye” doctrine found in the Old Testament.

When we feel we have been wronged our initial thoughts often turn to retribution or retaliation.

As for divorce, I will not debate under what circumstances divorce should be granted.

But given the current divorce rate, I will say that it is now far easier for couples to divorce rather than work through their problems.

As for the swearing of oaths, we have even made exceptions to that.

For example, we may be required to swear oaths if we serve in the military or hold government office.

As for getting angry without cause, I would venture that practically everyone who has ever felt angry has also found a way of justifying his anger.

As for not looking at someone lustfully, this is not easily done.

We don’t even have to go out of our way to look for it.

Advertisers have understood for a long time that sex sells.

This is but one example of how we are tempted into disobeying this teaching.

As for loving our enemies, we may find this sixth commandment the most difficult of all.

It flies in the face of the conditioning the world has imposed on us from our youth.

We certainly have a hard time living up to these commandments of Jesus.

Yet we often make the task harder ourselves.

One way we do this is when we ask ourselves what Jesus meant rather than focusing on what he actually said.

Another is when we try do everything on our own.

Philippians 4:19 (NET) - And my God will supply your every need according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://faithfulfeetteam.blogspot.com/ on Friday, November 3, 2017.

I will be back here on Friday, November 10, 2017