Commands of Christ
"My Load is LIGHT and My Yoke is Kindly" - Christ Jesus
Christ whilst observing the heavy burdens placed upon people by religious leaders condemned the heaping of unnecessary traditions and man made religious laws upon the people.
6 Jesus answered, “You are all hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he spoke about you. Isaiah wrote,‘These people show honor to me with words. But their hearts are far from me.7 Their worship of me is worthless. The things they teach are nothing but human rules they have memorized.’ Isaiah 29:138 You have stopped following the commands of God. Now you only follow the teachings of men.”[b]9 Then Jesus said to them: “You think you are clever! You ignore the commands of God so that you can follow your own teachings! Mark 7 ICB
"So you are teaching that it is not important to do what God said. You think it is more important to follow those traditions you have, which you pass on to others. And you do many things like that.” Mark 7 verse 13 ERV
Bearing Jesus words in mind it is refreshing to examine the four gospel accounts to see which commands Jesus actually gave. Of course the gospels are full of good advice, but here we focus in on just the vital commands.
This is a work in progress:
The gospel of Matthew:
Chapter 5 verse 44 and 45 But I tell you, 1/ Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you , [aj]To show that you are the children of your Father Who is in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the wicked and on the good, and makes the rain fall upon the upright and the wrongdoers [alike].
Chapter 19 verses 18, 19 He said to Him, What [d]sort of commandments? [Or, which ones?] And Jesus answered,2/ You shall not kill, 3/You shall not commit adultery, 4/You shall not steal, 5/You shall not bear false witness, 6/ Honor your father and your mother, and, 7/ You shall love your neighbor as [you do] yourself
Chapter 26 verses 26 to 28 Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread and, [e]praising God, gave thanks and asked Him to bless it to their use, and when He had broken it, He gave it to the disciples and said, 8/ Take, eat; this is My body.27 And He took a cup, and when He had given thanks, He gave it to them, saying, 9/ Drink of it, all of you; For this is My blood of the new covenant, which [[f]ratifies the agreement and] is [g]being poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.
Chapter 28 verses 19 and 20 Go then and 10/make disciples of all the nations, 11/ baptizing them [b]into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,20 12/Teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you [c]all the days ([d]perpetually, uniformly, and on every occasion), to the [very] close and consummation of the age. [e]Amen (so let it be).
Just twelve overt commands is all we have discovered so far. Observing these commands is far from burdensome.