What is a biblical commandment?
Upvote:1
A Biblical commandment as applied to scripture is a directive from God to a people group. In the Old Testament, this was always from God the Father and was always directed to Israel by way of the Prophets. Most of the commandments are found in the Pentateuch, although God spoke through other prophets during different times in Israel's history.
In the New Testament, commandments came from the Messiah directly and were directed to Christian believers. The Apostles did not add to the commandments of Messiah but referred to Messianic commandments in their writings to the churches.
Any other commandments found in scripture would not be considered Biblical commandments but instead represent historical commandments from humans to other humans.
Upvote:1
A 'commandment' in the Bible is exactly what the definition says: "a command or mandate.". The Bible records many commandments. Many of the are ordinary commands made by people to others, such as kings or rulers commanding their subjects to do specific things. However when we walk about 'biblical commandments' it usually refers to God's commands to his people, and that's what the rest of this answer will talk about.
As you have correctly deduced, there are more than 10 commandments in the Bible. Orthodox Judaism identifies 613 commandments from God, in what Christians call the Old Testament. Christianity isn't going to disagree seriously with such a statement, though according to Christian theology they are not all still applicable. In the New Testament there is no agreement on how many commands there are, but there are different teachers who identify anything up to 1050. This page gives an overview of some numbers that have been attached to them. For Christianity the commands of Jesus have the full force of commands by God.
Given that there are so many commands, you might wonder why the Ten Commandments are so often talked about. The Ten occupy a special place in that they were the commands of God written on the tablets of stone and brought down the mountain by Moses at the time of God's first formal covenant with the Jewish people. They have always been considered as a 'foundational statement' of Judaism and Jewish Law, and by extension of Christianity, as well as a good summary of the larger numbers of commandments.
More post
- 📝 Man's immortality in the Garden of Eden
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the belief in incubus and succubus (sex demons)?
- 📝 Can a nation be under the control of a demon?
- 📝 Why is so hard to find a print version of ASV bible?
- 📝 According to Biblical Unitarians, who resurrected Jesus - the Father or the Son?
- 📝 Was any early martyr of the Church sawn in two, as mentioned in Hebrews?
- 📝 By Reformed Theology, Which Beliefs Accompany Saving Faith?
- 📝 What is the Jehovah's Witness perspective on salvation?
- 📝 Have Archaeologists recovered pieces of Noah's Ark?
- 📝 How would Jesus have addressed St. Joseph?
- 📝 Are there other biblical references where angels are disguised as humans?
- 📝 Are there documented reports about Jews around the time of Jesus? And what did they say about the first christians?
- 📝 Did Joshua worshiped the Ark of the Covenant?
- 📝 Question about Moses
- 📝 Can anyone explain Pope Paul VI's arguments in favor of Padre Pio?
- 📝 Why did the Apostles not go with the rest of the believers outside of Jerusalem?
- 📝 The Pope is resigning. How does a living pope confer his authority?
- 📝 Why did Protestants abandon Liturgy of the Hours?
- 📝 Why should Christians strive to live long lives? At what lengths should they go to do so?
- 📝 Does 1 Corinthians 9:27 contradict the doctrine of "The Perseverance of the Saints?"
- 📝 How do Mormons defend Reformed Egyptian as a legitimate language?
- 📝 Catholics marrying after civil divorce
- 📝 Authenticity of the Pontius Pilate's letter to Tiberius Caesar?
- 📝 Are funerals a way to reduce the time of the dead in purgatory
- 📝 Are there any theories or traditions for dating how long after creation the Fall of Man occurred?
- 📝 Is it in anyway lawfully possible for the Catholic Church to one day recognize the Anglican Church as having valid orders?
- 📝 What is the meaning of "rest in peace" ("RIP")?
- 📝 Which denominations would say that Jesus weeps for the souls in Hell?
- 📝 If everyone has a fair chance to be saved, then how is this reconciled with Romans 10:11-17 & John 6:44?
- 📝 What percentage of self-identifying Christians believe Jesus was not God, and instead was a messenger of God?
Source: stackoverflow.com
Search Posts
Related post
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the doctrine of the Trinity?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the claim that abortion is immoral?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis to claim that masturbation is a sin?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for the concept that Jesus spent time in Hell?
- 📝 What is the biblical justification for permitting female pastors?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for Jesus being God incarnate?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for Total Depravity?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for believing in the Book of Mormon?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying Lucifer is an angel?
- 📝 What are the biblical arguments that the Bible canon is closed?
- 📝 What is the Biblical support for Purgatory?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for Universal salvation?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for disbelief in the doctrine of the Trinity?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the Immaculate Conception?
- 📝 What is the Biblical evidence against the perpetual virginity of Mary?
- 📝 What is the Biblical Basis for a Good person going to hell simply for not believing?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for Unconditional Election?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for Limited Atonement?
- 📝 What is the Biblical evidence that there are ONLY three persons in the "Trinity"?
- 📝 What are the Biblical and theological problems with theistic evolution?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis against inter-faith marriages?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for unitarianism?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis against the idea of luck?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for Irresistible Grace?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for withholding communion from believers who are unbaptized?
- 📝 What is the argument and Biblical basis that it is possible to know God from nature?
- 📝 What is the biblical basis for the prohibition of instruments in worship?
- 📝 What is the Biblical basis for saying that wives can divorce their physically abusive husbands?
- 📝 What are the Biblical arguments against modalism?
- 📝 What are the biblical arguments against Arianism?