‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’ (Matthew 28:18-20)

This known as the Great Commission, is Jesus’ final instructions before he ascends heavenwards.  Here ‘command’ translates the Greek verb, ἐντέλλομαι entellomai, to charge or enjoin, to issue injunctions or instructions.  The aorist tense, conveying a single and discreet action, is in the first-person singular, ἐνετειλάμην eneteilamen.

In the companion post to ‘Obedience’, it is seen that Jesus expects discipleship to be based on obedience to his commands.  On other words, obeying to his commandments is the foundation of the relationship.  It is non-negotiable.

Therefore, all that would follow Jesus and hope for the resurrection to life, made right with God, must understand not only what is commanded, but fully grasp the nature of a command.

To be clear, to command someone is to constrain him or her to do what they would not otherwise do.  Many balk at this idea, but a closer examination of the events recorded in the Bible is needed, beginning with the Fall.

Adam was given one simple instruction:

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘you may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’  (Genesis 216-17)

Despite having the bounty of every tree, Adam ate the one fruit which was denied him.  Note God commanded and why? Because he knew Adam would be tempted in the weakness of his flesh.  We should also note that God also provided the consequence for transgression; this is surely an act of grace, for surely the Creator should not need to say more than his desire for the creature to cohere?

The property of humanity, God’s likeness, is that every person cherishes their individualism, delights in autonomy and is desirous of independence.

If everyone simply fell into line with God, then there would be no need for Him to issue commands; in fact, if humanity automatically aligned themselves, there would be no need for the cross of redemption as there would have been no fall from Edenic grace, in the first place.

God raised up a nation, Israel, from the patriarchy of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, and he commanded Israel through formal statute, the Law given to Moses.  Moses conveys the Law with this injunction:

‘And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the Lord, which I am commanding you today for your good?’  (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus does not abolish or countermand these statutes, rather he informs his audience of disciples that they must understand the Law of Moses anew.  Prohibitions are not strengthened or broadened, simply the intent and depth is explained. To illustrate he extrapolates two of the Ten Commandments.  So murderous conduct is shown to include slander and any expression of anger; while the sin of lust is not only the act, but the fantasy.  If you love God with all your heart, your heart will not entertain murder or lust.

But note how Jesus concludes his lengthy discourse:

^‘Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand.  And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it. (Matthew 7:24-27)

His words are commands but God does not require the paradigm of ‘command and control’.  In relating to humanity, right from the outset, God issues clear commands but leaves the choice to human beings to regard them or not; and through parabolic illustration, Jesus gives the same dire warning that Adam received.  As Moses, forthtells God’s commands are given ‘for your good’ – God expects to be trusted on this but he does not constrain any to do so.

But none should miss that Creator God always the reserves the right to define the relationship with his creatures.  Life is granted on the basis of this.  The consequence for any that do not wish to accept this is God taking back that gift of life, rescinding that which was graciously offered.  Life is granted unconditionally and lived conditionally – death is the consequence of rejecting God and his conditions.

For any follower of Jesus, there is always a condition, Jesus says:

‘You are my friends if you do what I command.’  (John 15:14).

The important word is the smallest, ‘if’.

Indeed, the condition is measure of that relationship:

‘If you love me, you will keep my commandments.’  (John 14:15)

The apostle John, who heard this said in person, unpacks this further in his first epistle, a commentary of his gospel:

We know that we have come to know him if we keep his commands. Whoever says, ‘I know him,’ but does not do what he commands is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. But if anyone obeys his word, love for God is truly made complete in them. This is how we know we are in him:whoever claims to live in him must live as Jesus did.  (1 John 2:3-6)

The ‘truth’ then is that God commands and his creatures should heed and obey him, but if they do not, it is to their own cost – He has given fair warning.