Commandment
In so far as primitive Christianity, in contrast to the OT, appeals to the conscience as the supreme tribunal of moral judgment (1Co 8:7 ff., Rom 14:5; Rom 14:14-23; cf. Rom 2:15), and calls upon Christians themselves to determine what is the will of God (Rom 12:2, Eph 5:10; Eph 5:17, 1Jn 2:20; cf. Jer 31:34), it may be said to proclaim the ethical autonomy of the individual Christian. This, of course, involves the assumption that the Christian apprehends the character of God as revealed in Jesus Christ; and accordingly the ethical maxim of primitive Christianity is that the believer should have the mind of Christ (Php 2:5 ff.) and should follow Him (1Co 11:1, 1Pe 2:21 ff., 1Jn 2:8 etc.).
But, on the other hand, the apostles, including St. Paul, make reference to a tradition of authoritative Divine commandments, and indeed they themselves lay down a number of precepts designed to serve as guides for the moral judgment of Christians (, , , , etc.). We note the following categories.
1. Commandments of the Mosaic Law.-We have in the first place those commandments of the Mosaic Law, or of the OT, which are regarded as of Divine authority not only by the Jewish-Christian apostles, but also by St. Paul; cf. Jam 2:8-11, Rom 7:8-13; Rom 13:9, Gal 5:14, Eph 6:2. Of the laws of Moses, the Decalogue, as we might expect, is assigned a position of peculiar importance; it forms the fundamental law of the Old Dispensation (2Co 3:3 : tables of stone), and is therefore always cited when the leading commandments are under consideration (Rom 13:9, Jam 2:11). It is worthy of remark, however, that here both St. Paul and St. James take into account only the commandments of the second table, asserting that the whole Law is summed up in the command to love ones neighbour (Gal 5:14, Rom 13:8 f.), the royal law (Jam 2:8), though it is true that in Eph 6:2 St. Paul quotes a commandment from the first table (Honour thy father, etc.).* [Note: Just as, e.g., Mat 19:19 and is this commandment is appended to those of the second table (nos. 6, 7, and 8). It is impossible to decide whether the Jewish, the Eastern and Reformed, or the Roman Catholic and Lutheran arrangement of the commandments is followed here.] The sequence of the laws quoted in Rom 13:9 and Jam 2:11 agrees with that of the Septuagint version of Exo 20:13 in putting adultery before murder. So far as the Decalogue shares the statutory character of the Law as a whole, it also, according to St. Paul, is involved in the abrogation of the law of commandments (Eph 2:15), as is evident from what is said regarding the law of the Sabbath, the obligatory character of which, according to Rom 14:5, Gal 4:9 f., Col 2:16, is in principle surrendered. Hence Luthers interpretation of this commandment is the right one; though, in view of 1Co 7:17, St. Paul probably maintained that it should remain binding upon Jewish Christians (see article Law).
Further, St. Paul (as also the other apostles) cites not only the Decalogue, but the rest of the Torah as well, in support of his own ethical precepts (1Co 9:9; 1Co 14:34, 1Ti 5:18; cf. Jam 2:11; in all these passages, however, the reference is to commandments which justify themselves to the Christian consciousness). He avails himself of the principle laid down in 1Co 10:11, Rom 15:4, Col 2:17, i.e. he applies the OT commandments to the Messianic era in an allegorical or typological sonse; thus 1Co 9:9 (maintenance of Christian teachers) = Deu 25:4, 1Co 9:13=Num 18:8, 1Co 5:7 f.=Exo 12:3 ff. (the putting away of leaven). He likewise reinforces his own admonitions by sayings from the Psalms and the Prophets, as, e.g., 2Co 9:9= Psa 112:9, 1Co 1:31=Jer 9:23, Rom 12:19= Deu 32:35; cf. Jam 4:6= Pro 3:34, Heb 3:7-11=Psa 95:7-11. Finally, St. Paul and the rest frequently give their precepts in the form of OT exhortations; cf., e.g., Rom 12:20=Pro 25:21 f., 1Pe 2:17=Pro 24:21, 1Pe 3:10 ff.= Psa 34:13 ff., Heb 12:5 f.=Pro 3:11 f.
2. Commandments of God and Jesus.-(1) The commandments of God frequently referred to in the Epistles of John and in Rev. (1Jn 3:22; 1Jn 4:21; 1Jn 5:2 f., 2Jn 1:6, Rev 12:17; Rev 14:12; cf. the Pauline usage, 1Co 7:19) should doubtless be regarded as the OT commandments in the NT acceptation (i.e. as applied by Jesus); cf. 1Jn 2:7 f., where the commandment to love ones brother is spoken of as at once old and new, and 1Jn 4:21, where brotherly love in Christs sense is combined with love to God (cf. Mat 22:37 ff. and parallels).
(2) Apart from this the apostolic Epistles refer but seldom to the commandments of Jesus. In James, 1 Peter, Hebrews, and Revelation we meet with no utterance of the earthly Jesus, while 1 and 2 John allude to His commandments only in general terms (1Jn 2:3 f, 1Jn 3:23 [brotherly love]; cf. 2Jn 1:9). Nor will it surprise us to find that the Pauline Epistles likewise contain but few references to the commandments of the Lord. Apart from Act 20:35 (which, it is true, implies a more extensive use of the Lords words in the oral teaching of St. Paul; cf. the pl. [Note: plural.] ), we find such references only in 1Co 7:10; 1Co 9:14; (1Co 11:23-25), Gal 6:2, 1Ti 6:3. The first of these passages refers to the prohibition of divorce; the second to the apostles right to live by preaching the gospel (cf. 1Ti 5:18); Gal 6:2 to the law of Christ, i.e. mutual service; and 1Ti 6:3 to the words of Jesus in general (cf. 1Ti 4:6). But the explicit distinction which St. Paul draws between what the Lord did and did not command shows that he had an accurate knowledge of the Lords words-just as he also distinguishes between his own precepts and the Lords commandments. To trace this distinction to the difference between a greater and a less degree of certainty in the inward revelation (Baur) is the sheerest caprice; cf. the historic tense in 1Co 9:14. That St. Paul in general based his moral teachings on the authority of Jesus Himself appears from 1Th 4:2, where he reminds his readers of the charges he delivered to them through the Lord Jesus; cf. 1Co 4:17, where, as the context shows, his ways which are in Christ ate the ethical precepts for which Christ was his authority. In using here the somewhat vague expression in Christ, he simply indicates that his precepts are not mere repetitions of the words of Jesus, but that they are Christian in the wider sense-like, let as say, the Teachings of the Lord through the Twelve Apostles in the Didache. The commandments of Jesus are frequently cited also by the Apostolic Fathers; cf. 1 Clem. xiii. 3; 2 Clem. iii. 4, iv. 5ff., xvii. 3, 6; Ign. Eph. ix. 2; cf. Magn. xiii. 1 ( ); Did. xi. 3 ( ).
3. Commandments of the apostles.-From the commandments of Jesus appealed to by the apostles it is an easy transition to those of the apostles themselves (cf. 2Pe 3:2); it should be noted, however, that the term is restricted to the commandments of God and Jesus, while the apostolic commandments are denoted by other terms: (Act 16:4), (1Th 4:2; cf. 2Th 3:10), (1Co 11:2, 2Th 2:15; 2Th 3:6), and the like. But although St. Paul, in 1 Corinthians 7, distinguishes between his own judgment (1Co 7:25 ) and the commandment of the Lord, he nevertheless demands obedience to the former, inasmuch as he is possessed of the Spirit of God (1Co 7:40; cf. Act 15:28), and, accordingly, he can even assert that what he writes is the commandment of the Lord (1Co 14:37). It is true that he sometimes appeals, as in 1Co 10:15, to the personal judgment of his readers, but it is clear, from 1Co 11:16 and 1Co 14:37 f., that he attached no decisive importance to such judgment. In any case, all opposition must give way before the consensus of apostolic usage (1Co 11:16; 1Co 14:36), and St. Paul always assumes that such a consensus really exists; cf. Rom 6:17 (fixed form of moral teaching), Rom 16:17 (where the teaching = moral teaching).
This common ethical tradition would include, above all, the so-called Apostolic Decree (Act 15:28 f., Act 16:4). It must certainly have comprised the injunctions regarding things sacrificed to idols, and fornication, an echo of which is still heard in Rev 2:20; Rev 2:24 (cf. Rev 2:24 the phrase cast upon you none other burden with Act 15:28), and which the Apostle, not only according to Act 16:4, but also in 1Co 6:12-20; 1Co 10:14-33, expressly urges upon Gentile Christians. Cf. further articles Law and Moses.
We must also take account of the lists of vices and virtues given in various forms by the apostles: Gal 5:19-21, 1Co 5:10; 1Co 6:9 f., 2Co 12:20 f., Rom 1:29-31; Rom 13:13, Col 3:5-8, Eph 4:31; Eph 5:8 f., 1Ti 1:9 f., 2Ti 3:2-5, Rev 21:8; Rev 22:15 (vices); Gal 5:22, Col 3:12-15, Eph 4:2 f., Eph 3:2 to Eph 5:2, 2Pe 1:5-8 (virtues). Similar lists are found in Did. ii. 1-v. 2, Barn. 18-20, Polycarp, ii. 2-iv. 3. Though such tables were in their origin dependent upon Jewish and Greek models (e.g. Wis 12:3 ff; Wis 14:22 ff.; cf. Mat 15:19; Diog. Laert. vii. 110-114)-as St. Paul indeed indirectly recognizes in Rom 1:32, Php 4:8 (cf. the Stoic phrase , Rom 1:28)-they nevertheless reveal, especially as regards the virtues, their distinctively Christian character.
Along with the lists of vices and virtues should be mentioned also the so-called house-tables, i.e. the groups of precepts for the various domestic relationships-husbands and wives, parents and children, masters and slaves (e.g. Eph 5:22-33; Eph 6:1-9, Col 3:18-25; Col 4:1, 1Pe 2:18 to 1Pe 3:7). These, as will be seen, make their first appearance in the later Epistles, but they may well have attained an oral form at an earlier date. Finally, the Pastoral Epistles, in addition to the family precepts, give several series of directions for the various orders of Christians-bishops, deacons, widows, etc., thus furnishing in fact a kind of Church organization, the social duties of the various relationships being made more or less subordinate to the ecclesiastical point of view (cf. 1Ti 2:1 to 1Ti 6:2, Tit 1:5 to Tit 3:2).
The reduction of Christian morality to concrete details was a matter of historic necessity. Just as the spirit of Christianity was not, even at the outset, possessed by all believers in the same degree, but was found pre-eminently in the apostles and prophets, so it was not present so fully in the later period as in the earlier. Hence, when the apostles were nearing their end, they felt it necessary, for the sake of the succeeding generation, to commit to writing the more detailed ethical teaching which no doubt they had to some extent already brought into an oral form. Cf. further article Law.
Literature.-The NT Theologies of B. Weiss, P. Feine, and H. Weinel; G. B. Stevens, The Pauline Theology, 1892; C. v. Weizscker, Apostolic Age, Eng. translation , i.2 [1897] 154; A. Seeberg, Der Katechismus der Urchristenheit, 1903, p. 1ff.; O. Moe, Paulus und die evangelische Geschichte, 1912, p. 56ff.; A. B. Bruce, St. Pauls Conception of Christianity, 1894, p. 293ff.; E. v. Dobschtz, Christian Life in the Primitive Church, Eng. translation , 1904, p. 399ff.
Olaf Moe.
Fuente: Dictionary of the Apostolic Church
Commandment
SEE DECALOGUE.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Commandment
The most general word for command or commandment is some form of tsavah (), which appears to signify literally to set up or appoint. It is largely used from Gen 2:16 onward, and applies to any order, human or divine. The general Greek renderings are , , and .
Amar (), to speak, is rendered ‘command’ in Exo 8:27 and forty-four other passages; and Davar (), to speak, is so rendered twenty times. What is spoken either by the Lord or by any one of high authority is naturally looked up on as a commandment. With God, to speak is to command; and with man, to hear ought to be to obey. [The ordinary word for obedience in the O. T. literally signifies hearing.] Amar is used in Job 9:7, where we read that God ‘commandeth the sun and it riseth not’ –the laws of nature, their continuance, and their cessation, being equally regarded as the utterance of the Divine word. So God ‘commandeth and raiseth the stormy wind’ (Psa 107:25); ‘He sendeth forth his commandment up on earth, his word runneth very swiftly’ (Psa 147:15).
Peh (), mouth, is rendered ‘commandment’ in Gen 45:21, Exo 17:1, and thirty-two other passages. It is possibly an Egyptian idiom, and may be compared with the use of the ‘mouth’ as signifying self in Coptic. It occurs in Job 39:27, ‘Doth the eagle mount up at thy command?’ in Pro 8:29, ‘He gave to the sea his decree that the waters should not pass his commandment;’ Ecc 8:2, ‘Keep the king’s commandment;’ Lam 1:18, ‘I have rebelled against his commandment.’
Fuente: Synonyms of the Old Testament
Commandment
signifies “that which is imposed by decree or law,” Heb 11:23. It stresses the concrete character of the “commandment” more than epitage (No. 4). Cp. COMMAND, No. 1. For the verb in Heb 11:22 see No. 3 under COMMAND.
akin to No. 3, above, denotes, in general, “an injunction, charge, precept, commandment.” It is the most frequent term, and is used of moral and religious precepts, e.g., Mat 5:19; it is frequent in the Gospels, especially that of John, and in his Epistles. See also, e.g., Act 17:15; Rom 7:8-13; Rom 13:9; 1Co 7:19; Eph 2:15; Col 4:10. See PRECEPT.
akin to No. 2, marks more especially “the thing commanded, a commission;” in Mat 15:9; Mar 7:7; Col 2:22, RV, “precepts,” AV, “commandments.” See PRECEPT.
akin to No. 4, above, stresses “the authoritativeness of the command;” it is used in Rom 16:26; 1Co 7:6, 1Co 7:25; 2Co 8:8; 1Ti 1:1; Tit 1:3; Tit 2:15. See AUTHORITY.
Notes: (1) For parangelia (cp. parangello, above), “a proclamation,” see CHARGE. (2) In Rev 22:14 the RV, “wash their robes” (for AV, “do His commandments”) follows the most authentic mss.