James, I'm glad you clarified your answers. You had me worried. So, since God did not view Saul as perfectly obeying the law, it stands to reason, then, that he came short of its requirements. In what way, though, did he come short of the law? If, as you say, he lacked love, then he came short of the law as it applies to love, right? Love, therefore, is an integral aspect of the law. To not love is to not obey the law. Jesus defined the law as love to God and love to mankind. No love means no obedience.

Exodus 20:6 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.

That's part of the second commandment.
And again in Dueteronomy

Duet. 5:10 And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.
5:11 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold [him] guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
5:12 Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee.

To love is a written command all through the books of Moses.


Lev. 19:18 thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself: I [am] the LORD.

That's part of the Levitical law.

Now see what it says in Dueteronomy --

Duet: 6:5 And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
6:6 And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart:


Duet, 7:9 Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he [is] God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments

Duet. 10:12 And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

10:19 Love ye therefore the stranger:

11:1 Therefore thou shalt love the LORD thy God, and keep his charge, and his statutes, and his judgments, and his commandments, alway.

11:13 hearken diligently unto my commandments which I command you this day, to love the LORD your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul,

11:22 For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;

19:9 thou shalt keep all these commandments to do them, which I command thee this day, to love the LORD thy God, and to walk ever in his ways;

30:16 In that I command thee this day to love the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to keep his commandments

All those texts are from the books of Moses.

It is definitely written that the command is to love....

Dedication, thank you for the thorough study. Nicely done.

Can a man love God and his neighbors? Only when he lived by the Spirit, otherwise even loving himself, he could not do, what he could do is killing himself. When God commanded Israel to love their neighbors, he meant saying that they should live by the Spirit. Because, love is a gift from God through the Spirit, it is not obtained through obedience. It is fruit of the Spirit. We all knew this.

When God gave Moses his Torah, the requirements is obey and live. If Saul from Tarsus could obey the law perfectly and blameless, then I believe that others may do the same. But was he blameless before God? Could he earn life through his obedience to the law? Although God said that he who obeyed the law shall live (Leviticus 18:5; Matthew 19:17), which Paul agreed (Rome 10:5, Galatians 3:11) but it seems that he could not get God justification to live from his obedience (Philippians 3:1-15).

W H Y ???

1. Because in Adam all must die, you can not atone for your self.
2. Because the law is holy, we are unholy.
3. Because the law is good, we are evil.
4. Because the law is perfect, we are defect.
5. Because God is love and we are selfish

Thus, only if you have the love of God, as a result of living by faith in Christ and walks after the Spirit, you may satisfy God heart and stand righteous before him. You are no longer selfish, no longer evil, no longer unholy. You are perfect, holy and love God and your neighbors. Your deeds now are in harmony with the commandments of God as MM and Dedication have quoted. But who need this? Keeping the law perfectly like Saul and the young rich men didn’t help them at all, but put away the law, you will not lost if you live by the Spirit, because what you did, which is right, which is love, which is in harmony with every law and commandments that God have ever given to men, is fruit of the Spirit.

The great example of this idea is in Rome 2:14-16.

In His love

Therefore, Christ was not stressing that we should keep the Decalogue, but what he stresses is that we should love each other.

In His love

But don’t worry my brothers, I’m not putting away the law, except those that has met the great sacrifice at the cross.

So, when Jesus indicates that Sabbath worship remains far after his ascension, we should believe it.
When Paul said that faith didn’t put away the law, we should believe it. When Paul said that the law is our tutor to bring us to Christ in order we may be justified by faith, and after justification, a life led by the Spirit should be shown as a result of genuine faith, which brought us no longer under the tutorial of a set of law, we should believe it.
When Paul said that the law is for those who are lawless and disobedient, for those who are ungodly and sinners, for those who are unholy and profane, etc, and not for those who are righteous, who are just, who are holy, then we should believe it.

So, when Paul said that we (who are just and righteous) are no longer under the law, he meant that we are no longer under it condemnation, therefore, no longer under it’s obligation, for only those who are condemned by the law are under it’s obligation to keep it, but those who are just and righteous are under a new obligation, which is to live by the Spirit.

Is this a better view rather than insisting non SDA’s to keep the Decalogue in our personal ministry preaching the bible? I think yes.

In His love

James, I'm happy to hear you are not doing away with the Ten Commandments. I am also happy to learn you believe the fruit of faith is love and obedience. And, yes, we experience this wonderful fruit as we behold Christ and Him crucified. We must not, however, focus on keeping the law. True, we must be aware of the law to keep it, but the only way we can successfully live in harmony with it is to focus all our energy and effort on knowing Jesus as our Friend and Savior. We must strive in Christ to resist temptation, but more than this, we must labor in Christ to manifest the fruits of the Spirit. Not sinning is not the goal. The goal is to be kind and loving like Jesus.

Hello brethren and friends

First, a little correction: Somebody put 'Duet' as reference to the 5th Moses' book, but duet is when two people join together to sing, for example. It should rather be 'Deut' (Deuteronomy). By the way, the word "deuteronomy" means repetition of the law.

Most of this discussion here is covered in detail in our discussions on the Ratzlaff neo-antinomian theology. So, I invite you to see our last post about it and see the indication to the entire discussion.

Thanks

Azenilto, thank you for the invitation to join you in study elsewhere. In turn, I would like to invite you to join our study here. Please refer to the opening post.

I prepared a study called "12 Reasons Why The Sabbath Is Not Limited to the Jewish People" and the first of them is based on the fact that in Gen. 2:2, 3 God sanctified {which means, separated for dedication to Him} the seventh-day when there was NO JEW in existence.

Any doubt that the seventh-day is equivalent to the Sabbath, just check Exo. 16:22, 23 where the same author of the Genesis creation record makes clear that the day following the sixth is the "holy Sabbath of the Lord".

Now, the objection raised by some is that there is no statement that Adam kept the Sabbath or God ordered him to do that. But that is based on the flawed "argument on silence".

With the same vigor we can ask: "Where is it written that Adam DID NOT keep the Sabbath?!"

Or, "Can you prove to me that Adam worked as a gardener in the Eden garden (Gen. 2:15) all seven days, just stopping at night for rest, without dedicating any day to the Lord?!"

Arguments on silence can't serve as proof or counterproof for nothing.