Jesus Called Them Commandments, Mr. Noble
On Christmas Eve, not only did Perry Noble make the
outrageously false claim that the Hebrew language has no word for command (see
the graphic on this post to see the proof that this is not
true), he claimed that God was the one who laid it on his heart to preach that.
To add insult to injury, this past Sunday Noble
defended his false claim by saying, "I didn’t try to rescind the Ten
Commandments. I simply declared that they are actually promises from God,
because Ten Command…–that word command in Hebrew–it is not command, it is
saying. I have resear… I have gone back and talked to people in Israel that
confirm those things (Online Source)."
In other words, Perry Noble, rather than retract
his false claims regarding the commandments has decided to dig in and double
down. But, here's Noble's embarrassing problem, Jesus called them commandments,
not promises.
A brief survey of the words of Jesus will suffice
in proving this fact.
Quick note: the New Testament was written in Koine
Greek, not Hebrew. The Greek word for commandment is entole, and it means:
ἐντολή,
1. an order authorizing a specific action, writ, warrant,
2. a mandate or ordinance, command
a. of commands by pers. in high position
b. of commands given by divine authorities
α. of commandments of OT law.
Below, are examples of how Jesus referred to the
Old Testament imperatives.
Matthew 5:18–19: “For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an
iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore
whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and
teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven,
but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of
heaven.”
Matthew 15:1–4: “Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said,
“Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash
their hands when they eat.” He answered them, “And why do you break the
commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? For God
commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ‘Whoever reviles
father or mother must surely die.’”
Matthew 22:35–40: “and one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question
to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said
to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your
soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment.
And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
Mark 10:17–19: “And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt
before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except
God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not
commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor
your father and mother.”
Notice that in Mark 10:17–19 Jesus quotes directly from the ten
commandments, and Jesus does not call them promises, he calls them commandments.
Jesus speaks Hebrew. Jesus grew up in Israel, and
Jesus is God in human flesh. In other words, Jesus is the very God who gave
these commandments and Jesus knows full well what His intention was in giving
them and Jesus calls them commandments of God and says they were commanded by
God.
So, who are you going to believe?
Are you going to believe Perry Noble who admits
that he does not know Hebrew but claims that there is no word in Hebrew for
command or are you going to believe Jesus who speaks Hebrew and is the God who
gave the commandments and calls them commandments commanded by God?
As for me, I'm going to go with Jesus.
χάρις ἔλεος εἰρήνη σοι,
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