Commandments and Life

(Pro 7:2 KJV) Keep my commandments, and live; and my law as the apple of thine eye.

This is another verse that tells me to be an Arminian, not a Calvinist. It is very clear that we are to “keep” (8104) the “commandments” (4687). I don’t care how you want to define that. You can limit it to the Ten Commandments. You can make it the law of love. Whatever you want to put in as the commandments, we are still told that we must obey them. That means that, if I want to “live” (2421a), I must respond. We are saved by grace, through faith. No believer questions that because it is a simple statement out of the word. My assertion is that statement of theological truth does not rule out the demand for obedience.

Why do Christians have such a hard time accepting the importance of the “commandments” (4687) of God? Maybe real Christians don’t. Maybe the ones who have trouble are the unrepentant. Commandments mean rules and standards. Rules and standards put limitations on our freedom. We don’t want that. We want the benefits of grace but not the limitations of holiness.

We are to focus our attention on the commandments of God. There is a reward: we will “live” (2421a). It would follow that if we don’t, we will die. Makes sense to me.