He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him.
Claiming to know God while living in disobedience to His commandments makes a person a liar in whom the truth does not dwell. Keeping His commandments is the appointed evidence, proof, and test by which true knowledge of Him is known. The commandments so tested are the whole ten, including the seventh-day Sabbath, an immutable, holy, just, and good law that Christ did not abolish. Exalted profession of holiness, faith, salvation, or love for God is false and deluding when joined with willful transgression or disregard of that law. Such obedience does not earn salvation or justify by law, being the fruit of saving faith and love, yet it remains absolutely essential as the condition of eternal life.
Meaning of the Test
Anyone who says, I know Him, while not keeping His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. The claim to know God is false when it is not joined with keeping His commandments, whether the claim is to know God or to know Christ. Refusal to keep His commandments exposes the profession as lying and void of truth.
Keeping His commandments is the evidence by which it is known that He is known. Obedience proves knowing God, and keeping His word is where abiding in Him is shown. It is the evidence, proof, and test of knowing Him.
Knowing God is shown by obedience, not merely professed in words or by saying that one knows Him. It is not proved by professing faith or accepting religious ideas, but by obedience, which reveals genuine love for God. It is not proved by religious profession or talk about repentance and faith, nor by mere talk of faith in Christ and love for Jesus that stays on the lips while rejecting Bible truth and refusing duty.
Surrounding Teaching Context
Whoever keeps His word has the love of God brought to perfection within, and by this keeping it is known that the keeper is in Him, for keeping His word is where love is brought to maturity. He who claims to abide in Him must walk just as He walked. That walking means lifting the cross and following in Christ's steps, living as He lived in pity and tenderness and compassion and holy obedience. Those who lift the cross are lifted by it, given fortitude and courage, and pointed to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
These things are written so that believers sin not, yet if anyone sins there is an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for sins, not for believers only but also for the sins of the whole world, and His perfect sacrifice alone meets the need of sinful, erring man. Coming out of darkness into light into the presence of God, confessing sins, brings the promise of forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness through the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. Keeping the commandment includes loving one's brother and abiding in the light with no occasion of stumbling, while hating one's brother leaves one in darkness with eyes blinded. Letting what was heard from the beginning remain brings continuance in the Son and in the Father, with the promise of eternal life and confidence without shame at Christ's coming.
The commandment to be kept is no new commandment but the old commandment heard from the beginning, yet also new as true in Christ and in believers because the darkness is past and the true light now shines. Reading the first chapter gives better understanding of the second chapter, and the two chapters together are the test of true fellowship with the Father and with His Son. They call for walking in the knowledge of the truth and partaking of the divine nature, with individual accountability, deep thought, much seeking of the Lord, and singleness of purpose because the time to work is short. The second chapter gives plain truth of great importance for those living in the last days, to be read and studied together with the message about leaving first love, for beautiful theories are not enough unless the love of Christ fragrances words and works, and loss of that first love calls for remembering and repenting and doing the first works. This testimony was written by John as an old man nearly one hundred years old, as a firm, decided example of how God can use aged workers. He lived what he wrote by revealing Christ's life in his own life, repeating over and over the story of the crucified and risen Saviour, and steadfastly maintaining faith to steady young believers in danger of losing hold on Christ when persecution came.
Identity of Commandments
The commandments in view leave no room for doubt, for they are no new commandment but the old commandment from the beginning, the word heard from the beginning. They are the law given in Eden with binding claims upon all mankind, spoken in awful grandeur from the mount at Sinai in Exodus 20, laid when the foundations of the earth were laid before any people were called Jews. No change has been made in the law from the beginning, for it is the same as before the fall of Satan and the same law the angelic family obeys in the heavenly courts. Its keeping is expressed in love for God with the whole being and love for neighbor as oneself, including loving the brother rather than hating him, which keeps a person in the light with no cause for stumbling.
Obedience means keeping all of God's law, the whole ten, not one or two or nine selected out. Making light of one holy precept, disregarding some of His commands while claiming a right to His favor, or refusing obedience after light has come proves the profession false. Mere profession of keeping the commandments counts for nothing when a person breaks them, for there is a marked difference in character and life between the obedient and the disobedient. The law includes the fourth-commandment Sabbath, and refusal or neglect of it endangers the soul's salvation.
The Sabbath meant is the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh-day creation Sabbath instituted in Eden, blessed and sanctified as God's memorial that cannot be removed to any other day. Keeping the Sabbath is the sign between him that serves God and him that serves Him not, held in obedience in the face of a world worshiping a false sabbath. Any claim to enjoy sanctification while living in opposition to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is spurious. Claims that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath are therefore rejected, since knowing God is shown by obedience to all His commandments including honoring the Sabbath.
The commandments are God's immutable law, enduring throughout eternity, holy, just, and good in all its requirements. They were not abolished by Christ giving His life to redeem the race, and it is not true that the law is abrogated. Christ died as the victim of the world's transgressions because the law could not be abolished, and His death on Calvary is the strongest evidence of its immutability. God did not give His Son to a shameful death to make His law of none effect, but Christ bore the penalty of transgression so that through His imputed righteousness fallen men would have another opportunity to repent, return to loyalty, and keep the commandments by faith and live.
God's commandments are a law of love, so love is shown by walking in obedience to them. Their keeping is expressed in love for God with the whole being and love for neighbor as oneself, including Christlike love for brethren, so that faith that brings eternal life cannot exist without that love. Whoever loves God and neighbor is filled with light and love, with God in and around him, loving those around him as precious souls for whom Christ died, for there is no loveless Christian because God is love. They are the great standard of righteousness by which character is measured and the rule of life to be obeyed, the only test of character to distinguish God's true servants from false prophets, and compliance with the law honors both God who gave it and Christ who died to magnify it. Keeping the commandments means following His own correct example of holy obedience, sympathy, self-denial and suffering love given to inspire obedience.
The commandments are one unchanging high standard in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus Christ Himself spoke the Old Testament teachings while enshrouded in the cloudy pillar, including the whole lesson of Leviticus 19. To know Christ is therefore to keep His commandments and to love one another as Christ has loved.
False Professions Exposed
Claiming advanced holiness, sanctification, exalted piety, or living without sin has no foundation and is false when joined with willful transgression, disregard, breaking, or minimizing of the law. Obedience to the word is the test of such profession, for genuine knowledge is shown by keeping the word, and in the one who keeps it love is brought to maturity. An outwardly beautiful sanctification that covers destructive errors is false, and a claim to be sanctified while knowingly transgressing is exposed as false.
Claiming to believe in Jesus, to be saved, or to love God while not keeping the commandments is lying, spurious, and a deluding experience that will not save. Mere talk of faith in Christ and love for Jesus that stays on the lips, rejects Bible truth, and refuses duty and obedience is not genuine saving faith, and love that goes no further than the lips is a great delusion that does not save. Such boasting while lightly regarding the law shows faith is not genuine, though this does not condemn those who have not received present truth but live by the light they have. Keeping the commandments is evidence of repentance, appreciation for salvation, and the Spirit's work in the heart, with life and fruits revealing whether the claim is genuine. The verse is the test distinguishing genuine saving faith from mere nominal claim, for proving one's own profession and the profession of others, and it applies to those enlightened regarding the claims of the law, so that Bible principles must be brought into everyday life to enlighten conscience and regulate conduct.
Religious feeling, liberty in prayer and in meetings, feelings of fellowship with God, religious words, forms, impressive deeds, and display of religious works are not the criterion of character or holiness and do not secure entrance into heaven. Holiness is doing the will of God, and the test is keeping the commandments tried by the law and the testimony. A claim of holiness or love based on feeling does not establish that love, and profession, words, forms, or impressive deeds do not establish holiness or secure entrance into the kingdom. To profess to follow while in works denying by indifference to even one requirement is dangerous.
Sacred position, even ministry in sacred things, does not excuse disobedience and does not make sin less sinful. Breaking the command against adultery by corrupt advances, or by yielding to a seducer because he is a minister, shows the claimant does not know God and shows the word is not abiding in the heart. Such an impure proposal contradicts profession, is from Satan disguised as an angel of light, and must be rejected rather than treated as less sinful because he is a minister.
Disobedience includes a harsh, dictatorial, unchristlike spirit and harsh, ungentlemanly words to brethren, as well as rudeness and unkindness in family life. Such actions are no evidence of Christ's presence but evidence of the presence and control of the fallen foe. They show a person is not yoked with Christ and is not learning meekness and lowliness in the Master's school, but is in the school where Adam learned disobedience, with a spirit entirely out of harmony with God, while the love of God always produces the fruits of His Spirit. Earnest preaching does not excuse failing to show Christ's love at home.
The verse tests those who openly cast contempt upon and defame the law, transgress it by thought, word, and deed, and teach others by precept and example that they may sin with impunity. It condemns making void the law, saying it is abrogated on the testimony of the Fathers, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men not founded on apostles and prophets with Christ as cornerstone, and refusing harmony with the holy law and its appointed Sabbath signature, with deceived followers sharing the deceiver's fate under the wrath of the Lamb. It exposes those who twist and misinterpret Scripture to suit disobedience, who walk contrary to the commandments and refuse the word, who attack commandment-keeping people for believing the Word just as it reads while their own disobedient life condemns them, and who are annoyed when delegated servants show their sin and, inspired by the deceiver, reproach the messengers. Obedience distinguishes true servants from false teachers who claim the law is abolished, and God's people are marked by living in harmony with His holy law. Those so tested are liars in whom the truth is not, in terrible deception, blaspheming heaven.
A claim to know God and to keep His commandments that is not borne out by obedience and good works is false, with no truth in such a person, and such persons receive according to their deeds. The warning covers all who claim knowledge and claim to keep the commandments but fail to show it by good works, and it is directed to all church members, including Seventh-day Adventists. Claiming to know God while continuing in sin makes a person a liar in God's sight, for the claim must be shown in conduct, since sinful conduct works against God and can lead others into sin. Even those looked upon as most eminent believers are in danger of falling into sins prepared to dishonor God without constant help from God alone.
Faith Obedience Salvation
Obedience does not earn salvation and no one is justified by law, for it is the fruit of faith and love rather than the price of favor. Knowing God is proved not by professing faith or accepting religious ideas but by obedience, which reveals genuine love and shows whether the truth is within. Faith does not release anyone from the duty to obey but produces works, makes the believer a partaker of grace that enables obedience, and brings the life of one who abides in Christ into harmony with God's will and law. Faith in Christ that saves leads to obedience, and keeping the commandments as loving service rather than mere outward compliance is the true sign of discipleship.
Faith in Jesus does not cancel or make void the law but establishes it, and accepting Christ as Saviour frees a person from the law's penalty without making obedience irrelevant. God is just and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus, justifying freely by grace through redemption, with Jesus as the propitiation for sins not for believers only but for the sins of the whole world, set forth through faith in His blood to declare righteousness for the remission of past sins. To believe in Jesus in the fullest sense means taking Him as Redeemer and pattern, abiding in Him with Him abiding within, sharing the divine nature, and doing His word, while mere talk of faith and love that stays on the lips, rejects Bible truth, and refuses duty is spurious and will not save. While Jesus has done all in the way of merit, humans must still comply with the condition of keeping His commandments out of love, for love for Jesus in the heart leads to obedience to all His commandments and knowing Christ means doing what He commands and following His example.
Keeping all the commandments is possible for human beings under the Abrahamic covenant, which is the covenant of grace, because God gives power and strength to obey. His commandments are not grievous but bring happiness in doing them, and obedience is the proof of love to God, while disobedience is sin because sin is transgression of the law. Those taken unawares and led into sin must not give up hope in Christ, cease praying, or stop trying to walk in the way of His commandments, for despair and open transgression is exactly what Satan tempts them toward after leading them to yield. No one who has had light on what keeping the commandments comprehends will be saved while continuing in transgression, yet if anyone sins there is an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.
Obedience to all of God's law is absolutely essential to eternal life and is the condition of salvation, with God's Word providing enough light to guide each step toward heaven so that those who lose the way are without excuse. Salvation depends on ceasing to transgress and obeying the law transgressed, keeping the whole ten with perfect obedience without hesitancy or doubt, not one or two or nine selected out. Habitual subjection to the heavenly Master's will constantly asks what the Lord requires and what is His will, and obeys without hesitating or seeking a way to be saved without obedience. No one can get to heaven as well transgressing the law as obeying it, as shown when the old world perished in the flood and Sodom was burned while Lot was saved, proving disobedience is punished. Such obedience does not presume upon mercy to sin as much as one dares, does not follow Christ afar off near the verge of perdition, and does not obey merely to secure heaven but to please Him who died to save sinners from the penalty of transgression of the Father's law.
No one is saved by the law, for there is no power in the law to save its transgressors, but the law is not abrogated. God did not give His Son to a shameful death to make the law of none effect, but Christ bore the penalty of transgression so that through His imputed righteousness fallen men would have another opportunity to repent, return to loyalty, and keep the commandments by faith in Him and live. Bible election is plainly known by obedience and must be received through faith in the truth as it is in Jesus. Keeping His word proves that a person is in Him and that the love of God is perfected in him, and abiding in His love depends on keeping His commandments as Christ kept His Father's commandments. Those who keep His commandments dwell in Him and He in them, known by the Spirit He has given, and love for Christ is shown by keeping His commandments.
Genuine faith rests on Scripture's promises and provisions and does not claim God's favor while ignoring the conditions of mercy, but is shown in obedience. It renounces sin, which is transgression of the law, and brings life into conformity with God's law and will. The Holy Spirit works this obedience through the studied word, conscience, and prompting. Love for Christ shown by obedience distinguishes those who love and keep God's commandments from those who disregard them.
Obedient Life Application
True knowledge is experimental communion with Christ as Redeemer, friend and pattern, abiding in Him with Him abiding within, sharing the divine nature and doing His word. Those united with Him are made partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust, becoming one with Christ, one with the Father, and one with one another in peace, love and unity in speaking the same things, which is becoming rich toward God. Love in the heart produces obedience to all His commandments with humility of life, while love that goes no further than the lips, rejects Bible truth and refuses duty is a deluding experience that will not save, even though merit rests wholly in what Jesus has done and the human condition is keeping His commandments out of love. Harsh, dictatorial, unchristlike spirit and harsh, ungentlemanly words to brethren show control by the fallen foe rather than the presence of Christ, showing the person is not yoked with Christ nor learning meekness and lowliness in the Master's school but is in the school where Adam learned disobedience, out of harmony with God, whereas the love of God always produces the fruits of His Spirit.
True conversion always shows itself in transformed Christlike character, purpose and action, marking those who become members of the Lord's family and are truly converted and consecrated to His service. Pride no longer rules the heart, zeal is tempered by meekness and lowliness, and religion is seen in personal deeds bearing goodness, love and truth as doers of His words with a changed heart. Growth in grace is shown by increased ability to work for God in the assigned work in the Lord's vineyard, learning to pray and speak for the Master, being trained by the great Teacher unto perfection, daily increasing in spiritual comprehension and fitness to help others through diligent labor, and abiding in Christ to bear much fruit. Keeping His word perfects the love of God in the keeper and proves being in Him, and abiding in Him requires walking as He walked.
Keeping God's word is evidence of knowing Him, loving Him and abiding in Him, and he who abides must walk as Christ walked. Obedience is also a condition for claiming God's promises in prayer. The test demands most earnest individual work of constantly growing in the Lord, learning neglected lessons, refusing selfishness that mars character, yielding self to Christ, seeking cleansing of heart from all defilement, and gaining entire transformation and perfect self-surrender without which no one can enter the holy city, see the kingdom, or live the life that measures with the life of God. In the day of test when character is weighed and in the great day of preparation, conscience and religion must be examined to see if mixed to serve self, sins confessed without delay so they go beforehand to judgment to be blotted out when refreshing comes, with Jesus Christ the righteous as Advocate and propitiation for the sins of the whole world for those who would sin not. Self-exaltation and disparaging others must stop for self-criticism, setting the heart in order, and confessing and forsaking sin without losing a moment, because souls are in peril in the great day of atonement and such diligent repentance cleanses from sin and makes ready for the Lord's appearing.
False profession must be aroused by a great awakening in the church, with the spirit of the message moving quickly from church to church. Believers willingly give possessions to support God's work, homes are cleansed of picture-idols that consumed money that should have flowed into the treasury, God's people pray and watch unto prayer, light goes forth as a lamp that burneth, and bearers of the message earnestly seek the abundant gift of the Holy Spirit with no time to lose, praying for power to work with success for those nigh and afar off. Every possible means is to be used in that arousing work, including medical missionary work conducted to a holy exalted standard, moving steadily onward and upward and presenting God's claims and present truth to those who never heard it, as the right hand serves the body of the third angel's message to increase its usefulness and efficiency.
Religious people must bring this test to the light in examining the Word, for forgiveness through the Advocate and propitiation does not remove the test of obedience, and keeping His word perfects divine love while claiming to abide requires walking as He walked. There is no safety for churches unless ministers press the necessity of keeping the commandments. The verse is the test distinguishing genuine saving faith from mere nominal claim, for proving one's own profession and the profession of others, applying to those enlightened regarding the law's claims so that Bible principles are brought into everyday life to enlighten conscience and regulate conduct. God's people are to stand firmly against errors that lead away from obedience, since keeping the law is consistent with true charity and love for people does not require excusing sin or compromising with it. Christian courtesy and charity do not cover unconfessed sin, so sin is to be named plainly and the right stood for. Each person is to let truth abide in the heart with fellowship and cleansing through Christ's blood, honestly confessing sin to receive faithful and just forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness, trusting the righteous Advocate and propitiation for the whole world, keeping His word unto perfected love and walking as He walked, and not sitting in judgment to pronounce sentence on brethren, for there is only one Judge who died, took human nature with its infirmities, and gives vantage ground with God. True faith relying wholly on Christ is manifested by obedience to all requirements, claiming favor while disregarding commands is false, and this belongs to the great controversy over obedience continuing from Adam's day to the present.
The second chapter gives plain truth of great importance for the last days, to be studied with the message about leaving first love, for beautiful theories are not enough unless the love of Christ in the heart fragrances words and works, and loss of that love is loss of all things calling for remembering, repenting and doing the first works. Obedience to God's will is for present and eternal good and must not be delayed until difficulties are removed, for though Satan places obstacles and attacks weakest points, Jesus helps and enables obedience. There are only two classes in the world today and only two to be recognized in the Judgment, those who keep God's law and those who violate it. In the last great battle the Creator stands with all who bear His signet by obedience and the prince of darkness with those choosing apostasy and rebellion, and when judgment sits and all are judged by the books, God's law will be seen as holy, just and good in all requirements while blinded transgressors who were confused as Adam and Eve were settle a serious account with God whose claims are decisive, though those accepting Christ as personal Saviour are free from the penalty of the law through His bearing sin and propitiation for the whole world, with perfected love and Christlike walk marking the keeper.
The commandments stand as the standard of character that must not be discarded for human invention, and God's people are to arise and uplift righteousness before a world loving darkness rather than light because its deeds are evil, since true knowledge and abiding love are proved by keeping His commandments as Christ kept His Father's and abode in His love. Walking in harmony with the holy law forms character able to stand, while rejecting advanced light leaves one in darkness. Profession of obedience is false when not carried out, especially when self-denial or sacrifice is required, and persistent refusal hardens heart and conscience, whereas true obedience surrenders the will to God and serves others in His work. Knowing and abiding are shown by keeping His word and walking as Christ walked unto perfected love, including the command to love one's brother, for hatred leaves one in darkness while love keeps one in light without stumbling, producing changed words and actions in practical love. True love never leaves a person indifferent and indolent but moves him to work to enlighten the naturally blind and ignorant about God and the Saviour, and mere profession counts for nothing when the commandments are broken.
Only one with faith working by love and purifying the soul, with the joy of salvation in the heart, not merely assenting to truth but believing and practicing it and unsatisfied without God's presence, is a genuine believer, yet even the most eminent are in danger of falling into Satan's prepared sins without constant help from God, and only such a one is qualified to guide sinners to repentance and reformation as a power for good. Those bearing the Lord's name and professing the Bible yet in life and character working away from it and doing the enemy's works are liars representing Satan and darkness rather than Jesus in character to the world. Having a name on church books and giving means to sustain the church does not change this, and such disobedient professors are daily stumbling blocks while they remain. The sanctifying truth must be known as present truth for this time and exemplified by looking to Jesus, walking as He walked, making heavenward progress, and speaking only true words as fell from Christ's lips, because no error is of the truth and error never sanctifies or saves.
Claiming to know God while living in disobedience to His commandments makes a person a liar in whom the truth does not dwell. Keeping His commandments is the appointed evidence, proof, and test by which true knowledge of Him is known. The commandments so tested are the whole ten, including the seventh-day Sabbath, an immutable, holy, just, and good law that Christ did not abolish. Exalted profession of holiness, faith, salvation, or love for God is false and deluding when joined with willful transgression or disregard of that law. Such obedience does not earn salvation or justify by law, being the fruit of saving faith and love, yet it remains absolutely essential as the condition of eternal life.
Meaning of the Test
Anyone who says, I know Him, while not keeping His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in that person. The claim to know God is false when it is not joined with keeping His commandments, whether the claim is to know God or to know Christ. Refusal to keep His commandments exposes the profession as lying and void of truth.
Keeping His commandments is the evidence by which it is known that He is known. Obedience proves knowing God, and keeping His word is where abiding in Him is shown. It is the evidence, proof, and test of knowing Him.
Knowing God is shown by obedience, not merely professed in words or by saying that one knows Him. It is not proved by professing faith or accepting religious ideas, but by obedience, which reveals genuine love for God. It is not proved by religious profession or talk about repentance and faith, nor by mere talk of faith in Christ and love for Jesus that stays on the lips while rejecting Bible truth and refusing duty.
Surrounding Teaching Context
Whoever keeps His word has the love of God brought to perfection within, and by this keeping it is known that the keeper is in Him, for keeping His word is where love is brought to maturity. He who claims to abide in Him must walk just as He walked. That walking means lifting the cross and following in Christ's steps, living as He lived in pity and tenderness and compassion and holy obedience. Those who lift the cross are lifted by it, given fortitude and courage, and pointed to the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
These things are written so that believers sin not, yet if anyone sins there is an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for sins, not for believers only but also for the sins of the whole world, and His perfect sacrifice alone meets the need of sinful, erring man. Coming out of darkness into light into the presence of God, confessing sins, brings the promise of forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness through the blood of Jesus Christ His Son. Keeping the commandment includes loving one's brother and abiding in the light with no occasion of stumbling, while hating one's brother leaves one in darkness with eyes blinded. Letting what was heard from the beginning remain brings continuance in the Son and in the Father, with the promise of eternal life and confidence without shame at Christ's coming.
The commandment to be kept is no new commandment but the old commandment heard from the beginning, yet also new as true in Christ and in believers because the darkness is past and the true light now shines. Reading the first chapter gives better understanding of the second chapter, and the two chapters together are the test of true fellowship with the Father and with His Son. They call for walking in the knowledge of the truth and partaking of the divine nature, with individual accountability, deep thought, much seeking of the Lord, and singleness of purpose because the time to work is short. The second chapter gives plain truth of great importance for those living in the last days, to be read and studied together with the message about leaving first love, for beautiful theories are not enough unless the love of Christ fragrances words and works, and loss of that first love calls for remembering and repenting and doing the first works. This testimony was written by John as an old man nearly one hundred years old, as a firm, decided example of how God can use aged workers. He lived what he wrote by revealing Christ's life in his own life, repeating over and over the story of the crucified and risen Saviour, and steadfastly maintaining faith to steady young believers in danger of losing hold on Christ when persecution came.
Identity of Commandments
The commandments in view leave no room for doubt, for they are no new commandment but the old commandment from the beginning, the word heard from the beginning. They are the law given in Eden with binding claims upon all mankind, spoken in awful grandeur from the mount at Sinai in Exodus 20, laid when the foundations of the earth were laid before any people were called Jews. No change has been made in the law from the beginning, for it is the same as before the fall of Satan and the same law the angelic family obeys in the heavenly courts. Its keeping is expressed in love for God with the whole being and love for neighbor as oneself, including loving the brother rather than hating him, which keeps a person in the light with no cause for stumbling.
Obedience means keeping all of God's law, the whole ten, not one or two or nine selected out. Making light of one holy precept, disregarding some of His commands while claiming a right to His favor, or refusing obedience after light has come proves the profession false. Mere profession of keeping the commandments counts for nothing when a person breaks them, for there is a marked difference in character and life between the obedient and the disobedient. The law includes the fourth-commandment Sabbath, and refusal or neglect of it endangers the soul's salvation.
The Sabbath meant is the Sabbath of the Lord, the seventh-day creation Sabbath instituted in Eden, blessed and sanctified as God's memorial that cannot be removed to any other day. Keeping the Sabbath is the sign between him that serves God and him that serves Him not, held in obedience in the face of a world worshiping a false sabbath. Any claim to enjoy sanctification while living in opposition to the Sabbath of the fourth commandment is spurious. Claims that Sunday is the Christian Sabbath are therefore rejected, since knowing God is shown by obedience to all His commandments including honoring the Sabbath.
The commandments are God's immutable law, enduring throughout eternity, holy, just, and good in all its requirements. They were not abolished by Christ giving His life to redeem the race, and it is not true that the law is abrogated. Christ died as the victim of the world's transgressions because the law could not be abolished, and His death on Calvary is the strongest evidence of its immutability. God did not give His Son to a shameful death to make His law of none effect, but Christ bore the penalty of transgression so that through His imputed righteousness fallen men would have another opportunity to repent, return to loyalty, and keep the commandments by faith and live.
God's commandments are a law of love, so love is shown by walking in obedience to them. Their keeping is expressed in love for God with the whole being and love for neighbor as oneself, including Christlike love for brethren, so that faith that brings eternal life cannot exist without that love. Whoever loves God and neighbor is filled with light and love, with God in and around him, loving those around him as precious souls for whom Christ died, for there is no loveless Christian because God is love. They are the great standard of righteousness by which character is measured and the rule of life to be obeyed, the only test of character to distinguish God's true servants from false prophets, and compliance with the law honors both God who gave it and Christ who died to magnify it. Keeping the commandments means following His own correct example of holy obedience, sympathy, self-denial and suffering love given to inspire obedience.
The commandments are one unchanging high standard in the Old Testament and the New Testament. Jesus Christ Himself spoke the Old Testament teachings while enshrouded in the cloudy pillar, including the whole lesson of Leviticus 19. To know Christ is therefore to keep His commandments and to love one another as Christ has loved.
False Professions Exposed
Claiming advanced holiness, sanctification, exalted piety, or living without sin has no foundation and is false when joined with willful transgression, disregard, breaking, or minimizing of the law. Obedience to the word is the test of such profession, for genuine knowledge is shown by keeping the word, and in the one who keeps it love is brought to maturity. An outwardly beautiful sanctification that covers destructive errors is false, and a claim to be sanctified while knowingly transgressing is exposed as false.
Claiming to believe in Jesus, to be saved, or to love God while not keeping the commandments is lying, spurious, and a deluding experience that will not save. Mere talk of faith in Christ and love for Jesus that stays on the lips, rejects Bible truth, and refuses duty and obedience is not genuine saving faith, and love that goes no further than the lips is a great delusion that does not save. Such boasting while lightly regarding the law shows faith is not genuine, though this does not condemn those who have not received present truth but live by the light they have. Keeping the commandments is evidence of repentance, appreciation for salvation, and the Spirit's work in the heart, with life and fruits revealing whether the claim is genuine. The verse is the test distinguishing genuine saving faith from mere nominal claim, for proving one's own profession and the profession of others, and it applies to those enlightened regarding the claims of the law, so that Bible principles must be brought into everyday life to enlighten conscience and regulate conduct.
Religious feeling, liberty in prayer and in meetings, feelings of fellowship with God, religious words, forms, impressive deeds, and display of religious works are not the criterion of character or holiness and do not secure entrance into heaven. Holiness is doing the will of God, and the test is keeping the commandments tried by the law and the testimony. A claim of holiness or love based on feeling does not establish that love, and profession, words, forms, or impressive deeds do not establish holiness or secure entrance into the kingdom. To profess to follow while in works denying by indifference to even one requirement is dangerous.
Sacred position, even ministry in sacred things, does not excuse disobedience and does not make sin less sinful. Breaking the command against adultery by corrupt advances, or by yielding to a seducer because he is a minister, shows the claimant does not know God and shows the word is not abiding in the heart. Such an impure proposal contradicts profession, is from Satan disguised as an angel of light, and must be rejected rather than treated as less sinful because he is a minister.
Disobedience includes a harsh, dictatorial, unchristlike spirit and harsh, ungentlemanly words to brethren, as well as rudeness and unkindness in family life. Such actions are no evidence of Christ's presence but evidence of the presence and control of the fallen foe. They show a person is not yoked with Christ and is not learning meekness and lowliness in the Master's school, but is in the school where Adam learned disobedience, with a spirit entirely out of harmony with God, while the love of God always produces the fruits of His Spirit. Earnest preaching does not excuse failing to show Christ's love at home.
The verse tests those who openly cast contempt upon and defame the law, transgress it by thought, word, and deed, and teach others by precept and example that they may sin with impunity. It condemns making void the law, saying it is abrogated on the testimony of the Fathers, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men not founded on apostles and prophets with Christ as cornerstone, and refusing harmony with the holy law and its appointed Sabbath signature, with deceived followers sharing the deceiver's fate under the wrath of the Lamb. It exposes those who twist and misinterpret Scripture to suit disobedience, who walk contrary to the commandments and refuse the word, who attack commandment-keeping people for believing the Word just as it reads while their own disobedient life condemns them, and who are annoyed when delegated servants show their sin and, inspired by the deceiver, reproach the messengers. Obedience distinguishes true servants from false teachers who claim the law is abolished, and God's people are marked by living in harmony with His holy law. Those so tested are liars in whom the truth is not, in terrible deception, blaspheming heaven.
A claim to know God and to keep His commandments that is not borne out by obedience and good works is false, with no truth in such a person, and such persons receive according to their deeds. The warning covers all who claim knowledge and claim to keep the commandments but fail to show it by good works, and it is directed to all church members, including Seventh-day Adventists. Claiming to know God while continuing in sin makes a person a liar in God's sight, for the claim must be shown in conduct, since sinful conduct works against God and can lead others into sin. Even those looked upon as most eminent believers are in danger of falling into sins prepared to dishonor God without constant help from God alone.
Faith Obedience Salvation
Obedience does not earn salvation and no one is justified by law, for it is the fruit of faith and love rather than the price of favor. Knowing God is proved not by professing faith or accepting religious ideas but by obedience, which reveals genuine love and shows whether the truth is within. Faith does not release anyone from the duty to obey but produces works, makes the believer a partaker of grace that enables obedience, and brings the life of one who abides in Christ into harmony with God's will and law. Faith in Christ that saves leads to obedience, and keeping the commandments as loving service rather than mere outward compliance is the true sign of discipleship.
Faith in Jesus does not cancel or make void the law but establishes it, and accepting Christ as Saviour frees a person from the law's penalty without making obedience irrelevant. God is just and the justifier of the one who believes in Jesus, justifying freely by grace through redemption, with Jesus as the propitiation for sins not for believers only but for the sins of the whole world, set forth through faith in His blood to declare righteousness for the remission of past sins. To believe in Jesus in the fullest sense means taking Him as Redeemer and pattern, abiding in Him with Him abiding within, sharing the divine nature, and doing His word, while mere talk of faith and love that stays on the lips, rejects Bible truth, and refuses duty is spurious and will not save. While Jesus has done all in the way of merit, humans must still comply with the condition of keeping His commandments out of love, for love for Jesus in the heart leads to obedience to all His commandments and knowing Christ means doing what He commands and following His example.
Keeping all the commandments is possible for human beings under the Abrahamic covenant, which is the covenant of grace, because God gives power and strength to obey. His commandments are not grievous but bring happiness in doing them, and obedience is the proof of love to God, while disobedience is sin because sin is transgression of the law. Those taken unawares and led into sin must not give up hope in Christ, cease praying, or stop trying to walk in the way of His commandments, for despair and open transgression is exactly what Satan tempts them toward after leading them to yield. No one who has had light on what keeping the commandments comprehends will be saved while continuing in transgression, yet if anyone sins there is an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the propitiation for the sins of the whole world.
Obedience to all of God's law is absolutely essential to eternal life and is the condition of salvation, with God's Word providing enough light to guide each step toward heaven so that those who lose the way are without excuse. Salvation depends on ceasing to transgress and obeying the law transgressed, keeping the whole ten with perfect obedience without hesitancy or doubt, not one or two or nine selected out. Habitual subjection to the heavenly Master's will constantly asks what the Lord requires and what is His will, and obeys without hesitating or seeking a way to be saved without obedience. No one can get to heaven as well transgressing the law as obeying it, as shown when the old world perished in the flood and Sodom was burned while Lot was saved, proving disobedience is punished. Such obedience does not presume upon mercy to sin as much as one dares, does not follow Christ afar off near the verge of perdition, and does not obey merely to secure heaven but to please Him who died to save sinners from the penalty of transgression of the Father's law.
No one is saved by the law, for there is no power in the law to save its transgressors, but the law is not abrogated. God did not give His Son to a shameful death to make the law of none effect, but Christ bore the penalty of transgression so that through His imputed righteousness fallen men would have another opportunity to repent, return to loyalty, and keep the commandments by faith in Him and live. Bible election is plainly known by obedience and must be received through faith in the truth as it is in Jesus. Keeping His word proves that a person is in Him and that the love of God is perfected in him, and abiding in His love depends on keeping His commandments as Christ kept His Father's commandments. Those who keep His commandments dwell in Him and He in them, known by the Spirit He has given, and love for Christ is shown by keeping His commandments.
Genuine faith rests on Scripture's promises and provisions and does not claim God's favor while ignoring the conditions of mercy, but is shown in obedience. It renounces sin, which is transgression of the law, and brings life into conformity with God's law and will. The Holy Spirit works this obedience through the studied word, conscience, and prompting. Love for Christ shown by obedience distinguishes those who love and keep God's commandments from those who disregard them.
Obedient Life Application
True knowledge is experimental communion with Christ as Redeemer, friend and pattern, abiding in Him with Him abiding within, sharing the divine nature and doing His word. Those united with Him are made partakers of the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world through lust, becoming one with Christ, one with the Father, and one with one another in peace, love and unity in speaking the same things, which is becoming rich toward God. Love in the heart produces obedience to all His commandments with humility of life, while love that goes no further than the lips, rejects Bible truth and refuses duty is a deluding experience that will not save, even though merit rests wholly in what Jesus has done and the human condition is keeping His commandments out of love. Harsh, dictatorial, unchristlike spirit and harsh, ungentlemanly words to brethren show control by the fallen foe rather than the presence of Christ, showing the person is not yoked with Christ nor learning meekness and lowliness in the Master's school but is in the school where Adam learned disobedience, out of harmony with God, whereas the love of God always produces the fruits of His Spirit.
True conversion always shows itself in transformed Christlike character, purpose and action, marking those who become members of the Lord's family and are truly converted and consecrated to His service. Pride no longer rules the heart, zeal is tempered by meekness and lowliness, and religion is seen in personal deeds bearing goodness, love and truth as doers of His words with a changed heart. Growth in grace is shown by increased ability to work for God in the assigned work in the Lord's vineyard, learning to pray and speak for the Master, being trained by the great Teacher unto perfection, daily increasing in spiritual comprehension and fitness to help others through diligent labor, and abiding in Christ to bear much fruit. Keeping His word perfects the love of God in the keeper and proves being in Him, and abiding in Him requires walking as He walked.
Keeping God's word is evidence of knowing Him, loving Him and abiding in Him, and he who abides must walk as Christ walked. Obedience is also a condition for claiming God's promises in prayer. The test demands most earnest individual work of constantly growing in the Lord, learning neglected lessons, refusing selfishness that mars character, yielding self to Christ, seeking cleansing of heart from all defilement, and gaining entire transformation and perfect self-surrender without which no one can enter the holy city, see the kingdom, or live the life that measures with the life of God. In the day of test when character is weighed and in the great day of preparation, conscience and religion must be examined to see if mixed to serve self, sins confessed without delay so they go beforehand to judgment to be blotted out when refreshing comes, with Jesus Christ the righteous as Advocate and propitiation for the sins of the whole world for those who would sin not. Self-exaltation and disparaging others must stop for self-criticism, setting the heart in order, and confessing and forsaking sin without losing a moment, because souls are in peril in the great day of atonement and such diligent repentance cleanses from sin and makes ready for the Lord's appearing.
False profession must be aroused by a great awakening in the church, with the spirit of the message moving quickly from church to church. Believers willingly give possessions to support God's work, homes are cleansed of picture-idols that consumed money that should have flowed into the treasury, God's people pray and watch unto prayer, light goes forth as a lamp that burneth, and bearers of the message earnestly seek the abundant gift of the Holy Spirit with no time to lose, praying for power to work with success for those nigh and afar off. Every possible means is to be used in that arousing work, including medical missionary work conducted to a holy exalted standard, moving steadily onward and upward and presenting God's claims and present truth to those who never heard it, as the right hand serves the body of the third angel's message to increase its usefulness and efficiency.
Religious people must bring this test to the light in examining the Word, for forgiveness through the Advocate and propitiation does not remove the test of obedience, and keeping His word perfects divine love while claiming to abide requires walking as He walked. There is no safety for churches unless ministers press the necessity of keeping the commandments. The verse is the test distinguishing genuine saving faith from mere nominal claim, for proving one's own profession and the profession of others, applying to those enlightened regarding the law's claims so that Bible principles are brought into everyday life to enlighten conscience and regulate conduct. God's people are to stand firmly against errors that lead away from obedience, since keeping the law is consistent with true charity and love for people does not require excusing sin or compromising with it. Christian courtesy and charity do not cover unconfessed sin, so sin is to be named plainly and the right stood for. Each person is to let truth abide in the heart with fellowship and cleansing through Christ's blood, honestly confessing sin to receive faithful and just forgiveness and cleansing from all unrighteousness, trusting the righteous Advocate and propitiation for the whole world, keeping His word unto perfected love and walking as He walked, and not sitting in judgment to pronounce sentence on brethren, for there is only one Judge who died, took human nature with its infirmities, and gives vantage ground with God. True faith relying wholly on Christ is manifested by obedience to all requirements, claiming favor while disregarding commands is false, and this belongs to the great controversy over obedience continuing from Adam's day to the present.
The second chapter gives plain truth of great importance for the last days, to be studied with the message about leaving first love, for beautiful theories are not enough unless the love of Christ in the heart fragrances words and works, and loss of that love is loss of all things calling for remembering, repenting and doing the first works. Obedience to God's will is for present and eternal good and must not be delayed until difficulties are removed, for though Satan places obstacles and attacks weakest points, Jesus helps and enables obedience. There are only two classes in the world today and only two to be recognized in the Judgment, those who keep God's law and those who violate it. In the last great battle the Creator stands with all who bear His signet by obedience and the prince of darkness with those choosing apostasy and rebellion, and when judgment sits and all are judged by the books, God's law will be seen as holy, just and good in all requirements while blinded transgressors who were confused as Adam and Eve were settle a serious account with God whose claims are decisive, though those accepting Christ as personal Saviour are free from the penalty of the law through His bearing sin and propitiation for the whole world, with perfected love and Christlike walk marking the keeper.
The commandments stand as the standard of character that must not be discarded for human invention, and God's people are to arise and uplift righteousness before a world loving darkness rather than light because its deeds are evil, since true knowledge and abiding love are proved by keeping His commandments as Christ kept His Father's and abode in His love. Walking in harmony with the holy law forms character able to stand, while rejecting advanced light leaves one in darkness. Profession of obedience is false when not carried out, especially when self-denial or sacrifice is required, and persistent refusal hardens heart and conscience, whereas true obedience surrenders the will to God and serves others in His work. Knowing and abiding are shown by keeping His word and walking as Christ walked unto perfected love, including the command to love one's brother, for hatred leaves one in darkness while love keeps one in light without stumbling, producing changed words and actions in practical love. True love never leaves a person indifferent and indolent but moves him to work to enlighten the naturally blind and ignorant about God and the Saviour, and mere profession counts for nothing when the commandments are broken.
Only one with faith working by love and purifying the soul, with the joy of salvation in the heart, not merely assenting to truth but believing and practicing it and unsatisfied without God's presence, is a genuine believer, yet even the most eminent are in danger of falling into Satan's prepared sins without constant help from God, and only such a one is qualified to guide sinners to repentance and reformation as a power for good. Those bearing the Lord's name and professing the Bible yet in life and character working away from it and doing the enemy's works are liars representing Satan and darkness rather than Jesus in character to the world. Having a name on church books and giving means to sustain the church does not change this, and such disobedient professors are daily stumbling blocks while they remain. The sanctifying truth must be known as present truth for this time and exemplified by looking to Jesus, walking as He walked, making heavenward progress, and speaking only true words as fell from Christ's lips, because no error is of the truth and error never sanctifies or saves.