If thou shalt hear say in one of thy cities, which the LORD thy God hath given thee to dwell there, saying,
Deuteronomy 13:12 belongs to the warning against false prophets. The chapter lays down directions for trying those accused of sorcery and putting them to death. The law of God is the standard by which prophets are tested, so even one who performs signs and wonders is false if he leads people away from it.
Breaking the first two precepts of the Ten Commandments brings the transgressor under the curse as the consequence of disobedience recorded in the chapter. The verse shows death inflicted by the civil magistrate attached to violation of the moral law, with the same penalty attached to most of its precepts, including the Sabbath. The moral law embracing the Sabbath formed part of the civil code of the Hebrew nation, and the penalties annexed to be inflicted by the magistrate shadow forth the final retribution of the ungodly.
Those civil penalties were suspended by the Saviour's ruling that only those without sin should cast the first stone in stoning, but the real penalty of the law, the wages of sin which is death, was not set aside nor the violated precept weakened. A sinless Being will yet arise to punish men, when hailstones of wrath shall desolate the earth. After the healing of the lame man the Jewish leaders could not deny the miracle with the healed man standing living before them, so they hoped to use this chapter to condemn Peter and John as sorcerers. Peter's answer given by the Holy Spirit left the learned council with nothing to say.
Deuteronomy 13:12 belongs to the warning against false prophets. The chapter lays down directions for trying those accused of sorcery and putting them to death. The law of God is the standard by which prophets are tested, so even one who performs signs and wonders is false if he leads people away from it.
Breaking the first two precepts of the Ten Commandments brings the transgressor under the curse as the consequence of disobedience recorded in the chapter. The verse shows death inflicted by the civil magistrate attached to violation of the moral law, with the same penalty attached to most of its precepts, including the Sabbath. The moral law embracing the Sabbath formed part of the civil code of the Hebrew nation, and the penalties annexed to be inflicted by the magistrate shadow forth the final retribution of the ungodly.
Those civil penalties were suspended by the Saviour's ruling that only those without sin should cast the first stone in stoning, but the real penalty of the law, the wages of sin which is death, was not set aside nor the violated precept weakened. A sinless Being will yet arise to punish men, when hailstones of wrath shall desolate the earth. After the healing of the lame man the Jewish leaders could not deny the miracle with the healed man standing living before them, so they hoped to use this chapter to condemn Peter and John as sorcerers. Peter's answer given by the Holy Spirit left the learned council with nothing to say.