Ecclesiastes 12:13, commentary and pictures

The conclusion of the whole matter is that reverent obedience to God by keeping His commandments is the whole duty of every human being. This duty stands because God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil, rendering eternal decisions and rewards to each person according to his work. His law is the standard by which character and life are tested in that judgment, making obedience the decisive question. The Ten Commandments contain that whole duty, the first four defining duty to God and the last six defining duty to others, governed by love to God and love to neighbor. Solomon spoke this as a preacher of righteousness to furnish the strongest motive to holy obedience, setting the prospect of coming judgment before people to lead them to think solemnly of duty and prepare for the Lord's coming.

Solomon's Conclusion and Context

Solomon gave the conclusion as a preacher of righteousness to furnish the strongest motive to holy obedience, a motive beyond all estimate because of the judgment to come. That motive is the prospect of a judgment to come with its eternal decisions and rewards, in which God renders to every person according to his work and brings every work with every secret thing into account. It is truth needed in every church as the means to the end of that judgment, to be kept distinctly and clearly before the people to make them think solemnly of duty. That solemn sense of duty belongs with preparation for the Lord soon coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

The conclusion stands after the wise preacher taught the people knowledge with upright words of truth that prod and hold fast like goads and nails given from one shepherd. It is set against endless making of books and study that wearies the flesh, while reverence for God shown by obedience to His commandments is the whole duty of man because God will bring every work with every secret thing into judgment whether good or evil. It belongs with the concluding counsel to remember God in youth and to recognize that God will judge one's actions. That counsel was learned from the folly of turning from God, and is directed toward keeping others from repeating his mistakes.

The conclusion follows the discovery that people turn toward evil when left to themselves and that delayed judgment can encourage wrongdoing. Fear of God is contrasted with wickedness: it is well with those who fear Him, while it is not well with the wicked. Fearing God and keeping His commandments as the whole human duty belongs with the certainty that God will bring every deed, including secret things, into judgment.

Fear God Keep Commandments

The conclusion of the whole matter is that reverence for God shown by obedience to His commandments is the whole duty of every human being. God's law is the standard by which character and life are tested in the judgment, when every deed including what is secret, whether good or evil, is brought to account. That day is near, and this duty includes worship, for He is the Creator to whom all beings owe existence, while obedience is necessary for worship to please Him and for readiness for judgment, and keeping the law requires faith.

Fearing God and keeping His commandments means reverent obedience flowing from knowing God and Jesus Christ, which is eternal life. It means anchoring the soul upon God's sure and eternal promises, with the heart softened and prepared to do His will. It means consecrating the whole being, body, soul, and spirit to God ready for any service He appoints, being linked with the Saviour to share His grace, rejoice in His love and appreciate His imperishable excellence, and becoming partakers of the divine nature as sons and daughters of God. Fearing God and keeping His commandments are the conditions for entering God's kingdom and the answer to what must be done to inherit eternal life, where obedience brings blessing and peace while disobedience brings a curse, joined with loving God wholly and loving one's neighbor as oneself.

The whole duty is to offer daily the prayer Christ taught His disciples and then live that prayer through the day. Its principles lie at the foundation of the spring of all right action, and those who carry out every phase become discerning people whose minds God Himself can control and guide. The whole duty is contained in the third angel's message, the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus, to be proclaimed to the world with no uncertain trumpet sound. Living it means having truth in the heart, turning from fashion and dress and display and unconsecrated indulgent living, and following the self-denial and self-sacrifice of the Son of God to seek and save the lost.

The whole duty is to love God supremely and show that love by keeping all His commandments while loving one's neighbor as oneself, with no separation between love for God and obedience to His law. True holiness is complete service to God, honoring His government and giving self its proper place, since people are Christ's own, valued in proportion to the infinite price He paid for them, and through Christ obedience binds people to God and develops a complete, healthy, balanced Christian character. This duty is kept by doing the Word in unselfish service to God, not by words and moral expressions alone, and convictions from the Holy Spirit come in proportion to that unselfish service. Obedience to God's moral standard is the test during probationary life, and obedience or disobedience decides destiny.

That love of God perfected in the soul is revealed by sanctification of soul, body, and spirit, and when fulfilled the gospel is satisfied and victory is achieved. These two principles of loving God with all the heart and neighbor as self hold all the law and the prophets. Fulfilling them brings light and joy and peace and gladness, shows fitness and preparedness for the inheritance of the saints in light, makes a person in word and spirit and action a true representative of Christ, and makes rich for all eternity. The Word labors from age to age to make people more practical in this duty, not despising the day of small things but requiring growth in every good work and continual advancement.

The first duty is to glorify God that He may be enjoyed forever, by asking how He can best be glorified and studying with all powers of heart and mind what may be done to glorify Him. The whole duty is to belong to the Lord and do what He requires, trusting fully in the great atonement, which brings peace and the hope of life lasting as long as God lives. It is to live and act as a Christian wherever one is, in a life of holiness doing what is right and honoring the Redeemer, guided by high motives and firm integrity to bless others and prepare for the future life. Those who use their means to glorify self in costly display provoking envy have lost sight of this duty and God is not in their thoughts, and disregard of His law through insolence brings retribution at His appointed time, when no earthly power and no material can stay His hand to save or to destroy. The Lord of heaven claims the highest reverence, to fear, love, and obey all His precepts, because He is perfect in goodness and full of mercy and compassion, always working for the good and happiness of the human family, while human plans contrary to His will bring unhappiness, suffering, and eternal disappointment.

Judgment and Accountability

The whole duty stands because God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing whether good or evil. The day is near when every hidden thing will be revealed, with eternal decisions and rewards and punishment rendered to each person according to his work. For that reason reverence for God shown by obedience to His commandments is to be done with that coming judgment in view, where every work with every secret thing will be brought into account. Every idle word must be accounted for in the day of judgment, and by words people will be justified or condemned.

God's law is the standard by which characters and lives are tested in the judgment. Obedience to the commandments is the decisive question, and a person's practiced truth in life, words, and actions is the test. Continuing in sin brings no vindication, for obedience is not optional. Trivial strife and contention should be put aside for the unity Christ prayed for, since the judgment turns on whether people obeyed God's commandments.

The coming judgment is a motive beyond all estimate to holy obedience and must be kept distinctly and clearly before the people. It calls for a constant sense of accountability to God, so that obedience governs every act and undertaking. It is truth needed in every church as the means to the end of the judgment with its eternal decisions and rewards, to make people think solemnly of duty and of preparation for the Lord soon coming in the clouds of heaven with power and great glory.

The conclusion supports the call to worship God and obey His law and explains the first angel's call to fear God and worship Him as Creator. All beings owe their existence to Him, and obedience to His law is necessary for worship to please Him and for readiness for judgment. Keeping the law requires faith, and turning away from the law makes even prayer unacceptable. Loving God and keeping His commandments is true wisdom and the preparation essential for the heavenly home and future immortal life, since earthly honor is perishable and earthly treasures are valueless at death while only heavenly treasure and the favor of God endure. Many will be found wanting in the great day because the hours of probation passed unimproved, and when the righteous Judge proclaims every destiny fixed, even the most careless will discern that the truly wise were those who obeyed God.

Nature of God's Law

The commandments express God's will and mind as an authoritative and unchanging guide to the path to heaven. They are His holy law and the standard of character by which every person will be judged, for God will bring every deed into judgment, including what is secret, whether good or evil. His requirements are sacred and are not to be set aside according to personal opinion or convenience, nor are they subject to human revision. Treating one command as optional because obedience is costly lowers the standard of right and can lead others to disregard His law, and people will answer to God for turning from His requirements. Parents must teach this perfect law to their children throughout daily life, and neglecting that responsibility contributes to crime and wickedness, while the law itself is to be respected, revered, and obeyed.

The Ten Commandments cover the whole duty of man. They are the law of God's kingdom, plain and clear, an expression of the character of the Sovereign of the universe. They were proclaimed with awful solemnity from Sinai so that all mankind might clearly understand the requirements of God. The first four define duty to God and the last six define duty to other people. The law's two governing principles are love to God and love to one's neighbor, and the other scriptural commands amplify the ten precepts.

Fear of God leads people to honor and glorify Him, and willing obedience shows love for Him, while doing His will brings the highest happiness. The law calls for reverence, love, service, and complete obedience to God. God's law is a lasting and perfect rule for life, grounded in love to God and others, binding and unchanged until the end of time. Its claims do not diminish, and its demands reach beyond outward actions to the thoughts, purposes, and intentions of the heart. Christ honored the law and showed perfect obedience to it in His life. Keeping it leads people to reject ungodliness and worldly desires and to live sober, righteous, and godly lives.

The laws to be obeyed were enacted by the Father in heaven and are wise and just and good because they come from Him whose heart is love. In the ten commandments He has given all men the principles of His character as rules for guidance in all transactions, to be taught to children and to form the standard of all dealing with one another, from which there can be no sinless swerving. Keeping them means learning the will of God and doing it with all the heart and with a perfect heart, under God as Ruler, Judge, Lawgiver and King, bringing His laws into practical life and especially into institutions. There is not one rule of action for men in authority and another for those who submit, not one for directors and another for supposed inferiors, but one holy standard for men, women and children in every position. That standard forbids oppression, selfish grasping over wages and royalties, man-made oppressive laws, and every path God has not marked out, and God will judge these selfish and oppressive works. With the truth that God will bring every work into judgment with every secret thing whether good or evil, the day is near when every hidden thing will be revealed, prosperity and happiness are found in no other path than the way of the Lord, and the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.

God's law plainly states the whole duty of man and presents the character of God to fallen humanity. That law is holy, just, and good, a code of principles expressing mercy, goodness, and love, not a new thing but holiness made known. The Holy Spirit enables people to delight in it, to love God supremely and their neighbors as themselves, and to fulfill the law from the heart. Christ renews the image of God in humanity and turns sinners back to loyalty and obedience. Obedience to this law is the burden of the last message of mercy to the world. The law is summed in two great principles, love to God with all heart, soul, mind, and strength, containing the principles of the first four precepts, and love to neighbor as self, upon which hang all the law and the prophets.

God's law declares the whole duty of man, which is sincere, earnest, wholehearted obedience to all God's requirements. The fundamental principles of that law are the truths God gave to Paul by vision and revelation, not from a human mind, when he counted all things that were gain as loss for Christ. They are given for the benefit of all who desire to be sincere, earnest, wholehearted Christians. God's commandments express the whole duty of humanity in a comprehensive, concise form: love God with all one's heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love one's neighbor as oneself. Love fulfills the law.

Scripture and Education

God's will is revealed in the written word, and knowing what is written there is the essential knowledge for understanding the whole duty of fearing God and keeping His commandments. Knowledge of languages, customs, places, and historical times and settings can help explain Scripture and support missionary work, but it is not necessary for finding its saving message. The path marked out for the redeemed is so clear that no one perishes for lack of understanding.

Humanity's whole duty is revealed in that word as the great standard of righteousness, whose plain teaching must not be displaced by human arguments, opinions, and customs. No reputation, professed goodness, influence, or respectability can justify setting human ideas above it or turning away from carefully investigating and obeying Bible truth. Jesus and the truth found in Him are the example to hear and follow. This duty to God is distinctly set out in God's word, and its truth is not new but is to be brought clearly to mind so that people will heed it and have no excuse.

Children are to be brought up for God from their earliest lessons and taught daily to love and fear Him, to fear offending their Creator, to keep His commandments rather than follow the world, and to be restrained from forbidden paths. God's commandments are to be established in the home as the children's rule of life. This education, joined with saving grace and knowledge of saving grace, shapes lives and characters in the likeness of God and Christ and builds godly character for this present life. Purity of soul is of greater worth than anything else, and such training prepares conquerors to enter the city of God. In the last days obedience or disobedience to the commandments will be a great test.

Fearing God and keeping His commandments is the higher education, and parents are on no account to neglect training their children for it. Christ taught this to the church in the wilderness as the education for their highest good in this life and for fitness for the kingdom of God. It belongs to the Word of God that lies at the foundation of all true education and is part of the correct knowledge of God that Christ gave His life to give the human family. This requires training in Bible lines, so that learners go forth prepared as men and women who do missionary work for Him and who love and fear God, respect all His commandments, and desire above all things to advance according to His will.

Teachers in colleges and training schools must love and fear the Lord, be self-controlled, and show by their lives that they obey and reverence God, while also giving students wise medical teaching and wise religious instruction. High ability is no reason to hold to or follow a teacher or physician who does not meet this standard, because such a one will plant unbelief in the minds of the young. One who does not fear God and keep His commandments must not be allowed to carry out doubtful, forbidden projects. A physician and spouse who live by this duty are a treasure in a sanitarium, and God-fearing, commandment-keeping people are the kind needed to serve responsibly and decide important church matters.

The fear of the Lord fades when young people neglect Bible study, so they must be taught to study, revere, and obey the divine will revealed in Scripture.

Obedience in Daily Life

Fearing God and keeping His commandments belong together, and keeping God's law includes loving one's neighbor as oneself, so indulging an appetite that harms the body and weakens the mind is inconsistent with obedience to God and care for others. Intemperance is selfish and conflicts with that obedience, for indulgence in tobacco, liquor, and other harmful stimulants dulls the brain, weakens the intellect, and inflames the passions, blinding reason and conscience.

Fear of God joined with love for Him leads to right conduct, including honesty and truthfulness that must be kept even under temptation or fear of punishment, with God's help to do what is right. The whole duty of honoring God through obedience to His law includes truthfulness and fairness in business, refusing to gain advantage by deception, and loving and helping one's neighbor, for God's law must become part of character and be shown in practical dealings with others.

Reverencing God means preparing rather than lulling oneself into security before the coming destruction by fire, and keeping the Sabbath and believing the warning message are expressions of that obedience, while those who reject the warnings are sinful and disobedient and face God's wrath. Fearing God is consistent with respect for His word, as seen in those who feared God and observed Jehovah's rest day. Fearing God and keeping His commandments marks God's people before the world, for keeping His commandments includes keeping the Sabbath holy and refusing to break it for worldly gain or to please people, even by closing business on that day, and this obedience makes God's law known, witnessing to people in the cities who are engrossed in business and pleasure that God has a people who obey Him.

Fearing God and keeping His commandments as the whole duty of humanity requires workers to put away jealousy, evil suspicions, and discord and to bring conduct into line with God's requirements, with the Spirit of God enabling them to recognize and repent of these wrong attitudes.

Knowing the truth brings responsibility to win others to love God and obey Him through earnest, unselfish labor for their salvation, answering the debt of love owed to Christ who gave His life. This duty includes declaring all of God's counsel, in season and out of season, with meek wisdom, and because these matters concern eternal well-being they call for earnest, persuasive appeals to obey God's Word, repent, and be converted, so that sins may be blotted out of heaven's books and names recorded in the Lamb's book of life, without removing human freedom or responsibility. Those who obey God's Word and remain true to principle render loving service to Him in response to His love shown in giving His Son, and people who fear God and keep His commandments bear witness to the truth even when their obedience troubles family members and neighbors, so that their light can lead people walking in darkness to serve the Lord.

Fearing God and obeying Him are humanity's duty, and without the fear of God no one can be truly happy. God's claim to obedience includes His laws and wise rules that guard young people and lead them in paths of peace.