Saturday, March 4, 2017

What about that "New" Commandment?

"It is true that Jesus speaks of a "new com­mandment." (See John 13:34.) But it is also stated that the "new commandment" is "an
old commandment which ye had from the begin­ning." 1 John 2:7, 8. The commandment is "new" to the man who has just found his Lord. A person living many years in Europe, and then coming to America, finds a "New World." But this "New World" is "new" to him only because he has just been introduced to it. It has been here all the time.
The pre-passion ceremonies pointed to the future death of Christ. Baptism and the Lord's supper point to the past death of the same Savior. In this sense only is it new.
And the "new worship day" is equally a fig­ment of the imagination. No word of such a day exists in the Bible. No new day is com­manded. Rom. 5:13. But "there remaineth therefore a keeping of a Sabbath [the same Sabbath as from the beginning] to the people of God," down this side of the time of Christ. Heb. 4:9, margin." E. L. MAXWELL