I was already half-asleep watching the movie John Wick 2 until I heard the words of the character Winston. He said to John Wick, “Rules. Without them, we’d live with the animals.” Now Wick was a former hitman. In this scene, he is being told to follow the rules of hitmen.
“Rules. Without them, we’d live with the animals.” But why do we, as Christians, always hear the words we “are no longer bound by law”? It seemed to have given many of us free rein to live lives of abandonment and of no consequence, fixated on God’s grace and holding on to the forgiveness of our past, present, and future sins. Do we ever wonder why only we humans receive, create, and pass down rules from generation to generation?
The very first rule God gave was to Adam, when He said, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat…” (Genesis 2:16-17). There was no population explosion nor food insecurity at that time for Adam to even think of consuming from that tree. Yet, God put something in place and told Adam of the consequence of eating from it: death. And there was no recorded death at that time for Adam to even grasp the concept. But the rule was set in place for a reason.
The very first rule broken was the eating of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, resulting in the spiritual death of not only Adam but also his wife Eve, who was the first to break the rule. They were cast from the garden. Later, we see the first murder of Abel committed by Cain, the son of Adam and Eve. The unraveling of lawlessness kept going! And with every lawless act done by God’s people, we saw how grieved God was and how His wrath was stirred to destroy His own people.
At the time of the great exodus of the Israelites, while they were in the wilderness, God chose to provide His people with ten rules, His commandments. He meant these rules to set His people apart from the lawless people and nations around them. He meant these rules to keep His people pure and holy in His sight, and for them to enjoy His blessings because of obedience.
Thousands of years later, Jesus was asked by the rich young man how he could have eternal life. Jesus responded: “Keep the commandments.” Jesus mentioned all the most obvious things we like to honor: “You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness. Honor your father and mother. And you shall love your neighbor as yourself.” The young man replied, “All these I have kept. What do I still lack?” (Read Matthew 19:16-20). All the rules kept by the young man, the same rules we can boast of doing, are those directed at people. Could it be because if we break any of those, we must face the law of the land and suffer the consequences? We can’t go about killing people. We can’t just be engaged in affairs. We can’t just be libelous and slanderous. We know these actions are wrong and we will be breaking the rules.
Surprisingly, Jesus didn’t even mention to the young man the commandments to honor God. Could it be because it’s more a private matter of the heart? Just like the Pharisees and scribes, we, too, are hypocrites, doing what Isaiah prophesied:
“This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men” (Matthew 15:7-9).
Today it’s hard for us to think of the Ten Commandments, the ten great rules of godly living, as easy to keep. Just like the Pharisees, we test Jesus with the same question, “Which is the great commandment of the Law?” Jesus hinged it on a very tricky answer: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first great commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself” (Matthew 22:36-38). Ah! The keyword is spelled l-o-v-e for us. Who doesn’t know what love is? It’s not really about the Ten Commandments anymore. And just like that, we have proven we are no longer bound by law. We are only to follow the commandment to love!
But in the Gospel of John, Jesus said, “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love” (15:10). We can’t overlook the fact that Jesus plainly stated that the keeping of the commandment, the rule-following, is how we live grace-filled lives in God. It’s the only way we can bear the fruit of the Spirit and show love for God and others.
Shall we agree that the first commandment of “loving the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind” is the summary of God’s commandments 1-4? No other gods before Him. No graven image. Do not take the name of the Lord our God in vain. Keep the Sabbath day holy. And the second commandment of “loving your neighbor as yourself” is the summary of the rest of the Ten Commandments. Honor your father and your mother. Do not murder. Do not commit adultery. Do not steal. Do not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet.
As followers of Jesus Christ, our profession of faith includes abiding in His love, through our obedience to His Father’s commandments. Jesus said, “These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full” (John 15:11). It will be hard for us to truly experience loving God and loving our neighbor and finding joy in doing so without having the commandments or rules to follow.
John Wick was still honor-bound to fulfill his mission. It was the rule! In the same way, we are honor-bound to obey the Ten Commandments set before us to fulfill the life of obedience we are called to. Jesus said, “You are my friends if you do what I command you” (John 15:14). This is further emphasized by this passage: “Whoever says ‘I know [Jesus]’ but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him” (1 John 2:4).
“Rules. Without them, we’d live with animals.” Let’s remember that we are heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ (Romans 8:17), destined to live with our glorious God!
Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/Bohdan Bevz
Luisa Collopy is an author, speaker and a women’s Bible study teacher. She also produces Mula sa Puso (From the Heart) in Tagalog (her heart language), released on FEBC Philippines stations. Luisa loves spending time with her family over meals and karaoke!