What May Christians Safely Disbelieve?

Alice C. Linsley

My Roman Catholic friend, Michael Liccione, has written on his Facebook page that "the main disagreement among American Catholics is not about whether we should believe 'all that the Holy Catholic Church believes, professes, and teaches,' but which teachings we may safely disbelieve."

I responded, "Aggiornamento has that effect on us! There is an interesting parallel between the Roman Catholic Church in the USA and the Anglicans in the USA in that liturgical reform suggested to many that the historic Catholic faith had changed. The Vatican II liturgical changes and the Episcopal Church's 1979 prayer book changed words and forms. If lex orandi lex credendi is true, we should not be surprised that Roman Catholics and Anglicans have to decide what they may safely disbelieve."

Dr. Peter Toon believed that the Anglican formulary had a fixed shape that was worth preserving because it was Biblically sound and preserved the distinctive Anglican Way. He had no problem with the slight changes in wording and order that were found across the various revisions up to the 1979 "Book of Common Prayer" produced by the Episcopal Church. He noted that the 1979 book did not conform to any of the previous versions. This concerned him and it concerns other Anglicans who believe that the form of something received should not be set aside because form is an important as the words prayed.

The Anglican priest Louis Tarsitano wrote, "The rejection of formulas as the prescribed means of defining, maintaining, and manifesting forms is especially dangerous in theology and religion, upon which all other human activities depend for the maintenance of their forms according to God’s good pleasure. The new life given in Christ Jesus is governed by divine forms, just as much as the originally righteous life of man that redemption restores was formed in every particular by God."

How one views the changes that came out of Vatican II and the Episcopal Church's Standing Liturgical Commission (SLC), will depend on whether one agrees with the premise of the Liturgical Movement that the divine liturgy needed to be updated or modernized (aggiornamento).  Urban T. Holmes seems to have understood that the 1979 prayer book would divide Anglicans in the United States, or at least that it had far-reaching ramifications. He wrote, "It is evident that Episcopalians as a whole are not clear about what has happened. The renewal movement in the 1970s, apart from the liturgical renewal, often reflects a nostalgia for a classical theology which many theologians know has not been viable for almost 200 years. The 1979 Book of Common Prayer is a product of a corporate, differentiated theological mind, which is not totally congruent with many of the inherited formularies of the last few centuries. This reality must soon ‘come home to roost’ in one way or another."

Holmes precisely expressed the premise of the reform of the traditional Anglican formularies in these words: "The church has awakened to the demise of classical theology." Holmes also wrote, "I know that there are those who do not understand this and protest it vigorously.'

The new book was predicated on an assumption that "classical theology" has no relevance to people of the 20th century. Further, he admits that the incongruence between the theology of the 1979 book and traditional Anglican theology is sufficiently great that it will  raise objections and bring division.

Holmes expressed another assumption that should be questioned, namely that people would be more likely to accept the 1979 book were they to be properly instructed. He wrote:

As I reflect upon the educational process that has brought the Episcopal Church to the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, it seems clear that it is a symbol of a theological revolution, which is a victory for none of the old "parties" that those of us over 40 remember so vividly from our youth. The new prayer book has, consciously or unconsciously, come to emphasize that understanding of the Christian experience which one might describe as a postcritical apprehension of symbolic reality and life in the community. It is consonant with Ricoeur's "second naivete" and is more expressive of Husserl, Heidegger, Otto, and Rahner than Barth or Brunner. It embraces a Logos Christology. This viewpoint was shaped liturgically at Maria Laach, transmitted to Anglicanism by Herbert, Ladd, and Shepherd, and reinforced by Vatican II and a cluster of theologians and teachers who are, directly or indirectly, part of the theological movement reflected in that most significant gathering of the church in the 20th century.

This is one of the most revealing of Holmes' reflections on the liturgical reform of the Episcopal Church. The changes were informed by 20th century philosophical developments rather than by Scripture, Tradition, and the Fathers. As one who has been teaching Husserl, Heidegger and Derrida for more than 14 years, I can say that they have much to offer to theological conversation, but we should not regard them as authorities when it comes to liturgy, worship and prayer.

Roman Catholics and Anglicans alike give lip service to lex orandi lex credendi.  We recognize that how we pray shapes how we believe. To express it another way: what we pray influences what we believe. In turn, both how /what we pray and how/what we believe shapes how we live.

If you believe form/shape is not as important as words, you can easily embrace the liturgical changes of the 1979 prayer book. However, if you believe that lex orandi lex credendi is true, you are less inclined to dismiss or sideline the older form. No doubt the Roman and Anglican liturgical reforms brought some good things, but the question remains: Were these minor gains worth the price of losing continuity with the older, richer tradition? Were the changes really necessary?  Is this a different religion?

It is not a coincidence that the move to ordain women as priests came in the Episcopal Church with the "updating" of the liturgy that we find in the 1979 book. Likewise, with the post Vatican II liturgical changes in the Roman Church came a movement called "Women Priests" and just as the first women ordained in the Episcopal Church were ordained against the canons of the church, so some women of the Roman Catholic faith have taken it upon themselves to be ordained Catholic "priests" against the canons of Rome. See a pattern? Lex orandi lex credendi.

Words matter. "Regeneration" is one of those words that matter very much in traditional Anglican baptismal theology, but the word does not even appear in the 1979 prayer book.

Forms matter as much as words. None should be forced to worship according to a form that is incongruent with, and at times quite foreign to what has been preserved and received through many generations. The Vatican came to see this and now permits the use of the old Latin Rite. It is reasonable to question the premises of the liturgical reform movement. It brought sweeping changes and, though the 1979 book is a sacred cow for many, it is not the recommended book today among Anglicans who seek to recover the Anglican identity that is reformed, catholic, and distilled from Scripture. Such faithful sons and daughters may safely disbelieve the tenets of the Episcopal Church's new religion.

Related reading: Rethinking "Biblical Equality"; How Radical a Revision?; A Review of Worship Points the Way; Joseph Ratzinger Predicted the Crisis; New Anglicans Keep "the Main Thing the Main Thing"

Reflections on the ACNA Catechism: The Second Commandment

Lord, incline our hearts to keep this law.

Alice C. Linsley


This continues the five-part series on the catechism presently used by the Anglican Church of North America (ACNA). The first three parts are linked under "related reading" at the bottom of this page.


“O God, I have tasted Thy goodness, and it has both satisfied me and made me thirsty for more. I am painfully conscious of my need of further grace. I am ashamed of my lack of desire. O God, the Triune God, I want to want Thee; I long to be filled with longing; I thirst to be made more thirsty still. Show me Thy glory, I pray Thee, that I may know Thee indeed. Begin in mercy a new work of love within me. Say to my soul, ‘Rise up, my love, my fair one, and come away. Then give me grace to rise and follow Thee up  from this misty lowland where I have wandered so long. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.” --A. W. Tozer, “The Pursuit of God”

The Second Commandment

What is the Second Commandment?

The Second Commandment is: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them.”

Comment: Note the specification of things in heaven above, things beneath the earth, and things in the water under the earth. The description of the earth at the center with the firmament (waters) above and the firmament (waters) below comes from Genesis 1. The things above and the things below are hidden from us or only partially known. They cannot be adequately represented by any image that even the most talented artist could create. Any attempt to show an image of these things fails. It always misses the mark, falling short of the glory of God.

Hathor-Meri

Abraham's people understood this. That is why they used the sun as an emblem of the Creator and did not worship the sun. The sun was portrayed as serving God as a solar boat and as YHWH's chariot. The overshadowing of the ruler by the sun meant his divine appointment. This was indicated by the Y, symbolizing the long horns of the Ankole cow. The original context is that of Abraham's Nilo-Saharan cattle-herding ancestors. On ancient images, the Y image appears as a cradle  for the sun and as a crown on the head of the one who is divinely appointed. This is why many of the Horite rulers have names beginning with Y in Hebrew: Yishmael, Yitzak, Yacob, Yosef, Yisbak, Yaqtan and Yeshua are examples.

A widespread image of the Y crown is shown right. This image depicts the divine appointment and overshadowing of Hathor, the mother of Horus, the son of the Creator. The Horites were devotees of the Creator, Hathor, and Horus. At Nile shrines, Horus was often shown as the Calf of God resting in a manger. His mother is shown wearing the symbol of divine appointment. the sun cradled in the long horns of the cow. It was long expected that a "woman" of the ruler-priest lines would be overshadowed and conceive the "Seed" of God who would "crush the serpent's head" (Gen. 3:15).

What does the Second Commandment mean?

God’s people are neither to worship man-made images of God or of other gods, nor make such images for the purpose of worshiping them. (Deuteronomy 4:15-24)

Comment: The bottom line is that images are not to be worshiped or adored. However, as any parent who has sat to read a book to a preschool child knows, images are helpful. We use images in books to educate children.  The younger the child, the more images we use. As the child grows, the books have less images and more text.

Images were used throughout the history of the Church to inform illiterate people about the Gospel. Stained glass windows were used to tell the story of Jesus’ life, passion, death, resurrection and ascension. Statues of Mary and Jesus were placed in side chapels and for centuries people have prayed while contemplating the images. In the Orthodox churches the icons that are front and center are those of Jesus (on the right as one faces the most holy space) and the Theotokos (on the left). Contemplation and veneration of these icons draws the Christian deeper in the mystery of the Incarnation by which God redeems the lost and begins renewal of the material world.

In the eastern churches Mary is rarely shown apart from her Son. Most icons of Mary show her holding the Christ Child. She is the “Theotokos” – the God-bearer, the appointed and overshadowed Woman whose cooperation with God fulfills the expectation of the Righteous Ruler who is salvation (Yeshua). In this sense, Mary is a model of the obedient and fruitful Christian life. The honor the Virgin Mary is shown in the Church is the reason Feminist interpretation of the Bible ultimately fails in logic.

How did Israel break the first two commandments?

Israel worshiped the gods of the nations around them, neglected God’s Law, and corrupted the worship of the Temple, thus earning God’s punishment. (Exodus 32; Judges 2:11-15, Psalm 78:56-72; Jeremiah 32:30-35)

Comment: In Biblical theology disobedience has consequences and the consequences are viewed as divine punishment. Doubtless, some consequences described in the Bible were natural outcomes, but others, such as the plagues of Egypt, represent supernatural interventions. So it is that the Habiru/Hebrew are repeatedly warned not to transgress the order of creation (as in homosex and onanism) or to violate the moral code. The moral code, represented by the Ten Commandments, strictly forbade following after the deities of other peoples. Yahweh alone is to be worshiped and obeyed. He is not like other gods. Yahweh's nature cannot be adequately represented by any created thing. And this is where things become very interesting!

Among the Habiru, the appointed ruler with his council of ruler-priests ideally served as the earthly counterpart of the heavenly council and therefore these rulers were called "gods" or elohim. The Horite ruler-priests were regarded as deified "sons" of God. They are called "gods" (elohim) as in Exodus 22:28: "Thou shalt not revile the gods (elohim), nor curse the ruler of thy people." It becomes evident that in Horite theology the living creature alone can embody righteousness, and among living creatures, only the human has the potential for deification. No image of stone or metal qualifies.

Further, it is evident that the ruler-priests could use this claim to bolster their power among the people, as did Sargon (Biblical Nimrod) when he claimed to be the righteous ruler appointed by God on the basis of his lowly mother's miraculous conception of him while she was in the temple of Azu. No claims made by the ruler-priests could be regarded as proof of their divine appointment. The only proof of the deification of the "son" was resurrection from the dead.

The Habiru/Hebrew broke the first two commandments when they allowed themselves to be influenced by peoples with an inferior moral code and an animistic-shamanic worldview. Such syncretism brings decay and destruction to the True Faith. The catechism cites examples: Exodus 32; Judges 2:11-15, Psalm 78:56-72; Jeremiah 32:30-35. We will consider the last three first, as the example from Exodus 32 is not an example of syncretism.

Example 1 - (Judges 2:11-15): “Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord and served the Baals. They forsook the Lord, the God of their ancestors, who had brought them out of Egypt.  They followed and worshiped various gods of the peoples around them. They aroused the Lord’s anger because they forsook him and served Baal and the Ashtoreths. In his anger against Israel the Lord gave them into the hands of raiders who plundered them. He sold them into the hands of their enemies all around, whom they were no longer able to resist. Whenever Israel went out to fight, the hand of the Lord was against them to defeat them, just as he had sworn to them. They were in great distress.”

The word “Baal” means Lord or Master. It can sometimes refer to the Lord, as in Baal Shalisha, meaning the Three God (an early Trinitarian reference?); a Deity associated with the number 3, a triune God. The number 3 is repeatedly found in connection to the most enlightening passages and the most astonishing acts of God. Jonah was 3 days in the belly of the whale. Moses was hidden for 3 months (Ex. 2:2). Job's 3 friends struggled with the mystery of why the righteous suffer. Moses asked permission to make a 3-day journey into the wilderness to worship. Abraham traveled 3 days to a mountain only God could reveal and upon which God provided His own sacrifice. The Covenant God made with Abraham involved cutting up 3 animals that were 3 years old. God in 3 Persons visited Abraham (Gen. 18). The 3 measures of flour made into cakes for those Visitors. The 3 gifts offered them: curds, milk and a calf. Abraham prayed 3 times for Sodom. Joseph had a dream of a vine with 3 branches (Gen 40:10-12). The “Son of Man” appeared with 3 men in the fiery furnace. Jesus rose on the third day.

Ashtoreth shrines at high elevations were dedicated to the moon goddess. As the moon merely reflects the radiance of the sun, it was regarded as an inappropriate symbol for the Creator among the Habiru and no lesser god or goddess was to be worshiped.

Example 2 - (Psalm 78:56-64): “But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely. He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among humans. He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. He gave his people over to the sword; he was furious with his inheritance. Fire consumed their young men, and their young women had no wedding songs; their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.” 

The Habiru rebellion expressed itself in accommodating to the cultures around them. So God abandoned them to their dark ways. Their paths led them to destruction. I am again reminded of the demise of the Episcopal Church.

As Christ followers we are to hold fast to the Gospel, not accommodating the received tradition under pressure from the world. As St. Paul reminds us,“Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” (Romans 12:2)

Example 3 -  (Jeremiah 32:30-35): “The people of Israel and Judah have done nothing but evil in my sight from their youth; indeed, the people of Israel have done nothing but arouse my anger with what their hands have made, declares the Lord. From the day it was built until now, this city has so aroused my anger and wrath that I must remove it from my sight. The people of Israel and Judah have provoked me by all the evil they have done—they, their kings and officials, their priests and prophets, the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem. They turned their backs to me and not their faces; though I taught them again and again, they would not listen or respond to discipline. They set up their vile images in the house that bears my Name and defiled it. They built high places for Baal in the Valley of Ben Hinnom to sacrifice their sons and daughters to Molek, though I never commanded—nor did it enter my mind—that they should do such a detestable thing and so make Judah sin.”

The Valley of Ben Hinnom is the supposed area south of Jerusalem where the offal was burned. It was characterized by fires and constant smoke plumes. Diseased and impure corpses were burned there. It became a metaphor for the wrath endured by the dead in Ge-henna.

The word Molech has a meaning similar to Baal. It means king. Molech was an Ammonite fire deity known among the Moabites as Chemosh. The ancient Habiru did not associate the elements of fire, water, air, and earth with the Creator. To do so would have been regarded as idolatry since these were created. Nor did the Habiru practice human sacrifice. Such practices were found among other peoples, but for the close-knit Habiru these practices were forbidden.

Example 4 - (Exodus 32): When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us a god who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Aaron answered them, “Take off the gold earrings that your wives, your sons and your daughters are wearing, and bring them to me.” So all the people took off their earrings and brought them to Aaron. He took what they handed him and made it into an idol cast in the shape of a calf, fashioning it with a tool. Then they said, “This is your god, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.” When Aaron saw this, he built an altar in front of the calf and announced, “Tomorrow there will be a festival to the Lord.”  So the next day the people rose early and sacrificed burnt offerings and presented fellowship offerings. Afterward they sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry. Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down, because your people, whom you brought up out of Egypt, have become corrupt. They have been quick to turn away from what I commanded them and have made themselves an idol cast in the shape of a calf. They have bowed down to it and sacrificed to it and have said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt.’ “I have seen these people,” the Lord said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.” But Moses sought the favor of the Lord his God. “Lord,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever.’” Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.

Exodus 32 concerns the golden calf that Aaron made. This is an image of Horus and is the dynamic equivalent of the idea of the "Lamb of God." The Hebrews asked the ruler-priest Aaron to create for them a graven image (Hebrew: pesel). Apparently, Aaron was one of the members of the priestly caste trained in metal work. The image he formed of gold incorporated the sun and would have been a representation of the divine overshadowing of the Calf of God, and an image of Horus as the appointed. Below is picture of what it would have looked like.

The calf is suggestive of Horus as a child. Horus' anthropomorphic form is either as a adult male or more usually as a boy wearing the sidelock typical of royal Egyptian youth. On cippi, Horus as a boy is often shown dominating crocodiles and serpents. Consider this in light of the Woman, the Child, and the Dragon in Revelation 12. Consider also the red cow of Numbers 19 that stands as a perpetual symbol of Israel's need for cleansing. The cow is sacrificed and burned outside the camp and the ashes used for "water of lustration." (Num. 19:9) This account from Exodus 32 is not an example of syncretism because Horus was not regarded as the calf of God by any other peoples except the ancient Horites, Abraham's ancestors.

What we have is an interpretation of early Horite theology through the lens of the Deuteronomist Historian. The accusation that Aaron failed in righteousness likely comes from the iconoclastic Deuteronomist, the last known editor of the Old Testament material. The Deuteronomist urged the breaking of images. "... thus shall ye deal with them; ye shall destroy their altars, and break down their images, and cut down their groves, and burn their graven images with fire." (Deut. 7:5) Failure to do this served as an example of moral failure on the part of Israel's rulers and justified the terrible treatment which the Jews received at the hands of the Babylonians, far worse than they ever experienced in Egypt where their rulers were recognized by the Pharaohs.

The Deuteronomist presents a religion quite different from that practiced by Abraham and his Nilo-Saharan ancestors. It moves the focus from the Righteous Ruler who would be conceived by divine overshadowing to the theology of the land as Israel’s rightful possession if she obeys the Law. This is the beginning of political Zionism.

Why did the nations make such images?

Israel’s neighbors worshiped false gods by means of images, or idols, believing they could manipulate these imaginary gods to gain favor with them. (Isaiah 40:18-26; 44:9-20)

Comment: One difference between the Habiru religion and the religions of other peoples was this matter of gaining favor from the deity. For the Habiru, God could not be appeased by offering food, wine, oil, grain or a sacrificed animal or child. Propitiation involved sacrifice that adhered to the ritual law; in other words, sacrifice on God's terms alone. J. I. Packer in "Knowing God" (p. 207) explains that there is a distinct difference between pagan and Christian propitiation: "In paganism, man propitiates his gods, and religion becomes a form of commercialism and, indeed, of bribery. In Christianity, however, God propitiates his wrath by his own action. He set forth Jesus Christ... to be the propitiation of our sins."

Are all carved images wrong?

No. God, who forbids the making of idols and worship of images, commanded carvings and pictures for the Tabernacle. These represented neither God nor false gods, but rather angels, trees, and fruits from the Garden of Eden. (Exodus 37:1-9; 39:22-26; 1 Kings 6:14-19)

Comments:  God gave explicit instructions to the artisans and craftsmen concerning how objects for the Temple were to be made. He also gave specific instructions as to how all these objects were to be consecrated, that is, set aside for sacred use. God had been doing this with the Habiru for a long time before Moses. Consider how God gave instructions to Abraham and Jacob on how to construct an altar.

Are idols always carved images?

No. Relationships, habits, aspirations, and ideologies can become idols in my mind if I look to them for salvation from misery, guilt, poverty, loneliness, or despair. (Ezekiel 14:4-5; Isaiah 2:20; Ephesians 5:2; 1 John 5:21)

An idol is anything that comes between us and our Creator or that leads us astray from the Truth revealing in Jesus Christ.

How was Jesus tempted to break the first two commandments?

Satan tempted Jesus to bow down and worship him, promising him a world kingdom without the pain of the cross. Instead, Jesus loved and worshiped God faithfully and perfectly all his life. He chose the will of his Father over the promises of the Devil, and accepted the cross. (Matthew 4:1-11; Luke 22:39-49; Hebrews 4:14-16)

Comment: Satan and those who serve him are constantly trying to make Jesus into a magician who turns substances into other substances. Satan observed Jesus turn the water into wine at a family wedding in Cana and the next thing we know he is tempting Jesus to turn stones into bread. The religious leaders likewise tested Jesus by asking him to perform some sign for them, but Jesus refused, saying, “A wicked and adulterous generation asks for a miraculous sign! But none will be given it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here. The Queen of the South will rise at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for she came from the ends of the earth to listen to Solomon’s wisdom, and now one greater than Solomon is here.” (Matthew 12:39-42; Mark 8)

Jesus’ love of God was and is perfect adoration. He is the Righteous Son who endured the cross in order to win his bride the Church and to reign eternally. He shall wipe away every tear and in His presence every sorrow shall be forgotten. C.S. Lewis’ explains in “The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe” that the evil Witch didn't realize that there is an older magic from before the dawn of time. It is the magic of divine love within the Trinity extended to humble clay like ourselves.

How will idolatry affect you?

If I worship idols I will become like them, empty and worthless, and alienated from God, the only One who can make me whole. (Psalm 115:4-8; Jeremiah 2:11-19; Romans 1:18-32)

If we commit to follow a false leader or cause, we will be led astray. Only one leader has the power to lead His people to eternal life: Jesus Christ, the Righteous. He is the firstborn from the grave and by his resurrection He delivers to the Father a "peculiar people." He leads us in the ascent to the Father where we receive heavenly recognition because we belong to Him.

How can you love God in worship?

The Holy Scriptures teach me how to worship God, and the Church’s liturgy guides my worship in keeping with the Scriptures. I can show love to God by worshiping him in this way. (Romans 12:1-2; Hebrews 9:11-14; 10:11-25; 12:18-29; 13:1-19)

Comment: C.S. Lewis wrote in Letters to Malcolm, “Relying on God has to begin all over again every day as if nothing had yet been done.” Trusting God is one way that we worship God. We are more likely to slip into idolatry when we fail to trust and rely on God in the smallest details of daily life.

Related reading:  Fundamentalism and Syncretism in Hebrew History; Graven Images and Idols; Reflections on the New Anglican Catechism (Part 1) - Introduction; Reflections on the New Anglican Catechism (Part 2) - The Law and Righteousness; Reflections on the New Anglican Catechism (Part 3) - The First Commandment; The Moral Code of Ani; What Does Genesis Speak of "gods"?; Kushite Kings and the Kingdom of God

Reflections on the ACNA Catechism - Part 3

Part 3 - The First Commandment
Alice C. Linsley

What is the First Commandment?

The First Commandment is: “I am the Lord your God, You shall have no other gods before me.”

Comment: The first three words, Anochi Havayah Eloecha, mean “I am God your Ruler.” These are not originally Hebrew words. Anochi refers to the royal first person in Ancient Egyptian. The Rabbis speculated a length about the meaning of the word. In the Talmud (Shabbat 105a) they recognize that anochi is an unusual pronoun. It is is related to the word Anu, an Akkadian name for the High God. The appointed ruler who represents God on earth takes a deriviative name Anoch/Enoch, a royal title.

Neither is the word Ha-vayah of Hebrew origin. This is evident in that there is no V in the Hebrew alphabet. However, the V appears in many Nilotic words. In Luo, for example, V relates to separating, spreading out, or any valley between rivers. If the valley is circular it is called kikar (ring, disk, circle) as in "Kikkar ha-yarden" which is translated "all the valley of the Jordan" (Genesis 13:10).

We have a clue as to the origin of the word Havayah in Genesis 2:11 which speaks of a region called Ha-vilah. This refers to the V-shaped place between the two main tributaries of the Nile as shown in the map above. In Genesis 2:13, we are told that the Blue Nile was called the Gihon. This suggests that the White Nile was called the Pishon (Gen. 2:11) These rivers bound Eden on the west and the Tigris and Euphrates bound Eden on the east. Obviously, Eden was a vast and well-watered region.

The word El is a very ancient name for God. Variants are Al and Elohim. Eloecha, the third word in the opening of the First Commandment, likely is a corruption of El-echad. Echad is an adjective meaning "a compound unity" and some Bible commentators hold that the Shema (Deut. 6:4) means Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, The LORD is a compound unity. If this is correct, El-echad would be similar in meaning to another ancient reference to God: Baal-Shalisha, the Three God or the God associated with the number three. Abraham was visited by the Three Person God before the destruction of Sodom. The author of Genesis 18 struggles to describe this theophany, and presents the Lord appearing with two angelic beings. Baal Shalisha - usually rendered ‘God of three powers’ or ‘the third idol’ - is also inadequate. ‘Baal’ means Lord and ‘shalisha’ is the number three, so it is possible that the idea of a Triune God was already circulating before the time of Abraham. If this is the case, Christians cannot be accused of inventing the concept of the Trinity.


What does it mean to have no other gods?

It means that there should be nothing in my life more important than God and obeying his will. I should love, revere, trust, and worship him only. (Exodus 334:14; Deuteronomy 6:4, 10-15; 12:29-31; Jeremiah 0:6-10; Matthew 4:10; 28:8-20)

Comment: In the ancient world there were castes or clans of priests dedicated to different gods. Abraham's ruler-priest ancestors (the Horim or Horites) refused to acknowledge any god except the one who created all things. The Creator was known by different names including Ra, El, Al, Elohim and YHWH.

The Creator's emblem was the sun, an important symbol for the Horites. They oriented their shrines and temples toward the rising sun. In Canaan, their rulers were indicated by the solar cradle - Y - at the beginning of their names: Yaqtan, Yitzak, Yacob, Yisbak, etc. In very ancient scripts of Arabia, the sun symbol is a an orb - O. This appears in the older word for Hebrew was O-biru (O-piru), a reference to the sun temples.

Horite temples were open to the sunlight and had no statues of the Creator because he was represented by the sunlight. At the center of the temple there was an obelisk and an altar. The most most prestigious of the Horite temple was in Heliopolis (Biblical On). This shrine city was erected by Abraham's Anu (Ainu) ancestors. Joseph married one of the daughters of the High Priest of On. The pyramids of Giza, Zaqqara and Abusir were aligned to to the obelisk of Heliopolis.

In the ancient world the Horite priests were known to be especially fastidious in the practice of their religion and in their moral behavior. Plutarch wrote that the "priests of the Sun of Heliopolis never carry wine into their temples, for they regard it as indecent for those who are devoted to the service of any god to indulge in the drinking of wine whilst they are under the immediate inspection of their Lord and King. The priests of other deities are not so scrupulous in this respect, for they use it, though sparingly." The Horite priests were recognized for their devotion to the Creator, for their sobriety, and for their purity of life. Before their time of service in the temple they prayed, fasted, shaved their bodies, ritually bathed, abstained from sexual relations with their wives, and did not consume wine.

The oldest known Horite shrine city is Nekhen (Hierakonpolis) on the Nile, dating to about 4000 B.C. Here priests placed written invocations to the Creator and his son Horus in the summit wall as the sun rose. The son and the father were regarded are equal. Horus gave his name to the rulers of the Nile as he was the one to unite the peoples (Upper and Lower Nile) and therefore was crowned with two crowns (ataroth, cf. Zechariah 6:11). Messianic expectation appears to originate with the Horites who Jews call their "Horim."


Can you worship God perfectly?

No. Only our Lord Jesus Christ worshiped God perfectly. He leads the Church today to seek to do the same. (Matthew 4:1-11; 26:36-46; Revelation 4-5)

Comment: The Son alone is able by his virtue to exalt the Father. When we are baptized into Christ, when we "put on" Christ, we enter into a radical new existence in which the Holy Spirit working in us enables us to please God. This is a process called "sanctification" or "deification." It is a great challenge because sometimes we try to do the work by our own strength. There is also the reality of spiritual warfare. Dark forces constantly work to draw us away from God and to make us stumble. These forces are far greater and more subtle than we generally imagine. C.S. Lewis explores this reality in his Screwtape Letters.


How are you tempted to worship of gods?

I am tempted to trust in my self, possessions, relationships, and success, believing that they will give me happiness, security, and meaning. I am also tempted to believe superstitions and false religious claims, and to reject God's call to worship him alone. (Psalm 73:11-17; Romans 1:18-32)

Comment: I posed this question to my students, wondering what responses would I get from them. Judging from their insights, I am encouraged about the rising generation. Here are some of their answers to that question:

• Human pride leads us to make our agendas more important than God's.
• Utopian ideologies would have people believe that social and political systems can save us.
• Social pressures distract me from God and can make me do the wrong thing.
• The honor due to God is given instead to celebrities.
• Sometimes I don't go to church. I spend Sunday on my personal device and play games with my friends. Sometimes I compete at online games with strangers.

How we spend our time says so much about what we value. To the world we seem a strange people because as Christians we prefer to spend our time together. We prefer to read and study the Bible, and to gather whenever possible to worship the Holy Trinity. The manner of our lives is distinct and peculiar because we love God above all else. The world hates that about us, but before God we are a heavenly fragrance rising to the Throne of Heaven.

Related reading: Horite temples; Why Nekhen is Anthropologically Significant; Part 1 Introduction to the New Anglican Catechism (The Ten Commandments); Part 2 The Law and Righteousness; Righteous Rulers and the Resurrection; Genesis in Anthropological Perspective

Reflections on the ACNA Catechism: The Law and Righteousness

St. Anselm of Canterbury wrote in the Preface to his Proslogion:

I have written the little work that follows...in the role of one who strives to raise his mind to the contemplation of God and one who seeks to understand what he believes.

I acknowledge, Lord, and I give thanks that you have created your image in me, so that I may remember you, think of you, love you. But this image is so obliterated and worn away by wickedness, it is so obscured by the smoke of sins that it cannot do what it was created to do, unless you renew and reform it. I am not attempting, O Lord, to penetrate your loftiness, for I cannot begin to match my understanding with it, but I desire in some measure to understand your truth, which my heart believes and loves. For I do not seek to understand in order that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this too I believe, that "unless I believe, I shall not understand." (Isaiah 7:9)


Prayer at the beginning of the spiritual classic The Cloud of Unknowing: God, unto whom all hearts be open, and unto whom all will speaketh, and unto whom no privy thing is hid. I beseech Thee so for to cleanse the intent of mine heart with the unspeakable gift of Thy grace, that I may perfectly love Thee, and worthily praise Thee. Amen


Alice C. Linsley

In the first of this series of five reflections on the Ten Commandments in the new Anglican catechism, we explored the connection between the appointment of rulers and the giving of the divine law. From anthropological studies we know that people in the ancient world regarded the Creator to be the source of the moral law. The Creator's appointed rulers were responsible for upholding and enforcing the law. In the case of the Ten Commandments, the focus of this study, the appointed ruler under consideration is Moses, the son of a Horite priest Amram. In the Bible, the appointed rulers in Canaan are designated by a solar cradle at the beginning of their names, indicated by the symbol Y. Examples include Yitzak (Isaac); Yacob (Jacob); Yaqtan (Joktan); Yosef (Joseph); Yetro (Jethro); Yeshai (Jesse), and Yeshua (Joshua or Jesus). This symbol means that the emblem of God – the Sun – overshadowed the ruler as a sign of divine appointment. Likewise, the Virgin Mary was overshadowed and conceived the Seed. (Genesis 3:15) The Angel Gabriel told her, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet [nor a lawgiver from his loins], until Shiloh comes, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (Gen. 49:10) This relates to Christ who is the long-expected Righteous Ruler and the Lawgiver because every law that comes from God is given through Him.

Mary is of the same lineage as the rulers named in Genesis 4, 5, 10 and 11. These kings are the ancestors of Abraham, Esau, Moses, Samuel, David, and Jesus Christ. They married and ascended to the throne according to a distinctive and unique pattern involving two wives. Further, they married within their Habiru/Hebrew ruler-priest caste and because of this practice (endogamy) it is possible, using the Biblical data and kinship analysis, to trace Jesus' ancestry back to the earliest named rulers in Genesis 4 (Cain's line) and Genesis 5 (Seth's line).  Messianic expectation originated with these Horite rulers. Jews call their ancestors "Horim" which is rendered "Horite" in English Bibles. The Ten Commandments have antecedents in the moral law of these ancestors.

The Christian moral law developed out of the ancient law codes associated with the appointed ruler-priests before the time of Abraham. Some of the laws attributed to Moses were already observed among Abraham's Habiru ancestors. The moral and ceremonial laws of the Jews have a long history of development among the Habiru and specifically among the Horites of the Nile Valley. The oldest known Horite shrines and temples have been discovered at Nekhen on the Nile. Between 4000 and 3000 B.C this was the largest city on the Nile and votive offerings found there are the largest and most impressive of any discovered at Nilo-Saharan sites. Horite priests placed invocations to Horus, the son of the Creator, at the fortress summit as the sun rose. This is the origin of the Vedic morning ritual (Agnihotra) and the Jewish Sun Blessing ritual (Birkat Hachama) that is performed every 28 years.

With this background, we now take up the purpose and importance of the Ten Commandments for Christians. We begin on page 53 of the Catechism. My reflections appear in italics.


Why did God give the Ten Commandments?

God's holy law is a light to show me his character, a mirror to show me myself, a tutor to lead me to Christ, and a guide to help me love God and others as I should. (Deuteronomy 4:32-40; Psalms 19, 119:97-104; Romans 7:7-12; 13:8-10; Galatians 3:19-26; James 1:21-25; 2:8-13)

Comment: The Ten Commandments express the measure of righteousness which is to be honored and upheld by the people and their righteous rulers. The catechism does not directly answer the "why" question that it poses. It describes the functions of the Ten Commandments, but not the why of the Commandments. To answer this question we must think in terms of Messianic expectation. The Righteous Ruler embodies the law and fulfills the law.  Jesus Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly.  This answers the question. The Ten Commandments were given that we might have life and have it more abundantly. St. Paul makes the distinction between law and grace, noting the obvious: the law tutors in the way of life whereby Jesus Christ is the Life.


When did God give the Ten Commandments?

After saving his people Israel from slavery in Egypt through the Ten Plagues, the Passover sacrifice, and crossing of the Red Sea, God gave them the Ten Commandments at Mount Sinai as covenant obligations.

Comment: The Biblical narrative links the ascendancy of Moses as ruler over Israel to the giving of the law. Through Moses, the divinely appointed ruler, God covenants with the people to be his righteous ones on earth. Likewise, God covenants with the Church to be his righteous ones under the eternal reign of Jesus Christ. This covenant is superior to the covenant made with Israel because Jesus is superior to Moses. This is the message of the book of Hebrews and is stressed in St. Paul's epistles to the Romans and the Galatians.


How did God give the Ten Commandments?

God gave them to Moses audibly and awesomely, from the midst of the cloud, thus revealing his holiness, and afterwards writing then on stone tablets. (Exodus 19; 32:15-16)

Comment: The divinely appointed ruler was expected to have numinous experiences of God's presence. Such experiences involved "knowing" without words and images (apophatic) and knowing by means of words and images (kataphatic).  Approaching the Creator through cloud is an example of the first. The stone tablets are an example of the latter. 

Yet there is more to be learned from this giving of the law. The ancient rulers were served by royal scribes. They wrote on different materials such as shards of pottery, ostrich egg shells, and papyrus. None of these materials were as durable at stone. These laws were written by God on stone. Here God serves as his own scribe and he intends that these laws should remain for all generations. Among peoples who did not have these laws, God wrote on their hearts and consciences. The Apostle Paul explains, "For when Gentiles who do not have the Law do instinctively the things of the Law, these, not having the Law, are a law to themselves, in that they show the work of the Law written in their hearts..." (Romans 2:14-15)


How should we understand the Commandments?

There are four guiding principles: though stated negatively, each commandment calls for positive action, forbids whatever hinders its keeping, calls for loving, God-glorifying obedience, and requires that I urge others to be governed by it, as I am myself.

Comment: The Ten Commandments are part of a greater received tradition which shapes the Church's doctrine and dogma. The tradition concerns the righteous ruler who was called the "son of God" and was responsible for the preservation and enforcement of the law. The law was not the basis of the covenant made with the ruler and his people, rather it was a sign of the covenant, but only when it was followed. Failure to fulfill the moral obligation was failure to be God's appointed people. The basis of the covenant with Israel and with the Church is one and the same: God's prevenient grace. This reflects the immutability of God. We are to understand the Ten Commandments as an expression of the divine wisdom whereby the Lord seeks to direct our individual and corporate paths in the way of righteousness.


What is our Lord Jesus Christ's understanding of these Commandments?

Jesus summed them up positively by saying, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets." (Matthew 22:37-40; see also John 15:7-7; 1 Thessalonians 4:1-8)

Comment: The Christian moral code was received from God and preserved by Jesus' Habiru/Hebrew people. The whole of the Law, both moral and ceremonial, speaks of the long-expected Divine Son who Christians know to be Jesus Christ, the perfect embodiment f the Law. He lived as one of us yet did not sin. At a time when the Jewish rulers made the law burdensome, The Lord Jesus cut through the fat. He gave the Summary of the Law. Here is the context in Matthew's Gospel:

One of the scribes came and heard them arguing, and recognizing that He had answered them well, asked Him, "What commandment is the foremost of all?" Jesus answered, "The foremost is, 'Hear, O Israel! The LORD our God is one LORD; and you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no commandment greater than these." (Mark 12:29-31)

The scribe who asked Jesus what commandments is the greatest readily accepted the part about God being one. This was the national creed of the Jews (Shema), but he missed the point that our Lord was making. Love fulfills the law and without love the law remains unfulfilled. Fastidious observation of the law without love of God and others is soul-destroying legalism.

Why can you not do this perfectly?

While God made mankind to love him perfectly, sin has corrupted our nature, leading me to resist him, to ignore his will, and to care more for myself than for my neighbors. (Psalm 14:1; Romans 3:9-23; 7:21-25; 1 Corinthians 2:14)

Comment: One purpose of the Law is to show us the measure of our spiritual failings. In the Old Testament the ruler was to meditate on God's statutes day and night.  If he hoped to serve God as one appointed to rule over the people he was to fill his mind with the wisdom from on High. Our sin-corrupted nature disinclines us to stay in God's Word. The ruler also had a priestly role and was to be faithful in the worship of God. We too are to be regular in attendance of worship services in our parishes. 

When will you love God perfectly?

I will only love God perfectly when he completes his work of grace in me at the end of the age. (Philippians 1:6; 1 John 3:2-3)

Comment: God promises to complete his work in us. Writing to the Philippians, St. Paul expressed this hope: "For I am confident of this very thing, the He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:5-6) The working out of God's will in our lives reflects the reality of the Holy Spirit striving with us to work out our salvation and the realization of God's eternal plan. The Greek word that appears in such passages is energeia, a term first used by Aristotle in his teleological writings. Consider Paul's explanation to the Colossians that it is Christ "whom we preach, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus: whereunto I also labor, striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily."  The phrase "striving according to his working, which worketh in me mightily" is in Greek agonizomenos kata tēn energian autou tēn energoumenen en amoi en dunamei. Literally, this is striving according to the energeia of Christ that is bringing to fulfillment or realization that which God has purposed, and this should be taken in the teleological sense of Aristotle. Paul of Tarsus knew this sense of the term. Tarsus had one of the most famous philosophical academies of the Roman world.

For Aristotle working out one's purpose in accordance with one's destiny requires the pursuit of that which makes one thrive (eudaimonism). For St. Paul working out one's purpose in accordance with one's destiny requires striving with the Holy Spirit (synergy). This is exactly the opposite of how Calvinists have employed predestination texts. Paul is not referring to a group of  people foreordained to receive a pass to heaven.  He is speaking about the power (energeia) of God at work in him so that he, cooperating with God, is able to bring to fulfillment or perfection what God purposes for him in this life. The Catechism affirms that the working out of God's purpose has a terminal point - the last day, when, seeing Christ our God face to face, we are finally and fully transformed into his likeness.


Why then do you learn God's Law now?

I learn God's Law now so that, having died to sin in Christ, I might love him as I ought, delight in his will as he heals my nature, and live for his glory. (Deuteronomy 11:18-21; Psalm 1:1-3; 119:89-104; Romans 6:1-4, 11; 1 John 3:23-24; 4:7-9; 19; 5:1-3)

Comment: Jesus said, "Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them." (John 14:23)  The Ten Commandments are a compass that point to true Love. The righteous meditate on God's statutes day and night that we may love God through obedience. All of Scripture is inspired and helpful for wisdom, salvation, and sanctification.


How does God prepare you to begin living his Law?

Through faith, repentance and Baptism, God in grace washes away my sin, gives me his Holy Spirit, and makes me a member of Christ, a child of God, and an heir of the Kingdom of Heaven. (Acts 22:16; Titus 3:4-8)

Comment: We who have been brought into Christ share with Him in his eternal Kingdom. This is too great for us now, but through the Holy Spirit's work in us, through the Sacraments, through obedience and study of Holy Scripture, we are being prepared for a glorious destiny on the day when sorrow will disappear and God will wipe away every tear.

How does the Church help you to live out God's law?

The Church exercises godly authority and discipline over me through the ministry of baptismal sponsors, clergy, and other teachers. (Romans 15:1-7; 2 Timothy 3:14-15; Hebrew 13:7, 17)

Comment: The Church is the earthly repository of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, who came into the word to save sinners, to reconcile us to the Father, to defeat death by death, and to restore perfect communion with our Creator. When church leaders fail to protect and preserve this sacred trust, when they stray from the path of righteousness, the people no longer hold God's Law in honor. One only need consider the past 20+ years of moral and spiritual decline in the Episcopal Church USA to see that this is true.

How does the Lord's Supper enable you to continue learning and living God's Law?

In the Lord's Supper or Holy Eucharist, I hear the Law read, hear God's good news of forgiveness, recall my baptismal promises, have my faith renewed, and receive grace to follow Jesus in the ways of God's Laws and in the word of his Commandments.

Comment: Faith comes before understanding. As St. Anselm of Canterbury wrote, Credo ut intelligam -  "I believe that I may understand." Believers need the support of other mature Christians and the sacraments of the Church to grow deeper in the truth of the Gospel.  Receiving the Body and Blood of Jesus Christ in the Holy Eucharist is one way that we embrace the One who lived and died and rose that we might have life. By faith we receive Him as He has received us. We are made members of His mystical Body; we being in Him as He is in us, according to our Lord's prayer that we may be one, as He and the Father are one so that the world may believe that the Father has sent the Son. (John 17:21)

Related reading:  Reflections on the New Anglican Catechism (Part 1); The Urheimat of the Canaanite Y; The Virgin Mary's Ancestry; Who is Jesus?; Ancient Seats of Wisdom

Reflections on the New Anglican Catechism

Alice C. Linsley

I have been leading a study of the Ten Commandments at my church. The following is the Introduction to this study. My comments are italicized.

O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.


PART IV: BEHAVING CHRISTIANLY

THE TEN COMMANDMENTS AND OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST

In Jesus Christ, God calls us to respond to him in three basic ways: by grasping God’s revealed truth about Jesus with our minds; by prayerful communion with God in and through Jesus; and by doing God’s will. God’s will is primarily revealed to us in Jesus’ word and example, which are inextricably linked to the Ten Commandments and other moral instructions found in Scripture.

Comment: The Church teaches that truth can be known because God has revealed truth by various means, and most especially in and through the person of Jesus Christ. Ancient pagan philosophers believed that truth is veiled and that the unveiling of truth (aletheia / ἀλήθεια - disclosure) is the work of the Deity. God has revealed a moral code for us to follow and it is most fully revealed in the person of Jesus Christ who is the Law Giver, the fulfillment of the Law, and the embodiment of divine moral obligation.
Jesus is unique, and so is the Christian moral law. Just as Jesus had ancestors with a tradition of laws, so the Christian moral law has a history of development. To say that something is unique does not mean that it has no precedent in history. The Christian moral law develops out of an ancient law code which includes the Ten Commandments and many other laws, some of which are older than the time of Moses. Some of the laws attributed to Moses were already observed by Jesus’ ancestors before the time of Moses.

Some of these ancestors were know as Anu/Ainu or "the Anakim" who are referred to as "the mighty men of old" in Genesis 6:4. The Code of Ani had 42 laws stated negatively and this code seems to be the precedent for the Ten Commandments.


Catechetical instruction deals with the first aspect [revealed truth about Jesus] through teaching and learning the Apostles’ Creed. It deals with the second [prayerful communion with God] through teaching and learning the Lord’s Prayer. It deals with the third [doing God’s will] by centering on the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17, Deuteronomy 5:6-21), which are the heart of the Law of God that Jesus embodied in his own life, and are summarized for us in the command to love God and our neighbor.

Comment: The Ten Commandments are sometimes called “The Decalogue.” These comprise the core of Christian ethics. When Jesus declared himself to be “the way, the truth and the life,” he was claiming to be the ethic for his followers, the sum of divine knowledge, and the Author of life. The “way” speaks of human behavior guided by ethics. For Christians the Way is Jesus Christ. “The truth” speaks of knowledge and wisdom of what is real and true and good. For Christians the Truth is Jesus Christ. “The life” speaks of existence or being, and for Christians Life is Jesus Christ.

The catechism refers us to two Bible passages [Ex. 20 and Deut. 5]. Both include the Decalogue, but there is a significant difference between these passages. The difference and the sequence of these references points to the belief among Abraham’s people that God appoints rulers through whom He delivers and executes the law. For Jews the appointed ruler is Moses, but for Christians Moses is but a shadow of the long-expected Righteous Ruler Jesus Christ.

Exodus 20:1-17

And God spoke all these words, saying: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; you shall not bow down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and keep My commandments. You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is the Sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall do no work: you, nor your son, nor your daughter, nor your male servant, nor your female servant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy. Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

Note that in Exodus, God is speaking. In the following passage from Deuteronomy 5:6-21, Moses is speaking.

Moses summoned all Israel and said:

Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our ancestors that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today. The Lord spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. (At that time I stood between the Lord and you to declare to you the word of the Lord, because you were afraid of the fire and did not go up the mountain.) And he said: “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do. Remember that you were slaves in Egypt and that the Lord your God brought you out of there with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm. Therefore the Lord your God has commanded you to observe the Sabbath day. Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you. You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor’s house or land, his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” These are the commandments the Lord proclaimed in a loud voice to your whole assembly there on the mountain from out of the fire, the cloud and the deep darkness; and he added nothing more. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

Comment: This progression in Scripture is significant. From anthropological studies we know that in the ancient world the moral law was believed to come from the Creator. It was delivered to God’s appointed ruler who was responsible for upholding and enforcing the law. In this case Moses is the appointed ruler. Usually the appointed ruler is indicated in the Bible by a Y, a solar cradle at the beginning of his name. Examples include Yitzak (Isaac); Yacob (Jacob); Yaqtan (Joktan); Yosef (Joseph); Yetro (Jethro); Yeshai (Jesse), and Yeshua (Joshua or Jesus). This symbol means that the emblem of God – the Sun – overshadowed the ruler as a sign of divine appointment. The Virgin Mary was divinely appointed to conceive and bring forth the Son of God. Remember what the Angel Gabriel said to her when she asked how she would conceive as a virgin. Gabriel explained, “The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.”

The standards set by the Law reflect values and obligations that are, to some degree, impressed upon the consciences of all people (Romans 2:15). Yet God gave the Law in a clear and unmistakable way to his chosen people, Israel. Delivering them from slavery in Egypt, he established a covenant relationship with them at Mt. Sinai through Moses, giving them the Law. In grateful response to his grace, Israel would worship and serve God, living as his people in accordance with his Law.

Comment: God has revealed his divine nature and eternal power in the order of creation (Rom. 1:20) and has created humans with a “conscience” (the word appears in Paul's writings). The awakened conscience is alert to the distinctions between good and evil and life and death. The dulled conscience fails to see the distinctions and tends to justify wrong doing. Paul makes it clear in Romans that the law has a purpose. It is given to check the flood of corruption and violence.

Since humans have been corrupt and violent from the time of the Fall, so there have been laws to govern human behavior since the earliest known archaic communities. It happens that the earliest known human communities with laws are the communities described in the book of Genesis. These communities were ruled by Jesus’ ancestors and the rulers are named in Genesis 4, 5, 10 and 11. These appointed rulers were responsible for the enforcement of the laws and to see that these laws were passed on to future generations without change. Moses was a descendant of these early rulers. The people of Israel also descended from these early communities. Let us consider this in greater detail.

Many history books mention the Code of Hammurabi as the oldest known law code. Hammurabi was the sixth Amorite king of Babylon. He reigned from 1792 BC to 1750 B.C. However, there is an older law code associated with Abraham’s Nilo-Saharan ancestors. It is called “The Law of Tehut” and dates to around 3000 B.C.

Tehut represents the divine wisdom that overcomes chaos. It is victorious over Tehom (Hebrew: תְּהוֹם‎), the chaotic deep described in Genesis 1. When God spoke the creation into being He also ordered the creation by fixing boundaries: waters above separated from the waters below; dry land from the seas, male-female, animate-inanimate, etc. We honor God when we observe and honor the boundaries He has established. When we trespass divinely established boundaries we invite chaos (te-hom) into our lives and into the world.

Tehom is an ancient concept of a watery and disordered deep which God put in order by His Word (hu or hut). Tehut is an ancient Nilo-Saharan and Egyptian word. A central experience of ancient Egyptian life was the Nile inundation. As rains fell during the spring in the Ethiopian headlands the Nile River in Egypt rose above its banks, flooding the Nile Valley between June and October. The flooding lasted for 40 days. This turned the valley into large lakes and deposited fertile silt which renewed the earth. As the waters receded, only the highest mounds of earth would been seen at first. Even after the waters crested and began to recede, families didn't return to their homes for another 40 nights. This is the origin of the biblical phrase "forty days and forty nights" and the context is originally Nilotic and much older than the time of Hammurabi.

The older law recognizes that God reveals his eternal power and divine nature in the order of creation, through the conscience, and through the law given through righteous rulers. So it is that God self-reveals is many ways and his revelation is universally evident.


In a similar way, the moral teaching of Jesus Christ is universal, authoritative and final. It is set in a family relationship with God the Father and established by his love and grace in Christ. Through the reconciling power of Jesus’ cross, anyone who names him as Savior and Lord is freed from bondage to sin and death, adopted as God’s child, and called to a life of holiness.

Comment: Jesus is not simply another moral teacher like Buddha or Ghandi. His teachings are more authoritative, being consistent with the ancient ruler-priest tradition that He received growing up in Nazareth. Na-za-reth is a very ancient settlement and the name is older than Hebrew. Na-za-ret is related to the Nilotic Luo words reth and rwot, and to the Ethiopian Ge'z word rwt, meaning chief or king. Another Nilotic people, the Shilluk, use the word reth to mean king or chief. From very ancient times, Nazareth was associated with the word “king.”

In 1962, excavators discovered in the ruins of a Caesarea synagogue a small 3rd to 4th century marble fragment with a list of the twenty-four priestly divisions. This list names the places where four of the divisions resided, including Nazareth. Nazareth was the home of the eighteenth priestly division, ha·pi·TSETS, rendered Happizzez in the Hebrew. This division is mentioned in 1 Chronicles 24:15. From very ancient times, Jesus’ hometown was associated with the priesthood.

The Horim or Horites were a caste of ruler-priests. They married exclusively within their own caste which is why even today geneticists are able to identify the “Kohan” or “priest” gene among Arab, Egyptian and Jewish descendants of Abraham. Both Joseph and Mary were of the ruler-priest lines. Mary was Joseph’s cousin bride and his second wife.

A mark of the ruler-priests was purity of life. This was not merely obedience to the laws of cleanliness in performing rituals. The whole of their life was to be an expression of holiness.


The Christian life of holiness, in which obedience to Christ is central, is rooted in the bond that believers have with the Son and the Father through the Holy Spirit. Therefore, keeping the divine Law is a fundamental form of the new life into which we are brought by faith in Christ.

Comment: Jesus explained “If you love me you will obey my commandments.” (John 14:15) He links this to the Holy Spirit, saying, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may be with you forever…” (John 14:16), and later He says, “Whoever has my commands and keeps them is the one who loves me. The one who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love them and show myself to them." (John 14:21) We see that holiness is not so much about following rules as it is about being in relationship with the Persons of the Holy Trinity.

Following the teaching of Jesus, his apostles, like all the Bible writers, always look at the human individual as a whole. They see behavior as a “fruit,” not as something external or separate from heart and character. They therefore always speak of human behavior in terms that link behavior with motivation and purpose. For Jesus, acts are only right insofar as the attitude of mind and heart that they express is right. The pages that follow reflect the same viewpoint.

Comment: Jesus taught His disciples that they would be known by their fruits (Matthew 7:20). He explains this by using the image of fruit trees. Some trees do what they are created to do. They produce good fruit. Others fail to do what they were created to do. The owner tries for several years to improve the tree’s production. He nourishes, prunes and waters the tree, but if it continues to fail in its mission (telos), it is used for another purpose. It is cut down and split into fire wood so that the owner has some benefit from the tree. The wood provides warmth for his home and fire with which to cook. This passage is not about hell really. It is about God’s desire that nothing He creates should be wasted. Jesus is telling his followers that we have a mission and when we fail, there is still hope that we might be useful to God. God doesn’t waste what He has given to us. He has the power to turn our failings into something useful. I personally take great comfort in that Good News.

END Part 1

Related reading: Ancient Moral Codes; Tehut's Victory Over Tehom; The Virgin Mary's Ancestry; The Genesis King Lists; Reflections on the ACNA Catechism: The Law and Righteousness (Part 2); Reflections on the ACNA Catechism: The First Commandment (Part 3)