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The Way

    by Kevin Pauley

Less and Less Complicated
Date Posted: November 2, 2021

The LORD commanded us to follow all these statutes and to fear the LORD our God for our prosperity always and for our preservation, as it is today. Righteousness will be ours if we are careful to follow every one of these commands before the LORD our God, as He has commanded us.' - Deuteronomy 6:24-25 HCSB

In the Torah, Moses gave (according to ancient rabbinic tradition) 613 laws. The Scriptures do not give us this number, but if we carefully work our way through the Sinaitic Law, we will find (depending on how we divide things up) approximately 365 negative commands and 248 positive commands.

Faced with the rhetorical question “Who can live with God?”, the Psalmist answered by summing up the 613 commands in eight principles: live honestly, acknowledging the truth; do not slander; do no harm to others; abhor those the Lord abhors; honor those who fear the Lord; keep your word no matter the cost; practice economic justice; practice social justice.[1]

The prophet Isaiah answered the same question by reducing the Law to six ethical principles: live righteously; speak righteously; practice economic justice; practice social justice; refuse to listen to lashon hara;[2] and refuse to participate in evil.[3]

Micah reduced the Lord’s requirements to three points: act justly; love faithfulness and walk humbly.[4] However, Isaiah had already reduced it even further to two. He said we need to preserve justice and do what is right.[5]

Then Amos reduced everything to “seek the Lord”[6] and Habakkuk to “live by your faith”[7] which are essentially the same thing.

Finally, our Master, when asked to summarize the entire Law, interestingly responded, not with the outward, observable action but with the underlying motivation. He said, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and most important commandment. The second is like it: Love your neighbor as yourself. All the Law and the Prophets depend on these two commandments."[8] Then He defined “loving God” by “keeping the commandments”.[9] Notice that the recurring ethical theme?

The underlying philosophy that governs walking the Way of the Lord is simple. Allow your passion for the Lord to be demonstrated by obedient, ethical living. Actually living this philosophy can be devilishly complex sometimes however. This stems from an equal mix of our inherent sin nature (called the yetzer hara) and ignorance. Very few people actually read the Scriptures for tips on how to live day to day. I find it significant that every time a I post a devotional that deals with economic, social or ecological justice on the net, the number of hits drop considerably.

Allow me also to attempt to distill God’s requirements to two: we must submit ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ and then demonstrate our grateful loyalty to our King through ethical living.[10]


[1] Psalm 15:2-5

[2] forbidden, evil speech like gossip or slander

[3] Isaiah 33:15-16

[4] Micah 6:8

[5] Isaiah 56:1

[6] Amos 5:4

[7] Habakkuk 2:4

[8] Matthew 22:37-40

[9] John 14:15

[10] Ephesians 2:8-10

"Today's Little Lift" from Jim Bullington

Mercy and not Sacrifice (Sept. 24, 2010)

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Biography Information:
I make no claim of superior wisdom or originality. I am a student, just like everyone else. My goal in writing is to simply share whatever God chooses to teach me (many times by my children or parishioners) on any given day. I hope the devotionals are a blessing to you.

Kevin Pauley is a pastor and writer. He lives in Illinois with his wife, Lynn, their five children and two dogs. His internet address is Berea.
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