KEEP: IT ALWAYS MEANS KEEP

Keep God’s Commandments Like a Bank Keeps your Money

By D Owen Kaiser

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Copyright by Picture Perfect Books

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For Possession and Review only by:

Biblical quotations are from two versions and are almost always adjusted by this author to read easier.1. The Authorized King James Version in the public domain.2. The New Testament Reflection - Copyright August 10, 2015 by

Picture Perfect Books. Used with full permission.

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Table of ContentsChapter 1: Confronting the Assumption that Keep means Obey 5Chapter 2: David’s Keeping in Psalm 119 9

Chapter 3: God’s Keeping 13Chapter 4: Keep and Obey Appear Together 15

Chapter 5: Keep: I needed it to mean keep 20Chapter 6: Defining Keep and Obey: They are Different 23

Chapter 7: Honoring the Priority and Value of Keeping 27Chapter 8: Keep is Essential for the Greatest Commandment 35

Chapter 9: Keep: Unexpectedly Misunderstood 38Chapter 10: New Testament Keeping Using Other Verbs 41

Chapter 11: Errors We Make in Reading Keep as Obey – Part 1 47Chapter 12: Errors We Make in Reading Keep as Obey – Part 2 52

Chapter 13: Keep: Additional Preaching Examples 60Chapter 14: Errors in Keeping 65

Chapter 15: Considering What Commandments to Keep and How 68Chapter 16: Nehemiah Exemplifies Keeping 74

Chapter 17: Jesus Testifies to His Keeping 80Chapter 18: Job Keeping: He did not abandon God 83

Chapter 19: Keeping Resolves the Obedience – Imperfection Tension 89Chapter 20: Further benefits of Keeping from I John 94

Chapter 21: Keeping: In Service and In Promises 98Chapter 22: Acts: Keep in the New Church 104

Chapter 23: Eve abandons God’s one commandment 109Chapter 24: Keep In Jude and Revelation: 116

Chapter 25: Keeping the 10 Commandments 121Chapter 26: Keep: A Review 129

Epilogue: Keep: The Most Important Word in a Believer’s Vocabulary 135

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Chapter 1: Confronting the Assumption that Keep means Obey

John 14:15 says succinctly, "If you love me, keep my commandments."

One widely respected and learned Bible teacher, preacher, and theologian quoted this verse and said,"I say it over and over again: the most important word in the Christian's vocabulary is 'obey' ".

Obey? Why did he say ”obey”? Jesus said “keep”. Why did he not say, “The most important word in the Christian's vocabulary is “keep"? That is the word Jesus used. Even more, “obey” is not in the context. As a later chapter shows, Jesus continues in the next 10 verses to teach about loving and God’s abiding presence, as well as more about keeping. Jesus does not mention obeying here, neither does he mention actions like walking or following.

Nevertheless, this great servant of God, with almost everyone else, reads “keep my commandments” to be the same as “obey my commandments”. This misreading is a problem. In doing this, we add to the New Testament what is not there: “keep my commandments” is found 12 times in the New Testament, while “obey my commandments” is not found at all.

The problem is serious, not trivial. The word “keep” is used often in the Bible … and it is never interchangeable with “obey”. The two words have very different meanings. The definition of “keep” in English, Greek, and Hebrew dictionaries does not contain an idea of “obey”. Even though we do not intend to do it, we misread “keep”. We must stop and realize that Jesus said “keep” … and that Jesus meant “keep”. We need to read every word of Jesus accurately, along with every word of the Bible. Solving this problem of misreading so many “keeps” is urgent and solvable for Bible believers; we should not wait to get it right.

The mistaken idea that “keep” means “obey” appears to be nearly universal in Bible-believing circles. The impact is large: “keep” is misread in over 250 similar statements throughout the Bible. The Bible word “keep” embodies a crucial concept, that could be, but is not taught in any of those 250 uses. Not only have we missed much in not doing so, we have distorted Biblical priorities: in misreading “keep”, we both diminish “keep” and over-exaggerate “obey”.

The great and influential servant of God referred to above continues to have my respect. To my experience, he is the most knowledgeable Bible

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teacher alive today. From word usage to historical context, this preacher has, for decades, clearly communicated great information and deep understandings of every verse or passage in the Bible.

He is not named because his comment on John 14:15 is echoed in the messages of almost anyone who teaches this verse or any other Bible expression like it. In later chapters, messages from various preachers are summarized. Not all would teach obey, but none teach “keep” as defined in the dictionary.

Most of those who teach the Bible, including the man above, do teach the concept of “keep” promoted in this book … yet, none use the word “keep”. Instead, Bible teachers must teach this valuable concept from passages not mentioning “keep” since, when “keep” is there, “obey” is heard or read.

This book is written to highlight the proper meaning of Keep. It declares, in a variety of ways, that “keep” means “keep". Just using the Bible, this could be a very large volume, because so many Bible passages are affected. A number of these from both the Old and the New Testaments are examined in this book. The great impact reaches far beyond doctrines or teachings; it quickly becomes personal and practical.

Personally, as I matured in age and in relationship with God, I learned to take God's word seriously and literally in its contexts. Like other Bible-believers, I thought "obey" when I saw the word "keep" in John 14:15 and other verses. Yet, I never heard a teaching that explained how or why “keep” should be read as “obey”. It was an unquestioned assumption for me and all around me, so much so that I was aware of no teacher nor any teaching that questioned this. Reading phrases such as “keep my commandments” to be “obey my commandments” was simply assumed to be the right way to read them.

And so, for decades, I read “obey”. The result for me? Since my experience told me that my obedience was lacking, it could only mean that my love for Jesus was lacking. This slowed some expressions of my faith, but it did not prevent me from doing my best to walk as God led me. Finally, after seeing the true meaning of "keep", that it does not mean "obey", the chains came off my life and walk with God. The remarkable result for me: both my commitment to God and my obedience to His direction continue to improve.

The Meaning and Priority of “keep”.

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This book focuses on the word “keep”. In doing this, it points out some errors made in unconsciously misreading “keep” as “obey”. This happens even when the very different verbs “to keep” and “to do” appear together, as they often do in the Torah, the Old Testament Law.

In English, “keep” means to possess responsibly. When we keep something, we take care of it. For example: we agree to let the bank keep our money, or we keep our neighbor's pet while they vacation, and God keeps us day and night as in Psalm 121. All of us know that obey makes no sense in these examples, and it should not make sense in any occurrence of the word “keep”. This book asserts that it never means obey.

We see, read, and say “obey” instead of “keep” because "Obey my commandments" makes good sense, because it sounds like a really good idea, and because it is always done. But this is a misreading … it can neither be justified nor supported. This book will show that, in the Bible, “keep” is the primary way we are to relate to God’s commandments.

In the Greek, the phrase "obey my commandments" is not found in the New Testament. The phrases “do My commandments” and “walk according to My commandments” are each used just once. “Do My commandments” is found in the Torah, but it is almost always preceded by the instruction to “keep” them.

In the Bible, “keep” has a higher priority than “obey” in two ways:1. In sequence. When used together, keeping God's commandments

nearly always precedes “do” or “walk”, etc. Knowing this, “keep” is seen as a necessary requirement in order to obey or to do God's commandments.

2. In number. Phrases expressing the need to keep God's commandments or laws or statutes or judgments, etc. are used more often than ones expressing the need to obey (or more commonly: to do) God's commandments.

In addition, the number and use of verbs related to “keep”, such as meditate and consider, far exceed the number and use of verbs related to “obey”, such as follow or walk. The next chapter on Psalm 119 illustrates the numerical priority of “keep”.

God first said “Keep”God's first two commands to His chosen people Israel at Mount Sinai are quite surprising. Before He gave Moses the 10 commandments and other

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laws for Israel, God’s first two commands to His people are the Hebrew verbs “hear” and “keep”. A literal reading of Exodus19:5a is: “To hear, you will hear My voice and keep My covenant.” Many translations have “obey My voice”, but the Hebrew word is “hear”. The people responded to God’s commands by saying that they would "do" what He said ... but that is not what God initially asked of them. God told them first to Hear and Keep. There will be many more details on this in the coming chapters.

From that beginning, God's people continued to miss both the meaning and the priority of "keep".

This is a new lens for reading and understanding a significant and fairly common Bible phrase. It might be difficult, at first, to see through this lens, especially because it affects so many important passages. But, getting this right is crucial. As we read and study the Bible, we want to notice each word accurately in each verse.

A Brief summary of the Bible’s use of “Keep”The English meaning of the verb “to keep” is to possess responsibly; to secure and take care of. In both Greek and Hebrew, two verbs are most often translated “keep.” In both Greek and Hebrew, one of these two verbs corresponds to this English meaning of “keep” and the other, a less common word in each language, properly means “to guard or to protect”. The two Hebrew words most often translated keep are used 468 and 63

times in the Old Testament for a total of 531. My analysis identifies 250 of these in 231 verses as likely to be misread / misunderstood to mean “obey”. That is a lot – 1% of the approximately 23,000 verses in the Old Testament.

The two Greek words most often translated keep are used 75 and 30 times in the New Testament for a total of 105. My analysis identifies 45 of these as likely to be misread / misunderstood to mean “obey”. The New Testament has about 8,000 verses.

Reading “keep” properly is not only right and helpful in understanding the Bible, but it will also be a great blessing. Psalm 119, for instance, can become a fresh encouragement when we do not assume that “keep” means “obey”.

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Chapter 2: David’s Keeping in Psalm 119

David uses one of the two Hebrew verbs commonly translated “keep”, 31 times in 30 verses of his long Psalm 119 prayer to God. Each use is in reference to a synonym of God’s laws.

These 30 verses are all summarized, not quoted, below. The English words “keep” and “guard” are used for the appropriate Hebrew words. Keep is used 21 times in Psalm 119, and guard is used 10 times. It can be easy to think “obey” when reading the underlined words, even in their summarized form.Verse 2: Guarding God’s testimonies is a way to be blessed.Verse 4: God commanded diligent keeping of His precepts.Verse 5: David desires his ways to be directed “to keep Your statutes.”Verse 8: David pledges to keep God’s statutes.Verse 9: Cleanse youthful ways by keeping His word.Verse 17: He needs God’s grace to live and keep His word.Verse 22: Because he guarded God’s testimonies, he asked that his shame be removed.Verse 33: With God’s instruction, he would guard God’s way.Verse 34: With understanding from God, he would both guard God’s law and keep it with his whole heart.Verse 44: David will keep God’s law continually forever and ever.Verse 55: David remembered God’s name at night and kept His law. Verse 56: This keeping resulted from his guarding God’s precepts. Verse 57: David said that he would keep God’s words.Verse 60: David hurried and did not delay to keep God’s commandments.Verse 63: David befriended those who kept God’s precepts.Verse 67: After he was afflicted, he kept God’s word.Verse 69: David fully guarded God’s precepts during the opposition of liars.Verse 88: David needs merciful reviving to keep God’s testimony.Verse 100: He understood more than the elders by guarding God’s precepts.Verse 101: He refrained from every evil way, to keep God’s word.Verse 106: David swears to keep God’s righteous judgments.Verse 115: David rejects evildoers to guard the commandments,Verse 129: His testimonies are wonderful, so David’s soul guards them.Verse 134: Divine rescue from oppression would help him keep God’s precepts.Verse 136: David weeps because they do not keep God’s law. Verse 145: He pleaded to the LORD, pledging to guard His statutes.Verse 146: He cried to be saved, pledging to keep His testimonies.

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Verse 158: He was grieved because transgressors did not keep God’s word.Verse 167: David’s soul both loved and kept God’s testimonies.Verse 168: David kept God’s precepts and testimonies.

This listing provides insight into some of the qualities and effects of keeping God’s commandments.

David’s heart in verse 158 is instructive. He was grieved at transgressors, not because they sinned or did wickedly, but because they did not keep God’s word. Few of us would be able to say that. For us, and for David too, the evil actions of transgressors are disturbing, but in this verse, it was their lack of keeping God’s word that grieved him.

David makes his focus clear with a personal testimony in verse 67: “Before I was afflicted, I went astray: but now I have kept Your word.” In this context, it is almost impossible for us not to read “… but now I have obeyed Your word” … at least at first. But “keep” always means keep.

Going astray is acting in error or sin. Naturally, we would think that the goal would be correct actions – but that is not mentioned here. David testified that he did change in response to the affliction he experienced, but not as we would expect. He did not say, “Now I have obeyed Your word.” Instead, David described his change by saying, “Now I have kept Your word.” “Going astray” was not the problem, not here, not for David – it was rather a symptom of his deeper problem of not keeping God’s word … which he corrected.

In verse 168, David expresses that he kept God’s precepts and testimonies, not that he obeyed them. Two observations:1. David’s keeping was mostly an internal effort. He wanted his whole

being, including mind and heart, to hold on to God’s ways and never let them go.

2. David does not say that keeping God’s ways was sufficient for him, but he does not claim to have “obeyed God’s ways ”in this long Psalm. Keeping was his priority and focus.

David expresses his heart’s desire, in verse 167, for his soul both to love and to keep God’s testimonies.

Certainly, David also delighted to follow and walk in God’s testimonies; in verse 35, for example, he says that visible action is important to him. Yet, in Psalm 119, he desires better external behavior with less than 10%

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of the verbs he uses. In contrast, 90% of the verbs show internal activity. Besides keep and guard, they include seek, hear, remember, love, meditate, hope, listen, praise, incline, rejoice, learn, know, fear, be sound, and some avoidance verbs such as not to forget, nor forsake, nor decline.

For another example, consider verses 100 and 101:“I understand more than the ancients, because I guard Your precepts. I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep Your word.”

A special result of guarding God’s precepts is gaining more understanding than those who have more credentials and experience. That is quite striking, but David immediately sounded an ominous note: he indicated that walking in even one evil way might hinder him from holding and caring for God’s word to him.

This thought is unusual in the Bible. Most often in the Old Testament, as we shall see, God instructs His people to keep His commandments in order to do them. The common Biblical order is that a proper keeping of God’s ways results in greater external obedience to those ways.

But David turned this around in a way that demonstrates his heart for God. He so prioritized the keeping of God’s commandments that one of his reasons for living right was in order to “keep” God’s word. David knew that his ability to keep God’s word could be compromised if he walked in an evil way.

A Heart Perfect Toward God:David’s perfect heart toward God is also seen in expressions using other verbs, such as, “O how I love your law!” It should be encouraging for us to remember that David, who acted very badly on some occasions, pleased God with his focus on getting the heart right.

As with David, our clear and intimate relationship with God is most important, and this depends, as our first priority, on keeping what He tells us, and then we do what He says as the working out of our internal keeping. There is no formula or blueprint, external or internal, specifying the kind of effort required to relate to God with a perfect heart, but keeping God’s word is paramount. Any of us can, with humility, and without any selfish motive, hold tightly to God’s commandments, even if we do not perfectly obey them.

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Now it is the reader’s turn to examine Psalm 119 and read “keep” through the lens of its proper meaning to hold something securely and to take care of it responsibly.

Practical exercises: Learn from David’s example. With open Bible, review the verses

listed and summarized above. With a notepad at hand, notice David’s strong desire and focus to keep God’s word in every way possible. Notice how many ways he expresses that his top priority was keeping God’s word.

Personally practice reading statements like “keep God’s word” to mean “hold God’s word responsibly and never let it go.” Again, with open Bible, examine the list of verses above. Meditate on these verses and teach the mind to see the true meaning of keep when reading each verse. Do it again and again until “keep” is properly perceived every time.

The reader might also want to verify that more than 90% of the verbs used by David in this long Psalm take place in the hidden places of the heart and mind. This can also provide clear instruction and strong encouragement for us to make David’s priority our own.

Unfortunately, these exercises can be difficult using some translations. Of the 31 uses of the two Hebrew words in Psalm 119, a full 29 of them are translated as keep in both the KJV and the NKJV. However, just nine are translated keep in one currently popular translation. In that version, 20 of the occurrences are actually translated obey, which is not at all a part of the meaning of these two Hebrew words. Sadly, this suggests how deeply the automatic replacement of “keep” with “obey” has impacted our thinking, our teachings, our interpretations of Bible passages, and Bible translations.

Next, another Psalm has many uses of keep, but none are misread by anyone.

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Chapter 3: God’s Keeping

In Psalm 121, God does the keeping: He keeps His people. Much of this Psalm is widely known and believed, but many do not notice that in its eight verses, the common Hebrew verb “to keep” is used six times. Each time it refers an essential unseen activity of Jehovah God: His grace and power to keep His people.

Since it is obvious that God’s keeping has nothing to do with obedience, considering this Psalm can help us see the dictionary definition of “keep”.

Here is the entire Psalm. Each use of that Hebrew verb is rendered as “keep” and bolded.Psalm 121: (1) I will lift up my eyes to the hills: from where does my help come? (2) My help comes from Yahweh: One making heaven and earth. (3) He will not allow your foot to be moved: He who keeps you will not slumber. (4) Behold, He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep. (5) Yahweh: One keeping you; Yahweh: your shade upon your right hand. (6) The sun will not strike you by day, nor the moon by night. (7) Yahweh will keep you from all evil: He will keep your soul. (8) Yahweh will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forward, and even forevermore.

The encouraging words of this Psalm communicate security. We need help, and our comes from Yahweh Who created heaven and earth. This is the Almighty God Who secures us, His people … thus we will not be moved. Yahweh Himself takes good care of us, and holds on to us. Psalm 121 identifies different aspects of God’s keeping: The LORD’s keeping is constant; He does not sleep. The LORD’s keeping is confirmed; He is the one who keeps Israel. The LORD’s keeping is comforting; He is our shade from the heat

and the dark. The LORD’s keeping is close; He is at our right hand. The LORD’s keeping is complete; He keeps us from all evil. The LORD’s keeping is consistent; He keeps our soul – imperfect, yet

maturing. The LORD’s keeping is continuous; He keeps us wherever and

whenever we travel.

The LORD our God demonstrates how keeping is done. Each of these characteristics of keeping are worthy of our private and public meditations. We benefit from immersing ourselves in the reality of the keeping power and grace of our Jehovah God.

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Additionally, all God’s people keep the truths of Psalm 121. We know God keeps us, all the time, in every way. We trust God for all that it means, such as the protection, care, comfort, and presence that God provides us every moment of every day.

And we keep it in the right way – in some part of the way God keeps us. We take comfort and rest in this reality, which results in greater peace

for us in our lives as believers. We hold tightly to the reality of God’s keeping us and keep it close to

us. We constantly trust in the fact that God keeps His people regardless of

our situation or difficult circumstances. With our whole hearts and minds, we completely secure for ourselves

the fact that God Himself is the first and best one to keep us in all the ways shown in Psalm 121.

We consistently embrace this reality, regardless of anything that might conflict, such as fear, worry, unbelief, despair, and more.

Even as we are able to keep the truth that God keeps His people, so we can keep His commandments, a directive often repeated in the Bible. Certainly, each believer has unique experiences with God’s commandments. While we will want to obey every commandment God gives us, we may not immediately know what to do or how to live out the commandments. This is okay, since our primary Biblical relationship with God’s commandments is to keep them.

As God keeps His people, so David kept God’s commandments, Jesus too, as we shall see, … and so can we. But first, we consider God’s initial directions to His people in more detail.

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Chapter 4: Keep and Obey Appear Together

Some may suggest that the phrase: “keep my commandments” is an idiom or figure of speech referring to what we understand as obedience. Such people will have good intentions in saying the Biblical statements of “keeping God’s commandments” refer to the visible action of obeying them.

But we remember that God’s first words to the children of Israel at Mt. Sinai were literally: “To hear, you will hear My voice” and “Keep My covenant”. (Exodus 19:4-6) It is hard to imagine God using a figure of speech in His first words to His people. Adjusting God’s word – at any time, or in any context, is risky.

In addition, the Hebrew words for “keep” and “do” appear together in 49 verses of the Bible’s first five books – called the Torah, the Law, or the Pentateuch. Their many uses together reinforce the point that keeping and doing are different. God often says, “keep … to do”. God and Moses repeated the necessity to keep God’s commandments, but neither God nor Moses told the Israelites to obey in order to obey. Not only does that wildly miss the definition of “keep” but it would also be an immediately redundant command. The phrase: “keep My commandments” cannot be an idiom for: “obey My commandments”, regardless of how easy it has been to read it that way; and regardless of the fact that almost all of God’s people have always read it that way.

We learn much from their uses together in the Torah, especially in Deuteronomy, the sermon Moses delivered to the children of Israel at the banks of the Jordan River. Moses spoke here 40 years after their redemption from Egypt, and the subsequent receiving of God’s laws at Mount Sinai. Moses’ repetition of “keep … to do” here in Deuteronomy, after decades of wilderness wandering, could reflect a maturing understanding of their need to prioritize a keeping of what God commanded them, in order to obey God.

Moses reviews portions of the history and status of the nation of Israel in the first four chapters of Deuteronomy. Then, in chapter 5, he briefly introduces his teaching of the 10 commandments and further laws. In verse 1, he says, “Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that you may instruct them, and keep, and do them.”

Moses gives four ordered steps for the Israelites to whom he is speaking:1. Hear God’s statues and judgments,

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2. Instruct or Learn them,3. Keep them, and4. Do them.

It’s not just keep and do. Moses adds two prior steps to the process. The first is “hear”, the Israelites were to hear God’s commands. This is essential to both keeping and doing. These people could not, no one can keep or do what is not heard or known. Whether we hear them personally or notice them in the Bible as the Holy Spirit guides, the keeping and doing is dependent upon a hearing ear.

The second step listed here is to “learn”, even instruct oneself in God’s ways. Hearing God’s word may not always be enough. Learning and instructing ourselves in the His ways will often be necessary in order for us to know what to keep and do. We all can and should learn about the ways of God after we hear them.

Moses tells us more about this process in Deuteronomy 7:9-12: Verse 9: Know therefore, Yahweh your God, he is God, the faithful El, who keeps covenant and hesed with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; … Verse 11: And you will keep the commandments, and the statutes, and the judgments, which I command you this day, to do them.Verse 12: And it will be, if you hear these judgments, and keep and do them, and Yahweh your God will keep to you the covenant and the hesed which he swore to your fathers:

We note that, in the first and last uses of “keep” in these verses, God Himself is doing the keeping, as in Psalm 121. We have no trouble understanding “keep” in this context; no one will read: “God keeps the covenant”, and instead think: “God obeys the covenant”. We know deeply and rejoice that God is faithful and that He responsibly holds the covenant and loving-mercy (hesed) toward His people. Meditating on this truth increases our assurance that we are blessed to be in His care.

But there is a condition; not every one of His people experience God’s faithfulness in this way. Between these two declarations of God’s covenant-keeping faithfulness, Moses says that the promise is for those who keep His commandments. This condition is repeated three times, while another internal activity, loving God, is an additional condition in verse 9.

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Another condition is mentioned after keeping in two of these three: “doing the commandments”. Doing what God commands is both an objective of the internal keeping and part of the condition for experiencing God’s covenant-keeping faithfulness. Obedience to God’s ways is important; this book will not lessen its Biblical emphasis and priority.

(These verses also mention God’s commandments, statutes, and judgments, which are different aspects of God’s communication to His people. Additionally, God communicates His laws, words, testimonies, and more. Regardless of the aspect of God’s word given in the terms used, we are to keep and do each one just as God gives them to us.)

In Deuteronomy 7:12, hearing precedes keeping which precedes doing, as in 5:1. There are three clear steps:1. Hear God’s judgments.2. Keep God’s judgments.3. Do God’s judgments.

The order is important. We cannot keep what we do not truly hear. Every servant of God hears from God, directly and indirectly, and chooses what to do with each word. After hearing a command from God, we responsibly hold that word, and never let it depart. Keeping what we hear from God and holding His ways securely in our heart and mind, is a necessary and crucial step prior to proper obedience.

Eight other verses in Deuteronomy declare the necessity of exactly these three ordered steps. They are: Deut. 6:3; 12:28; 13:18; 15:5; 28:1; 28:13; 28:15; and 31:12 (5 steps). This is not a picky interpretation from one or two verses, nor is it trivial. Neither can it be written off as the Old Testament Law which no longer applies; the New Testament also puts keeping in very important contexts, as we shall consider.

Additionally, these are generic life principles. Our “Hear … Keep … Do” relationship with God’s word transcends any particular set of laws or commandments, and it transcends time and culture to apply to any person in any era. Each step of Hearing, Keeping, and Doing is essential in our lives, and in that order. Religion or not, Bible or not, other book or no book, it is by these three steps that we become who we are and do what we do.

1. Hearing: We hear lots of good things in life, uplifting sounds that can lead to blessings in our lives and in those around us. But we also hear what is not so good as we live our daily lives, especially if we include

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what is communicated by what we see. With limited success, we adjust our lives to control what we hear. But, thankfully, hearing alone does not make us who we are.

2. Keeping: Our real filter is in what we choose to keep from among the many voices whispering or shouting in our world. We remember that David, who kept God’s word at such a high level, failed miserably and inexcusably more than once. What happened?

I suspect that David’s keeping lacked precision and completeness. He had many wives. Not only was this culturally acceptable, God’s law also directed actions in problem situations regarding such family structures. It could be easy for people of that day to assume that God allowed or even ordained complex marital states. If one man can have multiple women, maybe women can unite with more than one man. Whether or not such ideas were in David’s mind, we want to avoid his problems. Knowing what commandments to keep requires hearing God, not culture; it requires hearing His word, not accepted practice; it requires a humble seeking of better ways, not accepting lesser ways; it requires a determination to keep only God’s Word to me, not natural influences or attractions. For God’s servants, good enough is not acceptable.

3. Doing: We know what doing means. We look for and expect the outward expression of obedient submission to God’s ways. This happens better and more completely when we realize that there are two previous steps determining our actions.

When we hear God’s word, and He gives us a commandment, we seek more understanding. We pray and study enough to know what the commandment will mean in our life. We want the general to become specific and the generic to become personal. We need the cloudy to become clear and the principle to become practical. We do this, not with every word we hear, but only with those that God gives us to keep. Keeping yields a depth of understanding of God’s word specific to the person, which will be of great benefit as we conform our life’s expression to it.

Can we Change the Order?The reverse order does not work. Right actions are truly essential, but they do not lead to being right on the inside, nor do they automatically reflect a life that is right on the inside. A focus on external action does not lead to an internal keeping. Doing does not produce being. Without diligent

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keeping, external obedience may result from the sheer force of human authority or of personal willpower. A proper life is good, but it may not reflect a proper heart.

The second and third steps, “keep … to do” (some translations may render it as “observe … to do”), are used together in this order 16 times in Deuteronomy, another 6 times in Leviticus, and more. Again, not trivial. Their repeated usage offers further insight on the importance of keeping prior to doing God’s commandments: A why: keeping God’s commandments assures us that they are good

and right for out lives. A way: keeping God’s commandments guides us in obeying them. A want: keeping God’s commandments establishes our heart and

desire to obey them.

While this list links keeping and obeying, they are different verbs and must be detached from each other; they have distinct meanings, purposes, privacies, and areas of expression. Keep has its own relationship to God’s commandments, separate from doing.

Yet, doing God’s commandments will remain the first and instinctive priority if we have an unclear understanding of the particular concept of keep, or if we maintain the mistaken idea that keep is not really distinct from obey. The Bible says, “keep … to do”. It does not say “diligently do” or “responsibly do”. The two different verbs represent two very different actions. Keeping is a responsible, internal holding, while doing is an external action.

We often hear commandments from our Teacher, the Holy Spirit, and receive them quickened to us while reading and meditating on God’s word, the Bible. “Hearing” can be easy, but “keeping” requires focused internal effort. Some helpful activities include: Further Bible study on what we have heard, Mediation on various aspects of a commandment to us, or Requests in prayer to God for a better understanding.

Before proceeding to the detailed definitions of “keep” and “obey”, the next chapter briefly summarizes my experience with “keep” in the Bible.

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Chapter 5: Keep: I needed it to mean keep

My personal experience with the Bible word “keep” was to avoid it, at least in practice … because, to me, it meant “obey”. That word, both those words, highlighted my inability to do what Jesus clearly designated as the first and highest commandment: love God. Over decades of Bible reading and service and seeking God, I never knew what it meant to love God, or if I knew, I had an imperfect ability to love God in practice, with all my heart, mind, and soul.

I could not ignore Bible passages stating that, in order to love God, I must “keep His commandments.” (I John 5:3 and John 14:15) My reading and understanding of such verses was that I was to “obey His commandments” and that any sin or error would disqualify me, as both my personal experience and the Bible taught me. Since such perfect obedience is impossible, how then could I love God according to the first commandment? I was not perfect like Him, way up in heaven. I was a simple human on the earth. How could I relate to God with love?

When I wondered if loving God was tied to service, commitment, or sacrifice, I spun in circles. If I serve God as an expression of my love, how do I love Him in the first place? Or if loving God is serving Him, how much or what kind of sacrifice and service is needed to produce or express that love relationship? I had no answer.

My stoic response was to not worry about this issue and instead, turn my focus to what I did know. Even if I could not obey God’s highest commandment, I could still put my best into worshipping and serving God. While this seemed to build love and intimacy with God, the Biblical way to love God is by “keeping His commandments.”

Yet, I could not see it as the answer while I understood “keep” to mean “obey”.1. 1 John 5:3: “For this is the love of God, that we keep his

commandments: and his commandments are not burdensome.”2. John 14:15: “If you love me, keep my commandments.”

Since “keep” meant “obey” to me, and since I could not fully obey the commandments of God or Jesus, I knew that my love for God or Jesus was faltering at best. But I was misreading these verses; I was reading something they do not say:1. For this is the love of God, that we obey his commandments.

and

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2. If you love me, obey my commandments.

These verses do not say this – this is not the way to love God. But I did not know that, so what they really said could not benefit me, an imperfect human. It was hard to read verses that highlighted my personal failure and inability to obey God’s commandments perfectly; the highest commandment to love God was impossible for me. Despite my faith, service, and personal devotion to Him, there was a chasm between us, which prevented the love relationship that He commanded.

Yet, my saving faith did not waver. I had believed that Jesus carried my sin to his cross and endured God’s judgment upon sin. The Just and Holy God was satisfied with the sacrifice and righteousness of His Son Jesus. My inability to earn the righteousness required to stand before the Holy God did not matter because the work of Jesus Christ on the cross is totally sufficient. By the gift and grace of God, I have been permanently made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. My eternal life and relationship with God were and are secure.

This secured my place in God’s family, both now and forever. But being made the perfect righteousness of God did not assure my perfect obedience to God’s commandments while I live here on the earth. Although having new life as one born from above by the incorruptible seed of the Word of God, this highest commandment to love God with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength remained impossible because it was tied to obedience.

My struggles and my doubts were never with the Bible. It is entirely accurate and literally true. It proclaims the absolute, unchangeable, and knowable truth of the Eternal Creator. The Bible is the Self-revelation to us of the Almighty, Loving God. I always trusted it completely. My limited understanding of the Bible was the source of my dilemma, so it was no surprise that the answer came with a clearer understanding of the Bible.

Neither did I struggle with the Creator God Himself. My faith that He is always Good and Just did not waver. He was and is always worthy of all honor and praise. To worship and serve Him and to get to know Him better has always been a great privilege and priority.

The key to unlock this dilemma was for me to read “keep” properly. But getting to this point … it took a long time. Even when it became apparent that the word was “keep”, and that it did not mean “obey”, it was a battle to see and to apply the normal meaning of the word “keep” in those many

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Bible passages. The keep = obey equation seemed to be a foundational truth that had a strong hold on my understanding.

At last, the simple reality could not be ignored. I lost nothing in embracing “keep” to mean keep; and it actually brought astonishing gains. I learned that I could indeed “keep God’s commandments”: I could receive them, hold on to them, and never let them go. Reading “keep” properly opened fresh insights throughout the entire Bible. Learning that keep does not mean obey has been extremely valuable to me, and has even resulted in an increasing external obedience.

Now for the definitions.

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Chapter 6: Defining Keep and Obey: They are Different

I needed, we all need to know the distinction between “keep” and obey”. Their definitions and applications show clear differences; we err when read “keep” to mean “obey”.

- To obey is to act in submission to an authority.- To keep is to hold on to and take care of an item or area of

responsibility.

As a rule, “keep” does not refer to a visible work, though it will have visible effects. It is an internal action and its idea is related to verbs such as retain or meditate. On the other hand, “obey” infers a visible expression. It is an external action and its idea is related to verbs such as follow and do.

Here is more detail on the Hebrew and Greek words most often translated keep:1. The Hebrew verb shamar (שמר) is used 469 times in the Old

Testament. Its meaning is to hedge about, to preserve, to protect, to observe and attend to.

2. The Hebrew verb natsar (נצר) is used 61 times in the Old Testament. Its meaning is to guard.

These 530 uses are found in 500 verses. From my analysis, in 231 verses one or both of these Hebrew words have been commonly understood to mean “obey”. In the other 269 verses, the text is commonly understood with the meanings above in mind.

1. The Greek verb tereo (τηρεω) is used 75 times in the New Testament. Its meaning includes to keep from loss or injury, to keep an eye on, to attend to carefully, take care of, to preserve, and to observe.

2. The Greek verb phulasso (φυλασσω) is used 30 times in the New Testament. Its meaning includes to watch, to be on guard, to prevent escape, and to keep safe.

These 105 uses are found in 96 verses. From my analysis, in 45 verses one or both of these Greek words have been commonly understood to mean “obey”. In the other 51 verses, the text is well understood with the meanings above in mind. (Listings of the verses where these Hebrew and Greek verbs is often “misread” is on keepmeanskeep.org)

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It should be obvious that “obey” is not a part of the meaning of any of these four words, yet that is how we have read them in almost half their occurrences. We have done this regardless of how it has been translated. This problem happens while reading any English translation.

Let us pause to consider these details. With its 469 uses, only 28 Hebrew verbs occur more often than the 469 times for “keep”. With 75 uses, the Greek verb for “keep” is less common, but still occurs more often than 95% of the Greek words used in the New Testament.

Sometimes it is helpful to adjust the translation of common words in different contexts. This is not necessary with “keep”, especially reading it to mean something so different as “obey”.

Additionally, we notice that “keep”, with the definition above, makes perfect sense in all of these occurrences. We did not, and we do not need to see “obey” in any of them, much less almost half of them, as we have been doing. We never need to read “obey” where “keep” is in the text … it never helps. “Keep Always means Keep”.

Being aware of these basic definitions assists us especially when we read them in the context of legal regulations in the Bible or in life. They relate to God’s commandments very differently:- Obedience is an external doing or following of the commandment; it is

an action that is typically visible.- Keeping is an internal holding or securing of the commandment; it is

an action that is typically invisible.

We are very familiar with the idea of obedience. We know what it means to act in obedience to a command or a rule, and we generally know whether we obey or not.

By contrast, when we keep rules, it is rarely a visible or measurable activity. When we keep or hold God’s words, we act internally, and not always consciously. Keeping is internally holding the commandments we have from God, or any word that we may hear.

Of course, in the Bible, “keep” and “obey” are important, but they are also different. The Biblical way is “keep … to do”. Two different actions. We keep God’s commandments in order to do them. It is time to see “keep” as valuable in itself.

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To help process the idea of “keeping”, think of a bank. Think of yourself “keeping God’s commandments” just as if you owned a bank “keeping other people’s money”. You would want your bank to protect all deposits with unbreakable security systems, hiring people and vendors who are entirely full of integrity, and more. You would do everything in your power to “keep” the money safe and available for each owner’s desired use. So we can think of our hearts and minds as an internal vault into which we deposit and then keep every word and command as God gives them to us. We can think of ourselves as a bank where we hold God’s word and secure it, like David did. This illustration isolates the “keeping” step; “obeying” other people’s money makes no sense.

To help clarify the concept of keeping, the table below contrasts its qualities with those of obedience.

Qualities of Keeping Qualities of ObedienceTo Keep …--------------

To Obey …--------------

Requires Being Requires DoingIs Internal Is ExternalPuts demands on the Heart Puts Demands on the Hands and FeetMakes an Impression Is an ExpressionIs Inside Is OutsideIs Hidden Is ExposedIs Invisible Is VisibleAffects Character Affects ReputationIs the Image/Mould Is the Form/OutputExpresses Friendship Expresses ServanthoodIs Making a Deposit Is Making a WithdrawalIs the Root Is the Branches and FruitIs the Foundation Is the Building

The Difference is StrikingThis table shows a chasm between “keep” and “obey”. Qualities in the left column are largely deep and hidden while those in the right column are usually open and seen. We might pause to consider how each pair of qualities above relates to God’s commandments. Meditating on this may help us to understand better the distinctions and the separate necessities of “keep” and “obey”.

To settle the mind on the fact that “keep always means keep” may be difficult for those who consider and expect obedience to be most important, and whose minds are comfortable with the idea that keep means

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obey. Focused thought may be required to understand that keeping God’s commandments is different from obeying them. Knowing that this happens so often could encourage us to read or study our Bibles with an increased alertness.

Analogies are Limited: A building is limited in that the foundation giving it stability does not grow once it is built; and neither does the building above ground grow. It is not living. It does not bear fruit. Even if there are resources and artisans to build other buildings, and to raise up a “community” of structures, nothing is alive.

The fruit tree, too, is limited. It can have a growing root to increase stability and to access nourishment, and it does grow above ground and bear fruit. But it is just one tree, from just one seed. It gets closer to spiritual reality if we think of other seeds planted in nearby soil, some growing roots and trees that bear fruit. A person’s heart could be like an orchard of fruit-bearing trees, with both deep and interlocking roots: each root system is stable in itself, and more so as trees grow together. Although, still limited, the picture is more complete with the soils and growing vines that Jesus used in his teaching.

This book declares from the Bible that “keep” has priority over “obey”. Both are important, but if we honor the Bible’s priority, it will enable better obedience. The priority and value of keeping is the subject of the next chapter.

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Chapter 7: Honoring the Priority and Value of Keeping

Both keeping and obedience are Biblical and important; who we become and how we act are both important. The obvious difference is that others can see what we do, but only God knows exactly who we are inside.

Keeping, being hidden, requires focused effort, quiet humility, personal maturation, accountability to God, and more. It results in a heart that is ever more pure before God … and others. This gives it great value. Proper keeping results in actions and attitudes that please God and bless others. It is, in the Bible: keep … to do.

Responsibility in Keeping:Each one of us is personally responsible to keep God’s word. Others cannot do it for us, and no one is able to make-it-happen in us. Thus, we cannot blame others: neither those close to us, regularly affecting us, nor those far from us, impacting in some way how we live and think. Additionally, we cannot blame our situation or circumstances of life, tragic though they may be at times. Only we ourselves have control over our internal life and attitude. It is a private work, which yields invisible below the surface results, like the root of a plant. We are responsible for the hidden root growing in our hearts, producing fruit in our lives.

Before keeping is hearing; we can only keep something we hear, so we also take responsibility for that. We read the Bible or another book, and we hear a preacher or teaching. Paying attention to good words, a word is quickened to us or to our spirit in some way. As unique persons, we individually respond to a word and say, “That is for me! I heard it; I was meant to hear it.” Even controlling the large majority of what we hear, we cannot avoid other messages shouted to us from our culture and even well-meaning others; words that could be harmful to our lives or contrary to the good paths God has shown us. In every situation, we are responsible for what we keep. This is our filter, since we cannot, and we are not required either to keep or to do everything we hear.

Keeping has Priority over Hearing:One of the activities of proper keeping is to filter what we hear. For any word we hear, we have options, such as:1. Ignoring the word and not listening to it or thinking about it again. We

should do this with words that oppose God’s ways, and with words that have ungodly sources or speak to our fleshly, temporal desires.

2. Keeping the word. We deposit it in our heart, consider it carefully, pray about it, learn its implications, understand its impact, secure it,

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and more. When we hear God’s words, we choose to embrace all of them, but especially those words that speak to our spirit indwelt by His Spirit.

3. Choosing to act on a word immediately. With words requiring immediate response, the action may happen instantaneously, as with Nehemiah’s opportunity in Nehemiah 2:4. There he immediately acted on an opportunity, but one for which, as God knew, he was already prepared, having previously, personally, and purposefully adopted and expressed God’s burden for Jerusalem, as described in Nehemiah 1:1 – 2:8.

4. Passively accepting all we hear. In doing this, we will likely keep what is heard often. We hear from our chosen environment, from our chosen companions, or from routine events that gradually sink in. A passive response to what we hear could complicate our internal becoming with a barrage of contradictory messages. In this case, we may not be aware, either of what we are keeping, or of the seeds planted and growing inside us.

Jesus’ parable of the seed sown on four different soils, gives us a picture of invisible keeping activities. Jesus talked of hard ground, soils with rocks or with thorns, and good ground. These soils can represent our hearts and minds in various conditions. The words we hear are the seeds. Our best choice is to hear God’s words often, whether or not we see how they apply to our specific situation. Keeping can be seen as the entire process of cultivating and clearing the soil, then planting, fertilizing, and watering the seed, and taking care of the growth and waiting for the fruit.

Cultivating the soil may include meditation, prayer, Bible reading and memorization. Clearing the soil may include honest evaluation of our hearts and lives before God: recognizing harmful habits, damaging situations, stressful activities, and more that may make it difficult for seeds to grow. These types of activities prepare the soil for the good seed of God’s word, but not just once; they are lifelong activities as we learn to love and to please God more completely with our lives.

Planting the seed in our hearts is receiving a specific commandment and committing to it, and in relationship to God, learning details about what that word means and how to live it out. We go forward and plant as though all of our ground was good soil, since none of us really knows the condition of the soil of our heart. We do not blame the soil, but continue to plant good seed, regardless of the quality of the soil, regardless of the difficulty, regardless of the prospect we see for the seed to bear any fruit.

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We do this because every good seed that germinates, every good word that we keep conditions the ground and improves the soil.

We help by faithfully watering it, and fertilizing it, and consistently supporting God’s word germinating and taking root in our hearts. Growth is promoted by keeping activities such as: mediating, seeking God, learning related Bible passages, and faithfully embracing the good seeds that we plant. If the growth of a plant seems hindered in the soil of our hearts, we assess the situation with integrity, accepting the possible need to clear more rocks and pull more weeds. The condition of the soil becomes more fertile as we care for God’s word in our heart.

All of this gives keeping priority over hearing; we whole-heartedly receive, not every word we hear, but only those words that God applies to our lives as we relate to Him. Additionally, all of this keeping happens deep within us where no one can see; it all makes us better in ways that eventually yield external evidences that are not forced or artificial, but are real to the person we are becoming and to our being fulfilled in the process.

The Value of Keeping Cannot be Measured: Keeping should be a high priority because of its boundless value:1. Keeping, the hidden, internal work, has value corresponding to the

root, the below ground part of a plant. Keeping, like the quality and size of the root or like the foundation of a building, cannot be seen or measured by looking at the above ground part. Good work below the surface increases the value.

2. An unnoticed work is valuable, in part, because no one but God knows its vast potential and extent.

3. We might add for today that the value increases because keeping requires a new perspective in order for people both to read “keep” properly in the Bible and to prioritize its hidden effort.

4. The value for us increases still further when we consider that every good word kept makes for better soil, a better condition of our hearts and minds.

5. It increases yet again when we realize that the word established more deeply, gives our hearts and minds a greater stability so that we are more securely anchored during life’s challenges. We can know a building’s foundation is bad when the wind can blow it down. But when we keep God’s word, we build a solid foundation, and stand firm in a storm.

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6. Additionally, the value of keeping is high because we are tapped into unseen resources that increase the amount and quality of the fruit we produce.

We are always aware that what is seen may not reflect the quality of what is not seen. For example, a tree with good fruit usually has a good root, but maybe other circumstances such as good weather, fertilizer, water, and a lack of pests could help a tree without a good root bear good fruit. A person’s reputation does not always reflect the true character. Hopefully, a person who has built a good life has the hidden foundation to support it. On the other hand, many people who are mired in wretched circumstances and act destructively, may not be wretched in character.

The value of keeping may be hard for us and for others to see.1. We may not be able to communicate its value very well, or, being

focused internally, may not want to talk about it.2. In general, people and society are not looking for the hidden activities

that develop character, and find difficulty in valuing or encouraging the unseen, below the surface qualities of a person’s life, when the expected results happen some time later. Rarely noticed is what we “keep” or have been depositing inside.

3. In general, people value effective action, often the results of keeping. Today’s materialistic, microwave culture seeks immediate results. Being burdened with the stress of performance expectations, it does not notice internal growth.

4. Continuing this internal keeping work may also require firmly ignoring, with humility and sensitivity, with grace and wisdom, some important outside pressures that could come from caring family, from faithful leaders, from close friends, from wise associates, advisors, and others.

The honest encouragements to do something now, to be more productive now, can be persuasive. When we build the unseen part, some may confront us with what they see to be an appearance of unfruitfulness, laziness, or even foolishness. We listen carefully, understand the concerns, and respectfully consider others’ observations. As God’s servants, we are not selfish, arrogant, headstrong, or high-minded. Whether or not anyone else knows, we must know, before God, that we are building the unnoticed, hidden qualities of character, growing a deep tap root, establishing an unshakeable foundation, ensuring that every application of hearing and keeping yields good and lasting results … hopefully soon, but maybe

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not. With patience and perseverance, we stand with God and His Word.

Difficult as it may be for people to see the value and priority of keep in the Bible, many practice and teach the idea behind the word “keep”. We hear and read; we listen and learn; we meditate and consider and do much more that expresses and expands the essence of hearing and keeping. This is all very good. Sadly, without knowing or noticing, we have not used the Bible’s most common word “keep” in these well-known teachings; God’s people have lost the direct way the Bible so often teaches this internal work of keeping.

Now we add the word “keep”, and with it, we aid the qualities and value of proper keeping. A great number of believers throughout the ages have developed and maintained this valuable inner life before God, because they know it to be right. Will not this number be encouraged and increase if we also see the unnoticed activities of “keeping” in an additional 275 Bible verses?

What each of us has inside is important, as is every reason for every action, but, of course, only God sees the heart and the true value of all of our internal keeping. We and others see only actions. Therefore, we determine that: We will see behavior, but not attempt to identify, to judge, or to

condemn the internal motives of another person. Since no one can know the desires of another person’s heart, since we cannot see good or bad internal progress, and since we cannot effect a change inside anyone other than ourselves, we leave those judgments to God.

We will work on our own internal life, knowing that God guides and provides for us. We seek to act so that our life expressions reflect that we love what God loves and hate what God hates, regardless of who knows about our internal desires.

Where possible, we act to support others in their progress, wisely and humbly, just as we need and receive support.

Obedience Depends on Keeping.Adding still more to the value and priority of keeping: the quality and consistency of our obedience depends upon keeping. The nature of the tree and its fruit depend upon the root, the stability of the building depends upon the foundation, and the amount withdrawn must have been previously deposited. These analogies are limited, only partly describing the extent to which obedience depends on keeping. They picture how the quality of our obedience reflects the quality of our keeping.

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Can we obey what we hear without keeping?We can, but we must ask how that is possible. Here are two categories:1. We are under authority in the home, in a business, in the military, or in

some other structure. When we hear a directive from a parent, boss, or superior, we know that we must do what we are told, usually without discussion or delay.

Most of us have kept the need to honor authorities and to respond immediately in these situations; we are fully prepared to follow instructions, whether or not some discussion or negotiation is allowed, whether or not we understand any particular instruction, and whether or not we agree. We do not need to keep a command; we do as we are told by someone in authority. Some, however, have not kept the need to honor authority structures. Those who retain their prerogative not to do as instructed unless they personally agree with or accept a directive, will have a hard time as a child, an employee, a soldier, etc.

2. Immediate obedience seems necessary in many religious organizations as well, where faithful followers are ready to act right, whether the instruction is found in the Bible, or heard from a leader, or received in counsel.

Related to religious structure, most people choose their “allegiance” and are not forced or paid to be part a group. There is great variety here: Members of some authoritarian groups are taught and trained to do

“holy” acts according to the interpretation or beliefs of their charismatic leaders. The members would then “keep” the idea that the instructions of the leader must be followed, and they immediately act as directed.

At the other extreme are groups that teach members that there are no rules; that no authority here can tell anyone what to do. The Bible’s wisdom, messages from God, suggestions from authorities, and personal desires are equivalent sources of direction, which a person can do as they choose.

In the middle are those who highly exalt God and the Bible and encourage obedience as the immediate and best response to God’s direction. This obedient response is taught and encouraged from many perspectives, and it is kept by many members. But the command obeyed may not be kept, especially if it is new to a person. Keeping takes effort and time with God. Difficult too is

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defining God’s personal direction, or how we know what obey might look like in different situations.

Ideally, from my perspective, regardless of the religion, believers who are submitted to God, meaningfully informed by the Bible, and led by God’s Spirit, would learn that they can humbly receive instructions directly from God in their hearts and spirits. They then consider these, meditate on them, understand them, gain necessary clarification, and act in that light. These keep the truth that God guides His people; they both keep and do His individual instructions.

In both these categories, cultural and religious, those ready to do what they hear have already kept the concept of immediate obedience. Even this obedience depends upon keeping.

But, is it right to keep “immediate obedience” to words we hear? Is that Biblical? For God’s people, in the Bible, the process is Hear – Keep – Do. In the Bible, we are to keep God’s word securely in order to act upon it. But, since over 40 times in the New Testament, keep has been so completely misread, many wrongly think that “obey” My commandments is repeated many times. But it is not found – not even once. In the Bible, keeping happens before obedience.

Certainly, God wants His people to do what He tells them. The Old Testament describes their repeated disobedience to His commandments. Not good. Active disobedience often resulted in sacrifice or punishment. But that did not help them obey. The necessity of immediate obedience was an impossible “burden” for them. Even when they honored God and His God word, following Him could be hard, especially when His commandments meant changes to habits and lifestyles.

What might produce obedient action in their lives? The “obey or else” motivation was not successful, and neither was the knowledge that God’s wisdom and word and direction offer the best possible life. Things such as this increase the incentive to obey, but more desire and determination do not guarantee more, or lasting, obedience.

In groups that place a high value on immediate obedience, we ask: “What is the quality of that obedience to what we hear?” We also ask, “Has anything happened inside to support that obedience? or is the support external as well?” and “What will make the obedience last?”

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Behavior is important; people doing good and acting “right” usually bless the world around them. We observe actions that lead to a blessed life and others that result in a cursed life; we see some behaving like they are off track and others who appear to be advancing well in their world. We do want to see good and blessed behavior, not wrong behavior or habits. Making it personal, when people notice our good life expression, we trust that, in reality, they notice that we are obeying God, and acting right because we have internally kept His word to us, not because something or someone is requiring obedience.

The Biblical order is “keep … to do”. The teaching is that if we are right, we will do right. Is our first thought and primary value on doing right, or on being right? Inside is where we learn ways of life and blessing, where we honor them, where we desire them, and where we make the decision to act accordingly. Our objective is both to be right and to do right before God. We want His bounty to bless our lives on the inside and our world on the outside.

We will need to be patient with ourselves and others. Growing a deep root, building a foundation and a stable character rarely happens quickly. Changing behavior and correcting life habits may be a needed or desired effect … but there should be no pressure, only a personal priority to take care of what people cannot see in order that the visible things become right and lasting. We can be confident that anyone is able to walk as a friend of God, to love His ways, to please Him at all times … and love Him as He commanded.

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Chapter 8: Keep is Essential for the Greatest Commandment

John 14:Jesus said in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my commandments,”

Jesus had much more to say about keeping in John 14, as he connects keeping with loving, and identifies additional divine benefits.Verse 21: He who has my commandments, and keeps them, is he who loves me: and he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him.Verse 23: Jesus answered and said to him, If a man loves me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come to him, and make our dwelling with him.

Love is expressed by keeping his commandments. This is not obedience; obedience is not mentioned. Keeping shows a receptive heart, eager to listen to Jesus, to hear God’s word, and to possess it. If we think “obey”, we think wrong; if the evidence of our love is external, it will not be perfect. To read “obey” is to skip “keeping” and jump to “doing”. According to Jesus, loving him requires keeping his words; he does not mention doing them to be a requirement of loving him. Not here. Not anywhere.

Four stunning results of keeping and loving found in verses 21 and 23 are:1. Jesus and his Father will love that person,2. Jesus will manifest himself to that person,3. Jesus and his Father will come to that person, and4. Jesus and his Father will live with that person.

Jesus himself promised these benefits to those who have his words and keep them. Keeping them is possible, and it shows love for Jesus. Each benefit that we can have by keeping is worthy of our private consideration. For instance, I will be the object of both God’s love and Jesus’ love. How amazing and helpful is that!

Jesus teaches keeping positively in two ways: if we love Jesus, we keep his commandments, and conversely, if we keep his words, we love him. In verse 24, he also teaches it negatively, stating the inverse: if we do not love Jesus, we do not keep his words. We could also say that if we do not keep, which is an expression of loving, we do not love. We miss much if we do not keep Jesus’ words. We miss loving Jesus and Jesus loving us, and the repeated promise of the Father loving us as well.

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We err if we miss the priority of keeping, and immediately try to do his word. Since doing without keeping will be difficult, we prop up our desire to obey with willpower, strict structure, accountability, life change, outside pressure, other natural aids, and spiritual resources such as prayer and Biblical wisdom as well. All these helps are good, as God guides, but if the focus is on doing rather than keeping, it can be easy to give up and try something else or seek another way. Even worse, immediately doing without keeping, could mean that we really do not love Jesus or receive his love. Love, two-way love, requires keeping.

Keeping becomes still more crucial when seen as a part of the process of the eventual doing. Keeping Jesus commandment’s does not merely undergird the necessary external expression, it also prepares us for obedience by clarifying the direction, deepening our understanding, identifying the next step, lightening the path ahead, and settling our hearts that God’s way for us is the best way for us.

We get all of this in our love relationship with Jesus and our Father in heaven. We become less a servant and more a child and friend of God. Most wonderfully we are connecting with our God. When doing follows keeping, it is not less important, but even more possible, and even more a reality in our external lives. Doing happens without a struggle when our focus is keeping, with the fulfilling result of growing ever closer in our relationship with God and His Son.

Not only is it possible for us to keep the words and commandments of Jesus, it is also essential. The way to know that we love Jesus is to know that we keep his word to us. Jesus said “keep”, not “obey”. Again, they are very different. We train ourselves to think what Jesus actually says.

I John:John’s first epistle broadens our understanding of keeping. As Jesus did in John’s gospel, I John 5:1-3 links loving God and keeping His commandments. These verses read:I John 5:1 Every one believing that Jesus is the Christ has been reproduced of God: and every one loving the one who was reproducing, also loves the one having been reproduced of him.Verse 2: In this we know that we love the children of God, whenever we may love God, and may keep his commandments.Verse 3: For this is the love of God, in order that we may keep his commandments, and his commandments are not weighty.

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Wow! Verse 3 declares keeping to be the reason for the love of God. While Jesus’ words make keeping a necessary expression of the love of God, here the love of God enables us to keep His commandments. The highest commandment, to love God is not only in our grasp if we keep His commandments, but it also helps us keep them. Loving and keeping happen together. External action is not a part, even though those who love God will express it in varieties of visible ways.

The context of 1 John 5:3 offers further insight:Verse 1 places loving God in a family setting. Each person who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born into God’s family. This verse declares that every one of God’s children will love both their Father God and every one of God’s other children. John has already stated in 3:23 that loving fellow believers is a commandment of God.

Verse 2 tells us that we know we love God’s children when we love God and keep His commandments. So the two become one commandment, as Jesus answered that the greatest commandment is loving both God and our neighbor. We hold tightly to this commandment of loving each other.

Even more, in this short epistle, John reinforces the necessity of loving those who are in God’s family. Verses 10 and 14 of chapter 3 declare that grave consequences face those who do not love fellow believers. In addition, 4:20, 21 speaks about those who claim to love God. “If anyone should say that I love God and he may hate his brother, is a liar. For the one not loving his brother whom he has seen, how is he able to love God whom he has not seen? And we have this commandment from him, in order that the one loving God may also love his brother.”

“We have this commandment”; we will love a family member if we truly love our unseen God Who is the Father of every believer. If we settle on love expressed as action, we may not love them in heart and mind, but may instead degrade or despise other believers as long as we treat them okay. That is not okay; “not loving” is a serious problem, even if it does not rise to the level of hate, which is a problem with more severe consequences. Keeping and loving are deep works; resolutely keeping God’s commandments will affect our visible life and actions. No unloving actions, seen or unseen, have an excuse here.

Next, one preacher could have, but did not use the verses above to teach the concept of keeping.

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Chapter 9: Keep: Unexpectedly Misunderstood

A TV preacher, his name changed here to Pastor Fred, would have delighted to realize the actual definition of “keep”. Pastor Fred communicates insights and truths of the Bible, often using his understanding of Biblical Hebrew and Greek word meanings and grammar as he teaches.

In one message, Pastor Fred was teaching on loving God. Jesus said that this was the first and highest commandment and Pastor Fred wonderfully exalted it as such. He then proceeded to teach his audience how to love God.

The Bible of course tells us how to love God and Pastor Fred wanted to teach the Bible way of loving God. My ears perked up as he turned to Bible passages directly answering the question of how we love God, specifically quoting John 14:15 where Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commandments” and I John 5:3, which says, “This is the love of God, that we keep His commandments.” I anticipated the possibility that he might teach the Biblical concept and proper meaning of “keep”.

He did teach it, but he did not use the word “keep” in these verses. Two reasons worked together to prevent him from using these verses:1. Pastor Fred reads “keep” to mean “obey”. He teaches that our ability

to love God must not depend upon our ability to obey. He wanted those hearing him not to be confused by these verses that pointedly tell us to love God by obeying the commandments. These verses do not say “obey”, but that is what they meant to him.

2. Pastor Fred sees the limitations of human ability. He emphasizes God’s grace to the edification of his hearers and says that we need God’s grace and help for all things good and godly. Misunderstanding the word “keep”, he declared that human obedience, seemingly required in these two verses, is not the foundation of loving God. To him, “obey” is not the most important word for the Christian.

Therefore, to teach his audience how to love God, Pastor Fred went to Ephesians 1:7 “In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace.” This great verse exalts God’s grace as Pastor Fred loves to do.

Using this verse to teach the way for us to love God, Pastor Fred focused on the word have. He taught that, in the Greek, this verb was active and in the present tense. He said that we have this redemption and forgiveness

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right now and that we are to hold them in an active sense, hold them tightly. To love God, Pastor Fred taught, is to hold on to the gifts of His grace and not let them go.

His point was clearly a good one, but he did not realize that he was actually teaching the Biblical idea embodied in the word “keep”. I think that he would have rejoiced to teach the Biblical way to love God, directly from the verses in John 14 and I John 5, and directly from the word “keep”, but to him, “keep” meant “obey”.

To me, Pastor Fred forced the teaching onto Eph. 1:7, and created at least two problems. First, he likely increased confusion. Since most of his hearers also read “obey” when they see “keep”, many of them will likely forget the grammar of have in Ephesians and recall the literal words that we must “obey” in order to love God. Second, like the English verb to have, the Greek verb to have is extremely common. To me, it would be surprising if Pastor Fred extended this particular grammar emphasis to some of the other 700+ occurrences of the verb to have in the New Testament.

This is not to disparage Pastor Fred, or any of the teachers we hear, and it is certainly no reason to abandon them. Since they are responsible to watch over our souls, teachers and leaders who love God and His Word are due our honor and heart-felt respect, in addition to the love commanded toward all fellow believers. They are accountable to God in their work. May they give an account of their relationship with us joyfully, not in regret.

This problem is neither new nor rare. The meaning of “keep” has been misunderstood by God’s people since He spoke at Mt Sinai. Therefore, we can expect a transition toward teaching “keep” to mean “keep”, and toward emphasizing it as a crucial, internal activity and priority. However long it may take, we neither accept nor promote a "good enough" attitude toward any of the words of the Bible, especially one as critical as “keep”.

Defining “keep” properly may not fit with some things we understand and believe, or with teachings we hear, but that is no reason to ignore or to reject it. Since “keep” has rarely if ever been taught according to its Biblical definition and priority, we must examine it freshly for ourselves, and make sure that the Bible is the source and basis for this and for every important truth we hold.

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As we read the Bible, we believe every word exactly as it is written; we look up definitions, we learn the Biblical, historical, literary contexts, etc. Thankfully we are not on our own; Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would guide us into all truth, and we trust Him for that. Accurately defining “keep” is perspective-changing, which increases the effort and thoughtful consideration required. Let us put time and energy into getting this right.

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Chapter 10: New Testament Keeping Using Other Verbs

Colossian 1:9, 10The Apostle Paul expresses the need to keep in Colossians 1:9, and then in verse 10 he describes one result that comes from keeping. He uses other words.

“Because” is the first word in verse 9. In the previous verses, Paul mentioned that he had heard of their faith in Christ Jesus and of their love to the saints. The gospel of grace was in them, and bearing fruit. All this was good, but he prays for more for these Colossian believers.

Verse 9: Because of this, we also, from which day we heard, do not stop praying and petitioning on your behalf, in order that you should be filled with the recognition of his will in every wisdom and spiritual understanding,

Paul uses the word “filled”, which is one goal of keeping. He says that they “should be filled” – a very real possibility but not a certainty. The individual Colossian believer needed to receive this special filling. Paul prays for them to be filled with the recognition, the clear knowledge of God’s will. Like keeping, this filling would happen inside the Colossian believer.

But how does this happen? To be filled is for every part of a person to know and accept God’s will. This is more than a simple awareness of God’s will, more than a fact stored somewhere in the mind; it means that the whole being is occupied with God’s will. For this to happen, what we learn about God’s will must be kept; it must be received, considered, accepted, embraced, and loved. There would be no part of a person not positively affected with the recognition of what God wants.

That would be great, being filled with the knowledge of the will of God, but it was not enough for the Apostle Paul. Paul took no chances; he made clear how they were to be filled will the knowledge of His will – in every wisdom and spiritual understanding. In this way, there would no mistaking God’s will or its place in their life and work.

The Apostle is confident that this kind of filling will lead to action, to the specific kind of action he described in Verse 10: You to walk worthily of the Lord into every satisfaction in every good work, ones-bearing fruit and being grown into the recognition of God,

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Characteristics of the resulting action are:- Worthy of the Lord,- Satisfaction in every work, and a- Work that is good.

Notice the characteristic of satisfaction: both the Lord’s and our satisfaction. There are many good works that do not satisfy – works that we might be able to do on our own. But the works recommended in these verses are done out of a heart properly filled with the will of God Who alone is wise enough to guide into completely satisfying works.

In this activity, believers become:- Ones bearing fruit, and- Ones growing in knowledge of God.

This is excellent and effective action. These wonderful expressions happen in the lives of those who are filled with what they know to be God’s will, and for those who have received this quality filling “in every wisdom and spiritual understanding”. This is more than Hear and Do; this is more than knowing God’s will and immediately doing it. This kind of action requires the focused and quality effort of one who highly values God’s will.

This text does not teach; no text teaches that this is done just once. It is a continual privilege for those living as God’s servants; we never stop learning more about His will for our lives. Many of His directives will require this quality filling. At all times, we will rejoice to be more and more filled with more and more of God’s will.

Plus, we want all of our resulting actions and efforts to be worthy of the Lord; we want every work to be good, continually pleasing God, bearing more fruit, and yielding a better knowledge of God. Keeping remains a part of our lives. Hear – Keep – Do is an ongoing process for everyone, so there is never a time when we stop growing deeper and more productive as God’s child.

Mark 7Jesus taught about an effective keeping of God’s commandments during a confrontation with the highly religious Pharisees. In Matthew 15 and Mark 7, the Pharisees question Jesus because his disciples did not wash before they ate. In Luke 10, they question Jesus about his own unwashed hands.

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Mark dwells on this incident at more length and uses other Greek verbs that help broaden our understanding of “keep”. One, “to seize”, has the positive idea of securing. Regrettably, the Pharisees seized the wrong things. Two other verbs show negative actions: “reject” and “abandon”, which are used in the keeping process to filter out the wrong things we might hear. The Pharisees compounded their problem by rejecting good things. Jesus makes very clear that they are not good examples to follow.

Mark explained that the Pharisees’ fault-finding actions and words resulted from what they kept. (We notice that he uses also baptize to describe washing.)Verse 3: For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not ingest unless they should wash the hands to fist, seizing the tradition of the elders.Verse 4: And from a market, unless they should baptize, they do not ingest. It is also many different things which they accepted to seize: baptizings of cups and of pots and of kettles and of beds.Verse 5: Next, the Pharisees and the scribes question him, “On account of what do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but ingest the bread with unwashed hands?”

The Pharisees kept “tradition of the elders”; they seized it securely. These traditions could be good in themselves, having some basis both in the laws God gave to Moses and in the practical rules of proper living, yet the Pharisees did not blame the disciples for not maintaining good hygiene or sanitation. If that had been their concern, they would likely have been more gracious. Mark identified their first concern to be religious: seizing upon the accepted traditions established and taught by their leaders for many centuries. By keeping these things, by placing a priority on performance, and by having an inflated perception of their position, the Pharisees questioned, even condemned Jesus’ disciples for breaking the rules of this tradition.

Jesus did not respond directly: he neither explained his disciples’ action, nor challenged their rules. Instead, he focused on their words and hearts, and found fault there:Verse 6: “… excellently Isaiah prophesied about you hypocrites, as it has been written, This people honors me with the lips, and their heart remains distant from me.Verse 7: And manipulatively they revere me, teaching for doctrines: human commands.”

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While the many rules of their elders were added to the laws of God, they were essentially good rules designed to aid the people in doing what God commanded them. What made these human teachings bad was that they had become dogma; the religious leaders enforced these extra rules and demanded that everyone conform to them, and used them to measure a visible performance of God’s people. Other rules, for example, designated maximum Sabbath day travel distance and loads, so that the people could appropriately keep the Sabbath day.

As much as these Pharisees might protest otherwise, their rules were human teachings that had become religious doctrines, and they judged others based on these rules. Jesus added that by teaching human commands, they manipulated the worship of God. Jesus also said that their hearts were far from God. If they taught human doctrines and condemned those who did not act accordingly, how could their God-honoring words have any value? Jesus called them hypocrites.

Jesus then contrasted their commitment to tradition, with their handling of God’s commandments.Verse 8: For you were abandoning the commandment of God, you seize the tradition of the humans, baptizings of pots and of cups; and you do similar things, many such things.Verse 9: And he said to them, Excellently do you reject the commandment of God in order that you should keep your tradition.

Jesus exposed them. In order to seize their elder’s traditions, and in order to embrace and love these human doctrines, they both abandoned and rejected God’s declared commandments. This rejection they did with excellence – not casually, not incidentally, not accidentally. They would claim support for God’s laws, but in reality, they acted to abandon God’s ways, and to keep the teachings of the elders.

Consider that the Pharisees, with all their religious bravado, did not keep God’s commandments. By an active rejection, they left them behind, and in so doing, they missed the values and benefits of loving God and keeping His commandments, such as abiding in Him. Additionally, it would be difficult for them to obey the commandments of God that they did not keep. Abandoning God’s law, without realizing it, and tightly embracing the rules of men were, of course, very bad choices. We wonder how they grew to trust the teachings of their authorities who clarified God’s law for them.

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The decline from God’s ways was likely gradual, possibly beginning after they settled Canaan in Joshua’s day. Their elders and teachers would at first desire the nation to be anchored in God’s ways and laws. Viewing His laws as external rules, they taught the people how to obey them. Over time, their teachings added details and conditions not in God’s law. Authoritative interpretations and instructions developed into time-honored traditions, increased in value, and then became necessary companions to the laws God had given Moses. As such, the Pharisees and the Jewish people would seize their traditions and keep them, just as if they were keeping God’s laws, and just as if there were no difference. Having these instructions, some might go farther and say, “We need these teachings to do what God commands.” and some might even ask, “Who needs the Torah? we will follow the Torah if we follow all these teachings.”

In Jesus day, the traditions, which they had seized, seemed to be more of a focus than God’s law. The Jewish leaders held their traditions in such a way that, in the process of keeping them, and probably without realizing it, they rejected and abandoned God’s commandments and their hearts grew far from God, damaging their relationship with Him. To the Pharisees, it was better to oppose Jesus; it was better to dismiss him and his ministry rather than to stray from their traditions. They squinted to see clearly their assumptions and added teachings about God’s word, and missed the appearance of their Messiah.

They thought that they loved God’s commandments and honored God in everything they did; it was their public desire to please God. They could not imagine falling into such extreme error – but they did.

Jesus severely condemned the Pharisees for this, and then, out of the many such things they did, he gave one specific example of how they actually subordinated one of the Ten Commandments to their human tradition:Verse 10: For Moses said, Honor yourS father and your mother; and the one defaming father or mother, let him decease to death.Verse 11: But youP say, In case a human should say to the father or to the mother, Corban, which is a contribution, whatever thing youS should be profited out of me.Verse 12: Do youP not abandon him, and have nothing to do for his father or his mother?Verse 13: Invalidating the word of God by yourP tradition, which you transmitted. And you do similar things, many such things.

The tradition of calling a valuable thing “Corban” meant committing that valuable thing to God; it would then be His alone. This act demonstrated a

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sacrificial commitment to God. How could that not be good? To them, it was high worship to give valuable gifts to God … should it not be the same for everyone?

As nice as it sounds, God did not command or say that. Jesus declared that this noble tradition allowed them to avoid obeying God’s express commandments. As an example, Jesus said that a person could be released from their responsibility to God’s law requiring that honor always be given to father and to mother. Since expressions of honoring a parent are valuable, they could be sacrificed under the “Corban” tradition, with the result that a person would give the honor due a parent to God instead. Jesus told them that this was just one of many ways they voided God’s commandments in order to keep their traditions.

After this condemnation of the Pharisees, Jesus spoke to the gathering crowd and used this “washing before eating” controversy to teach about the heart and its contents, telling them that words coming out of the mouth can show a person to be unclean, nothing going into the mouth makes anyone unclean. Their hearts could be close to God, in contrast to these hypocritical Pharisees.

But Jesus gave the people no excuse for rebellion against their religious leaders; he told them, in Matthew 23:2, to do what the Pharisees tell them to do, because these leaders generally had good intentions. But they were hypocrites, so Jesus next told the people not to do what the Pharisees actually do, because they never did what they told others to do. We honor our leaders and their work, yet, as our first priority, we maintain that internal heart of keeping God’s commandments to us.

The Pharisees kept something – we all keep many things – but much of what they kept were wrong ideas about what God wanted. The next two chapters discuss many errors we have made concerning the Bible’s teaching on keep.

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Chapter 11: Errors We Make in Reading Keep as Obey – Part 1

Errors from assuming “keep” to mean “obey” have inflated the place of obedience in the life and thinking of essentially every Bible believer from centuries past to the present. This has affected to varying degrees the commentaries, doctrines, and teachings passed down through the ages. Identifying some of these errors is done to encourage correcting the imbalance, not to assign any blame.

Diminishing Keep:This error has the greatest impact. In about 275 Bible verses, usually in the context of laws or commandments, the verb “keep” is assumed to mean “obey”. When we see the word “keep” or its translation equivalents, we read and think “obey”. We have done this naturally, automatically, consistently, and unknowingly. The direct effect is that the word “keep” vanishes in each of these verses, so that we greatly diminish, and even lose the essential Biblical teaching embodied in keeping God’s word.1. We diminish its priority:

Keep has priority over obey in number of uses – “keep” verbs occur 10 times more than “do” verbs in Psalm 119 for example. Keep also has priority in sequence. The Biblical sequence is Hear – Keep – Do. We are to keep, then do; we keep … in order to do. Previous chapters have described these priorities at some length. But if keep vanishes, it has no priority.

2. We diminish the ability to understand keep:Keeping is the hidden, unnoticed activity taking place in a person’s heart and mind. Keeping is the way we filter what we hear and see. Keeping is how we develop and support proper actions. The Bible instructs us to keep God’s commandments and to build these into the person we become. We are limited in doing this if we misread “keep”.

When the verb “keep” is assumed to mean “obey”, we also misunderstand the common phrase “observe or keep [God’s commandments] that you might do them”. We read instead: “diligently obey” what God says. This misreading, in 275 verses, significantly lessens both the word “keep” and the idea of keeping. How have we not noticed?

Good activities such as meditation, learning, remembering, and considering God’s word are encouraged, and that is good. Adding keep will help a great deal. We do understand keep when we think of how God keeps us or how a bank keeps our money. We need to take

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that understanding and apply it to God’s commandments, rather than reading obey.

3. We diminish its value:Chapter 7 described many of its valuable aspects comparing it to the root of a plant or the foundation of a building. We need it for proper obedience too. We have not seemed to notice its loss, possibly because, like its application in the heart, its value is hidden. Those patiently building a deep, stable inner life by keeping His word, have added priceless value to their lives before God and others. God’s people have done this without the word “keep”, but we can wonder how much the loss of the word “keep” has stunted that potential.

Over-Emphasizing Obey:Obedience is very good; the Bible teaches it and we want what the Bible teaches. But we have added 275 “obeys” that should be “keep”. This is too much of a good thing, and it has been bad. It has resulted in God’s people teaching and thinking obedience where the Bible does not teach it, where the Bible uses a different verb which does not mean “obey”.

Reading so many extra “obeys” creates a significant imbalance in the Bible’s teaching. Two facts make this error still worse. 1. When over 275 “keeps” become “obey”, it doubles the imbalance and

it doubles the damage to our Biblical understanding. This is not an overstatement. Over-Emphasizing Obey and Diminishing Keep happen together. They are both harmful. Amazingly, even when reading so many extra “obeys”, obedience becomes more difficult: we lose the aid that we get for obedience by “keeping God’s commandments”. We do find support in other Biblical words and ideas, but without “keep”, we miss much. The great value in keeping God’s commandments is direct, and it is declared far more often.

2. We have often changed the verb “hear” to be “obey”. While most do not think “obey” when seeing “hear” in the Bible, our most common translations have often replaced “hear” with “obey”. In about 80 verses, the Hebrew verb “hear” is translated as “obey”, a surprising fact since “hear” is a common verb with a common meaning. As with “keep”, the verb “hear” has value in itself: until we “hear” a commandment, we cannot keep it, much less properly obey it. This adds to the overemphasis of “obey”.

80 verses! Added to the 275 verses where we lose “keep”, we see “extra obeys” in more than 350 verses where the Bible does not say

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“obey”. The already serious problem of exaggerating the true Biblical significance of “obey” becomes worse when “hear” is interpreted as “obey” so often. It is not trivial. I heard a respected preacher on the radio teach that the words “hear him” after Jesus’ transfiguration mean “obey him”. Please. No. The great value in hearing Jesus’ words is not diminished when we acknowledge such an incorrect reading. Using “obey” instead of “hear” is another real problem. It is not hype.

(This book is about the word “keep”, so this paragraph has further details about the “hear” = “obey” problem. The KJV translation “Obey my voice” is a common example. As we have seen, in Exodus 19:5 the Hebrew properly says, “Hear my voice.” This makes perfect sense. However, since God is often the speaker, it seems reasonable to replace “hear” with “obey”. Yet, they are different words with different meanings. Hearing God’s voice is critical. Obeying God’s voice would also be critical, but it is not in the Bible. Details of the Biblical process were given in chapter 4 of this book. Hear – Keep – Do is often repeated in just that order, and, in other verses “hear” is left out making the directive: “Keep and do”. On the other hand, twice in Exodus, twice in Deuteronomy, and several times in the rest of the Old Testament, “keep” is left out so the directive is “Hear … voice … and do …”. Our Bibles should read “hear”, as in the Hebrew, not “obey”. Bible readers should see and examine the actual word “hear” for themselves in each context. The Appendix lists the verses where the Hebrew verb “hear” is translated “obey”, or an equivalent word.)

Skewing Perceptions:The improper diminishing and exaggerating happen in a believer’s mind. In general, we have not realized the loss of keep, nor the additions of obey. Neither have we realized the significant damage done to our thinking. Here are some ways that such an imbalance can affect our perceptions of the Bible’s message:1. Not realizing the priority and value of keeping, thus limiting its

application in our lives.2. Seeing the need to obey in Bible where the Bible does not say “obey”.3. Believing obedience to be our immediate response when we learn

something to be God’s will.4. Expecting external rules, from the Bible or elsewhere, to give our life

direction.

Some of these do not seem harmful, and may actually seem good. The idea that every word must immediately be acted upon sounds great, but that is not taught in the Bible, where our first response to God’s word is to

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keep it. Reading keep properly requires a shift in perspective and takes effort, but since the Bible teaches it, it will be a great step forward.

Missing “keep”, and seeing the need to obey so often, gives us an external rather than internal focus. We become more concerned with acting right, and less with being right. Who we are matters to us, of course, but our focus has been more on how to do better. We have not benefitted from the Biblical way: when obedience is preceded by keeping, not only will we be better inside, but our obedience will also be of a higher quality.

Moving immediately to obey what God says to us in His word or by His Spirit can seem mandatory; delay can seem like disobedience or ignoring God’s direction; our hearts avoid even the appearance of rejecting what God says. In fact, I recently heard a respected radio minister state categorically that delay is disobedience. This reflects a skewed perception. Believers having hearts committed to the internal work of keeping God’s word, and to growing a deep tap root in relating to God and His word, patiently wait for God’s direction before acting in visible ways.

Immediate obedience could be right as we are led by God’s Spirit, but without the Biblical concept of keeping, we lose sight of the need to receive, understand, secure, and be filled with the knowledge of God’s will so that we walk worthy of the Lord. Delay, demonstrating a commitment to establish the heart in God’s way, and God’s way in the heart, is almost always necessary to get our obedience right.

With the current mindset, we see immediate obedience to be required everywhere. In the Bible, we look for and expect to find something to do, or better ways to act and to minister. It may even be easy for some to think that God established a legalistic system of rules for His people to follow, for each of us to obey under threat of judgement and punishment. We know that God is always merciful and gracious, especially to past failure, but for so many, there is an ominous “obey or else” incentive to do what God says. This is a skewed perception, and it becomes ubiquitous when “obey” is wrongly seen in 350 extra Bible verses. This is hard to shake, even in religious groups that emphasize God’s grace … even these miss David’s solution to “going astray” in Psalm 119:67. The solution is not “going straight”; it is keeping God’s word.

God has always been a God of grace and mercy; He has always desired the heart of His people to hear and to keep His words as the basis of every action. From His first words prior to giving the law at Mt. Sinai and throughout history to the present, God addressed the heart of His people

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before behavior. David, who related closely to God, even with a life interrupted by great transgressions, is an example of someone who pleased God far more than the religious leaders of Israel who followed the details of their system of worship, but whose heart was far from Him.

Regardless of how naturally we have over emphasized “obey” or undervalued “keep”, we can now learn to see keep in the light of its true definition; we can now think “hold securely and responsibly” when we read “keep”. In doing this, we think better, and more Biblically.

A New Lens to Look Through: Missing “keep” and immediately thinking “obey” has been and currently is a universal mis-perception of those who honor the Bible as God’s revealed word to us. It is a grave error that must be corrected. Changing it will take work, but the solution is not hard. We wear a new lens: “Keep: It Always Means Keep”.

We take a fresh look to see the value and priority of keeping. Wearing the new lens enables us to see that “keep” always means to hold securely and responsibly, it never means “obey” – not in the Bible, not ever. There are difficulties in wearing the new lens, and in appreciating the dramatic and significant differences in the way we can read “keep” passages throughout the Bible. But we love the Bible and its truths; we place an appropriate focus on “keep” and trust the Holy Spirit to guide us into all truth.

Some will say that keeping is not lost in a focus on obedience, or that the importance of “hearing” and of internal disciplines such as meditation and study is not lessened. Some of that may be true, but what about the word “keep”? what is perceived when “keep my commandments” is in the text? Previously, we had been unable to see an internal directive when we saw “keep” in the passage. But now, we determine to see “keep” properly; we determine not to diverge from the Bible’s priorities or truths; and we determine not to lose the crucial word “keep”, in teaching or in application, as the next chapter will consider.

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Chapter 12: Errors We Make in Reading Keep as Obey – Part 2

When we miss the Biblical value and priority of keeping God’s commandments, we make further errors, which include incorrectly teaching and improperly applying the keeping passages.

Errors in Teaching:1. Assuming that Keep happens as we obey:

Many great teachers honor and teach the internal keep concept, but still place a priority on obedience. Some may say that we internalize commands as we obey them. This, we have seen, is not the Biblical way.

Strong or mature believers, who have come to love God and to live obediently, may assume that obedience is harder and needs more focus. Do our teachers forget how much they are personally and deeply committed to God and His word? Have they lost sight of the long internal battle and intense effort that engaged them as they learned to love God first in their hearts and minds? of how difficult the keeping work was for them? Still, they say that this internal growth happened because they were committed to obeying God’s direction.

God does guide and discipline His children, and it can be a great challenge to do as He says. In struggling to do what He says, most will change inside and become more committed to God and to His sometimes difficult word. As we get the actions right, His word usually becomes a part of who we are. It may, therefore, seem like the effort to do His commandment has spurred the internal benefit, but that is backward. Our first response to God’s direction is to internalize it through keeping activities until we know how to walk in it. If we did so, it is likely that our consistent obedience will be less of a battle, and more an expression of our love.

Teaching “obey my commandments” seems to fit with other Biblical truths such as fruit-bearing in John 15. We know that the fruit of a life reveals the root of the life and that those who abide in Christ will bear fruit. Since fruit matters, so does obedience. But if we consider only the external evidences, and if we focus on what we see in our life and in the lives of others, we may miss the essential internal work that abiding represents in this passage. Not abiding in Christ means no good fruit, maybe no life.

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We think carefully and realize that abiding cannot result from fruit-bearing. That is not how vines produce fruit in nature’s vineyards, and it is not how fruit is produced in our lives. The internal life connection cannot be developed by growing fruit. Keeping will come before stable obedience, whether or not we realize it.

2. Saying that Perfect Obedience is Required.Using passages such as John 14:15ff, it is taught that God’s people must obey the commandments to show that they love God. It is good that such passages are believed as written, but it is bad that “keep”, which is in the text, is incorrectly seen to be “obey”. This passage and many others say that keeping God’s commandments is required to demonstrate love for Jesus, for God, and for believers.

A primary problem with the idea that our loving God requires our perfect obedience is that it is impossible for anyone to do. We accept that impossibility, knowing that the Bible teaches forgiveness and other ways to deal with our imperfection. Still, we wonder why God would command an impossibility.

Another problem with requiring perfect obedience is that it tends toward bondage. First we need to ask, “What are the commandments needing to be obeyed?” It could be a subset of commandments in the Bible plus practical rules chosen by the leader or leadership of a church or group, based on their interpretation of Bible mandates or principles for today’s world.

Next we ask, “What are the consequences for the inevitability of not perfectly obeying some list of commandments?” Disobedience to any of the chosen rules for the group, would result in consequences. Again, these would likely be from the Bible, and apply to current society. For some groups, disobedience breaks the relationship with God and a person might be deemed out of God’s family; for others, the results are less consequential where fellowship and other benefits of being God’s children are lost. Punishments could be meted out by God inside the person, or more externally in the life and circumstances of the offender, or they may be established by the particular leadership.

So we also need to ask, “How is restoration possible? How can the disobedience be corrected?” There are Biblical means such as repentance, forgiveness, restitution, and/or reconciliation that could restore a person. Necessary means are also defined differently by

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different groups teaching perfect obedience. It could be that most offenses are considered a personal matter to be dealt with in private or before God. Offenses deemed more serious might require public discipline and expressions of repentance.

The “obey or else” teaching is bondage. There is no standard as to what it means, even among groups believing that the Bible teaches the requirement of perfect obedience. There is little agreement in defining the commandments to obey, the punishments for disobedience, or the methods of forgiveness and restoration. Certainly, Biblical leaders are due honor and respect; their understanding and direction should be important to us. Our first allegiance, however, is to the Holy Spirit who guides us into all truth.

Of course, some individuals, even groups, make the claim that they are perfectly obeying God’s commandments. They say this partly because the requirement is so clear to them, and partly out of personal deception, both in seeing impeccable personal goodness and in not seeing a personal need of growth and correction when relating to God and others. But, we humans are human. We are weak and needy. Never will we “arrive” at a place where we do not need to know God better, to believe God with more of our heart and life, to minister and serve more humbly, or to exercise a greater trust in Him for our daily supply and protection as Jesus taught us to pray.

Requiring and enforcing obedience comes from taking the Bible literally, but we must realize that “obey God’s commandments” is not found in the New Testament; the whole Bible teaches keeping to be our first response to the commandments we hear.

3. Saying that Perfect Obedience is Not Required.Many do not teach the necessity of perfect obedience, saying that only Jesus could do that. But since all currently believe that the Bible teaches “obey my commandments”, and since we humans cannot do that perfectly, many, like I did, will not forget the words of John 14 and other passages expressing the apparent need to “obey God’s commandments”. So we wonder how God can accept us or hear us, or how we could ever love Him. That was my problem. Something has to give. Either we do not believe the words of Jesus as we “mis”understand them, or we resign to being unable to relate to God with love and confidence.

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Groups loving the truth that God saves by His grace, set no lifestyle or behavior requirements in order for a person to believe into Christ Jesus and to be justified, redeemed from sins, given the Holy Spirit, and adopted into God’s family. God does this work inside us very well. But almost immediately, “religion” provides standards of behavior those who believe, who are actually made new creatures, the very righteousness of God in Christ, who have every divine grace and resource to relate directly to God and serve Him and walk with Him as He guides. “Religion” fails to recognize that it is God’s redemption work in us that enhances and enables our ability to hear, to keep, and to obey.

Our teachers tell us that God is merciful and gracious and forgiving, or that only Jesus is perfect, or that John 14 is before the cross. Yet we still know and believe John 14 and I John 5, and other passages teaching that we must “keep God’s commandments” or our love is not right. So we seek to act according to the standards of our group; we fail of course, and wonder about our love. All of this can be very confusing.

When it is taught that the hidden areas of our heart and mind must be right, the teaching is Biblical. When it is taught that the Bible does not teach that perfect obedience is required in order to love God, the teaching is right. The problem is that we miss keeping; we miss the truth that we can keep God’s commandments. Keeping is required, not perfect obedience. Once we realize this, we can place the proper Biblical emphasis and priority on “keeping”, which gives us great support for obedience.

4. Human Ideas Encouraging Obedience Can Become Law.In general, Biblical teachers guide us well. Their instruction is Bible-based, and they encourage us toward living better as those who believe God. Again, we bless and honor them for this … but our first responsibility is not to our Biblical leaders or to their instruction, as good as they may be; our first responsibility is to God, to know Him and to trust Him.

Without this, it is possible for us to think more of human commandments than of the Divine Commander. Anyone can give us good commandments or instructions, but at what price? Could we hold commandments of great teachers in the same way that the Pharisees held to the traditions of their elders? In so doing, they voided God’s commandments. What is to protect us from that

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possibility? If we focus on guidelines to help us obey, what will we be keeping?

Errors in Application:Those who understand and apply keeping agree with other believers that God’s commandments must be obeyed, and that obedience should mark the life of every believer. On the other hand, to start with a striving for obedience often encumbers and delays the desired change or results; to promote right action as a first desire, may even inhibit the godly life that is sought.

1. A Focus on Obedience Limits or Delays Heart Change.Prioritizing external behavior does not properly address the source for good deeds, a source that is able to persist when times and circumstances change. Targeting behavior fails to account for the nature and the internal character of the person behaving. Exalting and following the directive of an external authority, even a benevolent one who always has our best interests in mind, may not yield life change. Change inside is what we primarily need, but that is hard and will happen much slower if it is not the focus.

A focus on noticeable actions may miss inner weakness or immaturity such as blaming others, feeling guilty when something wrong is perceived, not seeing value beyond “myself”, not perceiving wider impacts of actions, not diligently and faithfully embracing responsibility, not seeing the help provided by others or needed by others, not adjusting as the circumstances may offer or require, and more. Good actions are not enough; we seek to become a strong, stable, mature person, able to be as well as to do what God says in any situation.

Blessings often result from obedience in situations that require the structure of procedures and guidelines, where controlling the external environment and actions must be a focus. Good behavior may continue in the context of a religion, a family, or workplace that teaches, supports, and reinforces it. Through good instruction, mentor models, personal examples, and more, a person may remain in the blessed effects of a better lifestyle. But how does the person inside change? how do good actions continue by personal choice? If there is no personal resolve, if the heart is not engaged, if the mind does not understand the why, conforming actions could be situationally dependent and temporary.

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A common social tragedy is that a majority of children from Bible-believing, God-honoring families abandon the Bible and even God, when life’s freedoms and pressures change outside the home, such as in college. Inner change cannot be guaranteed in the compliant, the strong-willed, or the rebellious child, especially with an external focus. The instruction and truth behind obedient actions and good behavior must be personally kept in order to lead to heart change. For a child to obey is good and blessed, but loving parental control sees the inner need as far more important than external actions. Structure or not, keeping must be the primary focus. Conformed behavior is often good … but it is never enough.

Simply doing has limited staying power, even if we really want to obey and try harder, pray passionately, believe better, trust with everything in us, and more. All good things to be sure, and things that may help inside, but we do not look to external actions for success. Most will experience sin following upon sin, desiring better yet not attaining, changing for a while yet not maintaining, but this is only failure if we focus on doing, which is not an effective way to improve life and behavior.

2. Not Understanding that Obedience Does Not Produce KeepingWe desire that people repeatedly do the right thing, see the good effects, and internally embrace that activity; maybe we are hoping that good habits will lead to inner change. While doing right is good for us, for those around us, and for our society, we wonder how right actions or habitual obedience will yield a heart and desire to maintain and even expand a lifestyle of right living. Internal keeping is not automatic.

Also, for everyone desiring to do God’s commandments, the support of a local church is powerful for good in the lives of its members, and is not to be minimized. Its good qualities include leadership watching over souls and exhibiting honest vulnerability, teachers emphasizing being right inside, and a culture rejecting proudly hypocritical mentors and others who excuse, justify, or consider inconsistent life actions as acceptable.

Doing right, however, can be its own reward, especially when the focus and priority is first on the outside. Even worse, the objective may not be pure: good actions may be done out of selfishness or as a means to a reward or another end. Change inside is work – personal

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work – with the result that actions express a selfless life and heart, well founded in God’s ways.

Getting the behavior right does not get the person right. Did anything affect the heart and character that could transfer to a new situation? with new options? If we are what we do, then we are not stable. Who am I if I am doing a number of things, but some of them badly? Instead, knowing that we are what we keep, we keep the right things, we keep God’s commandments, which will make us right and confident as God’s servants.

3. Further Corrections in Thinking About Obedience and Keeping:It may seem backward, but obedience will happen for those who properly keep God’s commandments. The Biblical order is wise, in part because it reflects God’s knowledge of how He created us. Our submission is to God, Who alone knows our heart. While obedience may show compliance, our heart may be rebellious. It is keeping that produces stability in life and actions.

Keeping the need to be compliant and immediately obedient is not the highest Biblical priority. Hear – Keep – Do is the repeated Biblical way. When our first response to God’s commandments is to “keep” them, it does not lessen or overwhelm the Biblical need to obey. Actually, we can more easily avoid difficulties, such as conflicting instructions, and become more consistent in action.

Even as a religious exercise, obeying the dictates of a religion or of a religious organization is and should be vital to its membership. But we ask, “Is the Bible important to the religion and is it the desired source of its dictates?” If so, it is a good idea to incorporate the Bible’s way of prioritizing keep. If it is valuable for the Bible to be a check on its dictates and its objectives, the religion would do well to promote keeping in its charter.

Angels are Different:We are not called upon to follow the example of angels. They hear and immediately do. Ps 103:19ff show angels to be strong and obedient, always hearing God’s word and doing it. They do not need the keep step. The present work and eternal destiny of angels and demons have been set; they apparently have made that choice.

But humans are able to choose responsibly … and what we choose is greatly influenced by what we hear and keep. Unlike angels,

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immediately doing as God says is not God’s way for us, partly because immediate action is often not possible and partly because the “hearing – keeping – doing” process is designed to happen in the context of a relationship with God, which is possible to us as created in God’s image. Angels are not created in God’s image and are not able to relate to God the way we can.

4. Believing that we can Skip the Keeping Step Raises Questions: To skip the keeping step also raises questions, such as, “How much of what is heard is to be done? Whose word(s) do I act upon? To whom do I give this authority over my life? What if some directives conflict with each other, or conflict with who I am, or conflict with my divine and personal calling, interests, or direction? Does it matter if the work is forgotten or hated? How much of what I do will stay with me when I am in a new place?” Answers are difficult when we do not think about keeping. Any tendency to skip or ignore or re-translate “keep” should be rejected and avoided.

In Summary: If we do the hard, personal work of internal character building, of keeping God’s commandment, we will become right inside, and will not need to change who we are when the winds blow us to a new place. Even if our lives are uprooted on the outside, we are firmly planted in God’s ways. In new circumstances, we express the depth of our godly character and learn to be even better. This is not a fantasy when we hear – keep – and do.

Correcting the errors identified in these chapters starts with each person learning more of God’s word, putting the proper emphasis on every truth, establishing appropriate Biblical priorities, and maintaining them. We read the Bible carefully and perceive it just as it is written, being certain to teach and to apply Bible truths in just that way.

Deciding to keep raises other questions: “How do I give the internal work proper attention?” “How much time will be needed to grow a tap root or to lay a stable foundation?” “How do I properly consider the need for better external performance?” In fact, errors are made in keeping, and they will be described, but first, the next chapter summarizes three good sermons that missed “keep”.

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Chapter 13: Keep: Additional Preaching Examples

The exaggeration of “obey” and minimizing of “keep” has been a nearly universal problem. It affects our understanding of the Bible, it clouds an essential truth, it distracts from necessary focus, and it affects Bible teaching and preaching.

Several actual sermons are described below to show how they could benefit from understanding “keep” as responsibly possessing God’s word internally. The preachers will neither be identified nor quoted exactly. Almost any Bible believing preacher could proclaim similar messages, and most have done so. No condemnation is intended; each message has value for instruction, reproof, and edification.

These sermons teach the internal keeping activity in some way. None, however, use the word “keep” in any language to do so; all, instead, use instead other words to teach this necessary internal activity.

Joshua 1 Sermon:Here is how one preacher handled the word keep and its concept in a sermon on Joshua 1:7, 8. In each verse, the Hebrew word for “keep” is in the phrase “observe to do”, which is common in the Torah.Verse 7: Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law, which Moses My servant commanded you: do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.Verse 8: This book of the law shall not depart out of your mouth; but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it: for then you shall make your way prosperous, and then you shall have good success.

From these verses, the preacher honed in on Joshua’s need to meditate daily in the word of God and to make it the highest priority. The book of the law was always to be in Joshua’s mouth. Speaking it both expresses and confirms a proper meditation, demonstrating that God’s word is in the heart. This preacher tied mediation in God’s word to being close to the Lord, saying it will protect us against being victimized by the error of others and enable us to maintain a clean mind. This aspect of keeping was well taught using speech and mediation.

Next, he moved to the phrase “observe to do” and said that the purpose of speaking, meditation, and reading is obedience to all of God’s word, without turning at all from any of it. His message went on to suggest

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further wise principles needed to act out the truths found here. The internal keeping meant by the word “observe” was not mentioned in his focus on obedience. His encouragement to meditate and internalize God’s word was in order for the believer to obey God’s word better.

For me, this preacher’s message was all true; he taught the preparation, the keeping of the heart and mind as important for obedience. But the passage repeats “keep” (observe), and he left that out. Joshua was to speak God’s commandments and mediate in them in order for him to “observe to do”, not immediately “to do”. By “observing” he was to hold the truths of his meditations, learn more about them, and never give up or turn from them. And, he was to observe in order to do. His “observing” would be with every intention and plan, at the right time and as God guides, to live outwardly according to everything stored inside and kept secure.

I John Sermon:From a series on major themes from I John, a different preacher taught on the phrase “obey God’s commandments”, found 8 times in the pastor’s translation. Sadly, seven occurrences of the word “obey” actually come from the Greek word meaning “keep”.

In describing this theme, the pastor did not focus on the idea of obedience. In fact, he clearly rejected any purpose of God to bind His people in a system of rules to obey. Instead, the pastor described God as loving, merciful, compassionate, and gracious who desires the best for His people and gives them the most blessed way to live.

This is a great message, yet the pastor himself was conflicted, knowing that he, like every listener, has erred from that way. How does this reality mesh with his translation’s phrase: “obey God’s commandments”? In resolving this conflict, he said that believers have a new life with new attitudes and desires to please God and to walk as Jesus walked. They neither make a habit of sinning, nor give up on the need to do what God says to do, nor despise the dictates of God’s word.

The pastor’s resolution included several expressions of the concept of keep, but not from I John, and not using the word “keep”. Would it not have been better for him to read “keep God’s commandments” in his text? and then use their immediate context in the Bible to support the principle of keeping he actually proclaimed well? (Yes, I John contains several passages declaring that those who believe and are born into God’s family do righteousness and do not commit sin. Such truths of obedience are not changed when we properly read “keep”.)

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Topical Sermon: How to love God.Another preacher, in a sermon about loving God, exalted the first and highest commandment to love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength. (As I had been prone to do, he added “our body”, which is never included in the greatest commandment declaring how we are to love God.) The preacher then listed what loving God is not: attitudes and activities such as fear of or reverence for God, needing God’s help, and serving God can all produce a slave-like attitude. These, he said, are not expressions of love for God.

Throughout the message, he mentioned many performance-based ways to express love for God such as obedience, serving, worshipping, giving, trusting, defending, sharing God, forgiving, and serving others. Additionally, love for God is expressed by a change in lifestyle. We cease from profanity and drinking, for example, and begin to express new thoughts and new feelings, also to change what we see and listen to.

One of his main points was that an expression of love to God must have a proper motivation; these acceptable deeds are not done out of obligation. In fact, he says, acting out of love for God is itself the proper motive. We love Him because He first loved us both in doing and in promising great things for us.

Two common problems are manifest in this teaching. First, it is circular in its teaching: What is loving God? it is acting with the right motive, which is love for God. What is the right motive? it is love for God, which is expressed in actions done with the right motive.

The second problem is that even this teaching on how to love God focused on deeds; how many and what kinds of action was never specified. He did not say, no one can say how much is enough when focusing on external acts because perfection is unattainable.

We have found the answer to the question of, “How do we love God?” in John 14 and I John 5: we love God when we keep His commandments. Although the preacher briefly referred to this, it could be no answer while “keep” is assumed to be “obey”. Because none of us can fully obey, he had to add the disclaimer that obedience is the desire of our heart and we do our best accordingly.

Again, he would have been aided by a proper reading of “keep”, which leaves no doubt about how to love God. It would have allowed the

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preacher to communicate our internal needs and a heart-felt love for Him. He could have shown how such a love is taking good care of His commandments to us and never letting them go and never giving up on them. He could have encouraged us to express our love for God by cherishing and treasuring His commandments in our hearts and minds and souls, while we learn to obey them better, demonstrating that we also value and seek lives of full obedience.

I Corinthians 13: How to love peopleOne preacher was especially eloquent when explaining how to love a spouse or an unlovable family member, emphasizing aspects of the keep idea as properly defined. This message from I Corinthians 13, the famous love chapter, encouraged holding onto love using these phrases:

Love believes the best:Love always hopes … realistic appraisal that failure is not final … a love which hangs on, anticipates, looks forward … Ask … have I given up on anyone close? If so, why? is there a legitimate reason? Saying, “It’s over”, may show an absence of love.

Love always perseveres:I will not, cannot stop … I have made up my mind … a determination. It is counsel to save a marriage … no matter the circumstances.

Love never fails:It is permanent , complete , supreme.

The word “keep” is not used in this teaching, but its internal activity is made clear in this expression of the need and of the various ways to hold on to love, both when a person is loveable and when a person is repulsive.

Summary Thoughts:We wonder how almost everyone, including God’s most effective and committed servants, have apparently missed this, from Moses’ day to the present. We ask, “How can this universally believed reading ‘obey My commandments’ be wrong?” We desire to conclude that it cannot be wrong; that we must not change the assumption that “keep” should mean “obey”.

But that is not how or why we believe a teaching from the Bible. Regardless of how many respected teachers and scholars agree, each one of us is personally responsible for what we believe from the Bible. Our understanding of the Bible cannot be delegated. Agreeing with a respected

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Bible teacher does not release anyone from the personal obligation to get it right. Each one of God’s people has His Holy Spirit inside, and He will guide each one of us into “all truth”. We can seek Him for that and expect it; the truths of the Bible are accessible to each of us.

We thank God for those He has called and gifted to preach and to teach and to build us up together in Christ’s body, the Church. Such servants of the living God, past and present, have spurred us all on and helped us in our lives. We respect them and bless them and honor them. They and those others who have gone before help to lift us higher, but we are not dependent on any of them. As individuals, we are dependent only upon God, Who has given us His Holy Spirit.

We do well to follow the example of King David. He was not a scribe or a priest in Israel, but he claimed to understand more than the elders by guarding God’s precepts. Our occupation has no bearing on the quality of our relationship with God or on our Spirit-taught understanding of the Bible’s truths. Neither prominent position nor perfect practice are required. As His servants, we continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of God, His Son, and His word. None of us will ever know all that God has revealed, but that does not slow us down in learning all of the Biblical truth we can.

In Psalm 119, David used many other verbs in addition to “keep”; he expressed and established his deep, unseen love for God and His word and His ways, and sought them in every way imaginable. He heard them; he received them; he meditated on them; he learned them … he kept them and never let them go. One result was that God testified of the quality of David’s heart. We too can learn and apply the proper understanding of “keep”.

It is no excuse for any of us, but, again, this “misreading of keep” has been passed down to God’s people and Bible believers since Mt Sinai. No one can be said to be at fault. Seeing “obey” in about 350 verses where “keep” or “hear” is in the text has been essentially a universal misreading. But now, we can get it right.

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Chapter 14: Errors in Keeping

When we correct our priorities, when we learn that “keep” means “keep” – every time the Bible uses it, and when we begin to teach and apply it, we will be better.

But “keep” is not a magic word, always and only producing good result in our lives. The concept of “keeping God’s commandments” internally is not fool proof. Properly reading and understanding “keep” every time we see it in the Bible is huge step forward for believers … but it is not enough. Even after we recover the word and its concept, we can make errors in keeping.

Even if we correct the errors identified in Chapters 11 or 12, even if we use the word “keep” to teach its own concept, and even if we develop a proper understanding of “keep” so that it becomes a settled and applied truth in our lives, there are still errors that need to be avoided.

1. Saying that Keeping is Enough.It is impossible for a person to keep God’s commandments and have the idea that external actions do not matter. After keeping, God commands doing – we keep that commandment too. We keep the Bible’s “Hear then Keep then Do” process. No one can keep what is not heard, and no one who is properly keeping can be content without finding God’s help actually to do what is kept. We perfectly keep God’s commandments, including the necessity to do them, even if we cannot yet perfectly obey them.

Those who claim a license to act without regarding what God says or without caring how their actions affect people are not keeping God’s word. Those who justify selfish behavior, by saying that it is the life inside that matters, are full of themselves. Such people neither love God nor keep His commandments.

The significant internal priority of keeping will not be sufficient for anyone with a Psalm 119 heart; keeping can never be an excuse for not doing God’s commandments. The heart of everyone keeping God’s word, keeps its truth and its finality for life. No sin, error, mistake, bad, or addictive behavior is desired or acceptable. Every such departure is repented of with faith for a truer expression of God’s word in the future. Such a person seeks and expects a life lived in God’s ways, however difficult that may seem to be.

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We must maintain the Biblical priority of keeping without lessening or overwhelming the Biblical importance of obedience, but most of us are a long way from that error.

2. Saying that I have Kept Enough.This is silly at best. Nothing we have in life stops. One reason that keep cannot stop is that we never stop hearing. Whether or not we choose to hear from God; whether or not we filter what we hear by keeping; whether or not we actively choose to keep some of the words we hear, we will be hearing and keeping.

If we have truly kept some of God’s words, we will know some of the value: we are better inside, and we behave better. It is valuable for us; it is not something a child of God discounts. But we will know that we are not done. Our character and behavior still need to be better – always need to be better. A real picture of our life with God keeping His words thrills us and we will never say that we have kept enough of God’s word and ways for our lives.

3. Not Identifying What is to be Kept.We may keep the wrong things. The Pharisees did this when they kept the traditions of the elders and, knowingly or not, voided God’s commandments. This is a warning that good human teachings may be kept, and may replace or potentially nullify Biblical truths, even some that the teachings were designed to support.

Good intentions and personally held truths mean nothing in themselves. Our hearts and minds must be full of God’s truth as He has revealed it in the Bible. Any mistreatment of people or dishonoring of God could be, and likely has been justified with “my” truth or good intentions, even sourced in a Bible verse. But such behavior is never acceptable according to the Biblical truth revealed by God. God personally gives us commandments, appropriate to our lives and situations. We keep those.

4. Resisting or Lowering the Word Obey or its IdeaNothing in this book is written against obey or the necessity of obedience as found in the Bible. After reading this far, some may almost fear the word obey, since its priority has been raised artificially. But we do not fear obedience; we do nothing to artificially lower the priority of obedience. In the New Testament, about 45 uses of “keep” have been misread as “obey”, yet the actual words for “obey” and “obedience” are used nearly 40 times. When we get it right, keeping

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and obeying have nearly equal Biblical priorities. Hear – Keep – Do are crucial individually and as a whole process.

This book places a strong focus on “keep” because we, God’s people, have so completely missed the “keep” idea. This book also shows that the past emphasis on “obey” has been exaggerated well beyond its Biblical emphasis. We must get these right. But when we do, “obey” will remain a priority for God’s people. In getting keep Biblically right, we will not lose obedience, we will get that Biblically right too.

5. Timid or Lazy KeepingA fear of acting could be a problem. A focus on keeping is private and hidden, but that is no excuse for not acting as God directs. Yes, we want to be sure of God’s direction, and yes, we want to get it right, but walking with God is a walk by faith. This becomes a life of peace and rest, but we never take a break from this walk with God, at His direction.

While some words that we hear are newly growing in the soil of our hearts, we act in obedience to others. We do not wait until all keeping work is done, because that will never happen. We continue to plant seeds and aid their growth. The roots are always spreading and deepening. The soil of our hearts is always improving. While some trees are saplings, others are mature and bearing fruit to bless others.

It often takes determination to express the life of God in us. Keeping can become a place of comfort for some, especially for those who might be prone to hesitate. The focus required for keeping is not natural for us. It might even be avoided by some who say, “I am working on the heart part” … but nothing is happening inside. Are we honest with ourselves?

Keeping is work. This deep, internal, invisible work requires time and effort to plant what we hear and then to nurture growth. Rocks and weeds need to be cleared; water and fertilizer aid the development of those words God gives us. Keeping is not an activity chosen by the timid or the lazy, and it is never an excuse for doing “nothing”.

God will direct to action right where we are. It could mean keeping a word by learning to pray about, by comparing it to other Bible passages, by meditating on it or even memorizing it. By these and other means, we water or fertilize the seed of God’s word. Additionally, the field of our heart may need extra clearing: we may

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need to facilitate our keeping by a change of activity, a re-prioritizing of tasks, correcting a habit, asking forgiveness, making restitution, or something else at God’s direction. Keeping requires diligence in hearing from God and in nurturing the seeds we plant.

And … hearing from God is the primary way we determine which commandments we are to keep.

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Chapter 15: Considering What Commandments to Keep and How

Obeying the Highest Commandment: Answering the question, “How do we love God?” includes reading “keep” in I John 5:3 and John 14:15 as it is properly defined. Loving God is the primary commandment. We love God when we keep His commandments. In the Old Testament, we are to do that with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our strength or intensity. In the New Testament, Jesus adds with all our mind. These expressions speak to the internal life.

Both loving God and keeping His commandments, happens in our hearts and minds, and both will be expressed as God directs. We affirm that it is possible for any believer to keep God’s commandments, and thus to love Him. Even as we grow toward a life of complete obedience to God, we can keep God’s word responsibly at all times, never letting it go from our hearts and minds.

Identifying Commandments to Keep:But, which commandments? What is it that we are to keep? Jesus said, “Keep my commandments” and John referred to keeping God’s commandments. Since we read and hear many words, and since we cannot keep everything we hear and read, we ask, “Which commandments are meant?” Here are possible sources of good words to hear and keep:1. The Torah.

The Pentateuch has over 600 laws, many no longer necessary. Some are now fulfilled in Christ. Others were culturally specific to God’s people in 1500 B.C, applying to the 40 years that Israel was a nomadic people in the Sinai wilderness, or to the centuries following when the new nation possessed Canaan and hoped to secure their existence in blessing and peace.

Although the Hear – Keep – Do process is often expressed in this context, few would suggest keeping or doing everything God told Moses at Mt Sinai. The Ten Commandments and many other laws remain important, and express principles that apply to God’s people in any age. Two of ten are examined in a later chapter as an example of how they, along with other Old Testament injunctions might be kept as God leads.

2. The Proverbs.The many “proverbs” in the Bible are right for all times. They give essential wisdom for our internal growth and stability, and wisdom for the expression of our lives in family, in work, in relationships, and so

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much more. How many of those do we keep? While we reject none of them, we cannot effectively plant and grow the hundreds of “proverb” seeds in our hearts, certainly not at one time.

3. The Commandments of Jesus.Do these include everything Jesus said and did in his special and unblemished life? He was conceived and lived without sin; surely everything in his life would be worth keeping, except of course his place as the Eternal Son of God, come in the flesh to be the sinless Redeemer the world needed and needs.

Is anything that Jesus did or said mandatory for us today? Did Jesus provide a list of required commandments to keep? While no one can duplicate Jesus’ unique redemptive mission, Jesus said that his life was a pattern for believers in verses like John 14:12 & 17:18.

4. Great human teachings.We hear so much good teaching and preaching, valuable exhortations for almost anyone’s life. Wise advice can come from our church, or family, or friends. Ministers on various media offer many great words applicable to our lives. Which of this is right for our individual lives?

Listing required commandments is not straight-forward and likely not applicable to everyone in any culture or age. Every list having more than the commands to love God and our neighbor, will likely be arbitrary and without agreement. And it would be external to us. So we ask what makes a command right to keep inside, to secure in our hearts and minds?

Commandments Are Received Internally: As believers into Christ Jesus, our Saviour, we become God’s children. God immediately endows us with a new, eternal life from above, being made a new creation, and becoming the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. That is a huge, internal transformation. And God gave believers much more, including His Holy Spirit to guide us.

We, our spirit inside has the Holy Spirit Who communicates to us words and truths that hold the insight or guidance we need in a particular situation. We receive direction internally. The external sources above: the Bible, with laws, proverbs, and Jesus words, are received as they are: God’s revealed truth. Additionally, human teaching and counsel also is heard clearly and respectfully. But it is inside where we know which words and commandments we are personally to keep and secure in our hearts.

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But how do we know? We are told to walk in the Spirit, and live our lives accordingly, so it must be possible. We remember the process: Hear – Keep – Do. From the many words we hear, we reject nothing from the Bible; we believe its every word and learn and remember what we can. Then our God guides us by His Spirit, applying specific words directly to our lives and circumstances. We keep those … with the object that we do them properly.

What God gives is better than any human-designated list of “universal” commandments, meant to apply to a whole group of people. God gives to individual believers commandments that are wise and personal. We keep those. We learn to recognize God’s internal prompting, which could be spurred by a Bible verse, something heard, a thought or a meditation. We know inside something specific that God wants for us personally … we keep that and hold it tight.

Commandments Are Received In Relationship:Most helpful in our journey as God’s children is getting to know our Father in Heaven. We express this reality by His Holy Spirit in us saying, “Abba Father”. As children, we want to know God better; we teach our own heart to seek our Father God in prayer and in His word. Relating to God is intentional, and we put effort into reading and meditating what God has revealed about Himself in His Word and in our world.

One of Israel’s biggest problems was that they erred in their heart. (Hebrews 3:10 & Psalm 95:10) Another of Israel’s serious problems identified in these two verses, was that they did not know His ways. As His children, we desire both to know Him and to know His ways. In general, we seek to learn what He blesses and curses, and in specific, we spend enough quality time with Him to know His direction for us. As we read or listen to the Bible, as we memorize parts of it, as we communicate with God in prayer, increasingly, God’s ways will not be a mystery to us.

Then too, we can hear directly from God … but how does that work? it can seem impossible. The idea that God communicates directly with His people, His children, sounds good and makes sense, since He is the best Father. We communicate with Him by His Holy Spirit, Who teaches us, guides us into all truth, reminds us of Jesus’ teaching, helps us as we seek God in prayer, directs our steps according to our Father’s will, and so much more. In this relationship, we receive the commandments most needed in our lives. We keep those.

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There is No Limit:We can receive big and small direction. Much of this depends on the needs we perceive. We can receive guidance and instructions for the many steps toward career and marriage, and we can also be prompted to believe Him for guidance in finding keys or remembering to buy milk. God is our Father and all the details of our lives matter to Him.

We can be certain that God’s major guidance and small promptings are both good for our lives on a practical level and in the big picture of being part of God’s purposes. His sheep know His voice; He leads to the best pasture and drinking pools by the best paths possible. There is no fear or danger in following the Shepherd Whose care for His sheep is clear in the way He speaks and directs. We can be certain that such a Father, such a guide, will also be clear in giving to our hearts commandments to keep.

We Can Be Sure of God’s Direction:Of course, we want to be sure that this direction, this inside prompting is really God’s commandment and not some personal inclination, or human desire. It is a good idea to ask sincere and honest questions, such as: What do I sense inside? peace or fear? joy and hope or distress and

despair?The fruit of God’s Spirit accompanies God’s guidance. God does not give his people a spirit of fear, or anything like that. If there is not a peace and confidence that God is directing, it is reason to reassess before God and be ready to turn or stop.

Has God really spoken to me?This is a crucial question for everyone who walks with God – no one should ever assume, “I always know God’s voice.” or “I never listen to another voice.” Such is the pride that precedes a fall.I John 4:1-3 states that we can and should test the source of the commandment or direction we have received. To do so, we speak to that voice that is speaking inside us. We ask the source of the direction, that voice behind our “knowing inside”, to speak again to us, but we tell it what to say. We direct “our director” to say, “Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.” The same voice that spoke a word to our heart or mind must also be able to declare that fact. We might say, “You have directed me [thus]. Now, tell me that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh.”If it is God’s direction, He will also speak that. If that voice cannot also speak those words inside us, it is a red flag and reason to reject it, to forget it, and to go no further with it.

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Knowing that God has directed, we can ask questions in relationship with our Father to clarify and specify the direction we have received. How is this right for me? What does it mean for my life? How can I best keep this word of God to me? What is my next step?

Asking these questions is good: they are part of the keeping activities. These and other questions build on the word that we have received, and they come from our heart of believing God’s word to us. Luke 1 records Mary asking about the word she was given by God’s angel Gabriel, “How will this happen, since I am not married?” This is good. She showed an underlying trust in the reality of God’s word to her. Mary demonstrated a heart needing to know how to go forward with what God told her. The same chapter records Zachariah asking for proof of Gabriel’s word to him, “How can I know this is true, since my wife and I are too old?” His question was not good: it showed unbelief and he suffered temporary consequences.

As we get to know our Father, as we continue to hear our Shepherd, as we verify, and keep, and follow what He says, we will more easily recognize the source of the direction we receive and of the voice we hear, gratefully and humbly, yet still ready to test the source. It gives us confidence to go farther in relationship with God. We understand better that loving Him by keeping His word is right. It becomes a delight to realize that the Almighty Creator of the universe is my Father, that I know Him, that He talks with me, and that He helps me as I keep and walk in the ways He shows me! This is amazing beyond description.

But it is step by step. We do not try to keep everything in the Bible all at once. We pray and ask God what He sees ahead for us. Guidance is relationship-based; God will let us know what and when and how. It is the gracious leadership we have from our Father in Heaven. Even one personal direction and commandment to keep may be overwhelming, but He provides wisdom, resources, encouragement, and peace as we hear Him direct us. We hear and receive and confirm His word to us, and then we keep what He says.

Additionally, other Bible believers may have a word that God will quicken to our hearts, a word we need to keep and do. By word or example of pastors, preachers, teachers, and friends, God’s Spirit may direct us. We are alert and live and walk in God’s Spirit. Sometimes we are helped by secular sources or less “spiritual” endeavors such as doing our job,

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researching an interest, observing world events, communicating with family and friends, and more. As inspiration and direction comes, we count on our Father for confirmation. We get to know God and His ways better; we more clearly hear and recognize his voice; and we commit to hear words that honor God and do not conflict with His revealed word or with our place in His plans.

As we talk with our Father in heaven, keeping can include positive, private actions such as: Accurately hearing, learning, and receiving God’s word, Understanding it further with meditation and study, In prayer, committing to the commandment and to our God Who gave

it to us, Establishing it in a secure place of our heart and mind, and Making sure it is safe there, never to depart.

It is possible to keep every word of God to us. We certainly want to obey it as well, but the Biblical way makes sense. First, we keep the word we hear, and then our obedience will have more wisdom and stability undergirding it. Even Jesus kept his Father’s commandments, but first we consider the example of Nehemiah.

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Chapter 16: Nehemiah Exemplifies Keeping

Nehemiah is an example of what can result from keeping. We will benefit from a closer look at his story in the book of Nehemiah 1:1 – 2:8.

The events of the first verses of Chapter 1 occurred in the month Chisleu of the 20th year. Nehemiah was visited by one of his brothers, Hanani, and certain other men from Judah. During their time together, Nehemiah asked about the people living in Judah, who had returned from the Babylonian captivity. He also asked about the city of Jerusalem.

They answered him in Nehemiah 1:3: “… the remnant that are left of the captivity there in the province are in great affliction and reproach. In addition, the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned up.”

Nehemiah’s immediate response to this information is in 1:4: “ … when I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned certain days, and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.“ This demonstrates that the welfare of Israel was already one of his primary interests and concerns.

Nehemiah 2:1-8 describes a conversation with King Artaxerxes in the month Nisan of the 20th year of the king, Artaxerxes, who was king of Persia from 464 to 425 BC, and was a son of King Xerxes / Ahasuerus. Nisan is the first month of the Jewish calendar, while Chisleu, in 1:1, is the ninth month. Therefore, as from September to January, the conversation that opens chapter 2 takes place about four months after Nehemiah was informed by his brother of the problems in and around Jerusalem.

Nehemiah, who was the king’s cupbearer, introduces the conversation in verse 1:

(1) And it was in the month Nisan, in the 20 th year of Artaxerxes the king, that I took the wine that was before the king and gave it to him.Now I had not been sad in his presence.(2) The king asked Nehemiah: Why is your countenance sad, since you are not sick? this is nothing else but sorrow of heart.Then I was greatly afraid.(3) Nehemiah answered the king: Let the king live for ever: why should not my countenance be sad, when the city, the place of my fathers' sepulchers, is wasted, and its gates are burned with fire?(4) The king asked Nehemiah: What do you ask?

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So I prayed to the God of heaven.(5) Nehemiah requested: If it please the king, and if your servant has found favor in your sight,

send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers' sepulchers, that I may build it.

(6) The king then asked Nehemiah: (the queen also sitting by him,) How long will your journey be? and when will you return?So it pleased the king to send me; and I set him a time.(7) Nehemiah also asked the king: If it please the king: let letters be given me to the governors beyond the river

that they may convey me over until I come into Judah; (8) And a letter to Asaph the keeper of the king's forest,

that he may give me timber to make beams for the gates of the palace of the house,for the wall of the city, andfor the house that I shall enter into.

And the king granted me, according to the good hand of my God upon me. 

Some basic questions come to mind from these eight verses:Why was Nehemiah suddenly sad in the kings presence, four months after learning of the great need of God’s city and God’s people?Why was this conversation with the king so productive?Why did Nehemiah ask to build Jerusalem’s wall? and for timber?Why did Nehemiah not mention these ideas to the king earlier?

Nehemiah Was Prepared for this Moment:In fact, Nehemiah’s preparation was well underway when he learned of the miserable situation of the Jews and of Jerusalem. His first responses were weeping, mourning for days, fasting, and praying. The condition of God’s people was already a high priority for him; their affliction immediately brought Nehemiah to God in humble and committed request.

Nehemiah showed that he had seized upon a strong desire that God’s people and God’s city would be blessed, always and only. Their current difficulties led him to recall God’s promise to restore His people (1:9), and then to ask Him to fulfill it as He had spoken it. This was Nehemiah’s heart; this was why he mourned; this was why he prayed. Nehemiah knew God and His purposes for His people … and he prayed accordingly.

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Nehemiah secured this knowledge of God and His promises for His people in his heart. When bad news came, he did not abandon His God and the truths he was keeping. In his heart, he was determined that God’s people and Jerusalem would be what God promised and purposed for them, that this situation would be corrected, and that, as God directed him, he would be part of the solution.

His sadness in Chapter 2:1 showed that he did not stop believing, praying, mourning, and seeking God to intervene and help His people according to His Word and promise. Naturally, it would seem that the intensity of his burden would level off as he increasingly trusted God to do His good work for His people in His good time. Yet, his great burden seemed greater.

Results of Nehemiah’s Keeping:Why, after four months, was Nehemiah unable to maintain the professional demeanor required of him as the king’s cupbearer? He was able to do his job properly in the days immediately following the receipt of the horrible news, and the king did not see his mourning heart over the next four months. How and why did his burden become something that he could no longer keep to himself?

When we examine his conversation with the king, we find that Nehemiah had done more than mourn and fast and pray; he gathered information. After four months, he knew or learned:1. that safe passage to Judah was needed. He planned the route of travel,

and determined which governors would need to help them make the journey.

2. that he needed building materials. While researching this need, three specific projects became clear, as he would list for the king.

3. how much lumber was needed for each of these projects: the palace, the city wall, and his house while there.

4. where he could get the lumber. He found out about the king’s forest, who had authority over it, and what he needed in order to obtain the materials.

When the king asked why he was sad, Nehemiah told him. When the king asked what he wanted, Nehemiah was ready. He verified in a quick prayer with God that he should tell the king both his desire to be sent to Judah, and to request everything that he now knew he needed.

When we read ahead to his leadership in building the wall of Jerusalem, we notice that he was prepared for his time and work in the city. There was likely communication with his brother, Hanani, a respected leader in

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Jerusalem. Hanani would have been able to provide him with the measurements he needed in order to determine the amount of lumber needed.

His brother could have also provided information on people who would have been willing and able to help with the building project. Interestingly, Nehemiah did not publicize his plans: neither the king nor the people of Jerusalem knew that he hoped to build the wall. In fact, when Nehemiah arrived in Jerusalem, he waited until night, when all were asleep, before examining the condition of the wall.

Yet, the work began almost immediately. With barely an approval of Jerusalem’s leaders, the entire wall was being built: the people of Jerusalem were organized and mobilized to build the wall, often with families working together on a part of the wall near their home or business. They had a personal and national interest; they had the necessary lumber; they had a community entirely engaged in this common project; and they had a wise, inspirational leader

Nehemiah led this project. Although, they had such a quick and united start, he had serious problems to deal with. Some were caused by the threats of enemies outside the city, some by the oppression of elite leaders inside the city, and still others by those who sought to muddy Nehemiah’s leadership and to destroy his reputation. Always, on guard, they continued to build.

The entire wall around Jerusalem was completed in 52 days.

We might be forgiven for thinking that most leaders seeing this need and heading to Jerusalem to begin a wall building project, would barely be started in 52 days. We would bless them, but acknowledge that they are not a Nehemiah. Certainly, Nehemiah is a special example of someone who kept God’s word to great value.

Nehemiah’s Keeping: From this review of the success he would have, we can examine Nehemiah’s keeping more closely. Already, by the time we meet Nehemiah in the first chapter, he possessed a deeply held desire for the good welfare of God’s people and city. His prayer showed that he knew God’s word and His plans for His people. The fact that he immediately mourned and fasted and prayed before God, demonstrated not only that he cared for God’s purposes, but that he cared deeply for God and was able to humble himself in God’s presence.

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After receiving the bad news, Nehemiah prayed and communicated with God still more about Hi s purposes related to Israel’s need. This is a high example of keeping God’s word within a close, even intimate relationship with Him. It seems clear that the seeds of God’s living, fruit-bearing Word were deeply rooted in his heart. Here was a man of great character, and it is no surprise that, even as a foreigner, he was one of the king’s most trusted servants – his cupbearer.

Nehemiah knew he was to lead in building Jerusalem’s wall and was able to take many preparation steps in that light, but he did not know how to communicate that plan. Should he leave the king’s employ? Should he request a leave of absence? How would the resource needs (lumber and safe passage) that he had learned of be supplied? When he was sad in the king’s presence, both he and the king were ready, and God’s plan for Nehemiah’s work in Jerusalem became a reality.

Meditating on God’s promises and on Israel’s problems from God’s perspective, the soil of his heart became still more fertile, and the seeds, from God, applying to these difficult circumstances, and leading to a greater cry for help, led to further fruit-bearing. Nehemiah was ready to be a part of God’s best for Israel, to take action to bring Israel into blessing and good repute, to aid in the building of the wall. Having waited, he could ask to be sent to Judah, and carry all the authority of being the king’s emissary.

Did God prompt him with direction, or did he yield himself to be a part of God’s plan to restore Israel? It can be hard to know which is which. Such a person as this, keeping God’s word and having an intimate relationship with Him, may wonder: Is it God speaking? or is it me seeing a need? or God showing me a need? or me wanting to act in support of God’s purposes?

Those who love God, those who love what God loves and strongly desire what He desires, these will see many possibilities ahead, but the blessed path will become clear. Seeing God’s purposes in situations; noticing needs that touch the heart; walking in lock-step with God; … such servants eagerly say, “I want that!” or “I can do that!” Relating to God with faith, desiring to please him in specific ways, and receiving His personal guidance may all happen together. From every perspective, the way becomes clear: both the direction of the path ahead, and the next step(s) to take on the path.

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Chapter 17: Jesus Testifies to His Keeping

On two occasions Jesus expressed the fact that he personally kept God’s commandments. Jesus did not sin, but that is not required. It is neither true that “keeping” yields sinlessness, nor true that only a sinless person can keep the commandments. Both ideas are wrong. Keeping is related to loving, as we have seen. David sinned horribly and still kept God’s commandments. “Ordinary sinners”, who are not perfectly obedient like Jesus, and whose sins are not as severe as David’s, can and should keep God’s word. In addition, “extraordinary sinners”, who have sinned worse than David, also can and should keep God’s word to them.

John 8: Jesus’ Testifies to Keeping When Disputing with the Jews:After Jesus freed a woman charged with adultery, shaming her religious accusers in the process, he made some challenging claims in the first half of chapter 8. Then, in verses 31 – 59, Jesus engaged these Jews in a provocative manner, as he responded to their objections and attacks.

Jesus used the word “keep” generically in verse 51 and then of himself in verse 55. Both are instructive if we read “keep” as it is properly defined. Jesus declared in verse 51, “Amen, Amen, I say to you, In case anyone should keep my own word, no, he should not observe death into the eon.” Deliverance from death forever – though we die we will not see death! This glorious blessing of keeping Jesus’ word is stated only here.

Of course, the Jews did not believe that Jesus could keep anyone from death; not even one of the highest Jewish saints of the past could avoid death. They wondered how Jesus could make such a claim and said in verses 52, 53: “Now we have known that you have a demon. Abraham died, and the prophets; and you say, In case anyone should keep my word, No, he will not taste of death into the eon. You are not greater than our father Abraham, someone who died and the prophets died. Whom do you make yourself?”

Jesus replied that he did not have to honor himself, even saying that Abraham was alive to see his day. Verses 54-56 say: Jesus answered, “In case I glorify myself, my glory is nothing; my Father is the one glorifying me whom you say that he is your God, (55) And you have not known him, but I have perceived him, and in case I should say that I have not perceived him, I will be a liar similar to you, but I have perceived him and keep his word. (56) Your father Abraham celebrated in order that he should see my day; and he saw and rejoiced.”

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Jesus declared that he knew God and kept His word. This is Jesus; he could rightly have said “obey”, but he said “keep”. No human ever knew God like Jesus did – not even close – yet he kept God’s word. Jesus himself declared that he held God’s words tightly and never let any of them go.

The Jews interpreted Jesus’ words that his day came when Abraham lived in the flesh, which of course was not true. They did not see that an “after-death” Abraham was alive to see Jesus coming in the flesh. They answered him in verse 57, “You do not yet have 50 years and you have seen Abraham!” Jesus extended their line of thought, saying to them in verse 58, “Amen, amen, I say to you, Before Abraham to happen, I am.” At this declaration of his eternal unity with God, the Jews wanted to stone Jesus, but he escaped.

During this argument, Jesus makes two declarations about keeping the commandments: 1. The results for anyone keeping Jesus’ word include deliverance from

death, and 2. He himself kept them – this is the only record of Jesus testifying to

this publicly.

John 15: Jesus Testifies to Keeping in the Upper RoomIn John 15:9, 10, Jesus again stated that he kept the commandments of God. He said it during his upper room discourse with his disciples whom he had been mentoring for about three years. He was speaking to them about loving and abiding, subjects he had just taught in chapter 14, which are also found together in I John. These three, loving and abiding and keeping, are closely related.

In John 15:1-8, Jesus gave his disciples detailed encouragements for abiding, and continued that teaching using his personal testimony. He said in verse 9, “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you: abide in my love.” This verse speaks of divine love. Jesus told his disciples that he loved them just as God loved him. The selfless, sacrificial, and committed nature of this love is also seen in the definition of the Greek verb, agape, from which love is translated here and in the I John passages. This kind of love refers both to the external act of loving selflessly, and to the internal, selfless love that is expressed.

Jesus then told them to abide in that special love. The Greek word for “abide” (sometimes translated continue or remain) is used 11 times in John 15:4 – 11. A key idea of this word is to remain in a specific location or

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situation. This same word “abide” not only refers to God or Jesus being in us, it also refers to us being in God or Jesus. For instance, Jesus said in verse 4, “Abide me and I in you …” then in verse 5, “I am the vine and you are the branches. He who abides in me and I in him produces much fruit …”

From Jesus’ declaration in John 15:9, the disciples might wonder how they could abide in Jesus’ love. What kind of place is that? Since the love of Jesus will never fail, it would be great to remain there. Jesus answers in the next verse, verse 10: “If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.” Abiding in Jesus’ love is a result or benefit of keeping his commandments; Jesus did not say that obedience was needed in order to abide in his love.

Significantly, in verse 10, Jesus testifies to this intimate group that he himself has kept his Father’s commandments and remains in His love. Keeping was an essential part of Jesus’ life with his Father. We cannot imagine Jesus ever letting go of his Father’s commandments, and of course, he never did. He kept them perfectly, and we can too. Jesus linked his keeping with remaining in his Father’s love, so he tells his disciples if they keep His commandments, they too will abide in His love.

The condition Jesus gives is not obedience; he links keeping to abiding. He did say, in John 15:14, that we are his friends if we do what he commands, but only Jesus could do that perfectly. Unlike us, Jesus was conceived without sin and did what God commanded him at every moment, as in John 14:31. The crucial fact that Jesus lived a sinless life should not cause us to overlook another crucial fact: Jesus kept God’s commandments, and in doing so, he remained in his Father’s love. It is an internal work, one which he says that we also can do.

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Chapter 18: Job Keeping: He did not abandon God

If anyone had reason to abandon the commandments of God, it was Job. The specific word for “keep” is not used in his story, but that is what Job did with God, and His word, and His works. Job’s challenge was not the traditions of men; it was the horrific circumstances assaulting him. From possessions to family to health, almost everything Job had was taken away in two unexpected waves of destruction.

The ancient historian opens with this description of Job:Job 1:1: There was a man in the land of Uz, whose name was Job. That man was perfect and upright, and one who feared God, and turned away from evil.

Physical Destruction:As the account continues, we read that Job was a subject in a conversation God had with His adversary and ours, Satan, who is also called The Accuser. The Lord Himself mentioned Job to Satan in verse 8: “And the LORD said to Satan, Have you considered My servant Job, that no one in the earth is like him, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil?”

Satan did not challenge God’s glowing assessment of Job, but he asserted that Job was perfect only because God blessed and protected him.

Blessed indeed. In that entire region, Job was well known as the richest man, and the most honorable, and the most generous, giving to all in need, supplying resources, encouraging spirits, and attending to others with respect. Job knew God and His ways; he honored Him with all his heart, in all his ways.

Protected too. Satan had been unable to touch Job or anything he possessed, and claimed that God had put a protective hedge around Job, shielding him from every kind of assault. It was to Satan’s dismay that Job and everything he had were safe from destruction. Because of this reality, Satan asserted that of course Job would serve God … anyone being so blessed and protected would … at least Satan assumed that. To Satan, serving God was a curse, and he thought everyone else would hate it if they were not bribed in some manner.

But Satan’s challenge was wrong. When God told Satan that Job’s possessions were in his power, Satan destroyed nearly everything Job had. Job’s response is recorded in 1:20-22: “Then Job rose up, and tore his

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robe, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, and said, ‘Naked I came out of my mother's womb, and naked I shall return: the LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.’ In all of this Job did not sin, nor did he attribute foolishness to God.”

With devastating circumstances challenging his faith, Job worshipped and expressed his perspective: he had entered the world with nothing, and will leave with nothing. He then blessed God. Job held on to God and did not abandon Him. Job kept what He knew about God and His ways.

After this remarkable response to sudden and horrific tragedies, Job’s situation became even worse. Once again, God talked with Satan about Job in 2:3: “Have you considered My servant Job, that no one in the earth is like him, a perfect and an upright man, one who fears God, and turns away from evil? and still he holds firm in his integrity, although you stirred me against him, to destroy him for nothing.”

Unconvinced, Satan said that Job would curse God if he lost his physical health. Again, God informed Satan that Job was in his power, but not to kill. Satan then struck Job with ailments that broke out over his entire body.

Yet, Job stood firm as God’s servant. It was a serious physical attack, his health gone, piled onto his earlier troubles, designed by Satan to cause Job to curse God. Again, it was an unsuccessful assault; Job did not dishonor God, but retained his integrity and remained blameless in word and deed in the midst of the intense devastation that was experiencing.

Yet, questions swirled: Why has all this happened? Where is God? Why does He not help? Does He not care? Does it do any good to honor Him or serve Him? Are there no benefits? not even some basic protection? Job did not know why he was being assaulted, why all of his living was disappearing before his eyes.

Personal Opposition:It would get still worse for Job as he faced opposition from people close to him, those who should have faithfully supported him. It may have been his most difficult challenge. His wife was not lost in either catastrophe, but she saw no hope, and recommended, in Job 2:9, that he respond to his cursed situation by giving up his integrity, cursing God, and dying.

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When everything else in his world was left in ashes, Job needed others to stand with him. The supportive love of his wife, building his spirit and encouraging his heart, would have been an oasis of blessing for him. Yet, even she recommended abandoning God, and with it his own integrity. To her, he had nothing visible left and no hope remained for either of them, so he might as well give up his reputation: already in shambles, his faith in God: still silent at this crucial time, and his life: almost gone anyway.

Job had no energy to battle, to worship, or to mourn, but his mind was sharp, and he could talk. He responded to his wife’s challenge in 2:10: “ … You speak like one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we receive good from God, and not receive evil? In all this, Job did not sin with his lips.”

Job rejected his wife’s plea and kept his integrity. He seized and did not abandon: His personal integrity in choosing God. It was right for him. He

declared here that he did not choose God because of any benefits he hoped to receive in aligning himself with the Almighty.

The integrity of His faith. Job believed God because he knew God deeply. He knew that he personally needed the Creator God, not for blessings or good times, but especially for times like this when nothing made sense and no one else could or would help. Even though He seemed silent and far away, Job clung to Him.

The integrity of the God He chose. This God existed and He was always good and just in everything He did and in every possible circumstance. Job could not explain it in the darkness of his tragic experiences, but he knew that it was true: this God was worthy of worship at all times, not simply when he was happy with his life.

Hearing of the tragedies, three of Job’s best friends came to sit with him, appraising the devastation, sensing his desolation, stunned speechless at his great grief, saying nothing for an entire week, present and silent, but not necessarily because of their wisdom and sympathy … they had never seen such calamitous circumstances. Job was utterly ruined.

Job expressed his grief, lamenting briefly, mourning and cursing the day of his birth, and, remarkably, admitting his extensive fear, his personal agitation, and his inner restlessness when trouble came. His soliloquy opened the floodgates and one his friends responded, then Job, then another friend, as so it continued, an intense conversation between Job and these friends occupying much of the book of Job.

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The friends began with a spirit of encouragement on how Job could get his life right, but Job rejected some of their basic ideas and assumptions. The conversation quickly became antagonistic. At first, his friends expressed that God was disciplining Job for a

misstep, possibly an inadvertent act of sin or wickedness. It was, to them, the only reason such bad things happen. They told Job that if he simply repented and turned back to God, the blessings would return.

Job understood them, but, knowing his life, he did not acknowledge any personal sin or wickedness as the reason for the disastrous events that laid waste to everything in his life. He knew of neither an obvious sin nor any hidden evil for which he needed to repent.

Job’s friends bristled at this defense, accusing him of living in hypocrisy, and even of committing great sins. They leveled unsupported allegations, which had no basis or evidence in Job’s honorable public life.

Job asserted his integrity before God, boldly committing himself to God regardless of what had happened to him. Job strongly desired to plead his own case before his just God. Unknown to any human, even God twice testified to Satan of Job’s blameless behavior.

His friends rejected this as well, declaring that no man can be righteous before God.

Job told of some wicked and hypocritical people being blessed their entire life. Neither Job nor his friends had any explanation for the visible blessings of overtly wicked people.

His friends ignored this inconsistency, maintaining that Job must be wicked, being certain that his tragedies came from God, Who punished only the wicked and blessed only the upright. Without logic and without evidence, they continued to declare that Job’s evil deeds must be the cause of his visible tragedy.

Job was nauseated, repulsed by his friends who spouted inflexible dogma, abandoned both reason and decency in their attacks, disregarded the truth of his arguments, and ignored his visibly exemplary and blameless life.

The God that his friends knew was black and white; He was easy to understand. Their God both blessed the righteous and punished the wicked – always and only. The God they knew actively and visibly condemned the wicked and their wickedness and blessed the good and their goodness. It was an incomplete, if not also an inaccurate view of God and His ways; they had created for themselves a false God.

Based on this understanding, when they saw blessings, they saw a good and righteous person, but when they saw trouble and tragedy, they saw a

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sinful, even wicked person. Their narrow and inaccurate theology led to the arrogant perspective that what they saw on the outside enabled them to determine with certainty the invisible heart and nature of a person.

From this errant understanding and limited knowledge of God, this appalling theology, these friends spoke harsh words against Job. Using a flawed standard, they judged Job’s character based upon visible circumstances, declared their harsh verdict: Job was a wicked hypocrite; they mercilessly condemned Job as deserving every tragedy that had happened. But when God spoke to them, His judgment was: “you have not spoken right of Me”.

Job himself had the same theology, and had never questioned it until now, when his life demonstrated that these rules did not now apply, when the theology did not explain his experience … but he had no other explanation. He was righteous, yet trouble came to him. And now, his observation that trouble did not always come to the wicked in this life, deepened his questions about the common theology. With a humility that his friends did not show, Job admitted that he did not understand why all this happened to him … but he did not blame God. Instead, he admitted his lack of understanding and deferred his judgment concerning his present circumstances. Job waited for an audience with his Judge, and he expected ultimate justice.

Job ended the conversation with a lengthy defense. His argument included:

- A summary of his upstanding public life and the honor he had previously received from all,

- the disdain and dishonor he wrongly endured from every class of people after his possessions were gone and his life became worthless, and

- the integrity of all his actions. Job imagined sins, possible to him, just causes for punishment from God and man, yet not committed, his heart harboring no idols or evil lusts, his motives neither selfish nor impure, his life lived right, inside and out, helping others, acting honorably, worshipping God in spirit and truth. In his mind and heart, Job knew of no reason why any of these tragedies should have happened to him.

Finally, God intervened. He declared His wrath against Job’s friends, vindicated Job for his right words about Him, and referred to him as “My servant.” In order for his friends to obtain mercy, not the punishment their unfounded condemnations deserved, God instructed Job’s friends to offer sacrifices in Job’s presence, and repeated the charge that they did not

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speak right of Him as His servant Job did. When Job prayed for them, He would accept Job. They sacrificed, and Job interceded for them, as God instructed. Then God turned Job’s trouble into triumph, with blessings including double possessions and sympathetic and generous family support.

Among the many lessons to be learned, we notice Job’s example of believing God and holding on to Him regardless of the horrific circumstances he faced. In spite of all the physical, personal, social, spiritual, internal, and external challenges to his faith, to God’s character, and to his human understanding of God, Job maintained his integrity and his trust in God. Against everything seen and experienced, Job persevered and never let go of his commitment to his God or of God’s commandments to him.

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Chapter 19: Keeping Resolves the Obedience – Imperfection Tension

This chapter honors the desire of imperfect people who want to obey perfectly. It builds upon three basic realities in the lives of believers:1. We all desire to obey; believers desire to do what God says. Much,

including our own selfish desires, competes with our desire to obey, but as God’s children, we truly seek to please God in everything we do and say. Because we know that His ways are both right and best for us and for our lives, we desire to do what He says.

2. We all are imperfect; all believers fail and sin. None of us follows every direction we receive from God; we disobey commandments that we have been given. Each of us personally knows both wrong actions that we do and right actions that we fail to do.

Those who do not know that “obey” and “keep” are different, are halted here. They live with the tension of wanting to obey, but of being unable to do so perfectly. As we have seen from John’s writings, this inability raises questions about the quality of love for God and others.

In addition to tension, many will be frustrated by disobedience. There will be tendencies to cast off commandments as being too hard, to decide that they are not right, or to adjust the goal downward. Some will abandon the direction, lessen God’s personal leading, or limit efforts to please God by obedience.

Even with this tension, we never need worry about doing enough for God to accept us – that is impossible. When we believe into Christ, God makes us His righteousness in Christ; believers have a new life in Christ, become a new creation, are justified by His grace, are adopted as His children, and much more. These blessings change us; God changes who we are. We did not earn them; we can do nothing to get or to lose them; nowhere does the Bible hint that we can do anything to give back any of these blessings of our new life as God’s children.

But even as redeemed children of God, we cannot perfectly obey God. To deal with this tension we can accept our imperfection and do the best we can. Since we know that we will never be perfect, we have an excuse to yield to our imperfection. Still, by God’s grace, we refuse excuses, and attempt not to yield. God is the Almighty Creator, and nothing is too hard for Him. We, His children, live as overcomers, not as victims. With God’s help, we cannot accept a life less than what both we and God desire. We seek God to overcome obstacles, disadvantages, difficulties, and lack of support.

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This imperfection may seem more daunting if we exalt human effort or those in ministry, thinking that the best of God’s children do the most to overcome their problems and serve God, while others simply do their best to live right. The truth is that no one is perfect. While everyone walking in God’s ways accepts the accompanying labor and service, putting the focus on effort or results or position is a trap, measuring rightness by visible accomplishments.

The tension and the excuses can go away when we accept the third reality:3. We all can, at all times, keep and never let go of what God commands.

As imperfect people, we demonstrate our love of God by always keeping what God commands us. We can do this even though we do not perfectly obey God’s commands as we desire.

Keeping is never an excuse for disobedience. Instead, one reason we always keep God’s commandments is to establish and to direct our desire to obey them, and then to do them better and more consistently. No one who treasures and keeps God’s directives will avoid or make light of the necessity of external obedience. Knowing the grace of God, and being certain that any imperfection plaguing us is temporary, we who believe and keep will never be satisfied with disobedience.

Knowing that keep and obey are different, we continue to keep even if we disobey at times. As necessary, we repent and respond with resolute affirmation that God’s commandment is good for us. Continually renewing our commitment to do what He says, we never give up and never yield to the reality of our imperfection. As committed servants of God, we keep God’s words to us, keeping also our desire and expectation for perfect obedience. Our declaration that the life of God in us is greater than any evil or obstacle is less grit and more confident when we know the reality of God’s word in us – and keep it.

Thus, our imperfection is a reality that humbles us, but does not hold our attention or frustrate us. Instead, in our minds and hearts, we hold fast the fact of our new life in Christ: conceived by the living Word of God and born from above. By God’s grace, that is who we are, and by God’s continued grace to us, that is how we will act. Our attention is no longer absorbed by the failures and futility of our old ways or by the struggles and sorrows of our recent sins.

Those who know both that “keep” does not mean “obey” and that it is possible to keep God’s word, do exactly that. By standing firm,

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reaffirming the word God has given us, wearing His armor, obtaining resources, and preparing our hearts, we do better. Being God’s children, having become His righteousness in Christ, we will never accept any act of disobedience as final; we will never keep lies, such as: “I cannot overcome this”; we will never yield to the effects of our imperfect life.

ExampleConsider a habit like smoking. This example should apply to any habit or addiction, including those that do more harm than smoking.

Before knowing that “keep” means “keep”:Anyone who has a personal desire to quit smoking, or believes it to be God’s direction, may not be able to quit. Such a person may have resigned to a life of smoking, possibly frustrated from many failed attempts. Much is done to cope, such as laughing with Mark Twain’s good humor: “Giving up smoking is the easiest thing in the world. I know because I've done it thousands of times”, but the sense of failure remains.

Willpower and adjusting lifestyle or habits often have little staying power, even with the support of family and friends and others. But, sometimes, those who should support us, actually come out against the desire and purpose, and provide excuses or even encourage giving up the effort to quit. While we need people to accept us as we are, their support is generally not enough. We feel the tension that our desire to stop smoking is losing the battle to our imperfect ability.

Those who are God’s people know that they can be more, and move ahead toward the desired freedom. They accept no frustrating situation, knowing that God, in the Bible, does not lay out an oppressive life of defeat and condemnation. The Almighty and entirely Good God offers His wisdom for living, and that is a great blessing. Knowing this, many still do not find victory … there must be more.

After knowing that “keep” means “keep”:While smoking is not a specific commandment in the Bible, it is often a real commandment from God to an individual. When God directs into the reality of living free from smoking, keeping that will mean a commitment to Him Who alone knows best when and where and how to provide the needed steps and resources to live in this freedom. Settling the heart and mind never to forget God’s direction to quit, thinking and mediating on God and on His good ways will make it much easier to leave smoking behind while going forward as God’s servant.

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Confidence comes from the fact that God has spoken; He has directed in relationship and gives assurance that it is possible to be free from smoking. He is a caring Father, Who knows what is best. Keeping what is best will lead to proper action. No questions. No frustrations. No tensions. Inside, keeping the word God has given, yields peace and hope, no matter how long or difficult the path to external freedom.

Those knowing the meaning of “keep” and the truth of “keeping” have a great advantage. While the headwinds are strong, while the world culture is greatly skewed toward performance-based indicators, and while Biblical understanding has over-emphasized external obedience, yet in relationship, step by step, any believer can have confidence that keeping becomes doing.

Keeping Should Become Intentional:Even while misreading “keep” to mean “obey”, many believers all over the world have this focus and commitment, and have had through the ages. We meditate, consider, remember, think, retain, love, and apply many other Bible verbs communicating helpful ways to keep what God says. This internal work is right, and it has been effective in the lives of multiplied numbers of God’s servants.

By adding the verb “keep” to the list, we have every reason to expect that believers already engaged in keeping activities will do so more effectively, and that many more will actively “keep” what they hear from God. More, like David, will never waver from God’s word to them though they may act badly on occasion; more, like Job, will never sway under relentless opposition; more, like Jesus, will abide ever deeper in the Father’s love. And more of us will let “keep” write its own story in our lives, a story testifying to the work of our Faithful God and the abundance of His goodness toward His trusting people.

As we would expect, God Himself is facilitating the story that “keep” is writing in our lives, not only with words of direction, but also with sources of supply and more. Some of the divine resources available are: Grace and mercy to help in times of need, The Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us and providing us with needed

and appropriate gifts and guidance, Words of the Bible in reading or hearing, Direct, two-way communication with our Father God, and The hosts of the Lord who minister to the heirs of salvation.

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Of course, God’s resources are always available, but “keeping” makes us eager to recognize His provisions and to draw upon them as we walk in the way He leads. The more we know of our Almighty Lord of Hosts and His ways and His supply, and the more clearly we see and hold fast to the good goal and vision He has set before us, the more we will hold a never-let-go attitude in our hearts, and stand firm.

In relationship with our Father in heaven, in trusting and seeking Him, our help can include human sources, such as: Family and friends, A church community, and Para-church ministries or services.

As we keep what God says, He directs us to resources, but we never trust them – we seek God alone for our supply. God will withhold nothing we need, so we do not give up or lose hope. We joyfully and expectantly keep everything He tells us. None who keep His commandments will ever say, “I have failed.” Visible fulfillment is almost inevitable, because our minds and our hearts are settled, having secured God’s good commandments.

Again, if the focus is external obedience, our desire to act right will clash with human imperfection, and our expectation of success will often be dashed. We will live in tension, and even frustration. Losing confidence in God, we may seek more external ways of fixing problems, or of escaping a bondage, or of determining to make something happen, or of demanding the help of others. If we gauge success by performance or behavior change, we stay the same inside. A proper life is necessary, but not as a burden, and not as focus for life change or conformity. If we give up on a command of God, or if we choose not to keep God’s commandment, disobedience and failure loom ahead.

When the focus is internal keeping, a disobedience or a sin does not worry or frustrate us. As we securely hold God’s word, no mistake is a failure; we do not feel that tension. As we keep His commands, we can be confident that our behavior will conform to God’s commandments. It might, at times, seem impossible for behavior to change, and that we are always repenting or floundering, but we hold the commandment and possess it with conscious acceptance and agreement. In both sin and holy living, in both defeat and victory, our commitment to God and His ways grows deeper and stronger.

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Chapter 20: Further benefits of Keeping from I John

Seven times in his first epistle John uses the verb “keep” where it has been misread, even mistranslated as “obey”. Its important uses in chapter 5 were previously considered. Two other I John contexts describe further benefits.

Assured praying is the potential in I John 3:22: “And whatever we may petition, we get from Him, because we keep His commandments, and do pleasing things before Him.”

We receive everything we ask of God … is this true? Even believers immediately recoil and think that no one receives everything asked in prayer: who experiences that? But this declaration is repeated in I John 5:14,15 and is stated by Jesus in several contexts, including six times in his upper room discourse to his disciples (John 13-17). Jesus asked and received. He said the same could happen for us. This is an undeniable Biblical teaching. Receiving whatever we ask should be a way of life; it should be the rule for believers, not an exception.

Some reasons this certainty in prayer does not seem normal, or even possible, include: It is not the experience of anyone we know. Most teach that God answers prayer with “Yes”, “No”, or “Wait” …

as He wills. Our focus could be on what we may or may not deserve. Our focus could be selfish or a mere personal want. We can base our confidence on what we may or may not have done. It may take more preparation or a deeper growth than we expect. We usually have other resources in case we do not receive what we

ask: natural provisions we can use if God says, “No.” Our training and experience tell us to plan for every option.

We rationalize and find reasons God might say, “No.” For instance, we wonder if it fits into God’s wise overall plan.

Indeed, there are conditions in many of the passages declaring some form of “ask and you will receive. I John 3:22 has two: 1. Keep God’s commandments (two of which are specified next), and2. Do what is pleasing before God.

Important qualifiers: both keeping and doing are crucial. Internally, we keep God’s commandments to us. Before doing, we learn more of God and His ways with us; we know Him well enough to know what actions

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please Him. For us, the necessary keeping and doing are relationally based, not from a checklist of rules.

As we pray, when we both keep God’s ways and please Him by what we do, our needs will be clear, our requests will be specific regarding those needs, and God will give us what we ask for. We believe it, we expect it, and we live it as we relate to God. As I John 3:17-21 establishes, we, who are of the truth, assure our hearts before God and have confidence to pray expectantly.

We need not guess at what might please God; we know God’s word to us. It is personal, not what others say would please God – pleasing God is our heart’s desire. In Malachi 3:14, God was not pleased with those who said, “It is vain to serve God. What profit do we have from keeping His ordinance and walking humbly before Him?” What profit?!? Such self interest means that pleasing God is not a real object.

Immediately, in I John 3:23, John declares two important commandments we are to keep: “And this is His commandment, in order that we should believe the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love each other as He gave commandment to us.”

The first commandment, to believe the name of God’s Son Jesus Christ, would seem common to believers. This includes the first time we see the crucified Saviour, believe into him, and receive new life from above. Many great and eternal changes come to us when we initially believe. Also, we are to continue believing. Our new life is eternal, and it includes living now a transformed life by faith on the earth. We keep this commandment; believing is a heart work – not a doing. If circumstances make it difficult to believe, we keep it secure. The name of Jesus is powerful and believing it makes a difference.

John’s second commandment: to love each other, is practical; it is seen in external actions like those described in I John 3:16-18. Loving each other is also essential as in I John 3:14,15: to love all other believers is to abide in life, not to love is to abide in death. John goes farther to say that those hating any child of God are murderers, not having eternal life.

With so much at stake, we keep this commandment of God, even while we learn to correct how we relate to other believers. Loving other believers must happen, so we hear it, receive it, embrace it, treasure it, meditate on it, and more until it becomes a reality in our hearts and in our actions.

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In I John, we all sin, and we all have sin. Sin breaks fellowship with God and others at some level, but we confess it and receive God’s forgiveness and cleansing for life and relationships. It is one thing to sin, but it is quite another to abandon a commandment. After any sin, we move forward with a repentant correction, still keeping the commandment we broke and renewing our purpose to act accordingly. God is wise. His commandments are not too hard for any of us to keep, including this commandment to love our believing brothers and sisters.

Believing and loving, both unseen activities, are the two commandments following John’s declaration that we assuredly receive what we ask. Because we keep them and do what pleases God, we confidently pray – and we receive.

Other benefits to “keeping God’s commandments” in I John include:Mutual abiding in I John 3:24: “And the one keeping His commandments abides in Him and He in him”. I John 4 and John 14 – 17 explain this truth more fully.

Knowing God, is a benefit in 1 John 2:3: “We know that we have known him if we keep His commandments.” Knowing God results from our internal relation to His commandments, from our keeping, not from mental effort in gaining more information about God, and not from any external activity such as obedience.

Keepers do not give up. Knowing God personally by keeping His commandments is significant and wonderful. Of course, God reveals Himself in many other ways, including distinct and personal guidance, Holy Spirit taught truths from the Bible, and communication in prayer. It is a joy both for us and for the Almighty God of heaven when we increase in our knowledge of Him and His ways. John assures us that knowing God is possible.

More about knowing and abiding is declared in I John 2:4-6: “The one saying, 'I have known Him’ and not keeping His commandments, is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever may keep His word, truly, in this act the love of God has been completed. In this we know that we are in Him. The one saying he abides in Him, ought to walk according as He walked.”

In 2:6 those who declare that they abide in Him, will walk as Jesus walked. Of course, this will be the desire and expression of all those who keep

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God’s commandments – most of whom will not need to say that they abide in Him.

Interestingly, I John includes three specific areas of knowledge that come by keeping God’s commandments:1. We know that we know God, (I John 2:3)2. We know that we abide in God, (I John 2:5), and3. We know that we love the children of God. (I John 5:2)

All three: knowing, abiding, and loving, are internal. This knowledge grows deeply, where no one can see. It is a root that supports bearing good fruit expressed and enjoyed externally. We develop and maintain these by keeping God’s commandments. These areas of knowing can, at times, be unclear, but we persevere; we are sure that we know God, that we abide in Him, and that we love all of God’s people. The Bible says that such certainty happens for those who “keep” His commandments.

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Chapter 21: Keeping: In Service and In Promises

This chapter examines two Old Testament passages with applications and instructions to aid us in our desire to keep God’s word.

Numbers 18: Keeping Work ObligationsMoses uses the Hebrew word for “keep” four times in Numbers 18:3-7, each time related to the work responsibilities of Israel’s priests and Levites. Reviewing the word “keep” in this context offers additional perspectives, as well as historical information on ancient Israel’s organization for worship.

The instructions in Numbers 18 are given two years after the Israelites left Egypt and received God’s laws at Mount Sinai. They had just refused to enter Canaan from the south, fearing the people of the land. God responded to their unbelief with a plague in Numbers 14. Then, in Numbers 16, some leaders challenged the authority of Moses and the priesthood of his brother Aaron’s family. There was a contest and a heated argument with these leaders. God responded to the “rebels” by opening the earth to swallow their family camp.

Following this dramatic judgment, God, in chapter 17, involved all 12 tribes of Israel in an orderly demonstration to clearly re-affirm that He had chosen the tribe of Levi to minister in the tabernacle of His presence, the center of Israel’s worship. Out of the Levites, God chose only the family of Aaron, one of Levi’s grandsons, to serve as Israel’s priests in His presence.

Numbers 18 lists some responsibilities of Aaron, Israel’s first high priest, of his sons, as priests in the sanctuary of God’s presence, and of the other Levites who were not priests. When the people of Israel brought their gifts and sacrifices to the sanctuary, they did not personally offer them on the altar. The priests protected the people by being sin-bearers in the sanctuary and in the presence of the Holy God; only they could offer sacrifices, and only the other Levites could support the priests and minister in the tabernacle.

Responsibilities of the Levite tribeGod’s speaks to Aaron in verses 3, 4, and 6, where He summarizes instructions to the Levite tribe concerning their two major work obligations.

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Verse 3: And they will keep your duty and a duty of all the tabernacle: only they will not approach unto vessels of the holiness and unto the altar, that neither they, nor you also, die.Verse 4: And they will be joined unto you, and keep a duty of the tabernacle of the congregation, for all the service of the tabernacle: and a stranger will not approach unto you.Verse 6: And I behold, I have taken your brothers, the Levites from among sons of Israel to you; I have given them a gift to Yahweh, to serve the service of tabernacle of congregation.

The Levite work responsibilities, which they had been doing for the last two years, were: 1. Keep the duties Aaron gave them. They supported the priests and the

priesthood in the sanctuary as needed and as directed.2. Keep the duties of the tabernacle. These included taking down,

transporting, setting up, and caring for Israel’s tabernacle of worship as the nation of Israel traveled in the wilderness. Many of these detailed tasks had been described in Numbers chapter 4, before they began their journey from Mount Sinai.

The Levites could not approach the holy items of the sanctuary under penalty of death. The people of the other tribes of Israel could not even approach the priests; they dealt only with the supporting Levites, not directly with the priests.

For the Levite tribe as a whole, keeping meant taking care of their family’s two main obligations.

For individual Levites, keeping meant personally embracing the main family obligations. It also meant that they understood their specific duties and learned how to do them proficiently.

In this work context, the connection between internal keeping and external doing is obvious. Visible performance is important; if a Levite erred in a task detail, the consequences could be severe, even fatal for the supporting Levite, and possibly for a priest as well. It was crucial to keep their instructions; they were to receive and seize all their duties, and thus be prepared to serve properly.

Responsibilities of Aaron and the priestsGod also told Aaron of the priest’s duties.Verse 5: And you will keep a duty of the holiness, a duty of the altar, and it will not again be wrath upon sons of Israel.

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Verse 7: Therefore you and your sons with you will keep your priest's office to every word of the altar, and from house to vail curtains; and you will serve a service of a gift: I have given it a priesthood: and the stranger approaching will die.

The priests, Aaron and his sons, were to keep the duties of the altar and of all the holy items of worship. No outsider, not even the Levite helpers, could approach any holy place or holy item of worship under penalty of death. Aaron and his sons possessed the full responsibility to minister in God’s presence. They must act right in every detail, or the whole nation of Israel might experience God’s wrath.

We keep work duties as well. This includes following instructions and doing as we are told, but it is more … we internally receive and keep our duties. This will enable us to perform at our best, even if we do not like our current job. As work obligations come with restrictions, so our keeping may include things we must not do. We keep the reality that others are responsible for certain tasks. We respect this division of labor and focus on our own specific work responsibilities.

I Kings 8: God Keeps His PromisesIn I Kings 8, King Solomon led a grand celebration in Jerusalem to dedicate the newly constructed temple of worship. Beginning with an extravagant parade, Solomon and Israel moved the Ark of the Covenant from its 40-year stay in a tent in the area of Jerusalem called the City of David to the holiest place of the new temple. That occasion was marked by God’s glory filling the temple, which caused the priests to fall to their knees.

Then after briefly addressing the assembled people of Israel, King Solomon, in a lengthy prayer asked God to bless the new temple of worship. The king opened his prayer using the word “keep” four times in verses 23 – 25. God responded to his long prayer by sending fire from heaven on the altar of sacrifice, once again filling the temple with His glory. The profound and glorious celebration lasted 14 days.

God’s present keeping:Solomon begins his prayer in verse 23: “LORD God of Israel, there is no God like You, in heaven above, or on earth beneath, who keeps covenant and hesed with Your servants who walk before You with all their heart:”

It is easy to understand that the great God of Israel keeps covenant with His committed servants. On several occasions, God has graciously chosen

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to make covenant agreements: He sets the terms, along with the benefits and consequences. While He often made them with a specific man, the covenants benefited a larger group of people, like the nation of Israel or all of humanity. The truth that God never lets go of His covenants encourages the faithful trust and confidence of His people.

God also keeps mercy (hesed) to His committed people; should they err or sin, God keeps mercy. Solomon expressed both the external (walk) and internal (heart) responsibilities of the people before God – they do what others can see with a dedication to God’s ways that others cannot see.

Nehemiah and Daniel each interceded for Israel centuries later during times of desperate need, using words similar to those used by Solomon in this prayer. All three used the wording of Deuteronomy 7:9 and prayed to the “God who keeps covenant and hesed with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” (Nehemiah 1:5-7; 9:32-34 & Daniel 9:4,5)

Daniel confessed, “We have sinned … and done wickedly and rebelled, even by departing from Your precepts and Your judgments” and Nehemiah admitted, “We have not kept your commandments, statutes, or judgments …” Both included themselves when they acknowledged the failure of God’s people to meet the covenant conditions in heart and in deed. Both also pleaded to God for hesed. God heard their cries for help, and showed remarkable mercy by helping the nation of Israel in miraculous ways according to each of their requests. Daniel’s request was followed by Israel’s return to Jerusalem after 70 years of captivity in Babylon. Nehemiah prayed both before and after he led in rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem.

God’s past keeping:Solomon continued his prayer in I Kings 8:24: You have kept with Your servant David, my father, what You promised him: You also spoke with Your mouth, and have fulfilled it with Your hand, as it is this day.

We tend to equate keeping a promise with doing what we promise. In his prayer, Solomon separated them. God both kept and fulfilled His promise to David. Concerning God’s promise that David’s son would build a house for His name:1. God kept that promise. He did not let His promise go or abandon His

word about David’s son. Through the last 30 years of his reign, David was forbidden to build God’s house, a house he dreamed of, a house he strongly desired to build. But God kept His promise. Even after he had bought land, stockpiled materials, and received its God’s-inspired

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blueprints, God would not let David build Him a house. Still God kept His promise, specifying to David that his son Solomon would build the house for God’s name.

2. God fulfilled that promise, after keeping it for 40 years. David’s son Solomon built and was now dedicating the temple for God’s name. Here, after David’s death, in the 11th year of Solomon’s reign, God was personally involved in fulfilling His promise.

From God’s example, we learn how keeping promises and fulfilling promises are different. Therefore, we also, when we keep a promise, do not abandon it to say that we cannot do what we promised. Instead, we keep our promise, even if we have not fulfilled it, even if we currently lack the resources or opportunity to do what we promised, and even if we do not see how to fulfill it … still we keep it. Our word and agreement remain trustworthy; we keep and do not let go of any promise we have made; we maintain our desire and intention to fulfill it when we are able. This kind of promise-keeping matches the meaning of the Hebrew word translated “keep”.

While God always keeps and fulfills His promises, at times and for various reasons, we humans may promise unwisely and must later abandon it. If we learn that we should never fulfill some promise, we will need to abandon it. We seek to promise well, knowing before God and others that we are prepared both to keep and to fulfill every promise.

Ongoing Keeping: In view of God’s past and present covenant-keeping and promise-keeping activities, Solomon asks God to keep and to fulfill another promise.Verse 25: Therefore now, LORD God of Israel, keep with Your servant David, my father, what You promised him, saying, There shall not fail you a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel; so that your children keep their way, that they walk before Me as you have walked before Me.Verse 26: And now, O God of Israel, I entreat You, let Your word be verified, which You spoke to Your servant David, my father.

God had also promised David that his family would have a continuous succession of kings to follow him on the throne of Israel, as in II Samuel 7:16 and Psalm 132:12. Solomon asks God to do more than keep His promise; he also asks the word to be verified that each of David’s children who take the throne would keep their way and walk before God as David had done. As God keeps and fulfills this promise, kings of David’s family would keep their way before Him.

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While the succession continued for over 400 years, a number of kings in David’s lineage, including Solomon, did not keep their way before God. Then, after 400 years, for many centuries no king from David’s family or from any other family actually sat on Israel’s throne. Despite this long breakage in royal succession, despite the corruption in the royal family, God continued to keep this promise and to work out a plan to fulfill it. In delivering to Mary the news of the conception of Jesus in her virgin womb, the angel Gabriel said that God would give to Jesus the throne promised to David’s royal lineage, and that Jesus would reign over Israel forever.

Solomon prayed to God, trusting the One who both keeps and fulfills all that He has promised … and we can too.

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Chapter 22: Acts: Keep in the New Church

Acts 15 begins by describing a deep dissension in the early church. During its resolution, the church leadership addressed an important question: Does the New Testament require keeping the Old Testament law? does Jesus refers to Moses’ Law when saying, “Keep my commandments”?

The early chapters of the Book of Acts narrate events of the church of believers into Christ Jesus, a step forward for the religion of the Jews: their Messiah, Jesus had come, fulfilled the Law, and provided righteousness, unattainable through their laws given to Moses by God, Who also raised Jesus from the dead. At the feast of Pentecost, this new church began among the Jews, within their religious system. This was a reason many or most of the Jewish believers expected all the members of the church to be, or to become Jews, and part of the Jewish religion.

As the church multiplied among the Jews and spread throughout Israel, God began to challenge and broaden their expectation. An important push is described in Acts 10 & 11 where God sent a reluctant Peter to preach to a non-Jewish gathering in northern Israel. When Peter preached to these Gentiles, they heard the gospel of Jesus Christ, crucified and risen, offering remission of sins for those who believe … and they believed. They knew nothing of Jewish law or traditions, yet God granted them the same life and Spirit being received by Jewish believers.

The Jews in the south said that Peter and his team had polluted themselves by interacting with non-Jews in a forbidden way, and that this contact had made them unclean for service and ministry. Therefore, Peter came to Jerusalem with the team of Jews who had accompanied him, those who saw these “non-Jews” hear and believe into Christ Jesus. They shared their story with the Jewish believers and leaders in Jerusalem. Peter described in detail how God had clearly sent him preach to this specific group of Gentiles.

The dispute was settled. Those who had disapproved, heard Peter out, acknowledged God’s direction and activity in the events, and even glorified God, saying in Acts 11:18, “Then God has also granted repentance unto life to the Gentiles.” Their unity led to an evangelistic explosion in a large region. The grace of God was evident to all who heard. Gentiles could believe in the same way and receive the same blessing. This was a great step forward for the church … but they had not yet addressed how Gentiles believers should live.

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Barnabas was sent north to teach new believers. He found Saul (later called Paul) and mentored him. They ministered together and later were called by God to a missionary work together, sent out by the church at Antioch. They sailed to islands in the Mediterranean Sea, traveled in cities along the southern coast of what is now Turkey, visited Jewish synagogues, and taught the Jews about the Christ. Their gospel message was well received, many Jews saw Jesus to be their Messiah and trusted him, but so did many Gentiles, crowding some synagogues, threatening envious Jewish leaders, who began, loudly and even violently, to oppose Paul and Barnabas and their message. Paul inflamed them still more by declaring that God had now directed him to preach to the Gentiles. Angry Jews followed from several cities, stirred up a mob, and stoned Paul, nearly to death. (Acts 13 & 14)

A controversy again brewed in the church centered in its major city Jerusalem where a large majority of believers were Jews. Although Gentile believers were accepted in the church, many Jews taught that all who believe into Christ must, at a minimum, be circumcised as Jews or they could not be saved from their sins. Some who promoted this teaching came from the Jerusalem area to the church at Antioch in the north, where “Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them.” Acts 15:2 At issue was the “Jewishness” required of those who believed into Christ.

Appropriately, they all decided to go to the apostles and elders at Jerusalem to consider this question. The church received them and heard their report of what God had done in giving faith to the Gentiles. A group of Pharisees responded, in Acts 15:5, that the Gentile believers must be circumcised and directed to keep Moses’ law. They of course meant “obey” Moses’ law so it would be clear that these Gentiles had adopted the Jewish religion as well as the Jewish Messiah. Likely, they meant not only the hundreds of laws specified in the Old Testament, but also the many traditions that had been established throughout the centuries, traditions criticized by Jesus so poignantly in Mark 7.

Choosing not to discuss this with the entire crowd of believers engaged about the issue, the apostles and church leaders gathered separately. Even so, there was much debate in deliberating this question. God was apparently doing a new thing that did not fit with their traditional understanding of the dictates of the Law and the message of the Prophets. Is it really God doing this work among the Gentiles? If so, how far does that work go? Can we accept Gentile believers as equals, just as they are?

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Peter testified that, by his own mouth, God had orchestrated the Gentiles hearing and believing the gospel, an event already known to the church, which glorified God that Gentiles too had received the same saving faith. He then reminded these leaders that neither they nor their forefathers succeeded in bearing the yoke of the law, a liberating admission. He asked in verse 10, “Why do you test God?” to put that yoke on the Gentile believers.

Since obeying the Law of the Torah was a burden, impossible for anyone to carry, Peter’s assessment was accepted. It is not recorded that anyone countered with Jesus’ words, “If you love God, keep my commandments.” The commandments of Jesus were not understood to be either the Torah or the expanded Jewish Law and traditions.

Next, Paul and Barnabas rehearsed their experience, how God did wonders and miracles among the Gentiles when they heard and believed. Finally, the Apostle James made his decision to resolve the matter, saying that their prophets agreed that the Gentiles should be included, quoting the prophet Amos for a clear example. His judgment was that they would not trouble the Gentiles who turn to God, but write to them “that they abstain from pollutions of idols, and from fornication, and from things strangled, and from blood.” Acts 15:20

Gentile believers were not required to be identified as Jews. Neither circumcision, the covenant sign of the Jew, nor keeping the Law were required by the church leadership. A short list of behaviors for the non-Jewish believers to avoid would help them not to offend the Jews, and not to be entangled in immorality or idolatry.

Key excerpts from the letter to be sent to Gentile believers include:Verse 24: We heard that some of us were coming out; they troubled you in words dismantling your souls, telling you to be circumcised and to keep the law – in which words we did not participate.…Verse 28: For it seemed to the Holy Spirit and to us, to place not one more weight upon you besides these things:Verse 29: To abstain from idol-sacrificed things and blood and a choked thing and fornication … The letter ended, “out of which things thoroughly keeping yourselves, you will perform well. Farewell.”

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The church leaders at Jerusalem began the letter by declaring that they neither directed nor approved of anyone telling the Gentile believers “to be circumcised, and to keep the law”. Keeping the Law of the Torah would not be right for these believers. Yet Jesus said, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” This was not a contradiction. Jesus’ commandments are sourced in a love relationship, not in the laws given to the nation of Israel. This official word of the church did not require the Gentiles to become Jews, and these leaders dissociated themselves from any word to the contrary.

The council’s decision did not conflict with John’s words, written later, that those who love God and each other were to “keep God’s commandments.” John knew of this controversy and supported the decision. Neither he nor any other New Testament writer suggested that the commandments in the Law of Moses, or the long-established traditions of the Jewish elders were required when they wrote decades after the Acts 15 meeting. Both Jesus and John referred to believers abiding in Christ, and the instructions to “keep God’s commandments” were in the context of an abiding relationship with God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Later in the book of Acts, the council’s letter remained the standard for the church. In Acts 21:24, some church leaders in Jerusalem encouraged Paul to confirm that he stood for the Law of Moses, saying, “Take these men, be purified with them, and meet requirements with them in order that they should shave the head, and all should know that the things they have been informed about you are nothing; but you yourself also walk, one guarding the law.” They thought that by doing these things, Paul could prove to some suspicious church members that he did not teach against the law. Paul was a Jew, not a Gentile; protecting and guarding the Old Testament law was proper for him.

These leaders restated the decision of that early council in verse 25: “About the nations having believed, we chronicled, we were judging not one such thing for them to keep, except for them to guard, including the idol-sacrificed thing, and the blood, and a choked thing, and fornication.” The Gentiles were never instructed to keep the Jewish law as Paul, instead they were to protect themselves and their lives from four forbidden actions.

These are basics for all believers, Jew and Gentile, to grow in an abiding relationship, being saturated with God’s word, and seeking God for wisdom and direction. We hear from God how He wants us to be a part of

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His plans for the world, we learn what we can about them, and we keep God’s instructions to us, so that we will act accordingly.

Later, this book will examine two of the Ten Commandments as an example to show not only that Old Testament truths and commandments can be kept, as God directs, but also that they must be kept. But next, Adam and Eve did not keep God’s commandment.

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Chapter 23: Eve abandons God’s one commandment

In the very beginning, before God made Eve, when Adam cared for the Garden of Eden, there was just one restriction. Genesis 2:16,17: “And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, You may eat freely from every tree of the garden: But you may not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil: for in the day that you eat from it, you shall surely die.”

God told Adam not to eat from one particular fruit tree, and He told him the consequence for doing so. Later, Eve too would know of this commandment. The earth’s first two humans were responsible for the earth and the garden; they were also free and able to carry out those responsibilities. For them, there was only one bad choice.

Here, at the very beginning, it was crucial to keep God’s commandment. Their only bad choice concerned visible fruit and breaking the rule would involve visible action. But not breaking the rule, not eating the forbidden fruit, meant doing something not visible. While keeping this commandment was internal, disobeying it would be external. This commandment would not be disobeyed as long as it was kept.

These are the earliest events in human history, with the only unconceived and uncorrupted people living in the only uncorrupted environment ever. It is unimaginable for us, all born as corrupted people living on a greatly corrupted planet about 6000 years later.

Questions abound. How would Adam and Eve view this commandment? since they did not yet realize a distinction between good and evil. How would they view the “wrongness” of eating the forbidden fruit? How would they compare it to the “rightness” of eating the fruit of every other tree? or of taking care of the garden?

In relationship with God, Adam and Eve could ask about things that they did not know. When they walked with Him in the garden, did they ask what they should do with this tree from which they could not eat? Did they ask Him what good meant? or evil? They had the perfect opportunity to learn more about God’s point of view on these matters and more. Did they ask and learn? How much did or could God tell them?

Keeping this commandment would be an expression of the respect and honor that Adam and Eve had for God. Yet, keeping and thus obeying what God had commanded, would require them to accept even more of

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their ignorance. They did not know why fruit from that tree had the consequence of death. Was something wrong with the tree or its fruit? Was the name of the tree special? Did they know what it meant to die? what death was? No human had ever died. What was so bad about this consequence of eating?

Focusing on the external disobedience was easier for these innocent humans in the earth’s only pristine environment – just like it is for us in our corrupted world today. The potential action we can see grabs our attention, even if it is an action we should not want to do. The internal work of keeping a commandment of God has never been natural, partly because most have not known about the need to keep. Yet, loving God, as our Friend, and loving His word to us, has always been of immense value for every human.

Of course there are many gaps in our knowledge of this newly created earth, which God declared to be very good, the earth which He had created to be inhabited, the earth in which the parents of the human race lived. We would like to know more. Although more knowledge could benefit us, the obvious statements about Eve and her descent into not keeping God’s single commandment, hold important lessons for us.

Eve is Tempted:Although there was much that Eve did not know, when she encountered a talking serpent, it was not a surprise to her. It was not to her an ominous, slithering animal. In this garden, it was possible to communicate with this particular beast. It may have been a physically attractive creature. A rebellious angel or spirit may have controlled it. It may have been a form of Lucifer himself, whom God had created to be glorious in sight and sound.

This serpent conversed with Eve, and was more than willing to fill in some of the gaps in her knowledge about God’s commandment and even about God Himself. It could have volunteered answers to questions she may or may not have discussed with God or with Adam. The Bible’s language indicates that they had been talking for some time, with the serpent possibly building a rapport with Eve: showing interest, establishing a connection, and impressing her with its courteous demeanor and insightful information.

When the Bible picks up the conversation in Genesis 3:1, they had apparently come to the topic of God and His words. The serpent

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challenges Eve about God’s word: “Though God also says, ‘You will not eat from every tree of the garden.’”

Eve had no thought that the serpent intended to convince her to break the one commandment that God had given them. She answered innocently in verses 2 and 3, “We may eat from the fruit of the trees of the garden. But of the fruit of the tree which is in the middle of the garden, God has said, ‘You will not eat from it, neither will you touch it, lest you die.’”

The serpent was bold to respond by telling Eve a lie: “You shall not surely die.” (Verse 4) While God may not have mentioned “touching the fruit”, He did declare that death would result. The serpent’s word was a direct challenge to this clear word spoken by God; a word which Eve knew well. Why did she not stop the conversation right there? Why was she so receptive to the serpent’s words after hearing that? trusting a creature more than the Creator?

The serpent continued, maybe without pausing so it could complete its assertion for Eve, expressing ideas that discredited the Creator God and His good purposes. It explained in verse 5, “For God knows that in the day you eat from it, then your eyes will be opened, and you will be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Instead of death, the serpent asserted that eating this fruit would have positive results, the serpent insinuated that God was preventing Adam and Eve from attaining a high knowledge, a knowledge that would make them like gods. It was an intriguing possibility. According to the serpent, their eyes could be opened to the knowledge of good and evil, if only they would eat the fruit of that tree … an idea that fit with the name of the forbidden fruit tree.

The serpent did not mention that the forbidden fruit was very attractive to the eyes. It assumed this obvious fact without crediting God, Who had said in Genesis 2:9 that this and every other fruit tree in the garden was attractive and good for food. Thus it was able to convince Eve that the fruit had to be good in every other way, and that nothing could be good about a forbidden fruit.

Forgetting God’s words, this might seem like new information to Eve. Listening to the serpent, Eve might presume that she understood details that God did not explain, or, even worse, that God had intentionally held back. Because of the serpent’s brazen lie, Eve might think that death was not really a consequence, certainly not a bad one; in fact, after she heard of

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good things that would happen when she ate the fruit, Eve thought that eating the forbidden fruit would actually be a good thing to do.

In this conversation, the serpent damaged Eve’s thinking in at least three ways:1. She saw two truths as contradictory: the fruit was good, and it was also

forbidden. “Did God forbid us eating good food?”, she might ask … “Why would He do such a thing?” By following the serpent from assumption to presumption, Eve thought God’s command was arbitrary, having no basis in reality.

2. Eve doubted that there would be a consequence of death. The serpent had flatly denied it, then quickly changed the subject from God’s clear word, “you shall surely die”, to ideas that Eve had not heard, and to ideas about what would “really” happen when she ate from the tree. The serpent did not linger on subject of God-declared death; it did not attempt to soft-pedal the death as a consequence of eating or to provide a “nicer” definition of what death might mean to Eve. It just planted the “no death” idea, as a seed in Eve’s mind, without challenge and without discussion. If believed, she would think that breaking God’s command had no harmful effects.

3. Eve saw a different possibility: good consequences. There were special reasons to eat from this tree: they needed it in order to attain their potential: to be as gods and wise. If believed, she would think that God and His command restricted them from being better.

After this conversation, Eve would wonder1. “Why would God forbid eating fruit that is actually good food? If it is

good, why not just allow us to eat it?”2. “Why did God use death to scare me into not eating from this tree?”

Can I really trust what God says?”3. “Why did God not mention the good things that would happen after

eating the fruit of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil?” “What else is He holding back?”

4. “Is God really good? threatening undesirable consequences that may not be real and failing to mention the blessings that would result from eating this particular fruit.” “Does God want the best for us?”

Eve appeared not to have questioned the serpent’s wonderful sounding words. She could have; she should have waited to ask God for an explanation, possibly with genuine interest, “Are you preventing us from good things that will bless us?” or even with a questioning attitude, “Why did you falsely threaten us with death to keep us from this good tree and its fruit?” Eve had experienced His good and gracious presence in the

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garden. He was her friend and freely gave her all she needed … yet, she did not seek His perspective.

Eve embraced the lies and perspectives which cast a cloud upon God’s goodness. The serpent’s ideas were persuasive and “enhanced” Eve’s perception as described in Genesis 3:6a: “… the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise … ” After the conversation with the serpent, she believed that good things, not death, would result from eating this fruit.

The serpent used truth in its scheme to convince Eve to sin against God, but its objective is never to exalt the truth. It adds assumptions and unrelated details to make it seem eye-opening: Wow! God did not mention or explain these things. It will use anything, including things that may be true, to lead a heart and life away from God and His good ways.

Believing the serpent’s expression of something that was true, Eve might unquestioningly believe that more of its words were true, and that she was hearing another “truth” that God kept back … and so on. This strategy would work as long as Eve believed these new “truths” and perspectives without seeking God and His wisdom about them.

But God never deceives. He never tricks anyone into conforming to His commands by communicating a lie about a fruit or about any reality. The fruit was good, and the consequences for eating it were very bad. Both were true. Eve and all of us need God’s perspective on new or creative ideas, such as those that the serpent communicated to Eve. God’s truth and God’s commands are always good and best for us and our world; we need to talk with Him often to understand that.

But Eve did not honor God’s clear word; she did not bring these new “ideas” to God. Instead, she accepted the serpent’s interpretation, almost eagerly, and did not keep, but abandoned God’s clear commandment. To her, it was no longer good and right to obey God. In fact, she became internally convinced that it was right not to obey. Not only did Eve not keep God’s commandment to her, she embraced the activity of breaking it as her best option.

This is why we, from deep within our being, must learn to utter with David in Psalm 119: “O how I love Your law O God. … O that my ways were directed to keep your statutes.” We might shout to Eve, “Do not abandon God’s commandment!” and then lift up our voice to God saying, “O God, help me! Let me always keep all of Your words to me!”

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Adam and Eve Break God’s Commandment:Eve acted on the new word that she learned to keep. That most consequential of acts is described matter-of-factly in Genesis 3:6b: “She took from its fruit, and ate, and also gave to her husband with her; and he ate.”

Both Adam and Eve willingly took the fruit and ate it. Adam was with his wife … he took the fruit from her and ate it. He made the choice to join her in disobeying their Creator. Did he witness her “intriguing” conversation with the serpent? was he there when she took that first bite? did she call him to come?

Adam himself was the responsible one. Paul stated in I Timothy 2 that the man was not deceived. They both ate the same fruit, but what Adam did was very different. Adam was guilty because heard the voice of his wife. Apparently, he did not hear the voice of serpent; there is no hint that the serpent talked with Adam. God said, in Genesis 3:17: “Because you have heard the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree, of which I commanded you, saying, ‘You will not eat from it.’ ” How did she convince him to eat? If he heard Eve’s conversation with the serpent, he did not challenge its sweet-sounding words or their impact on Eve’s thinking; neither did he take charge and stop the sin.

Adam listened to Eve; he heard his wife’s explanation … Adam may not have abandoned God’s commandment for the serpent’s ideas as Eve did, nevertheless, he also abandoned it. Maybe he was simply following his wife in eating, or maybe he was watching to see what happened when Eve ate, not knowing that the destructive effects of sin are often hidden or delayed. But, like Eve, he showed no desire to talk with God and seek His perspective. Like Eve, he did not keep what he knew to be God’s way; Adam chose to eat the forbidden fruit and the damage was done: the consequences that God declared … they happened.

Death entered the world. By his sin against God, Adam unleashed the corruption of death and decay. He had authority over the earth, but could he not undo or fix the damage he had just caused to himself and to the earth. God describes some of the immediate consequences of their disobedience in the remainder of Genesis 3. Portions of Romans, chapters 5 and 8, add further details about the natural and spiritual effects of Adam’s sin, and they describe vital aspects of the solution in Christ Jesus, the second Adam.

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Amazingly, God acknowledged that the serpent had accurately stated some of what Eve would receive if she ate the forbidden fruit. God said in Genesis 3:22, “Behold, the man has become like one of Us, to know good and evil.” This consequence brings something new that may not seem like a curse: humans become like gods and know good and evil; they retain free choice but have more options. This raises additional questions well beyond the scope of this book.

While Adam and Eve did not keep God’s commandment, we can be better. When we hear and receive God’s good commandments to us, we keep them inside and never let them go. Difficult circumstances may challenge us. We may hear lies and deceptive truths. Lies can be made to sound good or better than God’s word. Truths we never considered may also be seen in new light and used to misdirect us.

But we will be better. We go to God. Before we act, we open our Bible and read God’s word, and we talk with Him about every challenge confronting His commandments to us. He is good and wise and guides us in ways of life and blessing. We determine to seek and follow Him. We continue to keep God’s commandments deep inside us and exalt them as good and right. We learn to hear God’s voice better: more clearly, more directly, more accurately, and more completely. We diligently keep what He says, and renew our commitment to know Him and His ways, and to do them.

Next, some uses of “keep” in the last books of the Bible.

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Chapter 24: Keep In Jude and Revelation:

The Book of JudeIn his short letter of 25 verses, Jude uses the more common word for keep five times in a variety of contexts plus one use of the less common word meaning guard or protect. A brief examination of each use demonstrates further Biblical applications for the keep idea.

Verse 1: “Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to the ones in God our Father having been sanctified and having been kept in Jesus Christ, to called ones:”

Jude opens the book identifying those to whom he writes as having been sanctified and kept in Jesus Christ and called. Psalm 121 has described this divine keeping as protection. God’s keeping activity includes more, such as faithfulness regarding covenants and promises. Being kept is part of Jude’s high view of God’s people.

Verse 6: “Plus angels, the ones who were not keeping the beginning of themselves but were leaving behind the own dwelling, he has kept in eonian bonds under a foreboding into a judgment of a great day.”Verse 13: “Wild waves of a sea foaming upon the shames of themselves; stars, deceivers, to whom the foreboding of the darkness has been kept into the eon.”

Those angels not keeping their glorious, created position, and are now kept in bonds under a foreboding judgment. This raises questions as to how angels did not keep their glory: Was it in joining Lucifer’s rebellion? Similarly, the punishment of eternal darkness is kept for religious charlatans who, like Cain, Korah, and Balaam, despised and abandoned their honorable place and calling.

This is God’s word and work. Final judgment may be delayed, but it will come. Everlasting punishment is certain. God keeps both of these. He also keeps rebellious angels and humans, as though in a vault, for a future, deserved punishment. These truths are repeated in II Peter Chapter 2, where Peter uses “keep” in the same way.

Verse 21: “Keep yourselves in love of God, embracing the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ into eternal life.”

This is Jude’s only reference to the responsibility of God’s people to keep themselves. It has a positive focus: the love of God. In fact, this word for

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“keep” is almost always used in the positive sense of people or individuals taking care of something good, something for which they are responsible. The Greek word for “keep” is not used to warn believers “to keep away from” something such as evil or sin. The New Testament uses other verbs to convey this responsibility: such as abstain, flee, and refrain.

Verse 24: “And to the one being able to guard you untripped ones, and you to stand before his glory, unblamable ones in celebration”

Jude ends his letter stating that God keeps His people upright, standing blameless. Here Jude uses the other Greek word often translated keep, meaning to guard or protect. Being certain of God’s ability to keep any enemy from harming us, we serve Him as He directs, even if it means going into the fire to pull out those in danger, as Jude had just suggested in verse 23. With humble acknowledgement of the potential dangers, we trust God to protect us. And He is able to keep us from stumbling – more than able. God is willing and active in protecting us from the evil all around us.

End Time Keeping:Eight times in the Book of The Revelation, the Greek word for “keep” is likely to have been read as “obey”. In the New Testament, only the Gospel of John, with 10, has more likely misreadings. In Revelation chapters 2 and 3, Jesus sent letters to seven churches in Asia, using the word “keep” in the ones sent to the church at Sardis and to the church at Philadelphia.

Revelation 3:1-6: The Letter to SardisIn this letter, Jesus gave five exhortations, all singular, all directed to the church at Sardis, not to its individual members, because the church itself had gotten far off track. The exhortation to “keep” fits with the other four imperatives. All but one of these directives prioritize hidden, internal corrections crucial to the revival of this church.

The church at Sardis, appeared to have a name, and to be a vibrant church, but it was in fact dying. Its image masked a death, urgent needs that had developed. Certainly, the church at Sardis needed to act better, but a superficial view from the outside may not show its deeper lack of life.

To direct this church to recovery, Jesus exhorted it in verses 2 and 3: “Become one watching and establish the remaining things which are about to die: for I have not found your works full before God. (3) Remember

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therefore how you have received and heard, both keep and repent. Therefore unless you should watch, I will arrive upon you as a thief, and no, you should not know which hour I will arrive upon you.”

The problems of the Sardis church were unseen, and the solutions would address these. For its survival, Jesus instructed this church to:1. Become watchful,2. Establish what remains, but is also dying,3. Remember what you have received and heard,4. Keep, and5. Repent.

First, the church at Sardis was to be watching for things still alive, still having value, still worth building upon, because even those things were dying and needed urgent care. Therefore, Jesus told it to establish these things that remain. Jesus linked their need to establish with their need to be watchful so that they would immediately nourish every living thing they observed, by any means available, planting, watering, feeding, strengthening, and supporting. They must humbly recognize and care for the dying things, whether seen or not, and whether they seem to be necessary or not.

The church at Sardis had not kept what it had received and heard, so Jesus instructed it to remember, recalling its roots, when the gospel message was spoken effectually, when they heard the preaching of the cross, when the people of the city received that message, when it became spirit and life, and when they eagerly gathered to build up and encourage each other. It had forgotten its founding and lost its foundation. To remember would engage this church in identifying some of the most exciting and alive times in its history.

Then, having found and focused on the life remaining, and having remembered what gave it life, the church at Sardis was to keep those things. Keep what you are watching, establishing, and remembering. The process is hear, then keep and hold it securely. Keep every word from God to your assembly; keep those valuable, alive parts of your church and its history, and never let any of them go.

Finally, the exhortation showing more external action: Repent. Very likely, the things finally being seen, established, remembered, and kept, were not being well expressed in recent church activities. Jesus said the church at Sardis needed to repent, but it was not their first need, or second … it was the fifth and final exhortation made to it by Jesus. Four other

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imperatives, higher in priority and sequence, would produce the desire, direction, and dedication toward repentance. These five exhortations work together and support each other.

Jesus made the general process of hearing, then keeping, and then doing, more specific for the church at Sardis. It had been in decline, possibly into ritual or rules, and could not hear clearly, so it would not have known what to keep or do. Jesus saw the need and the solution. The effort to perceive the good, to establish the living, and to remember its heritage was necessary in order to clarify the words to keep. The church, having set itself to this deep, invisible work, would act out a more effective and lasting repentance.

Revelation 3:7-13: The Letter to PhiladelphiaIn addressing the church at Philadelphia, Jesus used the word “keep” three times, but not as an exhortation as he did with the church at Sardis.

Here are verses 8-11: “I have perceived your works, behold I have given before you a door having been opened and not even one is able to shut it because you have a little power and you kept my word and did not deny my name. (9) Behold I give out of the synagogue of the Satan, of the ones saying themselves to be Jews, and are not, but lie, behold I will make them that they should arrive and should worship before your feet, and they should know that I loved you (10) Because you kept the word of my endurance, I also will keep you out of the hour of the temptation, the hour about to come upon the whole planet to test the ones residing upon the earth. (11) Behold I come swiftly; seize what you have in order that no one should get your crown.”

In verse 8, Jesus began this letter blessing the church at Philadelphia with an open door. The reason is that, with just a little strength, they “kept” his word and did not deny his name. With little strength, we too can keep Jesus’ word to us. And Jesus repeated this testimony that the church kept Jesus’ word … we too want Jesus to say over and over again as we live that we keep His word.

Jesus gives two results from this church’s keeping His word.1. It did not deny His name (verse 8). By internally keeping Jesus’ word,

this church avoided the specific evil of denying Jesus’ name. In Philadelphia, believers held on to Jesus’ name as an expression of their keeping. The church had opposition and deceitful enemies (verse 9), but it kept His word and did not deny His name. Therefore, Jesus declared that He would make the opposition yield when they meet

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these believers; Jesus would also require these enemies to know that He loved this church.

2. Jesus will keep this church from the coming hour of temptation (verse 10). This use of keep is not misunderstood to be obey, since Jesus keeping the church makes obvious sense to us. The church at Philadelphia received this needed blessing because it kept His word. That hour of temptation will happen to the whole planet and test every inhabitant. Since this church kept the word of his endurance, and did not let it go, even under hard and lengthy pressure, Jesus will keep the church at Philadelphia church even in a time of great temptation.

While the church in Sardis was anemic and needed five exhortations, the Philadelphian church needed but one: seize (verse 11). This is akin to keeping: it is an internal work of securing what they possessed. They had a crown, a symbol of authority, which could be given to another, so they were encouraged to seize what they had.

This is yet another passage showing the value of the Biblical teaching on keep. By now, the word “keep” should make accurate and obvious sense to us, every time it is used. We stop and notice “keep” when we read it. We make “keep” an important word we use to describe that internal work of securing God’s word in our hearts and minds.

Two of God’s Ten Commandments are the subject of the next chapter.

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Chapter 25: Keeping the 10 Commandments

In Acts 15, the leaders of the newly begun church of believers in Jesus Christ did not equate Jesus’ words, “keep my commandments” with keeping the law of Moses. At that time, many Jews thought that all Gentile believers must become Jews, that they must “be circumcised and keep the law of Moses”. After much discussion, the council of church leaders decided against that.

Additionally, the church leaders knew that the Jewish religion now had many human traditions in addition to the Laws God gave Moses. Jesus, in Mark 7, taught how holding traditions can be so harmful that, for example, even one of the Ten Commandments might not apply to a person who followed the “Corban” tradition. Jesus came to fulfill the Law, but not the traditions added in the centuries following God’s act of giving the Law to Moses.

These passages do not mean that keeping Moses’ law is a bad idea. The Jews of the new church still did it. And, simply reading the Old Testament and its commandments has value for life and direction today. This value, which is impressed upon God’s servants as they read and meditate on them, includes: a knowledge of the Almighty, unchangeable God and His ways, the long and detailed preparation for Jesus’ redemptive work, solving

the problems caused by Adam’s sin, high universal truths that give perspective and purpose, commandments pertinent to life and godliness, and specific, personal insights to instruct, enlighten, edify, correct, warn,

and direct. Such direction often becomes a personal commandment to keep.

We also learn that God is not angry or vindictive in any part of the Bible. The same God authored both the Old and New Testaments. In both He is declared to be: Good: He always acts in ways that are good and right toward His

servants and toward the whole world. Wise: in His wisdom, He guides His servants in a fulfilling and

blessed life – never toward a cursed life or a life without hope. Just: in completely dealing with human sin, from its entrance,

corrupting the world and all life, to its judgment and condemnation once for all in the body of Jesus.

Warm: He desires to walk and talk with His servants who seek Him and commune with Him.

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All-Powerful: Nothing is impossible with God – ever. Consistent: In dealing with everyday human choices, providing and

enforcing a life of blessing for good choices or a cursed life for bad choices.

Purposeful: He has very good plans and He is working them out with His servants who learn His purposes and act in harmony with them.

… and much more.

God’s law remains good; it has been given to Israel as an evidence that they were a special people and

nation, fulfilled by Jesus, declared to be holy, just, and good, by Paul in Romans 7, a direct application for our current lives and society as we relate to

God and receive his guidance, and heard and kept by His people in every age.

To repeat: before God gave Israel a single commandment, and before they had even one outward action to perform, He stated that His favor to them was conditioned on the people hearing His voice and keeping His covenant. God spoke to Moses in Exodus 19:3-6: … “Thus will you say to the house of Jacob, and tell the sons of Israel; (4) ‘You have seen what I did to Egyptians, and lifted you upon eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself. (5) And now, if to hear, you will hear My voice, and have kept My covenant, then you will be to Me a peculiar treasure from all people: as all the earth to Me: (6) And you will be to Me from a realm of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you will speak unto the sons of Israel.”

As Israel heard and kept, they would be:1. A peculiar treasure to God, different from all other people in the earth,2. A realm of priests to God, communicating with Him and worshiping

Him, and3. A holy nation.

In His first words at Mt. Sinai, God declared His interest to exalt a people who carefully listened to all of His words and kept His covenant with them. God’s conditions were internal. From the very beginning, God wanted a people who were right on the inside, in their hearts and minds. His first words put no demands upon external behavior. God knew and often made clear that those who Hear and Keep, also Do.

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Israel responded to God’s condition by pledging to do what He said; they skipped the Hear and Keep instructions. Doing what God said is a nice idea, a good goal for the nation and its people, yet in the Bible, more often than not, God’s people failed to do what God said. From the beginning, they skipped the internal part. Did that continue? Were the commandments simply an external demand for them? Did God’s word have little internal support? could this be a reason for failing so often in their efforts to do them?

By God’s grace, we pledge to hear His voice, and keep His covenant, in order that we might desire, and be directed, and be established in the doing of what He says.

The well-known Ten Commandments were especially good laws – they remain foundational for everyone who believes into Christ Jesus. People living a good and blessed life, already follow most of the 10. This chapter will expand on two. They are practical examples of what keeping could look like … the same could be done for the other eight, and many other laws, or testimonies, or proverbs, etc. found throughout the Bible.

Commandment 8: Do not steal

To steal is to take that which belongs to another in order to make it mine. The stolen item could be something seen, such as a physical object or person, or something unseen that has been claimed, such as another person’s idea or reputation. If I purchase physical or intellectual property I know to be stolen, such as product design, exam answers, or written documents, I am stealing.

There is no justification for stealing; it does not matter if I feel like I have given more than I have received, or if I feel like someone has enough and does not need or deserve an item as much as I do. No excuse matters. God says do not steal.

This commandment is a good rule for life, but simply as a rule, it can be oppressive, yielding guilt. Following the rule, because it is a rule, is not easy and may not even be possible for some who hope not to steal. A strong will or an external structure can encourage compliance to a rule, and may be effective for a time in certain situations. Even prayer can be a natural effort. But we do not need more rules, more effort, or more striving.

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We do need a deep internal work done … we need, by the grace of God, to keep the commandment. In our hearts, we abandon every excuse for any form of taking something that belongs to another. We settle ourselves that stealing is not a part God’s way of life and blessing.

Abram’s attitude in Genesis 14:23 is very powerful. Even when he merited a reward after leading a significant military rescue, Abram told one of the rescued generals, “I will not take anything that is yours, not even a thread or a shoelace. I will not give you any reason to say, ‘I have made Abram rich.’ ”.

Abram earned every bit of his great riches … yes, with God’s blessing and direction, and yes, by wise and diligent labor. In the process, in his life, he also said, “No.” No, to any single gift from any single source, deserved or not.

Abram’s example may be extreme, but the principle is that no one else helped Abram get any of his possessions. It should be the same for us. We should want to say, “I possess nothing that properly belongs to another. Nothing attained by another is or will be a part of my wealth or achievements, as God guides and blesses.”

As God leads, we may accept something deserved, but we do not steal. Certainly, many valuable resources from gifts to inheritances are commonly offered and we learn to receive gratefully. Yet, our plan, to earn all of our possessions is a good rule that we can secure in our hearts. When we do, any option to steal will conflict with what we are keeping. The possibility of stealing so much as a paper clip or a pack of gum automatically triggers a “NO WAY” stop sign in our heart, and we say, “Nothing I possess belongs to another.”

We may have great need, but we do not steal. Even if the owner would not know, or care, or miss what we take, we do not steal. Our hearts are fixed in agreement with God’s ways. Not only has He promised to bless us, not only are we determined not to have anything belonging to another, but we also are assured that any act of stealing is not God’s way. We choose to keep this commandment and declare that it is good and right for us to earn all that we possess, and personally, to attain all that we achieve.

Even if our lack causes us and others great hardship, we trust God to supply. He gives wisdom, direction, as well as abundant provision. Others of us may see someone in need, but we do not look down on them or pass them by. We too trust God to supply for us and generously offer

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our help to others as God guides and provides. Deuteronomy 15:1-4 is amazing! In this context, God is talking about not exacting debts from others and says, “Except when there will be no poor among you; for Yahweh will greatly bless you…” No poor among you! We can help.

Those who habitually progress by stealing what others have gained, achieved, or learned may find it difficult to cease their stealing activities. Even so, if God has made it clear that now is the time to keep this commandment, then now is the time to start deep inside and choose God’s way. Making this decision, we determine that no consequence or difficulty will prevent us from keeping this commandment. First, in our hearts, we commit to earn our own way and never to steal. With humble honesty, we refuse to plan for or accept any further shortcuts. We keep “never steal” in our hearts and minds, and any thought of stealing is met with strong resistance in us.

To both aid and test our commitment to God’s word never to steal … some of us may need to make restitution. We do this as God guides and provides. God will bring some person or event to mind, and we act to make that right. It is impossible and unnecessary to remember every act of theft and to correct them all at once. Our relationship with God and His word is our focus. We love him, desire to please Him, and determine to respond to His direction in restoring items and relationships.

We continue to keep the commandment, even if our path to recovery and restoration is a long and bumpy one. We always keep it in order to walk in a lifestyle free from theft and free to enjoy all of God’s abundant provisions.

Commandment 10: Do not covetExodus 20:17: You shall not covet your neighbor's house, you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor's.

This commandment addresses our hidden desires. All of us notice things that others possess, but we perceive them differently. Some may smile and be happy for someone who appears to be blessed. Enterprising people may even go to them to learn principles and habits that lead to success. Others may look more critically and wonder how that person could afford a certain luxury, or why they need an item, or if they deserve it. Some judgments may reflect a disturbing spirit of envy or pride, but coveting goes further and wants what someone else possesses.

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Coveting is Internal:Desiring the possessions of another could indicate heart problems like selfishness, uncontrolled lusts, or greed. Both the source and the act of coveting are internal, and its object could be almost anything from physical possessions and money to power and influence. In most cases, no one else knows … but a festering covetousness will express itself in destructive ways, such as theft, reckless spending, and abusive behavior toward others.

In Biblical times, neighborhoods were smaller and more uniform, homes and livelihood were more anchored to the land, and family units settled close to each other. Possible expressions of covetousness were limited in area and scope compared to today’s mobile society, which is at once more connected and more disconnected. We can now easily covet someone’s possession far from our home … and we can act on that desire remotely, possibly not knowing how our actions impact others.

But God says, “Do not covet.” This was difficult for the religious Paul, as he testified in Romans 7:7-8:2. This very commandment convicted him of his out-of-control desires. He realized, seemingly for the first time, not only that he was a sinner, but also that sin was his master. Only his new life in Christ Jesus, and the Spirit that God had given him enabled him to escape his bondage to this sin, or to any other sin.

Likewise, even strong believers today will have little peace inside while selfishly desiring what others have. Some who habitually covet, may say it is impossible for them to keep the commandment. Maybe they mean “impossible to obey”; we naturally focus on our performance. Coveting is different and more difficult to identify, as with Paul, being because it reflects an internal problem with our desires.

Keeping is Internal:The difficulty increases since the solution, keeping this commandment, is also an internal work. It is confusing. Coveting is internal desires gone awry; keeping God’s commandment is properly securing it in our hearts, recognizing it as God’s best for our lives. Even when coveting internally, we must keep God’s commandment internally.

By God’s grace, we are confident that we will one day be free from covetousness. Keeping the commandment means that we agree with God and love His ways for us. We declare in our hearts, express with our words, and cry out in prayer: “God has said, ‘Do not covet,’ and I embrace

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His command as good and right. I will never let it go no matter how difficult it seems. I commit to desire what God desires, to desire what is good and right. I want His ways and seek His provision. I will bless others who have what I need or want; if something belongs to another, I will not desire it.”

When an internal, out-of-sight lust for another person’s possession comes, we remember and secure God’s command not to covet. We trust this keeping work to be stronger, coming from the source of who we are and of our God-given desires. At these times of internal conflict, God may help to change our focus, or He may give us another desire to occupy our mind and heart, one that we know and believe to be good and right for our lives.

Consider a desire for a better position or for more authority. This can be good and motivating, unless the focus is on a particular person or position, coveting what another possesses. It could be at the workplace, seeing duties and responsibilities we could do better than our boss, or at a church, seeing teaching or ministering positions that we could handle better than the one currently doing them. In coveting another person’s position, we break this commandment. Even if we do not act to bring down another person or to promote ourselves, there will be harmful effects on us personally, on our performance, or on our relationships. These may include distraction, a troubled heart, or a hinderance in doing our best where we are. Coveting then works against us, reducing our ability to progress as we desire.

From our personal communication with God, we realize the coveting problem and determine to fix it. God has many ways to guide our hearts and minds to this end, including Humbly admitting the problem, Recognizing God’s commandment as good and submitting to it, Receiving new objects for our focus, Turning our heart’s gaze from what others have to God’s desires and

plans, Seeing more of what we have, or what others need, Embracing our current position with a desire to do our work better,

and Blessing and praying for a person in a position we might desire.

God will guide every person in the best way. By His life and Spirit in us, we will find victory and freedom; obedience and life change will be encouraged. Of course, we saturate ourselves in the Bible, pray in faith, discuss the matter with non-coveting friends, and receive other help as

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God provides. But a main objective is to hold proper desires and, by keeping them, to eject covetous desires. We resolutely keep God’s commandment not to covet.

Perfectly keeping may also be difficult when we are surrounded by things wanted or needed, situations that seem to encourage coveting. But perfect keeping is not the same as perfect obedience. We think it should be. We may ask, “How can I keep right inside and still covet? that would make me a hypocrite.” A simple answer is that we keep what is right because we love God and believe Him; we love what He declares to be right. We keep that inside even if our performance lags, and our thoughts return to the possession of another. We believe that God’s way is best, and that we have His help and support, and that we will see our behavior reflect God’s ways.

Some will not want freedom from all covetousness, maybe holding just one covetous desire … but, of course, it is rarely “just one”. This may expose a heart that chooses to abandon God’s way when God’s way is not convenient, a heart that instead holds selfish ways, a heart that determines for itself what is right or wrong, a heart that does not really love God’s ways or God’s desires. A person rejecting God’s current prompting is unlikely to receive further direction.

Although only God can know what is in a person’s heart, we can observe actions that may reflect what is in the heart, not judging anyone’s heart by external actions, not even our own. Repentance, seeking God for help, searching His word for wisdom, or a readiness to change a life situation or habit, all these and more testify to the internal reality of loving God and keeping His commandments.

Specifically, keeping God’s commandment not to covet has further evidences, such as a humility to receive all of God’s word, to strengthen ways and desires that please God, and to demonstrate a hatred of any lustful activity. Additionally, a sorrow over an expression of greed and a regret for envious or jealous behavior, also reflect a heart that is keeping God’s commandment not to covet, one that is building attitudes and habits that facilitate right action. Similarly, and regretfully, the life of a person with a heart and mind not keeping God’s ways will give evidence of that.

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Chapter 26: Keep: A Review

The following paragraphs briefly review the ground covered in considering that Keep Always Means Keep.

The first chapter introduced the universal mis-understanding of “keep my commandments” and the importance of now getting it right. The children of Israel immediately skipped hearing God’s voice and keeping His covenant, saying instead that they would do what He said. From that beginning to the present day, God’s people have been eager to obey, but we have often over-looked the essential internal activity of keeping, in addition to missing the actual meaning of the word “keep”.

Next, chapter 2 merely scratched the surface of David’s long prayer in Psalm 119; it has 30 verses using a Hebrew word meaning “keep”. Another 14 verses in Psalms and 18 verses in Proverbs say “keep” where readers have assumed it to mean “obey”. One of my favorite “keep chapters” is Proverbs 4 (see Appendix) in which various words and expressions encourage the hidden, keeping work. Verse 13 is amazing. In the KJV it reads, “Take fast hold of instruction; let her not go: keep her; for she is thy life.” Opportunities for edifying and challenging meditations on this subject abound in the Psalms and Proverbs.

Chapter 3 reviews Psalm 121, which teaches us much about the keeping activity from God’s example. Its six uses of the verb “keep” are not misunderstood because God is keeping His people. We can be thankful for the hidden activity of God’s keeping us. We are truly secure in Him because He keeps us. This Psalm demonstrates the proper meaning and application of the verb “keep”.

Verses from Deuteronomy show a crucial three-step process: 1) to hear, 2) to keep, and 3) to do. Chapter 4 begins to describe its Biblical importance for us. In Moses’ lengthy, parting message to Israel at the banks of the Jordan River, “keep” and “obey” occur in the same verse many times, often in the same phrase, for example, “keep to do”. We note that they are two different actions, two of the three steps. In this process, we can only keep something we have heard … then proper keeping leads to doing as God’s directs.

I shared my experience with the word keep in Chapter 5. My struggle: doing the first and highest commandment to love God was impossible since I was unable meet the requirement to “obey” Jesus’ or God’s commandments, as I wrongly read in John 14:15 and elsewhere. Decades

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later, upon learning that “keep” actually meant “keep” my persistent struggle changed to hopeful effort as I learned that keeping God’s commandments is not only possible, but it also aids doing them.

Chapter 6 begins with several definitions of the verbs “keep” and “obey” in English, Greek, and Hebrew. Both verbs are important, but they are very different. “Keep” is an internal activity and “obey” is an external activity. A table listing qualities of each verb shows some of their differences, e.g. as the hidden foundation of a visible building, or as the hidden root producing visible fruit, so internal keeping produces external obedience.

The priority and value of keeping is described in Chapter 7. Keeping has priority over hearing, especially as a filter: we do not keep (or do) all that we hear. Keeping has priority over obedience, especially in sequence – “keeping” is usually needed in order for the obedience to be right. And the value of keeping is abundant, partly because it is deep and out of sight, which also makes it difficult to communicate.

Jesus’ words in John 14 and I John 5 each relate loving God with keeping His words. This is the subject of Chapter 8. While there are outward expressions, both keeping and loving are internal activities of the heart and mind. In addition, keeping is linked with Jesus and His Father loving us and abiding with us. Our keeping clarifies and deepens our understanding of God and His ways; it also identifies, illuminates, and establishes our way forward.

Chapter 9 has a short review of a sermon by a pastor who loved the keep idea but had to leave John 14 and I John 5 in order to teach it. He taught it from a different a passage, using a word so common, it seems forced. Teachers and preachers can and should take advantage of the simple, Biblical way of using the word “keep” itself to teach the principle of keeping.

Chapter 10 considers two passages communicating the idea of keeping without using the word “keep”. They illustrate the fact that keep is not the only verb used in Bible passages to teach the necessity of the internal work of securing and holding God’s commandments responsibly. Colossians 1 uses the verb “be filled” in a context that encourages both the “keeping” and the “walking out” of that filling. In Mark 7, the Pharisees are shown to “seize” and clutch tightly to their human traditions, while they “abandoned” and “rejected” God’s commandments … neither is good. Of course the Pharisees would object to this charge, so Jesus gave one clear

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example of how they void one of the Ten Commandments to keep the traditions of their elders.

Assuming “keep” to mean “obey” leads to many errors, usually inadvertent. Chapter 11 identifies that under-emphasizing “keep” and over-emphasizing “obey” happen together, and they happen often. Reading more than 275 Hebrew and Greek uses of “keep” instead to mean “obey” doubles this error and reverses their Biblical priorities. Exaggerating “obey” is made even worse when 80 uses of the Hebrew verb “hear” are translated “obey”. All of this clouds our perception of the priority of the crucial Biblical concept behind the verb “keep”.

Difficulties, even mistakes, in teaching passages where “keep” is misread are the considered in Chapter 12. We are so overwhelmed by the need to “obey”, that we do not use the word “keep” to teach its own concept. Instead, we use other Bible words to teach “keeping”, good words, but used far less often than “keep” and still overwhelmed by “obey”. Also, because the focus is external, it leads to errors in application.

Additional preaching examples are reviewed in Chapter 13. Each taught the keeping activity, but none used the word “keep”, even when it was a major focus in the texts. In addition, two of them needed to explain imperfect human obedience because they understood “keep God’s commandments” to mean “obey God’s commandments”. Reading “keep” properly provides a direct way to teach keeping, and a proper context to explain that imperfect obedience is temporary.

Errors are also made in applying keeping. Five of them are listed in Chapter 14. For instance, those properly keeping will not claim that it is ONLY important to get the internal person right, even though that is a primary reason to keep God’s commandments. Those avoiding this error know that a proper internal keeping yields external fruit.

The question: “How do I know which commandments to keep?” is addressed in Chapter 15. The answer is that it flows out of our personal relationship with God, being reconciled, adopted children of our heavenly Father. We learn that we can communicate with God in relationship with us. His Word and His Spirit inform and support identifying which commandments a person is to “keep”. Various other means, such as church relationships with His people and leaders, can aid us as well. The Bible also gives us ways to test if God is really speaking to us: we can be sure that God is directing our steps … including to tell us what we keep.

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Nehemiah is offered as an example of what keeping may involve in Chapter 16. While in Babylon, after the return of thousands of Jews to Jerusalem, Nehemiah heard that the people of Israel were in great need. Over the next four months, he added to the great honor he had for God and His people by learning what was needed and how he might be a part of the solution. When the opportunity can, Nehemiah was ready to act.

Significantly, Jesus twice testified to the fact that he kept His Father’s word. One occasion was public, happening during a heated discussion with the Jews, and the other was during his private upper room discourse with eleven disciples. These are the subjects of Chapter 17. Jesus placed great weight on his keeping and ours in John 15:10: by “keeping” Jesus remained in his Fathers love, and by “keeping” his disciples would remain there too.

Chapter 18 reviews how Job kept God’s commandments and what He knew to be true about God and His ways, despite the physical tragedies that assaulted him, and the opposition of his wife and friends who should have given him support. Even the common theological understanding of that day supported his guilt. The word “keep” is not used, but Job is an example of someone who never let go of God or His words to him, even in extreme circumstances.

Chapter 19 addresses the tension believers have in being imperfect: desiring to obey God perfectly, but failing to do so at times. If perfect obedience is an internal and an external expectation, believers will have this tension. But the tension goes away when we read “keep” Biblically, and when we reassure ourselves that perfect keeping is indeed possible for imperfect people, like King David, and like us. The lost Biblical reality: God’s people can keep His commandments internally, even when obedience lags.

Chapter 20 highlights other Biblical benefits of keeping found in I John: confident praying and three specific areas of knowledge. Receiving what we ask for is found twice in I John, on multiple occasions in the life and words of Jesus, and elsewhere in the Bible. Additionally, when we keep His commandments, we can know that we know God, that we abide in Him, and that we love each other.

Two Old Testament types of keeping are considered in Chapter 21. 1) Numbers 18 uses “keep” to describe work obligations of the priests and Levites. 2) Solomon’s prayer in I Kings 8 describes what it means to keep

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promises. God is the example of what it means to keep promises, which is different than fulfilling promises.

An early church controversy is the backdrop for Chapter 22, which addresses the question: “Are the commandments referred to by Jesus in the Upper Room and John in his first epistle the same as the Old Testament Law?” Acts 15 provided a partial answer, where the Church leaders discussed what to do about all the Gentile conversions. The church of believers in Christ Jesus seemed, at first, to be an extension of the Jewish religion, but as the gospel faith expanded to the Gentiles throughout the region, the church had to decide how much, if any, “Jewishness” would be required of Gentile believers. The council concluded, “None.” Gentile believers were given four activities to avoid, but they were not required to keep the Jewish laws or to be circumcised.

Eve, in a pristine environment and a very blessed situation, abandoned the one commandment God had given to be kept in the Garden of Eden. Chapter 23 details her downward slide while talking with the serpent. Eve, and Adam with her, broke the commandment and death entered the world.

Chapter 25 reviews two New Testament passages to help broaden our understanding of the keeping activity. The Epistle of Jude uses “keep” six times in a variety of ways his short epistle. In one verse, he exhorts us to “keep ourselves” as a way to avoid evil. The Biblical principle is that we are to keep good things; a context suggesting that we must “keep from” an error is rare. Laws do forbid fornication, stealing, and much more, but we are not to keep such restrictions. Instead, keeping will involve holding on to good things like honoring marriage, a man cherishing his wife, and focusing on good desires rather than enticements that lead to sin. Chapter 25 also looks at Revelation 3, which has four occurrences of the verb “keep”. Jesus gave the church at Sardis five imperatives in order for them to get back on the right path. “Keep” was the 4 th one, indicating that the church must keep the right things. Next, Jesus twice testified that the church at Philadelphia had kept his word. As a result, Jesus promised to keep them from the coming global testing.

Since the Ten Commandments remain good and right for all people, Chapter 26 suggests what might be involved in keeping two of them: “Do not steal” and “Do not covet”. God’s “old” commandments still carry value and weight, and many of them have profound application in the lives of nearly every living person.

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Applying keep to other commandments of the Ten and more is a project for the reader to continue. Examining uses of the verb “keep” in the Bible (there are many not mentioned in this book) in the light of its actual definition would also be meaningful, as would study of the verbs “guard” and “hear”, using an application that identifies their uses in Hebrew and Greek sources. The website keepmeanskeep.org has lists of all uses of “keep” and other information about this book.

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Epilogue: Keep: The Most Important Word in a Believer’s Vocabulary

As the center of the 3-step Biblical process, “Keep” is the most important word. Keeping follows hearing. Having God’s commandment to keep, presupposes already having heard God’s instruction, with a prior learning and a current understanding of what is heard. In “keeping”, I personally possess something definite, that I know to be valuable, and that I secure it, grip it tightly, and never let it go.

Following hearing, “keep” is our personal filter. While we seek to control what we hear, to hear and see edifying and God honoring messages, much more bombards us. But we are not what we hear; instead, we are what we keep from among the many things that we hear and see. This is no excuse to act proudly or presumptuously in allowing potentially damaging words and images to surround us. It is, however, reason not to worry about the evil around us since we can choose what we “keep”: what we secure in our hearts and minds; what we think about, and what we mediate on.

At the center, “keep” precedes “obedience”; the primary way we relate to God’s commands is to “keep” them. This is the big change we make when we read keep properly. But we still might question why keeping should precede obedience.

Over the centuries, many of God’s people grew to hear a word from the Lord and act upon it to obey it. They kept the 2-step process: hear then obey. It became almost automatic as their relationship with God, their knowledge of God, their love for God and His word and His ways grew deep and pervasive in their lives. When He spoke to them, they knew His voice and when they heard it, they obeyed it. As they lived and grew closer to God, their mediation and study yielded the internal results that mark keeping. Their deep-rooted knowledge of and love of God and His ways became more and more an invisible root giving stability to their lives and walk with God … and producing good fruit.

Many today know and love God like that: hearing and knowing His voice, they act accordingly. Knowing God so well is a wonderful place to be, bringing clear direction, purpose, and fulfillment while living in God’s mercy, grace, and favor. It comes from an intimate relationship with Him, the atmosphere where obedience happens, almost without effort.

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All this has been done and can, of course, still be done while thinking “obey” when reading “keep”. But getting there is not automatic: it takes work. Without reading “keep” as “keep”, most have had to struggle over time to obey words heard, difficult directions received, or a new calling that appears huge and uncomfortable. At least at first, obedience was difficult for many of God’s people because of the potential impact on others, the vast change required, feelings of inadequacy, and more. The contest in such challenges: who will have our heart? will we yield to God and His way, or will we abandon the direction we have been given?

We read and hear inspiring stories of those who persevered to become unchangeably committed servants of God. We rejoice with them, and possibly wonder what it would take for us to get there.

We wonder too about those who do not persevere, “Why did they not yield to God’s way?” Maybe we also wonder how to reduce this result.

Adding “keep” between hearing and obeying, and making “keep” to be the primary way we relate to the commandments we hear from God helps … a lot. Without knowing about “keep”, we are working on the heart part and the action part together, and the action step is normally the primary focus and measure of how successful we are with God’s word. But this is backward: the branches cannot even attempt to bear fruit unless they are a part of the vine. Our focus must be the heart; we must be tapped into God and His life … right from the start of our walk with God.

All of God’s enthusiastic servants likely know that each word we receive from the living Creator God is best for us and our world. If we now add “keep”; if we realize that that obedience is not the next step, we can rest with peace and joy in the fact that God has spoken to us. We can then admit that we do not know what walking in that word would look like, and know that is okay. We can settle our hearts to hold that word securely while we look to God for wisdom on how to obey. We pause with patience and ask God what it means for our lives and for our loved ones. Seeing difficult obstacles or changes ahead does not concern us; we keep God’s word to us; we know that God will make clear how we are to walk in it. His word is our foremost thought and our greatest treasure. From this place, there is little struggle. Intimacy grows easily; both our heart and our walk are in tune with God … and our life pleases Him.

Knowing more of the Biblical value and priority of keeping God’s word, we find immediate benefit in personalizing God’s word; with passion and joy we can facilitate our understanding of God’s word to us, and obey it

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with a confidence sourced in God’s word already made clear. It was seen in the lives of Job and David, of Nehemiah and Jesus … and in many other lives … and now ours too.

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Appendix 1: To Hear as obey in the Old Testament

This table lists the Old Testament verses where “to hear” is translated to say or mean “obey”. The word translated from the Hebrew “to hear” is bolded. Every bolded obey in these verses is translated from that Hebrew word. It is usually translated “obey” in the KJV, but also “hearken” and sometimes “hear” when used twice in a verse. When the word “voice” appears with this Hebrew word, it too is bolded.

The reader may see how the Hebrew word “hear” makes good sense in these verses. In some cases, especially when the verb “to hear” is used in two different phrases, other words may reflect the meaning better. Let the reader to research the context, the grammar, the style, and other resources to determine which word(s) might fit the message of the verse.

A few verses are interesting in their adjustment of the Hear-Keep-Do/Obey order promoted in this book. They would seem to warrant a second look.

Gen 22:18 And in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because you have my voice.

Gen 26:5 … Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my commandments, my statutes, and my laws.

Gen 27:8 … my son, obey my voice according to that which I command thee. Gen 27:13 And his mother said unto him, Upon me be thy curse, my son: only obey my

go fetch them. Gen 27:43 … my son, obey my voice; and arise, flee to Laban my brother to Haran; Gen 28:7 And that Jacob obeyed his father and his mother, and went to Padanaram; Exo 5:2 And Pharaoh said, Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice to let Israel go? I

know not the LORD, neither will I let Israel go. Exo 19:5 Now therefore, if you will obey (2 hears) my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then

you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine: Exo 23:21 Beware (Keep) of him, and obey his voice, provoke him not; for he will not pardon your

transgressions: for my name is in him. Exo 23:22 But if you will indeed obey (2 hears) his voice, and do all that I speak; then I will be an

enemy unto your enemies, and an adversary unto your adversaries. Exo 24:7 And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they

said, All that the LORD has said will we do, and be obedient. Num 27:20 And you shall put some of your honor upon him, that all the congregation of the children

of Israel may be obedient. Deu 4:30 … if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shall be obedient unto his voiceDeu 8:20 As the nations which the LORD destroys before your face, so shall you perish; because

you would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.

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Deu 11:27 A blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day:

Deu 11:28 And a curse, if you will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way …

Deu 13:4 You shall walk after the LORD your God, and fear him, and keep his commandments, and obey his voice, and you shall serve him, and cleave unto him.

Deu 21:18 If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voiceor the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will unto them:

Deu 21:20 And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard.

Deu 27:10 Thou shalt therefore obey the voice of the LORD thy God, and do his commandments and his statutes …

Deu 28:62 And you shall be left few in number, whereas you were as the stars of heaven for multitude; because you would not obey the voice of the LORD thy God.

Deu 30:2 And shalt return unto the LORD thy God, and shalt obey his voice according to all that I command thee this day …

Deu 30:8 And thou shalt return and obey the voice of the LORD, and do all his commandments which I command thee this day.

Deu 30:20 That thou may love the LORD thy God, and that thou may obey his voicemay cleave unto him: for he is thy life, and the length of thy days:…

Jos 5:6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness, till all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they the voice of the LORD: unto whom the LORD swore that he would not shew them the land …

Jos 22:2 And said unto them, You have kept all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded you, and have obeyed my voice in all that I commanded you:

Jos 24:24 And the people said unto Joshua, The LORD our God will we serve, and his we obey.

Jdg 2:2 … but you have not obeyed my voice: why have you done this? Jdg 2:17 And yet they would not hearken unto their judges, but they went a whoring after other

gods, and bowed themselves unto them: they turned quickly out of the way which their fathers walked in, obeying the commandments of the LORD; but they did not so.

Jdg 6:10 And I said unto you, I am the LORD your God; fear not the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell: but you have not obeyed my voice.

1Sa 8:19 … the people refused to obey the voice of Samuel; and they said, Nay; but we will have a king over us;

1Sa 12:14 If you will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both you and also the king who reigns over you continue following the LORD your God:

1Sa 12:15 But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you …

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1Sa 15:19 Wherefore then did you not obey the voice of the LORD … 1Sa 15:20 And Saul said unto Samuel, Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the LORD, and have gone

the way which the LORD sent me … 1Sa 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in

obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.

1Sa 15:24 And Saul said unto Samuel, I have sinned: for I have transgressed the commandment of the LORD, and thy words: because I feared the people, and obeyed their voice

1Sa 28:18 Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD, nor execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek …

1Sa 28:21 … Behold, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which you spoke to me.

2Sa 22:45 Strangers shall submit themselves unto me: as soon as they hear, they shall unto me.

1Ki 20:36 Then said he unto him, Because thou hast not obeyed the voice of the LORD, behold, as soon as thou art departed from me, a lion shall slay thee …

2Ki 18:12 Because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD their God, but transgressed his covenant, and all that Moses the servant of the LORD commanded, and would them, nor do them.

1Ch 29:23 Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king instead of David his father, and prospered; and all Israel obeyed him.

2Ch 11:4 … this thing is done of me. And they obeyed the words of the LORD, and returned from going against Jeroboam.

Neh 9:17 And refused to obey, neither were mindful of thy wonders that thou didst among them; but hardened their necks, and in their rebellion appointed a captain …

Job 36:11 If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasures.

Job 36:12 But if they obey not, they shall perish by the sword, and they shall die without knowledge.

Psa 18:44 As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me: the strangers shall submit themselves unto me.

Pro 5:13 And have not obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to them that instructed me!

Pro 25:12 As an earring of gold, and an ornament of fine gold, so is a wise reprover upon an obedient ear.

Isa 1:19 If you be willing and obedient, you shall eat the good of the land: Isa 42:24 Who gave Jacob for a spoil, and Israel to the robbers? did not the LORD, he against

whom we have sinned? for they would not walk in his ways, neither were they unto his law.

Isa 50:10 Who is among you that fears the LORD, who obeys the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.

Jer 3:13 … and you have not obeyed my voice, saith the LORD.

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Jer 3:25 … for we have sinned against the LORD our God, we and our fathers, from our youth even unto this day, and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God.

Jer 7:23 But this thing commanded I them, saying, Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people: and walk you in all the ways that I have commanded you, that it may be well unto you.

Jer 7:28 … This is a nation that does not obey the voice of the LORD their God, nor receive correction …

Jer 9:13 … Because they have forsaken my law which I set before them, and have not my voice, neither walked therein;

Jer 11:3 … Cursed be the man who does not obey the words of this covenant, Jer 11:4 Which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them forth out of the land of

Egypt, from the iron furnace, saying, Obey my voice, and do them, according to all which I command you: so shall you be my people, and I will be your God:

Jer 11:7 For I earnestly protested unto your fathers in the day that I brought them up out of the land of Egypt, even unto this day, rising early and protesting, saying, Obey

Jer 11:8 Yet they did not obey nor incline their ear, but walked every one in the imagination of their evil heart …

Jer 12:17 But if they will not obey I will utterly pluck up and destroy that nation, saith the LORD. Jer 17:23 But they did not obey, neither incline their ear, but made their neck stiff, that they might

not hear, nor receive instruction. Jer 18:10 If it do evil in my sight, that it not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with

which I said I would benefit them. Jer 22:21 I spoke unto thee in thy prosperity; but thou said, I will not hear. This hath been thy

manner from thy youth, that you did not obey my voice. Jer 26:13 … amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and

the LORD will repent him of the evil that he hath pronounced against you. Jer 32:23 And they came in, and possessed it; but they did not obey thy voice, neither walked in

thy law; they have done nothing of all that you commanded them to do … Jer 34:10 Now when all the princes, and all the people, which had entered into the covenant,

heard that every one should let his manservant, and every one his maidservant, go free, that none should serve themselves of them any more, then they obeyed, and let them go.

Jer 35:8 Thus have we obeyed the voice of Jonadab the son of Rechab our father in all that he hath charged us, to drink no wine all our days …

Jer 35:10 But we dwelt in tents, and have obeyed, and done according to all that Jonadab our father commanded us.

Jer 35:14 The words of Jonadab … are performed; for unto this day they drink none, but their father's commandment: notwithstanding I have spoken unto you, rising early and speaking; but you did not hearken unto me.

Jer 35:18 … Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts, and done according unto all that he hath commanded you:

Jer 38:20 But Jeremiah said, They shall not deliver thee. Obey, I beseech thee, the LORD, which I speak unto thee: so it shall be well unto thee, and thy soul shall live.

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Jer 40:3 … because you have sinned against the LORD, and have not obeyedtherefore this thing is come upon you.

Jer 42:6 Whether it be good, or whether it be evil, we will obey the voice of the LORD our God, to whom we send thee; that it may be well with us, when we obey the LORD our God.

Jer 42:13 But if you say, We will not dwell in this land, neither obey the voice of the LORD your God,

Jer 42:21 … but you have not obeyed the voice of the LORD your God, nor any thing for the which he hath sent me unto you.

Jer 43:4 So Johanan the son of Kareah, and all the captains of the forces, and all the people, obeyed not the voice of the LORD, to dwell in the land of Judah.

Jer 43:7 So they came into the land of Egypt: for they obeyed not the voice of the LORD … Jer 44:23 Because you have burned incense, and because you have sinned against the LORD, and

have not obeyed the voice of the LORD, nor walked in his law, nor in his statutes, nor in his testimonies; therefore this evil is happened unto you, as at this day.

Dan 9:10 Neither have we obeyed the voice of the LORD our God, to walk in his laws … Dan 9:11 Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that they might

thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us … Dan 9:14 Therefore hath the LORD watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us … for we

obeyed not his voice.

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Appendix 2:Important verbs supporting the Keep idea especially in Proverbs Chapter 4

To Attend … hearken 8 times in ProverbsPro_4:1 Hear,H8085 ye children,H1121 the instructionH4148 of a father,H1 and attendH7181 to knowH3045 understanding.H998 Pro_4:20 My son,H1121 attendH7181 to my words;H1697 inclineH5186 thine earH241

unto my sayings.H561

To Hear .. .shama 30 times in ProverbsPro_4:1 Hear,H8085 ye children,H1121 the instructionH4148 of a father,H1 and attendH7181 to knowH3045 understanding.H998 Pro_4:10 Hear,H8085 O my son,H1121 and receiveH3947 my sayings;H561 and the yearsH8141 of thy lifeH2416 shall be many.H7235

To Keep … 31 times in ProverbsPro_4:4 He taughtH3384 me also, and saidH559 unto me, Let thine heartH3820

retainH8551 my words:H1697 keepH8104 my commandments,H4687 and live.H2421 Pro_4:6 ForsakeH5800 her not,H408 and she shall preserveH8104 thee: loveH157

her, and she shall keepH5341 thee. Pro_4:21 Let them notH408 departH3868 from thine eyes;H4480 H5869 keepH8104

them in the midstH8432 of thine heart.H3824

To hold strongly … 4 times in ProverbsPro_3:18 SheH1931 is a treeH6086 of lifeH2416 to them that lay holdH2388 upon her: and happyH833 is every one that retainethH8551 her. Pro_4:13 Take fast holdH2388 of instruction;H4148 let her notH408 go:H7503

keepH5341 her; forH3588 sheH1931 is thy life.H2416

To guard or protect … 19 in ProverbsPro_4:6 ForsakeH5800 her not,H408 and she shall preserveH8104 thee: loveH157

her, and she shall keepH5341 thee. Pro_4:13 Take fast holdH2388 of instruction;H4148 let her notH408 go:H7503

keepH5341 her; forH3588 sheH1931 is thy life.H2416 Pro_4:23 KeepH5341 thy heartH3820 with allH4480 H3605 diligence;H4929 forH3588 out ofH4480 it are the issuesH8444 of life.H2416

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Meditation Quotes:

It is not hasty reading, but seriously meditating upon holy and heavenly truths that makes them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee's touching on the flowers that gathers the honey, but her abiding for a time upon them, and drawing out the sweet. It is not he that reads most, but he that meditates most on divine truth, that will prove the choicest, wisest, strongest Christian.Joseph Hall

I will conclude with that excellent saying of Bernard: "Lord, I will never come away from Thee without Thee." Let this be a Christian's resolution, not to leave off his meditations of God till he find something of God in him.Thomas Watson

What is the reason there is so much preaching and so little practice? For want of meditation...Constant thoughts are operative, and musing makes the fire burn. Green wood is not kindled by a flash or spark, but by constant blowing.Thomas Manton

Meditation upon the Word of God is one of the most important of all the means of grace and growth in spirituality, yea there can be no true progress in vital and practical godliness without it. Meditation on Divine things is not optional but obligatory, for it is something which God has commanded us to attend unto.A.W. Pink

The most important thing I had to do was to read the Word of God and to meditate on it. Thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, and instructed.George Muller

To meditate on the Scriptures is to think about them, turning them over in our minds, and applying them to our life’s situations… The objective of our meditation is application – obedience to the Scriptures.Jerry Bridges

By meditating on Scripture you are transformed into the person God intends you to be. Meditation is a blend of your words to God and His

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Word to you; it is loving conversation between you and God through the pages of His Word. It is absorption of His words into your mind by prayerful contemplation and concentration.Jim Elliff

Our age has been sadly deficient in what may be termed spiritual greatness. At the root of this is the modern disease of shallowness. We are all too impatient to meditate on the faith we profess… It is not the busy skimming over religious books or the careless hastening through religious duties which makes for a strong Christian faith. Rather, it is unhurried meditation on gospel truths and the exposing of our minds to these truths that yields the fruit of sanctified character.Maurice Roberts

Meditation begins, but by no means ends, with thinking on Scripture. To meditate properly our souls must reflect upon what our minds have ingested and our hearts must rejoice in what our souls have grasped. We have truly meditated when we slowly read, prayerfully imbibe, and humbly rely upon what God has revealed to us in His Word – all of this, of course, in conscious dependence on the internal, energizing work of the Spirit.Sam Storms

Retire from the world each day to some private spot. Stay in the secret place till the surrounding noises begin to fade out of your heart and a sense of God’s presence envelops you. Deliberately tune out the unpleasant sounds and come out of your closet determined not to hear them. Listen for the inward voice till you learn to recognize it.A.W. Tozer

Let a man feed a month on the promises of God and he will not talk about his poverty. If you would only go from Genesis through Revelation and see all the promises of God made to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, and to the Jews, and to the Gentiles, and to all His people everywhere; if you would spend a month feeding on the precious promises of God, you would not go about complaining about how poor you are. But you would lift up your head with confidence and proclaim the riches of His grace, because you could not help it.DL Moody

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