"Addition & Subtraction"
"Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you." (Deut 4:2)
As God's people prepare to enter the promised land, God is giving them some final instructions through Moses. We see in today's reading God's repetition of his commands, namely, the ten commandments. He emphasizes the need of the people to obey & love God above all other things. God promises them long life & prosperity for obedience & certain death & exile if they do not.
In addition to emphasizing these commands, God also adds a clear warning, "Do not add or subtract from these commands I am giving you."
This is the knee jerk reaction of the people. They either add or subtract from God's commands. And this has been part of the human sinful condition since the fall. Remember in the garden when Eve says to the serpent, "And don't even touch it, lest you die" (Gen. 3). God never said they couldn't touch the fruit, he simply said, don't eat it. We see similarly in the Pharisees in the New Testament that they often added their traditions to the commands of God or just replaced them! They also refused to do some of the clearest commands of God like, "Love your neighbor as yourself." Surely it's not easy but it is clear.
This command carries great weight for us as we think about our own lives. We may not be consciously thinking about this, but we do it more often than we would like to think. Where in our lives do we add or subtract from God's commands?
Some of the more humorous ones include, "Cleanliness is next to godliness." I'm sure it is, just God didn't say it. "When all else fails, read the instructions." When we have tried everything else on our own, in our own resources & abilities, THEN come to God. This also is not in the Bible.
The laughing stops though when we consider how we do this day in & day out. We have God's clear commands in his Word to us & we do not obey them. In this way, we subtract from God's Word. We have not cut these things out of our Bibles but by not giving them the time of day or implementing them into our lives they might as well be left out. The great commission is a good example of this. "Go into all the world & make disciples." This clear command from God is "make disciples." This is not a command reserved for just the disciples of Jesus. This is not just for "super" Christians, as if they existed at all! This command is for all followers of Jesus. The aim of our lives is to make Jesus Christ known to the end of the world & when we neglect this great truth of God, we are subtracting from his commands. We might as well take a permanent marker & mark through Matthew 28.
One way we often add to Scripture is by saying things that it never meant. Philippians 4:13 is one of the most quoted verses in the Bible & probably mostly misquoted. Being able to do all things through Christ who strengthens us has nothing to do with sports. It has nothing to do with our ability. It has everything to do with being content & satisfied in Jesus alone. Paul was saying he has learned to go without stuff or on the other hand, have stuff because the stuff is not the prize or his heart's desire, Jesus is. And when we misunderstand the meaning of this verse & subsequently misapply it, we are adding to God's Word something he never said.
We have all done this at one time or another & thank God for grace. But this verse in Deuteronomy shows us that we must take great care with the commands of God to ensure we are the people that he wants us to be.
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