Would you find it inconceivable to believe that God has always tested man to prove man’s love for him? As a matter of fact, this has been God’s way since the beginning of time. Just look back through the Old Testament and read all the examples of how God dealt with the people of old. Just look at Abraham. The Scriptures teach us, “God did tempt Abraham.” (Gen 22:1 )

If you would look at the Scriptures and study the commands of God, you would conclude that commands can be divided into two groups. There is one group of commands we could call moral commands. Under this group we would have commands such as “do not kill”, “do not envy”, “do not steal”, “do not commit adultery”. These commands are given because they are right by nature. These are moral and right in their very essence.

Society would not be able to exist with out these types of commands. And nations adopt these commands, not because God gave them, but because it would be anarchy not to have these commands. If there were no laws against stealing, then we could not have the ability to possess anything. The strong would just take from the weak. If there were no laws against taking another persons life, life would have no value. So these commands are given because they are an absolute moral necessity.

The keeping of these moral laws do not necessarily reflect any honor to God. A man could go all his life not killing another man, and never display one ounce of reverence to God. There are other reasons why we may keep the moral laws; he may judge within himself that it is wrong to kill.

Someone that has judged within themselves to do a command because he feels it is right has not obeyed God. He has only obeyed himself. He may have done something that God has commanded, but it’s only because his judgment coincides with God’s judgment. He’s looked at the commandment of God and said, “Yes, I can see where this is a good command. I’ll follow this one.” This shows no reverence to God.

There is another class of commandments that when kept does reflect and display our reverence to God. We call these positive commands. These commands are right just because they are given. These are tests in which God gives us to prove our love and devotion to him. There are many reasons why we may keep the moral laws, but there is only one reason why we would keep the positive laws; it’s not because they seem right in our eyes, but we want to be obedient to God.

These positive laws could also be divided up into many different groups. Let’s look at a few of them. First, there are some commands in which there is absolutely no recognizable connection between the thing commanded and the blessing promised. A great example of this is in the book of Exodus. When God command the children of Israel they were in the land of Egypt. Moses records, “And they shall take of the blood, and strike it on the two side posts and on the upper door post of the houses, wherein they shall eat it.” (Ex 12:7) Now, there is no recognizable or logical reason why putting blood on the door posts of the house would ward off the death angel.

Second there are some commands in which not only are there no recognizable connection between the thing commanded and the blessing promised, but where the thing commanded is distasteful and obnoxious in its nature to some people. An example of this is with Naaman. Naaman had leprosy and was told by his wife servant girl that there was a prophet in Samaria that could heal his body. (2 Kings 5:3 ) Naaman went to the prophet and the prophet told him to dip seven times in the river of Jordan.

Now, there is no logical or reasonable reason why dipping seven times in the river of Jordan would give Naaman freedom from his leprosy. Naaman was also very disgusted with the idea of dipping seven times in the river of Jordan. Naaman said, “Are not Abana and Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, better than all the waters of Israel? May I not wash in them, and be clean? So he turned and went away in a rage.” (2 Kings 5:12 ) Of course, the answer is no. The command must be obeyed as God gave it.

The third group of commands is commands that are not only a recognizable connection between the thing commanded and the blessing promised, but the thing itself would actually be wrong under other circumstances! The perfect example of this would be the story of Abraham and Isaac. (Gen 22:1-19 ) God tested Abraham by commanding him to sacrifice his son to God! As far as Abraham knew, he was going to plunge a knife in the throat of his beloved son.

These commands were given to those of Old to prove their love to God. There was no logical reason why these commands gave blessings. They obeyed them because God commanded them and the blessings came. Today God has a test for you. It is in obedience to the gospel. What logical reason does baptism have with your salvation? Christ commanded it; we need to be obedient. (Mark 16:16 ) “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth not shall be damned.” Will you be like Abraham and be obedient?