"YOU CAN BREAK SOME OF GOD'S COMMANDS AND STILL MAKE IT TO HEAVEN" - A MISINTERPRETATION OF MATTHEW 5:19 & A LIE FROM THE PIT OF HELL
By: Adom Ofori-Asenso
Matthew 5:19 "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven."
Some christians encourage themselves with this portion of the Bible by saying "afterall, it does not matter if I cannot keep all of God's commands. The only thing I will face is that I will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. The ultimate is to enter into the kingdom of heaven as long as hell fire will not touch me. I don't mind if I am not called great in heaven."
I tell you my friend, mind with every strength in your spirit if you are not called great in the kingdom of heaven and are called least. You are making those statements because you are using your human mind to intepret the Word of God. Get this fact straight; THE HUMAN MIND CAN NEVER UNDERSTAND AND INTERPRET THE WORD OF GOD (BIBLE). IT IS THE HOLY SPIRIT ALONE WHICH ENABLES BELIEVERS TO UNDERSTAND AND INTERPRET THE BIBLE (2 Timothy 3:16-17 "16 All scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, 17 so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work). You do not read the Bible like any other book.
I say to the glory of the Almighty God that, I did not search any christian literature for the understanding of Matthew 5:19. I prayed and He granted this spirit-filled understanding. In fact, that is how the Bible is supposed to be read whether you understhand or not. I am also not saying this to disregard Christian literatures. The Holy Spirit also directs believers to Christian literatures which are also inspired by the same Spirit of Truth and rejects the ones which are polluted.
The main Scriptural references (see below) of this note are Matthew 5:17-20 and James 2:10-11.
First and foremost, I want us to understand that being CALLED the least or great in the kingdom of heaven DOES NOT MEAN that you
have already entered heaven, and being assigned that reference based on how much effort you made in keeping the commandments of God. It also DOES NOT MEAN rewards in heaven whereby one may receive either least or great reward. Let's look at what it means to be CALLED least or great in the kingdom of heaven.
Every living soul will have a declaration (CALLED) of judgement in the kingdom of heaven when you stand before the judgement seat of God after death, and that declaration will determine whether you will be allowed access into the kingdom of heaven or be thrown into hell fire. Where judgement will be made is all part of the kingdom of heaven because that is where God dwells.
So, all those who will enter the kingdom of heaven and those who will be thrown into hell fire will all gather at a place of judgement which is part of the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, standing in this place of judgement which is part of the kingdom of heaven does not mean you have entered into heaven already. Let me give a more practical example.
Supposing a stranger knocks at your door. You are in the kitchen, your child gets the door and looks into the door camera without opening the door. Your child shouts to inform you that it is one of those door-to-door sellers. Then, you respond by telling your child not to open the door which automatically does not let the stranger in. The response the mother gave can be seen as a declaration, pronouncement, decision and judgement. And that response will cause the stranger to walk away and not enter the house. Let's look at another aspect. Whether you are given access to the house or denied entry, there is one place you cannot bypass and that is the doorpost. And standing at the doorpost does not mean you have gained access to the house although the door post is part of the house. And when you are denied access to the house, you do not remain standing at the doorpost; you will be forced to leave. So, you stood in a part of the house but was denied entry into the house. Hence being CALLED least or great in the kingdom of heaven is a DECLARATION of judgement outside the gates of heaven NOT rewards inside the gates of heaven.
Therefore, any soul who will make it to heaven must be declared GREAT. When heaven declares you LEAST, you are doomed for hell fire. Why do I say these? Now, let's use the Bible to explain itself what it means by LEAST and GREAT in the kiingdom of God and the consequences of these declarations (CALLED). One thing we have to understand is that THE BIBLE EXPLAINS ITSELF. SCRIPTURE IS EXPALINED BY SCRIPTURE. An example is Romans 10:9 "That if you confess with your mouth, 'Jesus is Lord', and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. One may ask, why Jesus and not any other? And the answer to this question is John 14:6 "Jesus answered, 'I am THE WAY, AND THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE. No one comes to the Father except through me". Do you now see how the Bible explains itself? In the same way, we will use scriptures to explain Matthew 5:19.
Jesus clearly describes what it means to be called LEAST; "Anyone who breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same... (Matthew 5:19)". As we have establised earlier; being called least is only a DECLARATION and not the consequence of the declaration. This can be likened to the law court. One is first declared GUILTY before the SENTENCE (punishment) follows. Hence, after being declared LEAST in the kingdom of heaven, what next? And the answer can be found in James 2:10-11 "For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, 'Do not commit adultery,' also said, 'Do not
murder.' If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker."
So, we realise that, the one Heaven declares as LEAST is A LAWBREAKER and guilty of breaking all of God's commandments. You cannot be selective with the commandments of God. Many who misinterprete Matthew 5:19 might have also forgotten the verse 20 of Matthew 5 "For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will CERTAINLY NOT enter the kingdom of heaven" which follows. This verse also reinforces the fact that LEAST and GREAT mentioned in the preceeding verse 19, is the DECLARATION in the kingdom of heaven that will determine your entry or denial into the kingdom of heaven. So, the one who eventually enters the kingdom of heaven is the one whose righteousness exceeds that of the Pharisees and teachers of the law and are declared (CALLED) GREAT in the kingdom of heaven (the judgement seat of God).
The Pharisees and teachers of the law acknowledge the commandments of God except one, and that is professing and believing Jesus as Lord and the Son of God. So, what Christ requires of those who profess Him as Lord is to having done that, obey all His commands by the power and strength of the Holy Spirit he has deposited in you and this is what will make your righteousness surpass the Pharisees and the teachers of the law and qualified you to enter the kingdom of heaven.
Therefore, you cannot profess Christ without obeying ALL His commands. That is why there is GRACE to give you time and opportunity to ask for forgiveness from God concerning any commandment(s) broken so that the blood of Christ whom you have professed can wipe away that sin, and the HOLY SPIRIT to strenghten you to obey ALL the commands and overcome the ones you have fallen short of. No UNCONFESSED sin will be forgiven by the blood of Jesus even if you have professed Christ. The blood of Jesus pardons only CONFESSED sins; 1 John 1:9 "IF (conditional clause) we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness".
So, a christian who has professed Christ, baptised by immersion, speak in tongues, etc but steals his fathers money, leaves the house and after one hour gets knocked down by a car and dies without confessing his sin of stealing, will end up in hell fire. That one hour including the second or microsecond before he met his death was his grace period to simply confess and make it to heaven.
Therefore, you can profess Christ and be declared (CALLED) LEAST or GREAT in the kingdom of heaven based on TOTAL (FULL/100%)
OBEDIENCE IN THE NARROW WAY OF HOLINESS AND RIGHTEOUSNESS. Those who profess Christ and are CALLED LEAST on the day of judgement will not enter whiles those CALLED GREAT will enter. It is after the entry into the kingdom of heaven that rewards will be given; Revelation 22:12 “Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done."
Thus, two professing christians, both CALLED GREAT will enter into the kingdom of heaven because they both obeyed ALL of God's
commandments which results in bearing ALL the Fruit of the Holy Spirit Galatians 5:22-23.
Having entered, rewards will be given according to how much effort they put in performing the commandments. For example, they both obeyed the commandment of GIVING. One may earn a bigger reward because he gave 50cents out of $1 towards a need. And another may earn a smaller reward because he gave $100 out of $100,000. One may also earn a bigger reward for evangelizing to one million people in his life time whiles the other may earn a smaller reward for evangelizing to two people in his life
time. They are all there because they both obeyed the commandment of evangelism.
I expect the usual statement to be made again; 'I will surely enter into heaven because I have professed Christ. Christ understands if I am unable to keep all the commandments or not bear all the Fruit of the Holy Spirit because he has already settled that with His blood. When God sees my sinful nature, the holiness and righteousness of Christ will overshadows it because, I have professed Christ. I am once saved and forever saved!". Unfortunately, your interpretation of once saved forever saved is what is heading you towards hell fire.
When God sees your sinful nature, the
righteouness and holiness of Christ DOES NOT OVERSHADOW IT. The righteousness and Holiness of Christ is a living testimony unto
those who profess him that it is possible to live without sin in a sinful world, and those who profess Christ are given that strength (Holy Spirit) to make it happen (Hebrews 12:2 Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the AUTHOR and PERFECTER of our FAITH...). The fact that you are saying "I AM SAVED" or a pastor told you "YOU ARE SAVED", does not mean you are saved. Have you aligned the meaning of what you are saying to what the Bible says (example John 15:1-17)? With reference to John 15:1-17, You are saved because, You are a branch attached to the true vine (Jesus).
You were permitted by the Father (gardener) to be attached to the true vine because, you professed the true vine (Jesus) with your mouth to be Lord and believed in your heart that he was raised from the dead as a result of the grace and mercy of the Father which called you and not by your works that you should boast. And you will forever be attached (saved) to the vine as long as you bear fruit (the Fruit of the Holy Spirit) and not just any fruit but fruit that will last (John 15:16) and yield to the trimming (commandments) of the gardener (God the Father) to bear more fruit. You cannot bear fruit on your own outside the vine (Jesus) because it is the vine that supports the branches which bear the fruit (John 15:5 ...apart from me you can do nothing).
However, the true vine (Jesus) tells the branches (professing believers) what the gardener (God the final judge) does to every branch that does not bear fruit; HE CUTS OFF. And the vine further gives the main reason why those branches do not bear fruit as not remaining in the vine. For example, you are in Christ
(profession), all the time you get angry and do not ask God for forgiveness and strength to overcome and keep living in anger. This shows that you are not bearing the fruit of PATIENCE which the vine has given you all that you needed to bear - the Holy Spirit. But you rejects
the vine's offer and takes after Satan, the father of all sin. How can you remain in the vine? That is why the gardener cuts such branches off and throw them into the fire (hell) and is burned (John 15:6). So, you see, a branch that was once attached is now cut off into hell fire.
You may be tempted to bring a rebuttal scripture; John 10:28 "I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; NO ONE CAN SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY HAND." This is a human mind interpreting the scriptures. Before you scream NO ONE CAN SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY HAND, read from verse 22 to 29. NO ONE CAN SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY HAND does not mean HE CANNOT BE CUT OFF. Verse 27 describes the type of professing Christians NO ONE CAN SNATCH THEM FROM HIS HANDS as MY SHEEP LISTENS TO MY VOICE (obey my commands), I KNOW THEM, AND THEY FOLLOW ME (submit your will to His). He tells you "Do not fornicate", then you go and fornicate (Not listening to His voice) and you think you qualify to claim that promise (NO ONE WILL SNATCH THEM OUT OF MY HAND?). Unless you REPENT and FORSAKE ALL YOUR SINS, you will be cut off.
Don't let anyone lie to you that IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to obey ALL of God's commands and BE PERFECT AS GOD IS PERFECT (Matthew 5:48 Be PERFECT, therefore, as your heavenly Father is PERFECT) and HOLY AS GOD IS HOLY (1 Peter 1:16 For it is written: 'BE HOLY, BECAUSE I AM HOLY). It is possible because He has freely given you the Holy Spirit (Peter 1:3-11).
2 Peter 1:3-11
New International Version (NIV)
Confirming One’s Calling and Election
3 His DIVINE POWER [you can only obtain this divine power (in dwelling of the Holy Spirit) when you profess Christ as Lord] * has given us everything we need for a GODLY LIFE through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.
4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature [Holiness, Righteousness and Perfection]*, having escaped the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.
5 For this very reason, MAKE EVERY EFFORT [the divine power has been made available to you but IT DEPENDS ON YOU to submit your WILL to God because GOD DOES NOT SUPPRESS THE WILL OF MAN]* to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
9 But whoever does not have them is nearsighted and blind, forgetting that they have been cleansed from their past sins [So you can profess Christ and still live like an unbeliver (because you have not submitted you WILL to God) and end up in hell fire]*.
10 Therefore, my brothers and sisters, [a] MAKE EVERY EFFORT to CONFIRM your calling and election. For IF you do these things, you will NEVER stumble,
11 and you will receive a rich welcome into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ [Not everybody who has professed Christ will make it to heaven; only those who have NEVER STUMBLED (without sin) because they were CONSTANTLY repenting, asking for forgiveness and forsaking their sins, so they remain without sin ALL THE TIME]*.
*: Holy Spirit inspired explanations.
Amen. Glory be to God!
SCRIPTURE REFERENCES
Matthew 5:17-20
New International Version (NIV)
The Fulfillment of the Law
17 “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.
18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
19 Therefore anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.
20 For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven.
James 2:10-11
New International Version (NIV)
10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.
11 For he who said, “You shall not commit adultery,” also said, “You shall not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
John 15:1-17
New International Version (NIV)
The Vine and the Branches
15 “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener.
2 He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.
3 You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.
4 Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you
remain in me.
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
6 If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.
7 If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you.
8 This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.
9 “As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.
10 If you keep my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in his love.
11 I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.
12 My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
13 Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.
14 You are my friends if you do what I command.
15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.
16 You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit—fruit that will last—and so that whatever you ask in my name the Father will give you.
17 This is my command: Love each other.
Culled from https://m.facebook.com/notes/adom-ofori-asenso/you-can-break-some-of-gods-commands-and-still-make-it-to-heaven-a-misinterpretio/630676316963139/?refid=28&_ft_=qid.5927706764638946549%3Amf_story_key.334150693395074