"You shall not add to the word which I am commanding you, nor take away from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God which I command you."--Deuteronomy 4:2. At this point, a whole generation of Israelites has died off. The exceptions of course being Joshua and Caleb who trusted in the Lord. We leave the book of Numbers and enter the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is essentially a re-telling of the law and final instructions before Israel finally enters the Promised Land. The first 3 chapters of this book reiterate history and chapter 4 begins the repetition of the laws Israel is to follow. I find it interesting that one of the first commands given in the first two verses of this re-telling of the law is to not add or subtract from what God has commanded.
Let me ask you a question. When you were a kid did you ever get in trouble with your parents for not doing something exactly the way they instructed you to? Maybe on the job, you got the job done but not according to the specifications given by your employer. I hate to admit that I have been guilty of both. A job might get done but the problem is the job was not completed in the manner it should have been completed. You might have cut a corner or even did something extra that did not need to be done so you got in trouble for it. This should be a familiar concept.
Adding or subtracting. I bring the above illustration out because we can see here in Deuteronomy 4:2 that God operates in much the same way. God has given us His commandments and He expects us to not only follow them but follow them EXACTLY as He has given them. To give you an example of why this is such a problem, consider reading one of my previous blogs titled "Unauthorized Worship". There we look at the example of Nadab and Abihu in Leviticus 10:1-2. They set out to worship God. However, the problem was they worshipped God in a way that God had not specifically instructed. In this case they added to the Lord's commandment and were punished for it.
So when speaking of this concept of adding or subtracting through the lens of the Old Testament, what does this mean to us? Well as New Testament Christians, God has also given us a very specific set of commands in the pages of the New Testament. These are primarily seen through specific command and through the example of the apostles and the early church. What God has given us in the pages of the New Testament is sufficient for us to live our lives as Christians. 2 Peter 1:3 tells us God has given us EVERYTHING pertaining to life and godliness. Since God has given us everything we need, we don't need anything more and we certainly do not need anything less. With that being said, I simply ask if God has given us everything we need to know through His Word, why are so many adding things that should not be added and taking things away that should not be taken away when it comes to areas such as salvation, worshipping and following God, and living the Christians life? I won't get on that soapbox at this time but I still wonder.
So I say all this as a simple reminder that God, through His Word has told us EXACTLY what He expects of us. And because God is exact on what He expects, we have no authority to be involved in the business of adding or subtracting from His Word because when we do so, quite honestly we risk losing out on eternal life with God. No practical application here except to remain faithful to God's word by, as the old adage goes, by speaking where the Bible speaks and remain silent where the Bible is silent. Adding or subtracting from God's word is not worth the risk of losing our salvation.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! PRAY ABOUT IT! LOVE Y'ALL! GOD BLESS!
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