"Ye are my friends if ye do whatsoever I command you." - John 15:14
"Teach them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded." - Matthew 28:20
If ye know these things, happy are ye, if ye do them." - John 13:17
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom, but he that doeth the will of my Father." - Matthew 7:21
"Be doers of the Word, not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." - James 1:22
"He that saith, I know him, and keepeth not his commandments, is a liar." - 1 John 2:4
Popular theology has reduced the commandments of Christ and his Apostles to a practical nullity. It has totally obscured the principle of obedience as the basis of our acceptance with God in Christ, by its doctrine of "justification by faith alone", and that, too, of the most momentary character in the hour of death. It is part of the modern restitution of primitive apostolic ways, to recognize distinctly, that while faith turns a sinner into a saint, obedience only will secure a saint's acceptance at the judgment seat of Christ; and that a disobedient saint will be rejected more decisively than even an unjustified sinner.
The rule or standard of obedience is to be found in the commandments of Christ. Christ speaks very plainly on this subject in the statements quoted above. They are summed up in this saying of his -- "If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love." - John 15:10
Before we can keep his commandments, we must know them; and in order to know them to any purpose, we must remember them. This list is intended as a help to the memory. The commandments are picked out from the apostolic writings, and printed in a form convenient to remember, so that they may be often looked at and imprinted on the mind.
Robert Roberts.