Monday, January 16, 2017

Christ’s 40 Commandments - A Review




Christ’s 40 Commandments


by
Renee Valverde Wagenblatt


A Review


The author has compiled a list of 40 commands that were given by Christ to the New Testament Church. The number seems a bit arbitrary - other sources suggest 49 or 50 commandments. One website suggests that there are only 7 commandments. The author makes no attempt to argue this number - so I will refrain from trying to defend or argue against the actual number of commands given by Jesus.  


The current book takes the 40 identified commands and presents in multiple ways, allowing the student to process them as he or she needs. At the heart of all the commands is LOVE, more specifically “Love God then your neighbor and yourself.” The 40 commands then are reviewed alphabetically and in their biblical order. This is followed by a list of synonyms that could be viewed as being associated with each command and a set of cross references associated with each command. This material takes up about one-half of the book.


The last half of the book focuses on other commands found in Scripture -


  • The Ten Commandments
  • The Lord’s Prayer
  • Instructions for Disciples
  • The Beatitudes

  • Woes
  • Parables and Lessons
  • Miracles
  • List of names and titles used in this book


Some of these are accompanied with additional material, but for the most part they stand alone. The book concludes with the two indexes - a Biblical index and a grouping of the commands by category.


The book appears to be the result of a great deal of personal study. There is not devotional material associated with the book - making the value of the book dependent on the readers use of it in his or own personal devotions.  Though a great deal of information appears to be gathered into this one volume, I am not sure I see a purpose for doing so. I might hope that the author could bring together his or her own thoughts thus answering the question - “Why is this material important?” This is not done, leaving this reader to wonder, “Why?”
______________

This review is based on a free electronic copy provided by the publisher for the purpose of creating this review.  The opinions expressed are my own.



No comments: