I think some commandments are also statements of fact.
John 14:15 says, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” Is that a commandment? Or a statement of fact? Or both?
Read the rest of the chapter.
Jesus is talking to the disciples about God the Holy Spirit (the Comforter, the Spirit of Truth) and what will happen once he moves from the outside to the inside of them. At that moment he is with them, inside of Jesus but not yet inside of them. “You know him, for he dwells with you, and shall be in you.” (verse 17)
Although they had seen Jesus do many wonderful things and they themselves had done many of the same things, there were still “greater works than these” (verse 12) that they couldn’t do yet. But they would be able to do them once God inhabited their bodies.
I’m not sure they completely understood all that, before it actually happened. Isn’t that the same problem today? Some of us want to understand how things work, beforehand. Some things you have to “take on faith,” however. Believe first. Then see.
Well, if the 100% pure God has taken up residence inside of you, some things begin to happen. He begins to “infect” you with himself, rearrange your life, your thought patterns, your likes and dislikes, your feelings, habits and activities. Transform you, spirit, soul and body.
The pace and degree to which he succeeds depends on you, your cooperation. Don’t like yourself? Cooperate with him better. Let him infiltrate, like water infiltrating a sponge.
Jesus said, ” Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matt. 22:37-40) The problem was, nobody could do it. Yet.
But now “We love him, because he first loved us.” (I John 4:19) We can authentically love him now, because he enables us – from the inside of us – to love him back, and to love other people too.
Unless he does the enabling, we won’t do it very well. God doesn’t force us to accept his love, his salvation, his presence, his enablement. We’re his coworkers, not his puppets. And the more we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, the better at it we’ll get.
Esther's Petition 
“I think some commandments are also statements of fact.”
I think this is a very profound Truth that few people see of God. I think you’ve hit the nail on the head… that commandments are ALWAYS simple statements of facts.
So many times, humans attribute “rancor”, “arbitrary pique”, “neurotic attitudes”, and “pettiness” to God… as if we could hear His snide, smarmy tone of voice as He speaks. Doing this, we get it so very wrong…
A friend of mine once said, “When God says, ‘you’ve sinned,’ He does that with a tear in His eye and a sobbing catch in His throat.”
The toughest thing about “knowing God” in His Eternal, Omni-Everything Form, is this whole “time” thing. He can’t be surprised, is never disappointed, doesn’t lay traps waiting to see if we fall in, and never cries, “AHA! Gotcha!” at His children. He can’t… that’s all “time bound” stuff.
But US, now… that’s a whole different matter. WE experience the “unanticipated” all the time, and make sequential decisions of “yes-no-no-yes-yes-no” to grace, love, compassion, truth, beauty — all of which can be short-handed to “God’s will” if we prefer.
So here we go, sailing through time/space… unwinding ourselves like threads… colored by the environment and relationships of the moment… doing our “binary” thing… “yes (tie a knot) – no (empty space) – no (empty space) – yes (tie knot)”… like some 40 or 50 or 60 or more year long macrame project. There’s “our life — our knotted colored string” — sitting there, floating in our time/space matrix thingy.
Cut scene back to Omni-Everything Timeless God… with this free-will string. And, without ever interfering with any of the colors or the knots… yet He can “place and position” that string anywhere in the Eternity of Life… such that the Overall Tapestry of which it is part… AND every contact and interface that intersects it… has MAXIMUM exposure to grace, love, redemption, and His revelation of Himself and other in love.
Isn’t that just breathtaking? Is that predestination? Yes. Is that honoring and respecting free will? Yes. Is that a bit headache-inducing to fathom or ponder for very long… well, yeah, it can be. But nonetheless… the process has two results every single time.
One: His commandments (utterances) are always statements of fact (Reality, as it truly is… because He defines and is the definition of Reality)… AND
Two: All things work together for good to those who love God and are called according to His purpose.
The irony about that whole “who love… and are called” thing, is that THOSE elements are in OUR choosing, by that same free will. We decide Who to love. We decide What to hear, and how to respond when we hear it. (“I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.” Luke 5:32 or 2 Timothy 1:8b-9 “…but join with me in suffering for the gospel according to the power of God, who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was granted us in Christ Jesus from all eternity…”)
Anyway, delighted to make your acquaintance, Bette. And well spotted!
Grace to thee — The Little Monk
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