It is impossible to be righteous before God with an unrighteous mindset toward His Word.
Jesus describes a righteous mindset with these words: “Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5:17-20).
As noted in the last three blogs, a correct mindset towards the Scriptures includes an accurate recognition of their contents, a submissive reverence for their authority, and a clear understanding of their permanence.
It also includes a solemn appreciation of their holiness.
From Genesis to Revelation there is no “filler”. Though there are weightier matters (Matthew 23:23) and least commandments (Matthew 5:19), there are no non-essential commands.
The practice of the self-righteous Pharisees was to grade God’s commandments on a scale from least to greatest and then argue over whose opinion of the greatest was correct (see Matthew 22:36). To their unrighteous way of thinking there was some place on their scale where a line could be drawn to separate those commands which had to be obeyed from those which were optional.
But, in the Scriptures, there is no such thing as an “optional command”.
The Pharisees’ arrogant, presumptuous thinking blasphemes God. It also displays an abject lack of reverence for the sanctity of God’s Holy Scriptures. It is a profaning of the sacred at its abominable worst.
“My heart stands in awe of Thy Word (Psalm 119:161) comes from a righteous mindset with a solemn appreciation of the sacredness and sanctity of the Holy Scriptures.
