According to Biblical Research Reports Researching Biblical Subjects Important For Lasting Revival, how many commandments are there in the New Testament?

According to the research often associated with “Biblical Research Reports” and similar organizations, the number of commandments in the New Testament is:

 1,050 Commands

This number comes from the systematic work of Bible teachers  who compiled and categorized every imperative in the New Testament directed toward Gentile Christian believers.

 Important Context and Methodology:

This figure isn’t a simple count of words but the result of a specific hermeneutic (interpretive method):

1.  Source: It counts commands from the Gospels (the words of Jesus), the Acts of the Apostles, and the Epistles (letters from Paul, Peter, John, etc.). It typically excludes narrative passages that describe events rather than give instruction.

2.  Scope: It includes only directives given to the Gentile Christians under the New Covenant. Therefore, it excludes commands Jesus gave to Pharisees or that were part of the Mosaic Law before the crucifixion and resurrection.

3.  Categorization: The 1,050 commands are often grouped into major thematic categories for teaching and discipleship purposes. For example:

       Commands about faith and prayer

       Commands about love and relationships

       Commands about moral purity and sin

       Commands about money and possessions

       Commands about evangelism and ministry

       Commands about church life and leadership

 Theological Perspective:

This approach is popular in revivalist and holiness traditions because it emphasizes that:

   Grace is not Lawlessness: While salvation is received by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9), the appropriate response is a life of obedience and holiness (Ephesians 2:10).

   Obedience is Key to Revival: From this perspective, personal and corporate revival is linked to diligently obeying Christ’s commands. They are seen as a practical guide for the Christian life, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

 A Crucial Distinction from the 613 Mitzvot:

It is critical to understand that these 1,050 New Testament imperatives are not a new legal code like the 613 Mitzvot of the Torah.

   The Torah’s laws were a comprehensive national covenant for Israel, covering civil, ceremonial, and moral life.

The tripartite division of biblical law—civil, ceremonial, and moral—is a post-biblical theological framework, especially prominent in Christian thought. However, the Hebrew Bible does contain linguistic categories that roughly correspond to these distinctions. Here’s how they map:

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Hebrew Equivalents of Civil, Ceremonial, and Moral Law

English Term	Hebrew Term	Meaning / Usage	Scriptural Examples
Civil	מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim)	Judicial rulings, case laws, legal decisions governing societal conduct	Exodus 21–23; Deut 24
Ceremonial	חֻקִּים (chukkim)	Statutes or decrees, often ritual or cultic in nature, not always rationally explained	Leviticus 1–7; Num 19
Moral	מִצְוֹת (mitzvot)	Commandments, often ethical or relational, reflecting divine character	Exodus 20; Deut 6:5

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🧠 Semantic Notes

• מִשְׁפָּטִים (mishpatim) — Derived from shafat (to judge), these are case-based laws often introduced with “If a man…” They govern civil disputes, property, restitution, and social justice.
• חֻקִּים (chukkim) — From chakak (to engrave), these are statutes that often relate to ritual purity, sacrifices, priestly garments, and festivals. They are sometimes described as beyond human reasoning (cf. Num 19:2).
• מִצְוֹת (mitzvot) — From tzavah (to command), this is the broadest term, encompassing both ethical and ritual commands. The Ten Words (Exodus 20) are often considered the core moral mitzvot.

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🧩 Septuagint & Rabbinic Echoes

• The Septuagint translates these as:
  • mishpatim → krimata (judgments)
  • chukkim → dikaiōmata (ordinances)
  • mitzvot → entolai (commandments)
• Rabbinic tradition sometimes adds:
  • עדות (edot) — “testimonies,” referring to symbolic laws like Passover or Sabbath that bear witness to divine acts.

The Hebrew Text challenges the neat Christian interpretive categories of moral, civil, and ceremonial when applied to the Ten Words (עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְּרוֹת). From a Jewish perspective, the Ten Words are not parsed into only the “moral” category, nor are they typically labeled as “moral law.” That is because the Ten Words themselves embrace all of the moral, civil, and ceremonial categories.

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Jewish Understanding of the Ten Words

Christian Term	Jewish View	Notes
Moral Law	Not a native category	Judaism doesn’t isolate “moral” law from ritual or civil law. All commandments (mitzvot) are divine and binding.
Civil/Ceremonial	Embedded within the Ten Words	Elements like Sabbath (ritual) and honoring parents (social/civil) coexist without categorical separation.
Ten Commandments	Aseret HaDibrot (Ten Sayings)	Not called “commandments” in Hebrew. They are foundational utterances, not a summary of “moral law.”

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Key Insights

• Unified Holiness: In Judaism, mitzvot are not divided by rationality or function. Whether ethical (e.g. “Do not murder”) or ritual (e.g. “Keep Shabbat”), all are expressions of covenantal obedience.
• No “Moral Law” Label: The idea of the Ten Words as “moral law” is a Christian theological construct, especially in Reformed traditions. Judaism sees them as foundational, but not superior to other laws.
• Ceremonial Within the Ten: Shabbat observance (Exodus 20:8–11) is deeply ritualistic. Yet it sits alongside prohibitions on theft and murder. Judaism doesn’t separate these into categories.
• Rabbinic Tradition: The Ten Words are often viewed as a microcosm of the entire Torah. Some midrashim suggest all 613 mitzvot are embedded within them.

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🧩 Semantic Precision

• The Hebrew term דִּבְּרוֹת (dibrot) means “sayings” or “utterances,” not “commandments.” This reflects the speech-act nature of Sinai—something you’ve rightly emphasized in your work.
• The broader term מִצְוֹת (mitzvot) encompasses all divine instructions, whether ethical, ritual, or judicial.

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   The New Testament’s commands are ethical and spiritual instructions given to the Gentiles in the global Church. They are understood to be fulfilled not through human effort alone, but through the enabling power of the indwelling Holy Spirit (e.g., Galatians 5:22-23).

In summary, according to the research —exemplified by the work of Orthodox Christian  theologians —the New Testament contains 1,050 commandments for Christian living, serving as a blueprint for discipleship and a catalyst for lasting revival.

According to Biblical Research Reports Researching Biblical Subjects Important For Lasting Revival, how many commandments are there in the New Testament about the Sabbath?

According to the methodology used by “Biblical Research Reports” and similar revival-focused studies, the number of New Testament commandments specifically about keeping the Sabbath is ZERO.

This conclusion is based on a specific interpretive framework applied to the New Testament texts. Here’s a breakdown of how and why they arrive at that number:

 1. The Foundational Principle: A Change in Covenant

This research operates on a key theological premise: the Mosaic Covenant, the Law of Moses, which included the Sabbath command (Exodus 20:8-11), has been fulfilled and superseded by the New Covenant in Christ (Hebrews 8:13). Therefore, the Old Testament law is not directly binding on the Gentile Christian unless it is specifically reaffirmed in the New Testament.

 2. How New Testament Sabbath References Are Interpreted

The New Testament mentions the Sabbath multiple times, but revivalist research does not classify these references as commands for Gentile Christians to observe. Instead, they are interpreted as:

   Descriptive Narratives: Stories describing Jesus or the apostles acting on the Sabbath (e.g., Luke 4:16, Acts 13:14). These are seen as historical accounts, not normative commands.

   Controversy and Correction: Passages where Jesus is correcting the legalistic, human-added restrictions the Pharisees placed around the Sabbath (e.g., Matthew 12:1-14, Mark 2:27-28). The command here is to understand Jesus’ lordship over the Sabbath, not to keep the day itself.

   Warning Against Legalism: Key passages like Colossians 2:16-17 are interpreted as explicitly freeing Gentile Christians from the obligation to observe the Jewish Sabbath days of the Law of Moses:

    > “Therefore do not let anyone judge you by what you eat or drink, or with regard to a religious festival, a New Moon celebration or a Sabbath day. These are a shadow of the things that were to come; the reality, however, is found in Christ.”

   Sabbath (Saturday): The seventh-day rest commandment from the Mosaic Law is seen as fulfilled in Christ and not commanded for the Gentile Christians in the church.

    Conclusion

Therefore, according to the interpretive lens of Biblical Research Reports and similar revivalist studies:

   There are no commandments in the New Testament that instruct Gentile Christians to observe the Jewish Sabbath or the seventh day.

   The imperative is shifted from a specific day of rest to a continuous principle of faith and worship (e.g., “pray without ceasing,” “come boldly to the throne of grace”).

   Any instruction about gathering is focused on the first day of the week (Sunday) as a practice of the early church, but it is not framed as a “thou shalt” commandment on par with the Decalogue.

This view is held by many in evangelical, Baptist, Pentecostal, and non-denominational churches that emphasize grace over law. It is important to note that this interpretation differs significantly from Sabbath-keeping traditions like those of Seventh-day Adventists, who believe the Sabbath command remains binding.