Deuteronomy 28:1
Blessings for Obedience
“And if you faithfully obey the voice of the Lord your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth.

Deuteronomy 28:15
Curses for Disobedience
“But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you.

I do not know all of the 613 laws written in the Torah. Neither do I know all of the thousands of civil statues in America, much less the laws of other countries. The idea here is that if we violate even one law we fall under the curse afforded to all the laws. This is spoken more clearly in the New Testament.

James 2:10 For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it.

Rather than argue these points let us reason with each other about why God would give us so many laws.

God gave Adam one “don’t” and Adam did not obey. There was no court of law, no prosecutor, no jury, no defense attorney, no bailiff and no court recorder. Adam had to deal directly with God and suffer the consequences of his lawlessness immediately. The death Adam died that day was separation from his creator.

God gave 613 laws so that we would all know that no matter how hard we try we all come up short.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

What was Satan’s sin? He wanted God’s glory for himself.

Why does Satan hate us? God created man after His own image, but not the angels.

2 Corinthians 9:13 By their approval of this service, they will glorify God because of your submission that comes from your confession of the gospel of Christ, and the generosity of your contribution for them and for all others,

Rarely have I heard teaching on submission. The Greek word hypotagē does not directly translated as subjective even though the ESV uses it this way. Other versions translate it as obedience, believed, commitment, profession, confession and even in one case calls it a gift.

Left to my own devices it was a long time before I came to an understanding of what submission means to me.

For the longest time I entreated it as surrender even though I never felt like I was at war with God. I remember times I actually answered “Fine, have it your way.”

The majority of translations use submission without offering a biblical definition. That leaves us with world dictionaries which I do not trust.

I settled in 2 Corinthians 9:13 because of the emphasis on glorifying God.

Break down the word to its component parts, sub and mission.

We all have a greater understanding of a mission and mission objectives but what happens to mission if we place sub before the word mission.

Sub means under. When God calls us we are under His authority.

Philippians 2:13 for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.

God does all the work for those who are in submission to Him.