At the end of P6, I referenced where the question has been asked “if God is a consuming fire, how do we cleave to him.” The answer was to imitate God’s works[1]. With the eighth positive command, God makes that idea explicit.
P8 – To emulate His good and just ways, as Deuteronomy 28:9 states: “And you shall walk in His ways.[2]“
This command ranks among the easiest to find because it is explicitly reiterated by Jesus as one of the final instructions before He ascended into Heaven.
Matthew 28:19 (ESV)
Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. (emphasis mine)
Yeshua tells us to go and make disciples of all nations. Discipleship is not just a creed, confession of faith, or baptism; discipleship is literally the emulation of the one you are learning under. The more we become like Yeshua, the better we become at our craft of being his disciples. In the days of Jesus, the job of a disciple was to learn and imitate their rabbi in every area of life as they partook in the wisdom their rabbi was passing on. It is in this sense that Yeshua says the following:
Luke 6:40 (ESV)
A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher.
This idea of discipleship is not a new invention of the Apostolic era or of Jesus. It is old – ancient. In Jewish reckoning, it is understood that Abraham was indeed creating disciples. Even from the earliest age of the faith, the patriarchs have been teaching people to emulate God. The sages of Israel identified that behavior from this verse:
Genesis 12:5 (ESV)
And Abram took Sarai his wife, and Lot his brother’s son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people that they had acquired in Haran, and they set out to go to the land of Canaan.
The “people” can also be translated as “the souls.” As the Jewish people understand Scripture, Abraham and Sarah spent their time teaching about the faith. They won many “souls” into the Kingdom of Heaven and those people set out with Abraham on the journey of faith to go find the eternal city of Jerusalem[3].
Imitating God, or emulating him as the above translation says, is the proof of our relationship with Him. He defines that as obedience to His commandments.
1 John 2:3–6 (TLV)
3 Now we know that we have come to know Him by this—if we keep His commandments. 4 The one who says, “I have come to know Him,” and does not keep His commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him. 5 But whoever keeps His word, in him the love of God is truly made perfect. We know that we are in Him by this— 6 whoever claims to abide in Him must walk just as He walked.