The Books
The following is applicable to both of Renee Wagenblatt’s books.
I used the 2011 New International Version (NIV) Bible which includes the following sections: Old Testament and New Testament containing The Gospels. Since I sought to extract the words of instruction given by Jesus Christ, I focused on the four books of the Gospels – Matthew (Mt), Mark (Mk), Luke (Lk) and John (Jn). These are the areas of the Bible that narrate the life of Jesus Christ and preserve His words. Every time Jesus gave words of instruction within the gospels, I recorded it. I identified over 950 verses regarding His instructions. These verses can each be grouped into one of Christ’s commandments – 40 by my count.
The distinction needs to be made between the record of God’s commandments and the record of Christ’s commandments. According to the Old Testament Books of Exodus and Deuteronomy, God delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses. Christ only rarely repeated verbatim any of God’s commandments, but in Matthew’s Gospel (Mt 19:17) Christ states, “…keep the commandments.” In John’s Gospel (Jn 14:15) Christ states, “If you love me, keep my commands.” The body of this text is a listing of the verses associated with the forty commandments of Christ. God’s Ten Commandments and the related verses are in Appendix A in the back of the book. For example, “Do not steal” is one of God’s Ten Commandments; therefore, it is in the back of the book in Appendix A. “Do pray / ask” is one of Jesus Christ’s commandments; therefore, it is in the body of this book in Chapter 29.
The list of all forty of Christ’s commandments with one exemplary verse from Matthew is in the front of the book as a synopsis. A few examples of the chapters are in the “PREVIEW” section of this website.
The bulk of this book is organized by chapters – one chapter per commandment each with a list of the associated verses from all four Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke and John). The content of each book is more inclusive than a word search since it includes associated keywords (more about associated keywords in the middle of “BUYER’S INFO”). I also noted some of Christ’s exemplary behavior. Occasionally, I have included an adjacent verse to give clarification. Some verses relate to more than one commandment and are found in multiple locations in the books.
The chapters each have an underlined command key word: for instance, “DO BEWARE / WATCH OUT” and “DO FOLLOW.” These key words are organized alphabetically in a table on page 8 and the last page of the books. The chapters coincide with this alphabetically arranged format.
My goal is to present you with a comprehensive resource book. There are eight appendices:
- God’s Ten Commandments
- The Lord’s Prayer
- Instructions for Disciples
- The Blessed (Beatitudes)
- The Woes
- Parables and Lessons
- Miracles
- Names Used in This Book
Appendices F and G are valuable and useful. To locate a specific parable or miracle, you need only to scan the highlighted words in the list rather than spending time searching pages of prose in the Bible. For example, the “Good Samaritan” story of a man helped after being hurt by robbers is revealed in the list as found in the Bible in Luke, Chapter 10, verses 30-37. A Bible is not needed for the bulk of the book, but is needed to read the complete story of a parable or a miracle. One close friend stated, “The lists of parables and miracles alone are worth the cost of the book.”
Readers will find the 23-page “Index” very helpful. If you know a verse number, you are directed to all the locations where that verse is found in these books.