Obedience & Biblical Commands

We had a discussion last week about obedience, and it came up that the New Testament scriptures actually have more commands than the Old Testament scriptures. Here are some links if you're interested in reading more:

613 Commandments of Torah (meaning the first five books of the Old Testament) - If you scroll down the page, you'll see all 613 Commandments listed with their scripture references. You may notice that some commandments are very similar or nearly the same. They are still counted toward the total number by the rabbis.

1050 New Testament Commands - The 1,050 commands are divided into 69 categories on this website. Other sites put them into 800 categories. Again, you'll notice a certain amount of repetition of similar, nearly identical commands. You'll also notice that several are repetitious of commands from the Torah.

This statement by Jim Garrish in his article The Commands of the New Testament seems to echo some of Ray Vander Laan's thoughts on the subject of obedience:

In the past, the church has often avoided the subject of God’s commands and laws in fear of leaning too far in the direction of legalism. Unfortunately, by so doing the church has now leaned too far in the direction of antinomianism. It has become lawless, disobedient and sinful in the process.  Jesus reproves such a church, saying, “Why do you call me, `Lord, Lord,’ and do not do what I say” (Lk.6:46)?  It is amazing that the modern church has diligently carried out part of the Lord’s great command.  She has gone into all to the world to make disciples. Yet, she has often ignored the last part of the same Great Commission, that is in teaching those disciples to do all that the Lord has instructed (Mt. 28:19-20).

The Jim Garrish article also attempts to list all the New Testament commands, which he describes as no easy task:

This is a difficult task. I have first tried to eliminate all those commands that were given to specific individuals, unless those commands seem to have a direct application to the church in general. I have also omitted the many statements and teachings of Jesus and his disciples which are given in a manner that they may almost be construed as commands.  These ‘implied commands’ could become the subject of another study entirely.  Here I have listed only those statements that seem to be clearly given as commandments.