The Ten Commandments

Who, having seen the movie, can forget Charlton Heston looking so earnestly

heavenward to receive the Law from God,

And then smashing the tablets of stone to bits when he came down the mountain to see that

Israel had already broken the Covenant through their idolatrous revelry?

But I must admit,To being somewhat ambivalent toward the hoopla

of recent years regarding whether or not the Decalogue should be posted on or in governmental buildings and the like;

And to being a little apprehensive when someone says, “If we would just follow the Ten Commandments, everything would just be fine.”

So I think next time I’ll just say in reply, “Really, I didn’t realize that you were Jewish and had rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah!”

The truth isThere is probably no topic which has been more

misunderstood and misapplied by modern “religious” folks than the Ten Commandments.

To confuse the Covenants of God, and to then misinterpret and misapply them by clinging to a dead law, thereby missing the blessings of the Gospel which God intended for “all men,” would indeed be tragic! 2Tim.2:15

Please understand that when the Hebrews writer penned, “there is a setting aside of a former commandment because of its weakness and useless” the Mosaic Law- including the Ten Commandments, was that commandment! (7:18)

Why do people want the Ten Commandments?

I think the reason is simplicity. They want to think that if they can just do these “Ten” things, then everything will be right in the world and they can go to heaven.

Associated with that, they view the New Testament as cumbersome and complicated, and just don’t want to put forth the effort to learn, understand, and do what Christ said. But this thinking has a major problem in John 1:14!

So let’s see if we can ‘get a handle on’ this Ten Commandment Mentality in an effective way.

To properly understand the Decalogue we must first properly understand a few things about it.

• Scope- The Ten Commandments were give to Jews- physical descendants of Abraham through Isaac and Jacob, Ex.19:1-8.

• Name/Content- AKA “the Law of Moses” or “the Law” or “the Law of God.” It was God’s Law for Israel given through Moses; and it contained much more than just Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are in Ex.20:1-17, but the Law of God continued through Ex.30!

Some speak of the Moral (the 10 Commandments), Ceremonial, and Civil Law. Actually, the Bible seems to make no such distinction- it was all God’s Law, cf. Ex.20:8.

To properly understand the Law we must first properly understand a few things about it.

• Weakness- The Law given through Moses, including the Ten Commandments, could not:Make anything perfect, Heb.7:11-19Justify from sin, Acts 13:38-39; Rom.3:19-28Provide righteousness and life, Gal.2:21; 3:21Perfect the conscience, Heb.9:9

So if the Law, and the Ten Commandments as a part of it, could not do all of these things, why was it given?

To properly understand the Law we must first properly understand a few things about it.

• Purpose- Everything given by God has purpose, and He does not make mistakes. The Law was to:Reveal the glory of God, Deut.5:22-28Reveal man’s sinfulness, Rom.7:7; 1Tim.1:5-11Separate Israel from others, Psal,147:19-20; Provide a standard so Israel could inherit and

dwell in Canaan, Deut.4:1ff Prepare Israel for Jesus,

Gal.3:24 Illustrate, in type or anti-

type, Christ and His Gospel, Gal.3:23 – 4:7; the book of Hebrews.

So what does all of this mean?

• It means the Ten Commandments, and all the rest of the Law of Moses, served the purpose of God for Israel until Christ, Rom.7:1-4; 10:1-4; Gal.3:10-14; Col.2:13-14.

• It means that salvation is in Christ, not in Moses, or in an obsolete Law, Acts 4:12; Heb.8:13.

• It means those seeking to live by “the Ten Commandments” have fallen from grace, Gal.5:3-4.

“Yes” it is true that nine of the original Ten Commandments are repeated, at

least in some form, in the New Testament. But they are but a part of Christ’s Law, just as the Decalogue

was a part of Moses’ Law. We are saved by grace and faith,

Eph.2:8-10, not by obedience to nine or ten commandments!