The 10 Commandments of the Bible. Are they relevant today?
Imagine that you are a king in a beautiful country. Would you legislate any laws? What kind of laws would these be? How strictly would you enforce them? How would you punish repeat offenders?
God is a God of order. When He created this world, everything worked well and in harmony. But sin has brought discord and pain. God invites His people to experience some of the original harmony by living under the principles that He established, the Ten Commandments.
“He [God] gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God” (Exodus 31:18).
“Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets” (Exodus 32:16).
The Ten Commandments were written by the very hand of God! Infinitely higher and more important than any church rules and policies!
“Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity” (Exodus 24:9-10).
As part of the covenant, the leaders of Israel saw God on a throne set upon sapphire stone. Sapphire is a beautiful blue colour. Blue in the Bible represents God’s righteousness.
“Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Come up to Me on the mountain and be there; and I will give you tablets of stone, and the law and commandments which I have written, that you may teach them’” (Exodus 24:12).
Two verses after mention of the “sapphire stone” God mentions the “tablets of stone.” Since no other stone is mentioned in the chapter, many scholars believe that the stone of which the tablets were made, was of the same stone mentioned two verses earlier, the sapphire stone. If so, the stone of the Ten Commandments came straight from the stone under throne of God!
Compare with the following text:
“Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne” (Psalm 89:14).
Compare also with the Ark of the Covenant in the Most Holy place which represented the throne of God. Under it were placed the Ten Commandments.
In Exodus 24:9-12 sapphire stone is the foundation of God’s throne; in Psalm 89:14 righteousness is the foundation of God’s throne; in the Ark of the Covenant, the Ten Commandments are at the foundation of God’s presence.
It makes sense then that the Ten Commandments that reflect God’s righteousness, were written on sapphire stone, the foundation stone of God’s throne.
NOTE: After Israel made the golden calf, Moses broke the tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments. When God remade the covenant, Moses made his own tablets of stone, and God wrote the Ten Commandments again. So, the second set of tablets were NOT made of sapphire stone, only the first.
Absolutely! Compare the characteristics ascribed to God and those ascribed to the Commandments:
GOD IS THE LAW IS
Good Luke 18:19 1 Timothy 1:8
Holy Isaiah 5:16 Romans 7:12
Perfect Matthew 5:48 Psalms 19:7
Pure 1 John 3:2,3 Psalms 19:8
Just Deuteronomy 32:4 Romans 7:12
True John 3:33 Psalms 19:9
Spiritual 1 Corinthians 10:4 Romans 7:14
Righteousness Jeremiah 23:6 Psalms 119:172
Faithful 1 Corinthians 1:9 Psalms 119:86
Love 1 John 4:8 Romans 13:10
Unchangeable James 1:17 Matthew 5:18
Everlasting Genesis 21:33 Psalms 111:7,8
Absolutely!
First, it was the pre-incarnate Jesus who gave the Ten Commandments. How do we know? Notice again Exodus 24:9-10, cited above:
“Then Moses went up, also Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel. And there was under His feet as it were a paved work of sapphire stone, and it was like the very heavens in its clarity” (Exodus 24:9-10).
Moses and his entourage “saw the God of Israel.” But Jesus later told us that “no one has seen God [the Father]” (John 1:18). So, the person they saw was the pre-incarnate Jesus. It was He who gave the Ten Commandments.
Second, Jesus is called “the Word:”
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1).
In Hebrew, the Ten Commandments are sometimes called debarim, the Words (e.g. Exodus 20:1). So, Jesus is the Word, and He gave us the Ten Words!
“Then he [Moses] took the Book of the Covenant and read in the hearing of the people. And they said, ‘All that the Lord has said we will do, and be obedient.’ And Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, ‘This is the blood of the covenant which the Lord has made with you according to all these words’” (Exodus 24:7-8).
Covenant is the agreement God made with His people. The covenant had two parts: the words of the covenant (mainly the Ten Commandments of the Bible), and the blood of the covenant.
The Ten Commandments define how God’s people should live their lives.
The blood of the covenant defines God’s grace when we fail.
Obedience is what we promise to God. Grace is what He offers when we fail.
“Happy is he who keeps the law” (Proverbs 29:18).
“Keep my commands; for length of days and long life and peace they will add to you” (Proverbs 3:1-2).
“But the mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, and His righteousness to children’s children, to such as keep His covenant, and to those who remember His commandments to do them” (Psalm 103:17-18).
This last text is a very important one. While God’s mercy is available to everyone, it is especially focused on those who take His commandments seriously.
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and in His law he meditates day and night” (Psalm 1:1-2).
According to the Bible, how is sin defined?
“Sin is lawlessness” (1 John 3:4).
“Lawlessness” means to disregard God’s law, the Ten Commandments. Sin is always condemned in the Bible. There is not a single text that even hints that sin is ok.
Thankfully, Jesus, through His death on the cross, offers us abundant forgiveness. But does that mean we are free to sin because forgiveness is available? Absolutely not.
“What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? Certainly not!” (Romans 6:1-2).
Indeed, persons who habitually, knowingly, and with a proud heart continue to live in sin, risk losing the right to be children of God.
Yes and no. Allow me to explain.
A. The two love commandments.
“Then one of them, a lawyer, asked Him a question, testing Him, and saying, ‘Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?’ Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets’” (Matthew 22:35-40).
Jesus declares that everything in the Bible stands on two commandments: (a) love God with all you heart; (b) love your neighbor as yourself. So, this is the foundation of everything.
B. The Ten Commandments are a practical expression of these two love commandments. The first four of the Ten Commandments tell us how we should show our love for God; the remaining six how we should show our love for fellow humans.
C. Then, beyond the Ten Commandments, God gave many practical regulations on how to apply the Ten Commandments in the specific historical context Israel lived in. Some of these regulations are useful for today, but some have no immediate relevance.
For example, the 8th Commandment says, “You shall not steal” (Exodus 20:15). God then instructed Moses that if anyone were caught stealing, he would have to return what was stolen plus pay a penalty of 20% extra (Leviticus 6:1-5). A judge in Israel faced with a case of robbery, would therefore have a very clear injunction on how to deal with it.
The principle of returning what has been stolen and adding another 20% is certainly sound. However, since all countries today have legal systems that are not directly based on the Bible, the restoration of the extra 20% to the wronged party cannot be enforced legally.
"Do not think that I came to destroy the Law. … I did not come to destroy but to fulfil. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled” (Matthew 5:17, 18).
Jesus was the only person who kept the 10 Commandments of the Bible completely. He left us an example of obedience that we would do well to follow.
The answer is a resounding No!
Consider this. When a person legislates something, only that same person or someone with the same level of authority can change it or annul it.
If God legislates something with His own hand as He did with the 10 Commandments of the Bible, only He has the right to abolish them or change them. No prophet or apostle has the authority to declare anything different.
This has not happened. New Testament writers repeatedly affirm the Ten Commandments:
“Therefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy and just and good” (Romans 7:12).
Notice the present tense “is holy.” He does not was “was holy” implying it is abolished, but “is holy.”
“Owe no one anything except to love one another, for he who loves another has fulfilled the law. For the commandments, ‘You shall not commit adultery,’ ‘You shall not murder,’ ‘You shall not steal,’ ‘You shall not bear false witness,’ ‘You shall not covet,’ and if there is any other commandment, are all summed up in this saying, namely, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Romans 13:8-9).
Paul here affirms that true love fulfils all commandments. He mentions five of the Ten and assumes the other commandments too.
“Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing, but keeping the commandments of God is what matters” (1 Corinthians 7:19).
“’Honor your father and mother,’ which is the first commandment with promise” (Ephesians 6:2).
Notice the present tense “is the first commandment” not “was the first commandment.”
“Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments” (1 John 2:3).
“He who says, ‘I know Him,’ and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him’” (1 John 2:4).
“By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God and keep His commandments. For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 John 5:2-3).
Absolutely yes.
“And the dragon was enraged with the woman, and he went to make war with the rest of her offspring, who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus Christ” (Revelation 12:17).
Speaking of the last days, Revelation says that the dragon (Satan) will be angry especially with one group of people – those who keep “the commandments of God” and have the testimony of Jesus.
Think about it. Would you rather that Satan be angry with you, or happy with you?
“Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus” (Revelation 14:12).
“Then the temple of God was opened in heaven, and the ark of His covenant was seen in His temple. And there were lightnings, noises, thunderings, an earthquake, and great hail” (Revelation 11:19).
Here, shortly before the Second Coming, heaven is opened and the heavenly “Ark of the Covenant” is seen. The Ark of the Covenant was the box in which the Ten Commandments were kept. God was fully aware that many end time Christians would forget the Ten Commandments and so He gives a powerful reminder of their validity and presence in the very heavenly throne-room!
God gave the following promise:
“I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:33).
God gave this promise to the Israelites of the Old Testament who were sometimes struggling with keeping God’s law. God promised He would write His law on their heart.
To have the Ten Commandments only on tablets of stone (or on paper when you read the Bible) is good but not enough because your heart can be drawn to the different temptations. This is what happened to Israel at Sinai. They promised to obey the Commandments. And then a few days later they made the golden calf and other sinful things. They knew what to do, but their sinful desires led them astray.
If, by contrast, God writes His law on the heart, then your life will come into harmony with the Law of God.
Paul referred to exactly this when he said:
“You are an epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of flesh, that is, of the heart” (2 Corinthians 3:3).
And he adds: “For the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life” (2 Corinthians 3:6).
If I have only “the letter” of the Ten Commandments, i.e. I see them written in front of me, but my heart is drawn to all kinds of iniquity, then the letter kills, because the Commandments will declare me a sinner.
But if I invite the Holy Spirit to write God’s law on my heart, then my life will come into harmony with God’s law and I will enjoy the full life that God intended when He gave us His commandments.
The Holy Spirit writing God’s law on our hearts will become a reality in the fullest sense when God restores everything. But we can invite God to send His Spirit to begin and advance the process right now.
The Ten Commandments are God’s will on how we should live our lives. To live in disregard to them means to live in sin. To live in harmony means to enjoy the full life that God desires of all His children. Are you ready to make that commitment?
I choose to live in harmony to the Ten Commandments as God desires.
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