When Bob the bloodhound and I are out roaming the countryside, Bob sticks to a few basic rules, all having to do with his nose. In the woods, there’s no leash because he knows my smell like the back of his ratty old collar. He’s free to roam and track people all he wants, but he must not bark at them or approach them without permission from me. The rules are for both his well-being, and others.
The same is true with God and humanity. We are free to live our lives as people created in God’s image. God has just a few basic rules for us to live by in order to honor Him, and to protect others and ourselves. We know them as “The Ten Commandments.”
Then God spoke all these words:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt where you were slaves.
You must not have any other gods except me.
You must not make for yourselves an idol that looks like anything in the sky above or on the earth below or in the water below the land. You must not worship or serve any idol, because I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God….
You must not use the name of the Lord your God thoughtlessly; the Lord will punish anyone who misuses his name.
Remember to keep the Sabbath holy. Work and get everything done during six days each week, but the seventh day is a day of rest to honor the Lord your God….
Honor your father and your mother so that you will live a long time in the land that the Lord your God is going to give you.
You must not murder anyone.
You must not be guilty of adultery.
You must not steal.
You must not tell lies about your neighbor.
You must not want to take your neighbor’s house. You must not want his wife or his male or female slaves, or his ox or his donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”(Exodus 20:1-17, New Century Version of the Bible)
The Ten Commandments (or The Decalogue – The Ten Words) were given to the ancient Israelites about 3,500 years ago. These words have stood the test of time and continue to be understood as a universal standard of morality.
There are hundreds of commands in Holy Scripture – approximately 613 in the Old Testament, and 437 in the New Testament – a whopping 1,050 total commands throughout the entirety of the Bible. So, what, then, makes these ten so special? Why do we stick to The Ten Words?
The reason The Ten Commandments have endured and continued to be learned, spoken, and adhered for so long is that they are the basic commands for all people everywhere to live by. Following Exodus chapter 20 in the Old Testament, an entire string of commands come rolling off from God to Moses and then to the people. Those commands are all a fleshing-out of how to live the basic Ten Words in the Israelites’ particular context of entering and being in the Promised Land.
In other words, every single command of Scripture can be ethically and morally tied back to The Ten Commandments in some way. Whereas the majority of Old Testament laws were given to the Israelites in their ancient Middle Eastern socio-economic culture, The Decalogue was meant for every culture and society everywhere, for any time, and for every generation. This is why we need to distinguish between The Law (capital “L”) and the law (little “l”). God’s fundamental and foundational ethical Law has always existed and will continue to exist – and it is encapsulated in ten short and simple commands which everyone everywhere can obey, whether they are at their jobs, at home, church, or out having fun.
In fact, these ten basic commands are so important that Jesus restated them for us in his Sermon on the Mount (Matthew chapters 5-7). Christ got down to the heart of the commands and let everyone know what it really means to hold, to keep, and to truly obey The Ten Words. For example, Jesus said concerning the 7th Command:
“You have heard that it was said to our people long ago, ‘You must not murder anyone. Anyone who murders another will be judged.’ But I tell you, if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be judged. If you say bad things to a brother or sister, you will be judged by the council. And if you call someone a fool, you will be in danger of the fire of hell” (Matthew 5:21-22, New Century Version of the Bible).
It had become easy over the centuries for people to think everything was jim-dandy if they didn’t physically kill anyone. But Jesus knew that well before any person is murdered by another that anger has been nursed through holding bitter grudges toward another.
The Ten Words are the very heart of God’s desire for all humanity, and this is precisely why it is important to know and obey them in their full intent. They contain how to relate to God (Commands 1-4); and, how to relate to one another (Commands 5-10). Jesus would later say, in response to what is the greatest command of all:
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and most important command. And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself. All the law and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands.” (Matthew 22:36-40, New Century Version of the Bible)
Question and answer 115 of the Heidelberg Catechism, a Confession of Faith crafted by Protestant Reformers in the 16th century, addresses a significant issue:
Question: Since no one in this life can obey the Ten Commandments perfectly, why does God want them preached so pointedly?
Answer: First, so that the longer we live the more we may come to know our sinfulness and the more eagerly look to Christ for forgiveness of sins and righteousness.
Second, so that we may never stop striving, and never stop praying to God for the grace of the Holy Spirit, to be renewed more and more after God’s image, until after this life we reach our goal: perfection.
When all is said and done, grace will have the last word. Yes, none of us will ever perfectly live-out and embody The Ten Words in their entirety all the time. Yet, the grace of God in Jesus Christ does for us what we cannot do for ourselves: deliver us from the realm of sin, death, and hell.
Stuff happens out there. You can get sprayed by a skunk. We don’t always live-into the ways of God for our lives through the Bible’s instructions. But God, the hound of heaven, will track us down and mercifully redeem us back to himself.
So, embrace The Ten Words. Know them, memorize them, and understand them. Post them on the wall of your office or in your house. But, most of all, above everything else, seek to practice them, obey them, and embody the basic rules from God so that you can enjoy all the freedom of God’s big world.
See you on the trail.
