A Sunday school teacher discussed the Ten Commandments in class with her 5 and 6-year-olds. After explaining the commandment to honor our fathers and mothers, she asked, “Is there a commandment that teaches us how to treat our brothers and sisters?”
Without missing a beat, one little boy answered, “Thou shall not kill.”
As his humorous response indicates, the Ten Commandments are useful today. However, as New Testament Christians, we no longer live under the Mosaic Law, which includes the Ten Commandments.
What good are the Ten Commandments for Christians today? Are we under any obligation to follow them? Let’s review why God gave Moses the Decalogue (10 words) in the first place.
To Set Standards for Holy Living
God used Moses to lead the Israelites out of slavery after 400 years of captivity in Egypt. Before God brought His Chosen People into the Promised Land, He set the expectations (rules) for His people. Bible commentator Irving Jensen states, “After God delivered His people from bondage, He began to spell out in detail how they should worship Him publicly, privately, and even in everyday living.”1 On Mount Sinai, God audibly spoke the Decalogue to Moses. These Ten Commandments were rules for the Israelites’ relationship with God (commandments one through four) and with others (commandments five through 10). God clearly set the standards of holy living for the Israelites. Dr. Gleason Archer describes these laws against “unchastity, uncleanness, and idolatry” as “practical holiness.”2
Much like coaches set the expectations for their players (e.g. arrive on time for practice, no foul language, run the play as designed) and parents set boundaries for their children (e.g. curfew, social media limits, eating vegetables), God also established the essential rules for Israel. He expanded on the Ten Commandments in detail (Exodus 20—23), giving the Israelites specific examples of how these commands were to be implemented.
To Expose Our Sin
Ultimately, the Ten Commandments were the gold standard for community living among the Israelites. They reflected God’s holy expectations for His people. Concurrent with setting the standard of holiness, the Ten Commandments revealed the impossibility of meeting God’s holy, just, and good standards. Steve Herzig, The Friends of Israel’s vice president of North American Ministries, explains that the Decalogue and Mosaic Law serve as “a tutor—it teaches us we are sinners.” Sinful people cannot attain complete and consistent obedience to God’s commands. Dr. Walt Kaiser explains the purpose of the Law as 1) “to show man’s sinfulness in his moral distance from God,” 2) “to show man’s need for a mediator,” and 3) “to show man how to live more abundantly by using the unchangeable perfections of the nature of God as revealed in the moral law as his guide.”3
Only through faith in God do we have the free gift of salvation—not by self-saving attempts to keep His commandments.
To summarize, the Ten Commandments show us our moral deficiencies in contrast to His perfect standard. Moreover, they expose our desperate need for someone to save us from our sin. Israel could not live up to God’s Law, and neither can we. Galatians 2:16 states the truth perfectly: “A man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ.” John Walvoord and Roy Zuck assert, “The Law was not given so that the Israelites by keeping it could attain righteousness.”4 Only through faith in God do we have the free gift of salvation—not by self-saving attempts to keep His commandments.
To Help Us Live Holy Lives for Christ
Although the Ten Commandments were given to the Israelites in the wilderness, they still serve us well today in the Church Age. Believers today are not under the Law but “are under obligation to abide by the holy standards represented in the Ten Commandments.”5 Unquestionably, even more is expected of us in light of our redeemed relationship with Jesus Christ. We must not merely check off the list of Ten Commandments but instead remember something more significant and meaningful. Dr. John Hannah points out:
Nine of the Ten Commandments are repeated in the New Testament with added stipulations that are even higher than those in Exodus 20. (The one not repeated is the command to keep the Sabbath; yet the first day of the week [Sunday] is to be set aside for worship in commemoration of the Savior’s resurrection).6
For example, Jesus expanded on the seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery” (Exodus 20:14), saying, “Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:28). Additionally, Jesus went beyond the sixth command, “You shall not murder” (Exodus 20:13), by saying: “You have heard that it was said to those of old, ‘You shall not murder, and whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment” (Matthew 5:21–22).
We pursue holiness out of love for Him rather than a begrudging obligation to Him.
Significantly, we do not chase the added stipulations as a means of earning God’s grace. However, we pursue holiness because of our holy God’s love for us and our love for Him as a response to all He has done for us. We pursue holiness out of love for Him rather than a begrudging obligation to Him.
The apostle Peter reminded us who we are in Christ: “But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). God wants us to pursue holiness in our daily lives, and the Ten Commandments (while not binding us today) serve as the foundation for this holy living.
Our purpose is to live holy lives since we have been redeemed and set apart for His service. The practical holiness inherent in the Ten Commandments enhances and strengthens our relationship with others and our relationship with God. Ultimately, it impacts our love for God and others (yes, even the little brother or sister you sometimes feel you want to kill!).
Endnotes
1 Irving Jensen, Jensen’s Survey of the Old Testament (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1978), 92.
2 Gleason Archer, A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, (Chicago, IL: Moody Press, 1985), 246.
3 Frank Gaebelein, ed., Expositor’s Bible Commentary, Frank Gaebelein general editor, (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1990), 420.
4 John Walvoord and Roy B. Zuck, Bible Knowledge Commentary (Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1987), 138.
5 Ibid., 140.
6 Ibid.
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