Introduction to the Ten Commandments

3 mins to read through Exod. 20:1-17.

Question: How many of the Ten Commandments can you list?

You shall have no other gods before me (Exod. 20:3)

You shall not make for yourself a carved image (Exod. 20:4)

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain (Exod. 20:7)

Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (Exod. 20:8)

Honor your father and your mother (Exod. 20:12)

You shall not murder (Exod. 20:13)

You shall not commit adultery (Exod. 20:14)

You shall not steal (Exod. 20:15)

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exod. 20:16)

You shall not covet anything that belongs to your neighbor (Exod. 20:17)

Discuss: Why did God give the Ten Commandments?

To make us behave?

In the creation story, we see that the earth was in an utter state of chaos and darkness.

Genesis 1:1–2 ESV

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. The earth was without form and void, and darkness was over the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God was hovering over the face of the waters.

And how does God deal with the chaos? He speaks His Word, and His Word enforces His order upon the chaos. Likewise with Adam and Eve, God created human beings through His Spirit, and God gave them His Word.

Genesis 2:7 ESV

then the Lord God formed the man of dust from the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living creature.

Genesis 2:16–17 ESV

And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, “You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.”

But when Adam and Eve disobeyed God’s Word, their lives were thrust into chaos. God sent them out of the garden of Eden, a place which was like utopia, where everything was good.

The earth is described as formless, void, and covered in darkness. Sometimes we might feel like this. All of us have a plan for the next couple of years right? We know what we want to do, the grades we want to get, and sometimes even the people we want to marry. But life is always unexpected. We don’t always get what we want, and there are so many factors out of our control.

When things seem out of order in our lives, we must receive God’s Word. That is the only way to regain a sense of order amidst the chaos. When our exam results throw us off the expected path, or when our relationships fail and our friendships crumble, we need to look to God’s Word.

To receive God’s Word is to recalibrate our hearts according to God’s order.

The Ten Commandments are the Law of God that represents God’s sovereignty. What do we mean by this? Every king has a kingdom. And the size of that kingdom, geographically, is determined by what? It’s wherever the king’s authority and sovereignty is acknowledged. It’s wherever the king’s word is obeyed, and wherever the king’s will is done.

Did you know that it’s illegal to feed pigeons in Singapore? You can get fined $500. But if you really have an urge to feed pigeons, what would you do? You go to Malaysia and feed pigeons. Why? Because in Malaysia, the word of Singaporean law doesn’t apply. But if you go to a Singaporean embassy in a foreign country and feed pigeons, you can say goodbye to your $500.

God gave the Ten Commandments to the Israelites to form them into His own people, citizens of the kingdom of God. They had no identity, but through the Ten Commandments, they learned about what it meant to be the people of God. That’s because God’s law shows us His heart. God’s law shows us what God is like, and how we should live as God’s people.

For example, God commands us not to lie because He is trustworthy and reliable. Imagine if God said, ‘Thou shall tell lies 10% of the time.’ You wouldn’t be able to trust 100% of the Bible.

Question: Which of the Ten Commandments is the hardest to keep?

God’s law is not about behavior

Matthew 5:17–20 ESV

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Jesus tells us here that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we will never enter the kingdom of heaven. But these scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ time were extremely careful with the law. They even set up extra laws, called the Halakoth, in order not to go anywhere close to breaking God’s law.

For example, if the road has a speed limit of 80km/h, the Pharisees would set up a law saying that they cannot drive beyond 70km/h.

They kept the law so thoroughly and perfectly in their behavior. But what does Jesus say?

Matthew 23:25–28 ESV

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. “Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

Jesus called the scribes and Pharisees ‘hypocrites.’ Back then, a hypocrite was another name for actors. Jesus says that they were like cups and plates that were cleaned only on the outside, but the inside was still dirty with greed and self-indulgence. Would you rather eat from plate that’s dirty on the outside, or the inside where the food is?

Jesus also said that they were like whitewashed tombs, which appear beautiful on the outside, but are full of death on the inside. The scribes and Pharisees only appeared righteous on the outside, but inside they were full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.

These people who kept the law so well, Jesus calls lawless. This is because although they obeyed the law in their outward behavior, they didn’t keep the law in their inward heart.

And what is this inward spiritual aspect of the law?2

Matthew 22:36–40 ESV

“Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

The spiritual foundation behind each of the Ten Commandments is love. Firstly, love for God. And secondly, love for your neighbor.

All the Ten Commandments must be kept, since they all have this same foundation of love. So the Bible warns us that selective hearing isn’t going to cut it with God’s eternal Law. You can’t just obey the parts you like, and ignore the rest. Either you have love, or you don’t. And if you obey 9 of the Ten Commandments, but you cannot obey the last one, it means that you’re obeying the other nine commandments for the wrong reason.

James 2:8–11 ESV

If you really fulfill the royal law according to the Scripture, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing well. But if you show partiality, you are committing sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do murder, you have become a transgressor of the law.

This is why even an apparently minor transgression of the law, such as eating a fruit, had such major consequences. It isn’t only that Adam and Eve broke God’s command, but that their hearts had taken an attitude of sin and greed.

On the flipside, it’s also the same thing with the fruit of the Spirit. There is only one fruit, and many different expressions of that fruit.

Galatians 5:22–23 ESV

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.

Imagine if a person has lots of gentleness, but no joy. Or if a person is super kind, but is unfaithful to their spouse. We cannot call that person someone who is filled with the Spirit and is producing the Fruit of the Spirit. If any one aspect of the fruit of the Spirit is absent, it means that the person isn’t filled with the Spirit at all.

Conclusion

Hebrews 4:15–16 ESV

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

And so for us, we must not obey the Ten Commandments using our own strength, but by depending on the Holy Spirit to strengthen us.

Jesus embodied the Ten Commandments in His life, through the power of the Holy Spirit. And the only way we can obey the Ten Commandments is not through our own strength or willpower, but throu1gh the power of Holy Spirit.

Romans 13:8–10 ESV

Owe no one anything, except to love each other, for the one 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 covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.

The main issue about the law is not whether we will keep this law or that law, but whether we will be law keepers or lawbreakers.

Questions

Which of the ten commandments are the hardest to obey? How can we obey it?