"Ang Sampung Utos" (Lord's Day 34)

Question 92. What is the law of the LORD?

Exodus 20:1–2 ESV

And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

Exodus 20:3 ESV

“You shall have no other gods before me.

Exodus 20:4–6 ESV

“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.

Exodus 20:7 ESV

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.

Exodus 20:8–11 ESV

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Exodus 20:12 ESV

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.

Exodus 20:13 ESV

“You shall not murder.

Exodus 20:14 ESV

“You shall not commit adultery.

Exodus 20:15 ESV

“You shall not steal.

Exodus 20:16 ESV

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

Exodus 20:17 ESV

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”

Three uses of the law (John Calvin)

To restrain wickedness

To show us our guilt and lead us to Christ

An instrument to learn God’s will

The Commentary of Dr. Zacharias Ursinus on the Heidelberg Catechism IV. What Are the Causes of Conversion?

The law, therefore, precedes, and follows conversion. It precedes that it may lead to a knowledge and sorrow for sin: it follows that it may serve as a rule of life to the converted.

Negative attitudes/approaches to the law

Functional “Marcionism”

Sharp distinction between the gospel and the law

Dichotomizing/separation of church/Israel, old covenant/new covenant, Old Testament/New Testament

Antinomian stance of our culture

Legalistic tendencies

Sinclair Ferguson:

“The function of the gospel...is not to destroy the law, but rather to establish the telos of that law which includes its rewriting in the hearts of believers, and obedience to it coming to expression in their lives.”

Usual (but insufficient) categorization of Mosaic Law

Civil laws

Ceremonial laws

Moral laws

Redemptive-historical-Christocentric approach:

“The law sends us to the gospel that we may be justified; and the gospel sends us to the law again to inquire what is our duty as those who are justified...The law sends us to the gospel for our justification; the gospel sends us to the law to frame our way of life." (Samuel Bolton)

Theodorus VanderGroe:

“Law and gospel are like twins, which though they may never be separated, must be carefully distinguished. The law must serve the gospel, and the gospel must serve the law. Though they must mutually affirm each other, they may by no means undermine each other. It is contradictory to Christian doctrine to speak only of the gospel and of the doctrines of grace, and to be silent regarding obedience to the law; or, conversely, to speak only of obedience to the law, and be silent regarding the gospel and its doctrines of grace.”

Exodus 20:1–2 ESV

And God spoke all these words, saying, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.

#1: Ang 10 Utos ay mga salita ng Diyos.

#2: Ang 10 Utos ay nagpapakilala kung sino ang Diyos.

#3: Ang 10 Utos ay sumasalamin sa lalim ng kasalanang nasa puso natin.

#4: Ang 10 Utos ay nagtutulak sa atin na lumapit kay Jesus na Tagapagligtas.

#5: Ang 10 Utos ay nagpapaalala ng espesyal na relasyong meron tayo sa Diyos.

Question 93. How are these commandments divided?

Into two parts. The first teaches us how to live in relation to God; the second, what duties we owe our neighbour.

Matthew 22:37–40 ESV

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.”

#6: Ang 10 Utos ay gumagabay para makapamuhay tayo na nakalulugod sa Diyos.

#7: Ang 10 Utos ay mabuting regalo ng Diyos para sa ‘yo.

Preaching the Whole Bible as Christian Scripture: The Application of Biblical Theology to Expository Preaching 1. The Ten Commandments (Exod. 20)

The essentially ethical nature of the Ten Commandments is based on the character of God. It is this God who reveals himself finally in his Son, Jesus Christ, who then becomes the ethical model. The preaching of the commandments must always point people both to the impossibility of our being justified by works of the law and to the fulfillment of the law’s demands for us by our Savior. It cannot be emphasized too much that insofar as there is lawfulness in Christian sanctification, it can only come via the prior justification by grace in Christ.