Click
here to look up Bible PassagesTHE TEN COMMANDMENTS - PART I
The people of Israel, in their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, came at length to Sinai. There the people encamped round about the sacred mount as Moses went up unto God. The Lord spake to Moses and said: . . . Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; You have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto myself. Now therefore, if you will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then you shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:" (Exodus 19:3-5)
The law was written on tables of stone by the finger of God Himself (Exodus 31:18). When Moses came down from the mount, and witnessed the intervening idolatry of the people in designing the golden calf, he threw down the tablets and broke them (Exodus 32:19). God called him again into the mount and rewrote them (Exodus 34:1). It appears from Exodus 34:27, that Moses made copies of the tables for the people. The copy which God made was placed in the ark of the covenant (Deuteronomy 10:5), and was not available to the people.
Let it be remembered that the law of Moses was the constitution of ancient Israel and ended at the cross (Colossians 2:14). It was a covenant solely between God and Israel (Deuteronomy 5:2). It was to last until Christ came (Galatians 3:16-24). The ten commandments were a vital part of the entire law of Moses (Romans 7:7). However, for those under the new covenant we are to hear Jesus and not Moses:
"Wherefore, my brethren, you also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ; that you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead, that we should bring forth fruit unto God" (Romans 7:4).
We are, therefore, not under the law issuing from Sinai. Instead, we are answerable to God under the "new and living way" (Hebrews 10:20) which became operative on the first Pentecost after the resurrection of Christ. Nine of the ten commandments of the decalogue are now a part of the new covenant. Not that these commands were "carried over" or "retained"; but rather they have been restated in the new covenant and even modified somewhat by our Lord. Nine of these ten precepts have always been right, by their very nature, and they always will be right. They were right before Moses ever presented them to the people on tables of stone. They are moral laws that are inherently correct. Since these nine laws did not originate with the Law of Moses, they also did not end with it. Let us notice the ten commandments separately and their application to the new covenant.
1. "Thou shalt have no other gods before me."
This first commandment forbids idolatry. It affirms the existence of but one true God, thus denying polytheism and atheism. Faith in one God has always been right. Thus when Paul and Barnabas were hailed as Roman gods by the citizens of Lystra, the preachers cried out, ". . . We also are men of like passions with you., and preach unto you that you should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:" (Acts 14:15).
2. "Thou shall not make unto thee a graven image . . ." is the second commandment of the decalogue. The 1959 National Catholic Almanac, in listing the ten commandments, leaves out the second and makes two commandments of the last in order to total ten. Their reason is obvious: their practice of worshipping images is clearly prohibited; and thus, they audaciously change God's Holy Word to accommodate their practice. Again, the second commandment has .. always been right. The New Covenant says: "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwells not in temples made with hands;..... For as much then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device: (Acts 17:24,29).
3. The third commandment "Thou shalt not take the name of Jehovah thy God in vain . . .", forbids false swearing, blasphemy or any irreverent use of the names of God. In the New Testament we read: "Let no corrupt communications proceed out of your mouth . . . " (Eph. 4:29). In James 3:9, speaking in reference to the tongue, the writer says: "Therewith bless we God, - - - ". It is just as wrong to use the Lord's name in a flippant manner today as it was then.
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