Published by - I believe that the 10 commandments compose a summary of all that God expects of human behavior
- I believe that humans were created by God, and that the Bible, including the 10 commandments, are God’s “owner’s manual” for His creation. This owner’s manual applies to all humans: past, present, and future.
- I believe that God is fully aware that no human being (except Christ when He came to Earth in human form), has ever kept the 10 commandments
Does it seem to you that my first and third points are in contradiction? Why would God give us rules that He expects us to keep when He knows that we are not capable of keeping them? And what’s more: He says that no one can earn an eternal place in Heaven unless he/she keeps all of His rules perfectly! Does that seem fair to you?
Maybe you prefer the rules of the New Testament – Jesus seems a little looser on the rules than His father – after all: didn’t Jesus break some of the commandments Himself, like healing people on the Sabbath?
Hate to break it to you, but Jesus had even stricter rules than His father did. In Matthew chapter 5, Jesus had this to say about the sixth commandment, Do not murder: “You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment.” (Mt. 5:21 &22).
Whoa! You may have thought that you could keep at least one of the commandments, you’ve never actually killed anyone. But Jesus upped the ante by saying that if you call your brother (fellow man or woman – not just your siblings) a fool (or any other non-endearing term) that you will be in danger of the fire of Hell.
And what about the seventh commandment: Do not commit adultery. Our culture makes this one very hard to keep, in fact, I would venture to guess that at least half of the people in the world don’t even consider this to be a sin anymore. But guess what Jesus had to say about it: “You have heard that it was said, Do not commit adultery. But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” Does anyone out there get a passing grade for this one?
So what am I saying here? First of all, that God gave us some rules to follow, He knows we can’t keep them, yet He still insists that the only way to earn our way into Heaven is to follow all of them perfectly.
Then along comes Jesus, God in human flesh, and He says: not only do you have to keep those rules, but you are guilty of breaking the rule if you only just think about breaking it!
So who gets to go to Heaven? None of us, apparently! But here is the deal: you can’t earn it on your own. But somebody has already bought and paid for your ticket to Heaven. That’s right – Jesus took on human flesh so that He could sacrifice His human life to pay the penalty you and I deserve. All that He asks of you is that you admit that if the price of admission is perfection, then you have so missed that boat. Then you accept the ticket that cost Jesus His life, but is offered to you free of charge. That’s it!
You may say: well, if that’s the case, then I’ll just take my Get out of Hell Free card and be off on my merry way, breaking all of the commandments as I please. Ah, yes, you knew that there would be a catch. Well, actually, there is more good news. Since this is a real live God we are speaking of, and if you actually believe that Jesus paid for your sins and accept this free gift, then there is another benefit that you don’t have to wait until heaven for. Actually, this gift is a Who. The Holy Spirit, the third member of the Trinity (Three Gods in One – that explanation will have to wait for another article). The Holy Spirit comes to live in your soul (your spirit, your heart, your kidneys, wherever your soul is – I don’t understand it either). The Holy Spirit guides you, sometimes through your thoughts, or your conscience; sometimes by arranging “Divine coincidences”, one guy in the Bible who just wasn’t paying attention got a real earful when his donkey started talking – look it up in Numbers 22:22! If we pay attention to how the Holy Spirit is leading us, we start to show the “Fruit of the Spirit” with our behavior. The fruit is the spirit isn’t lemons. It is a list of character traits, found in Galatians 5:22: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Now wouldn’t that make this world a better place to live in ?
So why bother giving us all these commandments, knowing we can’t keep them, when all along He knew that all we would have to do is accept Jesus as our Savior? The apostle Paul was asked this question. I would love to include his whole answer, but it is pretty long, and you can read it for yourself in the New Testament book called Galatians. Here is just part of Paul’s answer: “Before this faith came, we were held prisoners by the law, locked up until faith should be revealed. So the law was put in charge to lead us to Christ that we might be justified by faith. Now that faith has come, we are no longer under the supervision of the law.” (Galatians 3: 23 – 25)
We can’t earn salvation by keeping the 10 commandments, because we can’t keep them. They are relevant because they show us how utterly impossible it is to try to earn salvation by keeping the 10 commandments.
Great commentary Karen. The only thing I would like to add (if that’s okay) is that the Holy Spirit also guides us by the Word of God. By keeping the word of God (the Bible) in our hearts we know the paths we should take when temptation is presented to us. The bible says ‘Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God.’
If we know God’s word, we are guided by the Holy Spirit, in the same way a doctor knows what proceedures to follow when conducting a surgery. He/she has learned and has kept the details of their medical training in their heads. When we study God’s word, our reflexes in every day life is in accordance to His teaching.
Sister Karen,
Nice job……If there would be anything to add it would simply be this: Maybe we need to stop looking at the 10 commandments as “rules”, and start looking at them as the revealed character of God Himself…
Think about it – the first four commandments tell us of our relationship with God, and the last six commandments tell us of our relationship with each other…Actually, He could have stopped with “thou shalt have no other gods before me” because when we put anything before God in our life, it fails the rest of the list…Understanding these commandments in this way allows us to realize we can’t keep them because our own righteousness is “as filthy rags”, and, as you point out, we can do nothing to “earn our way to heaven”…I shutter at the thought of thinking that any human could add to what Jesus did on the cross for us all…What could ever be added to that?
Harry
Thank you, Anne & Harry – you are both absolutely right! When Jesus was asked: “which of the commandments are most important”, He answered that the whole law can be summed up in: love the Lord your God with all your heart & soul & mind; and love your neighbour as yourself. It all comes down to a relationship with God & faith in His salvation because of Christ’s sacrifice for us.
There was a time when I was on the “inside” with you…but this business of a “loving” heavenly father who sets up a list of rules that can’t possibly be followed for the children HE created only to send a savior (who by the way is actually himself in disguise)to give us a “free” gift of salvation that we can choose to accept or not accept. And if we inadvertantly miss out on this free “gift” (because we didn’t believe the right thing before we died) we are doomed to eternal hellfires so horrifying that even our worst enemy wouldn’t wish it on us. Is there not a shred of irony here for you too? And while a majority of us are burning in hellfire (”the road is straight and narrow and those who walk it will be few”), God is in heaven surrounded by people I wouldn’t even want to be associated with because the only indication of their “righteousness” is that they said the magic Christian mantra and became “saved” by virtue of a few spoken words in order to save their butts. I’m sorry but I’m just not with you on this one…I’ve become a little cynical with time.
Karen, this is a wonderful way to explain the nature of God or the Ten Commandments. Although, Jesus did not break the Ten Commandments when He healed the sick on the Sabbath, because if He had broken any of them, then He would be like us – a sinner, which He never sinned. I will have to read the scripture again, so to put this topic into perspective.
Jesus demonstrated compassion and mercy when He healed the sick whom had put their faith in Who He Was/Is and Jesus showed that He would respond to His sons and daughters who have put their faith in Him and no matter what time or day it is, even on the Sabbath. Since Jesus is God in the flesh and the Sabbath is His day, then even on His day, He will be there for us and our needs if only we put our unconditional faith in His hands.
I am also working on an article that illustrates the importance of the Ten Commandments in our modern day life. Also, at least one article about the motivation or core of evil.
God Bless You All.
Your Brother In Jesus Christ,
Nelson Doyle
This is a very inspiring article and the points it makes are very good and accurate as far as I am aware; except for the numbering of the commandments Karen mentions. I don’t know what religion in particular she is a part of, but I didn’t think that the numbering ever changed. In mine #5 is ‘Thou shalt not kill” and #6 is ‘Thou shalt not commit adultery.” Is there different numbering in different Christian religions?
Hey Jaime!
The only numbering difference between different lists that I have seen is whether “And God spoke all these words, saying: ‘I am the LORD your God who brought you out of Egypt out of the land of slavery.” Some lists label this section as a preample, and some attach it to the first commandment. #5 is ‘honour your father and mother, #6 is ‘you shall not murder. I am often wrong and don’t mind a bit if readers correct me, but I have checked several lists, and I think I am right about this one.
Thank you for reading my article, and thanks especially for leaving a comment.
God bless!
Karen