The Ten Commandments, in the context of the entire Bible
The Ten Commandments (quoted from the World English
Bible, public domain)
|
Old
Testament
|
New
Testament
|
Exodus 20:
(Deuteronomy 5 repeats this.)
|
Matthew
5:17 Don’t think that I came to destroy the law or the prophets. I didn’t
come to destroy, but to fulfill. (Also Matt. 19:17-20)
|
1 You
shall have no other gods before me.
(The Bible doesn't number the Commandments.)
|
Matthew
4:10 Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You
shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”
|
2 You
shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in
the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water
under the earth.
|
1
Corinthians 8:4 Therefore concerning the eating of things sacrificed to
idols, we know that no idol is anything in the world, and that there is no
other God but one. 5 For though there are things that are called “gods”,
whether in the heavens or on earth; as there are many “gods” and many
“lords”; 6 yet to us there is one God, the Father, of whom are all things,
and we for him; and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things, and
we live through him.
|
3 You
shall not take the name of Yahweh your God in vain
|
James 5:12 But above all things, my brothers, don’t swear— not by heaven, or by the
earth, or by any other oath; but let your “yes” be “yes”, and your “no”,
“no”; so that you don’t fall into hypocrisy
|
4 Remember
the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. You shall labor six days, and do all your
work
(The
principles of this command, worship with others, rest, still hold.)
|
Mark 2:27
He said to them, “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. 28 Therefore
the Son of Man is lord even of the Sabbath.”
Romans
14:5 One man esteems one day as more important. Another esteems every day
alike. Let each man be fully assured in his own mind. 6a He who observes the
day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the
Lord he does not observe it.
The
Sabbath was from at sundown on Friday through sundown on Saturday. Seventh
Day Adventists observe this now.
|
5 Honor
your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which
Yahweh your God gives you.
|
Matthew
15:4 For God commanded, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’
and, ‘He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.’ 5
But you say, ‘Whoever may tell his father or his mother, “Whatever help you
might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,” 6 he shall not
honor his father or mother.’ You have made the commandment of God void
because of your
tradition.
|
6 You
shall not murder.
|
Matthew 5:21 “You have heard that it was said to the ancient ones, ‘You shall not
murder;’ and ‘Whoever murders will be in danger of the judgment.’ 22 But I
tell you, that everyone who is angry with his brother without a cause will be
in danger of the judgment (Several translations don’t say “without a cause.”)
|
7 You
shall not commit adultery.
|
Matthew
5:27 “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery;’
28 but I tell you that everyone who gazes at a woman to lust after her has
committed adultery with her already in his heart.
|
8 You
shall not steal.
|
Ephesians
4:28 Let him who stole steal no more; but rather let him labor, producing
with his hands something that is good, that he may have something to give to
him who has need
|
9 You
shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
|
John 5:31
“If I testify about myself, my witness is not valid. 32 It is another who
testifies about me. I know that the testimony which he testifies about me is
true. (Included in Matthew 19:17-20)
|
10 You
shall not covet your neighbor’s house, . . . your neighbor’s wife, . . . nor
his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.
|
Luke 12:15
He said to them, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life
doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”
|
The
Ten Commandments don’t mention love, and nothing in them forbids hypocrisy.
Jesus took care of hypocrisy – see His take on the 6th & 7th
above – our motives are critically important. Love was covered in Deuteronomy 6:5:
You shall love Yahweh your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and
with all your might. Also, in Leviticus 19:18a You shall not take vengeance,
nor bear any grudge against the children of your people; but you shall love
your neighbor as yourself. In Mark 12:28-34 (Also in Matthew 22:35-40, Luke
10:25-37) Jesus affirmed these two, as the most important commandments. Both,
especially the first, were known to the Jews of His day.
Commandments
1-4 are about our relationship to God. 5-10 are about our relationship to
others.
Except
for the literal 4th Commandment, all of the Ten were affirmed in the
New Testament, and Jesus told His followers to rest, and we are admonished to worship with others, in the New Testament, too. Much of the Jewish law, however, does not apply to us. In Acts
15, the early church decided that Gentile believers should not be required to
follow almost all of the Jewish laws, such as dietary regulations. We do not
sacrifice as the Jews did.
The
Ten Commandments are about things we shouldn’t do. Stealing is a sin of commission. In addition to
things we should not do, there are things that we should do. If we don’t do
them, we have committed a sin of
omission: James 4:17 To him therefore who knows to do good, and doesn’t do
it, to him it is sin. (See also Matthew 25:31-45.)
A
summary commandment, for 5-10, is the Golden Rule: Matthew 7:12 Therefore whatever you desire for men
to do to you, you shall also do to them; for this is the law and the prophets.
We
can’t keep any set of commandments in our hearts without the help of the Holy
Spirit.
For Old Testament summaries, see Deuteronomy 10:12 Now, Israel,
what does Yahweh your God require of you, but to fear Yahweh your God, to walk
in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve Yahweh your God with all your
heart and with all your soul, 13 to keep Yahweh’s commandments and statutes,
which I command you today for your good? Also:
Micah 6:8 He
has shown you, O man, what is good.
What does
Yahweh require of you, but to act justly,
to love
mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?
The Ten Commandments were given to Moses on Mt. Sinai (Exodus
19:20), also called Mt. Horeb (Deuteronomy 5:5).
It
wasn’t just Moses who interacted with God. Exodus 24, we read:
3 Moses came and told the people all Yahweh’s words, and all the ordinances;
and all the people answered with one voice, and said, “All the words which
Yahweh has spoken will we do.”
4
Moses wrote all Yahweh’s words, and rose up early in the morning, and built an
altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5
He sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and
sacrificed peace offerings of cattle to Yahweh. 6 Moses took half of the blood
and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 He
took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and
they said, “All that Yahweh has spoken will we do, and be obedient.”
8
Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is
the blood of the covenant, which Yahweh has made with you concerning all these
words.”
9
Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up.
10 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire
stone, like the skies for clearness. 11 He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of
the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
12
Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will
give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written,
that you may teach them.”
13
Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain.
14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us, until we come again to you.
Behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to
them.”
Neither
Exodus 20, nor Deuteronomy 5, have the phrase, “Ten Commandments,” nor are they
numbered in either place, but see:
Exodus 34:27 Yahweh said to Moses, “Write you
these words: for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you
and with Israel.” 28 He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he
neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the
covenant, the ten commandments.
The
Ten Commandments (possibly other laws, too) were written on stone by God,
Himself: Deuteronomy 4:13 He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded
you to perform, even the ten commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets.
(Also 5:22)
Exodus 32:19 tells us that Moses broke the tablets they were
written on. In Exodus 34, Moses was commanded to make two new stone tablets,
and God re-wrote the Ten Commandments on them. In Exodus 25:10-16, Moses was
instructed that the stone tablets were to be placed in the Ark of the Covenant,
which was in the Tabernacle, later in the Temple.
In
2 Corinthians, Paul referred to the Ten Commandments, on their tablets of
stone, as follows:
3:2
You are our letter, written in our hearts, known and read by all men; 3 being
revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink,
but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets
that are hearts of flesh.
Thanks for reading. See here for the Biblical usages of the words adultery and and fornication.
