The Ten Commandments

    God spoke The Ten Commandments and although they were a part of the old covenant, they were intended as a standard for all nations and generations of man, not just for ancient Israel. They are not rules. They are an outline that God has  provided us with. An outline to the standard He wants us to live up to. Later, He brought Jesus into the picture to solidify that idea of a standard vs. laws. Here is the outline He gave us, in full, and further down I will break it up and explain each part. The translation I will be using is NIV and if you would like to look it up in your own Bible, these verses are located in Exodus 20:1-17.

“And God spoke all these words:

‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before Me.
You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them of worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name.
Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, your son or daughter, nor your male or female servants, nor your animals, nor any foreigners residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.
You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery.
You shall not steal.
You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.’”

Now, let’s take that apart and look at each of the ten…

“And God spoke all these words:

‘I am the Lord your God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
You shall have no other gods before Me.’”

That is pretty clear. God reminds the Israelites that He and He alone brought them out of Egypt and rescued them from slavery. Due to His being God and being so generous and loving, they shall not worship another god above Him. I don’t think that’s an unreasonable request. That doesn’t mean just worshipping a Baal or other God of a different religion. Many people today struggle with this. They make their fashion their god, or sex, or money, of their kids. Their whole world revolves around something other than God. This is what He is telling us not to do. God commands that He be where our focus lies.

“You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them of worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

This somewhat goes along with the previous commandment, however there is a slight difference. Sometimes people need a visual. It is very difficult to worship and love a deity that you cannot see. You can feel and hear Him, but humans crave a visual aid. So, even if God is their focus, they may be praying to an image of Jesus on a crucifix, or maybe have a Jesus bobble head in their car that they believe is protecting them. Or that person who carries their Bible everywhere and consults it for everything, but rarely has a conversation with God Himself. That is sin. It’s a good intention, but you are worshipping an object, not God, and He forbids this.

“You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses His name”

This is often quoted as “Watch your words” or “Thou shalt not swear,” which is fine, except that it leads to misunderstanding. Cursing and swearing are talked about in other places, but this commandment refers specifically to using the Lord’s name inappropriately. “Oh my God” or “Goddammit” are totally unacceptable in every circumstance. No ifs, ands or buts about it.

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, your son or daughter, nor your male or female servants, nor your animals, nor any foreigners residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but He rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”

I love this one. We’re commanded to take a break, how awesome is that? Notice, it never tells us that there is a specific Sabbath. After six days of work, we are to take a day of rest. Most people believe Sunday is the Sabbath, and while many people practice that way, the Sabbath can be any day of the week. What is necessary is that we take a day that we dedicated to rest. He understood that we each were going to be in need to a reprieve and we need to be grateful for this commandment.

“Honor your father and mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”

Not only is this commandment very straightforward (as are the next few), but this one comes with a promise. If you honor your father and mother, you may live a long life in the land the Lord gave. What does honoring mean? Well, it means respect. It means to not speak ill of your parents, it means to bless your parents both with your tongue and with your prayers. It means to forgive when they have wronged you. It means to be thankful for them. Honor does not mean reconciliation. I believe that if you endured abuse and hardship at the hands of your parent(s), then God does not require you to continue to endure in the name of honoring them. It does mean that if they repent, you owe them your time.

“You shall not murder”

I wonder if anyone really needs me to go into detail on this. It’s pretty simple. Don’t kill people, okay? It’s not hard.

“You shall not commit adultery.”

Again…very simple. Don’t cheat on your spouse. You made a commitment to love them and only them and to cherish them for eternity. Do it. This also means that open relationships are forbidden. It’s still adultery, even if your spouse has given their blessing, okay? Don’t do it.

“You shall not steal”

Yet another crystal clear one. Don’t steal…I mean does anyone like a thief? No. Thieves and liars are the dregs of society. “Thief” is one of the greatest insults you can throw out there. Don’t take something that doesn’t belong to you!

“You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor”

Remember when I said liars are low? Yeah. Even God thinks it’s dreadful. Don’t lie. Nobody, and I mean nobody likes a liar. That means do not give a false testimony in any way. Answer a question with the truth as well as you must not make up untrue stories or embellish on true stories. Just tell it like it is, people.

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

To covet means to want something that you do not have. This means that you can think her shoes are gorgeous and that his car is sick, but you cannot wish you had the same thing. That is really, really hard to do, but it is necessary for our own peace of mind. Wanting what others have can damage our self image, our relationships and it can lead to depression. God knew this and commanded us not to do it. What a great guy, huh?

So here’s our outline. Just like an outline for a paper, The Ten Commandments contains all of the main points, but it does not elaborate on every little detail. You can be sure you are living righteously by reading your Bible, and living in constant prayer, so that you may hear the Holy Spirit when He convicts you of your sin. So if you make a point of listening to Him, seriously…don’t sweat the small stuff.