The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Joshua E. during the 2007-2008 League.
AML BIBLE STUDY #10: TEN COMMANDMENTS
The Ten Commandments are the key to the foundation of Old Testament Law, and have also provided the basic components for civil law since their inception. Through the Ten Commandments, we are taught how to treat our relationships with God and with others. This treatment hinges on veneration for God as the creator and respect for our neighbors as fellow creations. Despite its formal approach and judiciary exterior, this piece of legislation centers on love for God and for others.
For the Israelites in the Old Testament, the Law was a way of life. Though the law encompasses many hundreds of individual regulations, the Ten Commandments given at Mount Sinai are the most basic and important. The first two establish God as the one and only being worthy of our worship: "I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery. You must not have any other god but me. You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected-even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands." (Exodus 20:2-6) The rescuing aspect of verse one holds true for everyone; he rescued the Israelites from slavery, and consequently rescued everyone from sin. In order to fully understand our purpose in life, we must put God first. God's order to have no idols goes along with this theme; we cannot follow God while still placing money, reputation, family, or anything else before him.
The third and fourth commandments also concern our relationship to God: "You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name. Remember to observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. You have six days each week for your ordinary work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath day of rest dedicated to the Lord your God. On that day no one in your household may do any work. This includes you, your sons and daughters, your male and female servants, your livestock, and any foreigners living among you. For in six days the LORD made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them; but on the seventh day he rested. That is why the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy." (Exodus 20:7-11) If we are fully respecting him, God's very name should be kept reverent. In addition, we should rest from our toiling as God rested from his. In modern applications, this may not necessarily mean setting aside Sunday as our day of rest; rather, it is the principle of setting aside time for relaxation and spiritual rejuvenation that still holds true today.
The final six commandments speak to our relationships with people: "Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you. You must not murder. You must not commit adultery. You must not steal. You must not testify falsely against your neighbor. You must not covet your neighbor's house. You must not covet your neighbor's wife, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor." (Exodus 20:12-17) In general, all of these commands have a common thread: honor what belongs to others - their authority, lives, marriages, possessions, and right to the truth. The last command (do not covet) goes even further, in that we are not even to want what belongs to our neighbor.
The Ten Commandments were central to all of the Torah teachings during the times in which the Israelites followed God in the Old Testament. When Jesus came on the scene, he made it clear that he was not trying to cause others to abandon Torah law. As he said in the Sermon on the Mount: "Don't misunderstand why I have come. I did not come to abolish the Law of Moses or the writings of the prophets. No, I came to accomplish their purpose. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not even the smallest detail of God's law will disappear until its purpose is achieved. So if you ignore the least commandment and teach others to do the same, you will be called the least in the Kingdom of Heaven. But anyone who obeys God's laws and teaches them will be called great in the Kingdom of Heaven. But I warn you - unless your righteousness is better than the righteousness of the teachers of religious law and the Pharisees, you will never enter the Kingdom of Heaven!" (Matthew 5:18-20)
In this verse, Jesus gets to the heart of what the law really means. He said that he came to accomplish the real purpose of the law: to reconcile man with God. He also said that nobody will get into heaven unless they can be more righteous than the religious leaders of the day. To ancient Jewish audiences, this was absurd; the Pharisees and Sadducees epitomized their conception of blamelessness. Jesus introduced a revolutionary point of view concerning what obedience to God really meant.
Jesus continued his sermon with an analysis of several of the Ten Commandments: "You have heard that our ancestors were told, 'You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.' But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell." (Matthew 5:21-22) Instead of condemning the act of murder, Jesus focuses on the state of mind from which the act came. Continuing, he noted: "You have heard the commandment that says, 'You must not commit adultery.' But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart." (Matthew 5:27-28)
Again, Jesus zeroes in on the real problem: an internalization of sinful thought processes. Our outward behavior will never consistently reveal godliness until we first get our hearts right. Once our hearts are right, we will be able to do what the ancient Jews doubted was possible: achievement of righteousness greater than the Pharisees. Paul wrote in Romans 7:6, "But now we have been released from the law, for we died to it and are no longer captive to its power. Now we can serve God, not in the old way of obeying the letter of the law, but in the new way of living in the Spirit." Through God's New Covenant, we are made righteous by following the Spirit rather than the letter of the law; when we fall short and sin mentally or physically, we are made righteous once again by Christ's atoning work on the cross.
In summary, the Ten Commandments boil down to a single statement found in Luke 10:25-28: "On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. 'Teacher,' he asked, 'what must I do to inherit eternal life?' 'What is written in the Law?' he replied. 'How do you read it?' He [the expert] answered: 'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind'; and, 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' 'You have answered correctly,' Jesus replied. 'Do this and you will live.'" And again, in Matthew 7:12: "Do to others whatever you would like them to do to you. This is the essence of all that is taught in the law and the prophets." In accordance with the Ten Commandments, Jesus warns us to avoid anything that would demean others or God, either outwardly or in our own hearts. As we work out our salvation with fear and trembling, the Ten Commandments are good principles to guide us along the way.
