Take Two Tablets and Call Me in the Morning
Exodus 20:1-17
Introduction
When I have spoken to people about the importance of following Jesus, there has been one response that I have received numerous times that always surprises me. Someone will tell me that they do not need Jesus because they already follow the Ten Commandments. I need to be clear that these are not conversations with Jewish friends. They are usually people with some sort of church background in their past, even they have never regularly attended.
Why am I surprised? Call me cynical but I highly doubt that they are following the Ten Commandments. Why? For one thing, I question whether they or even most Christians could list all ten Commandments from memory. To be fair, I understand what they are trying to say. Claiming to follow the Ten Commandments is often shorthand for saying that they are generally good and moral people. And since they are already good, they feel they do not need Jesus to forgive them. I would prefer that people come right out and say that instead of making a claim about the Ten Commandments.
The truth is that even Christians do not fully agree on our relationship with the Ten Commandments. What role does these laws have on our life today? Some Christians see the Ten Commandments as binding on us and that we are required to be obedient to them in order to be a true Christian. Some think we are only required to be obedient to those commandments that Jesus specifically repeated in the Gospels. Others think the point of the Ten Commandments is to force us to see that they are impossible to keep and therefore to push us into the arms of Jesus. Others see them as helpful general guidelines for morality or as glimpses into the character of God. I think there is some truth in a number of these suggestions. It is worth us taking some time and reflecting on the Ten Commandments and wrestling with what they mean for us today.
The Receiving of the Tablets
How did the Ten Commandments come to be? God had called Moses to lead the Hebrew people out of slavery in Egypt and they were brought to Mount Sinai. It was understood that God was present on Mount Sinai in a very powerful way and only Moses was to go up there. The others were warned to not approach the mountain. There was much that was revealed to Moses on the mountain, but the most well known was the Ten Commandments. The other commandments were spread throughout what would become the books of Moses or the Torah and they covered everything from what food you could eat to prohibitions of mixing fabrics in clothing. To those outside of the Jewish tradition, nothing has grasped our attention like the Ten Commandments. Jewish tradition says there are 613 commandments in the Torah and that’s hard for us to get our minds around. But ten commandments is something we can grasp.
The Ten Commandments can be divided into two sections: four that are God-focused and six that are people-focused. The first is that people are not have any god before the one true God. In a world of religions with many gods, this belief in one God was very radical. Somewhat related to the first is the second about the images. This prohibits not only idols of pagan gods but graven images of the one true God. God made humanity in his image and we should not replace that with a different image. The third is that we are not to take the Lord’s name in vain. What does this mean? Jews, in antiquity and now, take this to the point of not saying God’s personal name out loud. Saying God’s name, even in the oral reading of Scripture, could be taking the Lord’s name in vain. Some have interpreted it as using God’s name in a frivolous way and it would also include using God’s name as a swear word. Consider the beginning of the Lord’s Prayer: “Hallowed be thy name.” The final of the four God-focused commandments is to keep the Sabbath holy. The Sabbath was between Friday sundown and Saturday sundown. There was much discussion by the rabbis over what exactly constituted work.
This brings us to the commandments related to people. The fifth is to honour your father and mother. I understand that this is complicated when there are unhealthy family relationships, and yet this is still important. Then we have the ban on murder. This is not necessarily a ban on all killing. There are examples of military activity in the Bible that is not condemned. The focus is on preventing the killing of innocent people. There is a commandment against adultery. Often in the Bible, adultery and idolatry are linked, there being a parallel between what is done against a spouse and what is done against God. We are told not to steal. Respect for property is a basic building block for a healthy community. We are also not to bear false witness, which refers to lying. This was especially true because at that time, with a less formal legal system, a person could be condemned to death by people lying against someone they did not like. Rules for evidence were not what they are now. Then there is a lengthy section on coveting. This is perhaps surprising as coveting seems to be one of the less harmful of the things listed here. But I suspect of you look at the conflicts, both on a large and small scale, that many of them would find their origins in some form of coveting. So much harm has been done by coveting. This is the basic idea of the Ten Commandments.
The Role of the Tablets
The Ten Commandments have been extremely influential in the non-Jewish world. They have influenced the West’s legal system and there was a time that the Ten Commandments were displayed prominently in courthouses. In the church context, the Ten Commandments have been a major part of Christian indication for both children and adults. There is no doubt that the Ten Commandments are important. But what is their role?
There is a role because Jesus mentioned many of the Ten Commandments and so we cannot just dismiss them as “That’s just the Old Testament.” The problem is that we often look as these issues through the lens of whether it affects our salvation. Do we need to follow the Ten Commandments to be saved. If yes, we must do it. If not, why should we bother? But that is not really how Christian living works. Either we are saved by God’s grace or we are saved by our works. It seems clear that it is by God’s grace. But that does not mean how we live does not matter. Think of the people in your family. They are in your family because that is what your family looks like and not because people have earned their way there. We want people in our family to live according to family values but people are not removed from our families for not being good enough. If we get to the point where we fear that making a mistake or breaking a commandment will get us kicked out of God’s family, we will be in a rough spot that is difficult to escape. Added to this that I doubt that there is anyone who is fully obedient to the Ten Commandments. Most Christians do not follow the commandment on the Sabbath completely literally, especially in the timing. Jesus also expanded the definition of adultery and murder that teaches us that we are not as innocent as we might think. Then there is the commandment against coveting. People use coveting as motivation all the time and people think it is generally harmless. We can covet as long as we don’t steal or commit adultery. But perhaps coveting is not so harmless. There have been studies about the effect of social media and the inevitable comparisons that get made on our mental health. Plus it often does not just end at coveting.
None of that is meant to suggest that we forget about the Ten Commandments. They were given by God and they reflect much of God’s character and values. They are also great help in shaping what our life can look like, especially when we read them through the lens of Jesus. We should regularly ask ourselves how our life compares to what we find in these commandments. If there is a major difference, we should ask why.
Conclusion
The Ten Commandments. They have been extremely influential in both culture and church. They remain important for Christians today as long as they are used properly. They are NOT a formula to earn our place into God’s family, nor are they a sword hovering above us, ready to cut us off from God. The Ten Commandments were a revelation to Moses as God established another covenant with people, this time focused on the Hebrews. Even if we have no genetic connection to the Hebrew people, as Christians we are connected to this. This is a snapshot of God’s character. It is also a picture of what life can look like when we are in relationship with God. Are we ever going to fully accomplish this vision of a godly life? Probably not in this life but it should not stop us from trying to shape our lives by holding ourselves up to the Ten Commandments. They are not to be weaponized so that we can condemn others but used as a spiritual mirror for self-reflection. If used properly, they can help us to live much more like Jesus.
