We tend to think of the 10 Commandments as a to-do list, but it’s meant to help you develop a heart for holiness. They’re much bigger – richer – than we usually think. In fact, much of chapters 12-25 is an outworking of the the 10 Commandments into detailed law.
Which brings us straight to an important point: The Hebrew Bible text never actually calls them 10 Commandments: They’re the “10 words”. They’re a kind of overarching charter of how you are to be as one of God’s people.
So it’s no surprise that we find all 10 in some form in the New Testament – though we’ll need to understand and think through some differences.
These notes accompany a sermon on YouTube delivered at Bromborough Evangelical Church Wirral in April 2024. You can find more in the series in our Sermon Index.
The 10 Words
Read Deuteronomy 5:1-5.
Deuteronomy is actually structured overall in the framework of an Ancient Middle Eastern covenant document. So mention of the covenant here is deliberate, and a reminder: All the laws are given in a covenant framework because they are part and parcel of the relationship with God.
So these “words” were written by God himself on tablets of stone as this overarching charter of what’s to come. And it’s this personal nature of relationship with God that underpins the whole thing. Read Deuteronomy 5:6.
- Everything that follows is rooted in God himself.
- He is the LORD, their saviour and redeemer.
- He brought them up from slavery and called them his own special possession, a holy nation, a royal priesthood.
The 10 Commandments aren’t a test or exam on how to enter into the people of God. They were given as a charter for how the people of God are to be, to remain under God’s blessing and care.
We’ll go through them one at a time, and we’ll see right at the end how they’re fuel for–and dependent on–a heart for holiness.
First Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:7.
We lose sight of how shocking some of these commands were.
- Egypt had a broad range of gods for the sun, the Nile, for crops, for fertility, etc.
- Canaan was the same, but with different gods.
- It was unheard of to limit yourself to just one God.
- He would have to be the creator and sustainer of life, the giver and taker of everything.
- All your needs and satisfactions would need to be met in just one God.
- That is what the LORD was claiming, because that is who he is. There is no other like him.
- The first commandment is earth-shattering.
And remember: You also have needs and satisfactions, cares and worries – and you seek confidence and security in your bank, your job, your home, your family.
- The good things in your life are good gifts from God.
- But when everything is stripped away (e.g. at death), God alone will remain. Make him your treasure, your God, today. That first command is for your ultimate good.
Second Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:8-10.
- Another massive shock. Every religion has idols of their gods!
- They weren’t to have any idol or visual representation of the LORD among them (or, obviously, of any other god).
- No little garden Buddhas.
- And no statues of Jesus that people might bow down to, or touch, or revere.
- God has spoken, and you’re to hear his words.
- You can’t possibly grasp all his infinite glory or wonder, and to try to draw it or make a finite statue would rob him of glory and rob you of true worship.
You can’t even understand or draw the Trinity in an adequate way – The Father, Son, and Holy Spirit who is One God.
Enjoy the fact that he is beyond human comprehension.
- You can’t drink an ocean, but you can sip it one spoon at a time.
- Enjoy what little of God you can grasp, and keep going back for more.
Third Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:11.
- This is often simply understood as using the names of God or Christ in a cheap verbal blasphemy – and that’s surely part of the meaning.
- But these commands are for God’s people who typically don’t do that. So what does this command mean?
When a woman marries a man, in our culture she typically takes her husband’s name.
- But if she then carries on with other men as if she never married, it makes a mockery of having taken her husband’s name.
- It’s as if she’s not married.
That’s something like what’s going on here.
Literally, the command is “Do not lift the name of the LORD your God to worthless purpose.”
- So, don’t live in a way that would give God himself a bad name.
- Don’t say you’re a Christian if you live a life that denies Christ’s love, compassion, or forgiveness.
I’ve known Christians who chose not to have a “fish badge” on their car specifically so that they can speed without people pointing the finger, “I thought you were a Christian.”
- What nonsense. Live your whole life so that when someone finds out you’re a Christian they say, “Oh yes, that makes sense now.”
Fourth Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:12-15.
There are two dimensions to the Sabbath law: Vertical and horizontal (or theological and social). They were to keep the Sabbath day holy. The 7th day of every week was to be holy to the LORD. In Exodus 20, this command is given in the context of God resting from his work of Creation on the 7th day. Here, the emphasis is remembering how God redeemed them from slavery and the 7-day week drudgery. Fab!
In relation to the tabernacle worship of God, things and people were either “holy” or “common”. Anything “holy” was very much “of God” – partaking of his holiness, in his proximity, his presence, his fellowship.
So this command was claiming a part of weekly time itself as “holy” – a day to remember and celebrate God’s holiness, proximity, presence, fellowship.
And that’s in the context of God as Creator and Redeemer. Time to enjoy him. You don’t have a holy place, but you do have holy time.
For those who struggle with work and family through the week, take heart: The very existence of a Sabbath day recognised that weeks are busy. Embrace a Sabbath time to pause and worship, to be with God and enjoy him – especially with his people.
But we need to think horizontally too.
In Leviticus 19, when God said “Be holy for I the LORD am holy” it was set in the context of lives of generous goodness.
Opposition to Sunday trading (for example) is much more than “Bible says no”. It reflects God’s care for those less well off – because they’re the ones who have to work to give richer folk somewhere to spend their leisure time and money.
Fifth Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:16.
These commands were for everyone. We downgrade this command if we think of it as “something for the kids.” Adults: Honour your Father and Mother. Care for them in their old age. It can be hard, but it’s right. Equally, children are to obey (as taught in the NT).
The reason this command is so high in the list of the 10 Commandments has to do with how Israelite society was structured: Tribes, clans, families – with land allocated by God to each tribe.
To honour your father and mother was to honour society. It was an indicator of your satisfaction in God himself and his ordering of society. It’s not a surprise that so many cultures and societies fall into chaos and turmoil when families are undermined (or redefined).
Sixth Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:17.
The word is specific to “murder”, rather than “kill.” There is a place for self-defence, for military engagement, and even (in Old Testament law) for capital punishment. But there is no place for murder – the wilful taking of someone else’s life.
- There’s no justification for convenient abortion.
- Nor is there any justification for euthanasia.
- Life is from God, and to him. He gives; he takes.
- To murder is to take the place of God.
Seventh Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:18.
Adultery is an offence to God as much as a hurt to your spouse.
When a man and woman come together in marriage union, it’s a spiritual moment of oneness before God. Adultery takes what God has united, and tears it in two. It’s a betrayal of promise to your spouse, and a devastating hurt.
Because of that, the adulterer is also damaged by their adultery. No wonder it’s used to describe the hurt to God himself when a godly person pursues other gods.
Eighth Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:19.
Again, not only is theft a harm to others it’s also an offence to God. Theft is a statement of dissatisfaction with all that God has provided, and a choice that you would rather offend him and steal than depend on him and be satisfied.
Later on in Deuteronomy, we’ll see that this command is actually worked out in gracious generosity. The less that you give, you’re a taker. Be a giver, as God himself is a giver, and you’ll never steal.
Ninth Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:20.
The language here is tighter than “don’t lie” – it’s about giving true testimony in a court of law. Give the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth in court.
Why such a restricted commandment in the list? All of society is to be based on equal justice – for the poor, the rich, the foreigner. No-one is to be discriminated against: Justice is for all. And that does overflow into all of life: Honest scales, fair prices, decent wages.
Tenth Commandment
Read Deuteronomy 5:21.
This is perhaps the strangest command, but when you grasp it fully you begin really to understand what the 10 Commandments are for.
To “covet” is to want what someone else has. It’s one thing to want a car; it’s quite something else to want someone else’s car. But how can there be a law to curb desire? How can a law say “don’t covet” or “don’t desire”?
This brings us back to our earlier point: These laws aren’t a checklist or exam: They’re how the people of God are to be.
In Jesus’ “sermon on the mount” in Matthew 5-7, he dug into these commands in a way that exposes your desire. God’s commands aren’t only surface do’s and don’ts. You’re exposed as sinful and incapable of living wholly like this. But Jesus’ teaching is a message of repentance. The laws show you how sinful you are, how good God is, and you’re to go to him for forgiveness, peace, restoration.
The laws are relational – to the God who has saved you. The basis for living in this way is that God has saved you. Your creator has redeemed you from sin, if you have gone to him for forgiveness.
Back to the top
The answer to “don’t covet” is to go back to the first command: “Do not have other gods besides me.”
The more you delight in God, in Christ, the less you’ll covet. The more you love God, the more you’ll be delighted to rest in him, to care for your parents, to celebrate life, to honour faithful marriages, to be generous, to be truthful.
And you’ll fail again, depending other gods, growing cold in love for God and others. And you’ll hear Jesus’ words again: “Come to me, all who are weak and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”
We live in a world that turns these 10 Commandments upside down and back to front.
- They celebrate covetousness; there are different rules for rich and poor; stealing is ok if you call it tax-avoidance or capitalism; adultery is normalised; etc
- Certainly, in our world, the god of tolerance has no room for the one God of the Bible.
To live life the right way up is to have the LORD your creator as God your saviour in Jesus Christ.
- Go to him for forgiveness of your sins, and he will forgive.
- You will be his forever, in a relationship of love and holiness you can barely imagine.
- These commands will always be beyond your ability, but he is gracious and keeps calling you to himself.
- And it’s that love for him that will grow and grow, and you will learn to find your satisfaction in him.
- And when you truly do that, then you have a heart for holiness.