Ten Commandments

The Revealed Will of God

The Ten Commandments

Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second [is] like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. Matthew 22:37-40

Bible Study

The Law of Creation - The Moral Law - The Decalogue

The Holy Law of God was inscribed in the heart of man at creation. Man was created in the image of God, but man’s willful disobedience to God’s command “not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil” plunged him and all his posterity under the curse of God’s Holy Law (Genesis 2:17; 3: 17-19).

Man usurped God’s Divine prerogative to decide for him what was good and evil; consequently fellowship was broken, his foolish heart was darkened, he was blinded to the truth, and rendered powerless to do anything but evil. Nevertheless, The Holy Law of God remains a perpetual and universal rule of conduct for all men. Hence, man’s great dilemma: apart from God man is powerless to obey the Holy Law, yet God requires obedience for fellowship.

The answer to man’s dilemma is the Lord Jesus Christ. We can find acceptance with God only in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ (“…we are accepted in the Beloved” Eph 1:6).

We are not obligated to obey God’s Law to merit salvation, to remain saved, or to be made righteous in God’s sight; all these benefits are found only in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. We are saved by Grace ("For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God" Eph 2:8), we are kept by the power of God ("...kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time." 1 Peter 1:5), and His righteousness has been imputed to us ("...righteousness might be imputed unto them also" Rom 4:11).

However, an unwavering commitment to obey God’s Word will be characteristic of all saved persons ("And hereby we do know that we know him, if we keep his commandments." 1 John 3:22). By obedience we “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

The First and Second Tables of The Law of God - Exodus 20

The first table is our duty to God, the second table is our duty to man. However, all sin is against God.

The First Commandment

(I - IV is a summary of our duty to God)

And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this [is] the first commandment. Mark 12:30

I. Thou shalt have no other Gods before Me.

II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image.

III. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.

IV. Remember the Sabbath Day to keep it holy.

The Second Commandment

(V - X is our duty to our neighbor)

And the second [is] like, [namely] this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. Mark 12:31

V. Honor thy father and thy mother.

VI. Thou shalt not kill.

VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery.

VIII. Thou shalt not steal.

IX. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.

X. Thou shalt not covet.