The Law

The Ten Commanments

I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: But the seventh day is the sabbath of the LORD thy God: in it thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that is within thy gates: For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Thou shalt not commit adultery. Thou shalt not steal. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. – Exodus 20.2-17

The Ten Commandments are a summary of all the rest of God’s Law. As believers we have been freed from bondage to the Law. However, the Law still tells us what sin is and it shows God’s grace in His forgiveness of our offence. Those of us who are Christians should never knowingly sin so it is good for us to see a few things that God wants us to do and does not want us to do.

It is good to study the whole Law, but we need not necessarily do that to see how far short we fall of God’s standard. If we would honestly look at just this, forgetting about the other six hundred plus laws we would see that we all fall short of God’s perfect standard.

No one could stand up to this standard – but One has. Jesus is the perfect and sinless one who met every aspect of God’s Law. Therefore He alone is worthy to pay the penalty for our sin.

The Ten Commandments would be impossible for any of us, but I am grateful that our God is the God of the impossible. Thank God that Jesus lived the perfect life and was the perfect sacrifice and that God is satisfied to look on Jesus and pardon me when I put my faith in Him.