Growing up I always viewed the 10 Commandments (Words) from a fairly negative perspective, rule to be obeyed if you didn’t want to get in trouble or punished. However, God gave the people the 10 Words after he had saved them, not on the condition of obedience preceding salvation. God saved his people out of slavery in Egypt and established a new covenant with them that would be a blessing, not only for them, but for all of humanity. A community that would reflect what it means to live in relationship and love with the Triune God, Father, Son and Spirit.
They were also written specifically for the people of God, not as something to be enforced on all the other nations. If we think families, they are like the “house rules” for a family to function well rather than something to be enforced on every family living in the neighbourhood. The 10 Words are the framework of how to live in community as the people of God so that everyone can flourish. In that sense they are about health and well being rather than control and punishment.
And there is a real and very significant structure to these 10 Words, that if we don’t get right or understand, will always lead us back to this being just about following rules. The first two “Words” deal with how they, individually and as a community are to relate to God. They are absolutely foundational to the other 8 words. If you don’t embrace the first two in a relational sense, then the other 8 will not happen, or if they do it will become legalistic.
Exodus 20:1-17 And God spoke all these words: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
1 - You shall have no other gods before me.
2 - You shall not make for yourself an image in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them
When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, he boiled it down to two entirely relational things.
1 – Love God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength (Words 1& 2)
2 – Then love your neighbour as yourself (Words 3 – 10)
Everything hangs on these two things, and both of them come from a place of love rather than rules and punishment. If we want to enter fully into the kingdom life of God then we need to come to a deeper understanding of the Love of God in Jesus. When we walk fully in the love of God across every part of our lives, then we can begin to love those around us with the love and grace we receive from Jesus in the power of the Holy Spirit.
Grace and Peace - Garry