Front matter
Keeping the
Ten
Commandements
Other Crossway books by J. I. Packer
Faithfulness and Holiness: The Witness of J. C. Ryle
God’s Plans for You
Growing in Christ
Life in the Spirit
A Passion for Faithfulness:
Wisdom from the Book of Nehemiah
A Quest for Godliness:
The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life
Praying the Lord’s Prayer
Keeping the Ten Commandments
Copyright © 2007 by J. I. Packer
This book was formerly part of Growing in Christ, copyright © 1994 by J. I. Packer, originally published under the title I Want to Be a Christian.
Published by Crossway Books
a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers
1300 Crescent Street
Wheaton, Illinois 60187
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher, except as provided for by USA copyright law.
Cover design: Jessie McGrath
Cover photo: Getty Images
First printing, 2007
Printed in the United States of America
Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are taken from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version,® Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations indicated as from JB are taken from The Jerusalem Bible, copyright © 1966, 1967, 1968 by Darton, Longman & Todd Ltd. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations indicated as from NEB are taken from The New English Bible, copyright © 1961, 1970 by The Delegates of the Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations indicated as from Phillips are taken from The New Testament in Modern English, copyright © by J. B. Phillips. Used by permission.
Scripture quotations indicated as from RSV are taken from The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version, copyright © 1946, 1952 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA. Used by permission.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Packer, J. I. (James Innell)
[I want to be a Christian]
Keeping the Ten commandments / J. I. Packer.
p. cm.
“This book was formerly part of Growing in Christ, 1994 by
J. I. Packer, originally published under the title I want to be a
Christian”—T. p. verso.
1. Ten commandments—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Title.
BS1285.52.P33 2007
241.5'2—dc22
2007027988
VP 18 17 16 15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08
15 14 13 12 11 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
TO
JIM, TOM
AND ELISABETH
who by what they
are even more than
by what they say
share the strength they
have been given
Contents
The
Ten Commandments
And God spoke all these words, saying,
“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.
“You shall have no other gods before me.
“You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.
“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
“You shall not murder.
“You shall not commit adultery.
“You shall not steal.
“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
EXODUS 20:1-17