Week 7: The Ten Commandments
Week 7: The Ten Commandments
As during this week we consider the Ten Commandments and their implications for us today, we need to remember three truths about them.
Firstly, the Ten Commandments were laid down by the covenant God of Israel as his will for his people. They were introduced by the statement, “I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt” (Exod. 2:2). Obedience to the commandments was Israel’s side of the covenant.
Secondly, the Ten Commandments were summarized by Jesus, who brought together the separate injunctions to love God with our whole being and to love our neighbor as ourselves (Deut. 6:5; Lev. 19:18; Matt. 22:37–39): “All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments,” Jesus said (Matt. 22:40).
Thirdly, the Ten Commandments can be obeyed only by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit. As Paul put it, God sent his Son “in order that the righteous requirements of the law might be fully met in us, who … live … according to the Spirit” (Rom. 8:4). Without the Spirit’s inner working, the radical heart obedience Jesus demanded in the Sermon on the Mount would be impossible.
Sunday: Commandments 1 and 2
Monday: Commandments 3 and 4
Tuesday: Commandment 5
Wednesday: Commandment 6
Thursday: Commandment 7
Friday: Commandment 9
Saturday: Commandments 8 and 10