Who is God? Can a human being know God? What is God like? The only way those questions can be answered is through studying God’s revelation of Himself, namely, the Bible. In Scripture, we are presented with a full picture of God; His nature, character, and temperament are all revealed from Genesis to Revelation. There is no other way a human being can come to know God apart from His Word. Part of this revelation of God can be found in the Ten Commandments.
In our modern society, even the word “commandment” has fallen by the wayside; almost nobody uses it anymore and nobody likes it. It sounds harsh and absolute. Perhaps second only to the word “obey,” has “commandment” fallen out of favor with most people. And yet, in the Ten Commandments God’s very heart is revealed; not as merciless, cold, and hard, but quite the contrary! In the Ten Commandments we see a tender, loving and merciful God who wants only the very best for all humanity.
1. A God who makes covenants, Deuteronomy 5:1—6
This chapter begins the main section of Deuteronomy, which is devoted to an exposition of the Law of God, which begins with the Ten Commandments, then continues with other religious, civil, and medical laws.
This chapter begins with a restating of the Law. These Ten Commandments are treated as the basis of the covenant between God and Israel. The word “covenant” best describes the relationship between God and His people throughout the Bible, both Old and New Testaments. The word “covenant” is seen over 200 times in the Bible. The very first covenant God made with man He made with Abram; circumcision was to be the sign of the covenant. This covenant was so binding that not even a liar like Jacob could hurt it, nor a tyrant like Pharaoh nullify it.
Deuteronomy 5 speaks of a covenant made with Israel at Horeb. This refers to the covenant God made with the people when He brought them up out of Egypt. This was a generation ago in the life of Moses, who by now is quite old. In fact, most of the people that heard the original recitation of the Ten Commandments and were part of the original covenant were now dead. Those to whom Moses was addressing now were either very young or not even born when the covenant and the Ten Commandments were given. That was irrelevant, though, because the covenant was with the nation, not just with the generation of people that failed so miserably in discharging the obligations. It was now Moses’ duty to restate and reinterpret the Law to this new generation as they were about to enter the Promised Land.
(a) A promise, verses 1—3
Moses summoned all Israel and said: Hear, Israel, the decrees and laws I declare in your hearing today. Learn them and be sure to follow them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us at Horeb. It was not with our ancestors that the LORD made this covenant, but with us, with all of us who are alive here today.
As Moses begins to teach this young generation of Israelites, he gives them four very important things to do in regards to the Law.
- They were to hear it. They were to pay strict attention to the words of the Law that was about to give them.
- They were to learn it. Hearing is one thing, but they had to understand and learn the Law. Since most Jews of that time could not read or write, this meant that after the people heard the Law, they were expected to go home and talk about it; discuss it; those who had some education were to teach others what the words meant.
- They were to keep it. “Being sure” means that the people had to not only understand the words of the Law, but also have them in their hearts. More than merely memorizing them, the people were expected to be able to apply the Law readily.
- They were to follow it. It was not enough to have an understanding of the Law and it was not enough to be able to recite the words of Law, the people were expected to do what the Law said they should do.
All of this was taught to the Israelites in the context of history. God had delivered the nation (Exodus 20), God had made a covenant with the people and within that context and God expected a certain level of obedience and behavior from the human end of the covenant.
(b) A relationship, verses 4—6
The LORD spoke to you face to face out of the fire on the mountain. (vs. 4)
The immediacy and intimacy of the relationship between God and His people is pointed up in the phrase “face-to-face.” God did not enter into a covenant with them from a distance; He had seen their plight and He had heard their cries for help and He came to them. At the same time, the people had seen the very glory and majesty of God on the mountain where God had met them.
When we think of the covenant God made with Israel we almost always think of the Ten Commandments, but we need to remember that the covenant really began with a face-to-face relationship between the two parties. God knew the people and the people knew God; both parties were familiar with the other one so that both knew what the other expected and were able to deliver. In other words, because this covenant grew out of a preexisting relationship, the people knew what God had done for them and what He could do for them, and God knew what the people needed and what they were capable of.
Sadly, the people of Israel continually let God down because of their rebellion; His Law was designed by Him to be a perfect fit for them! But God, ever faithful, always kept up His end of the covenant.
2. Worship Jehovah only, Deuteronomy 5:7; 1 Corinthians 8:4—6
“You shall have no other gods before me.” (Deut. 5:7)
So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live. (1 Cor. 8:4—6)
(a) A different religion
Israel was an anomaly in Moses’ time. They were the only nation that practiced monotheism; the worship of ONE God, as opposed to many gods. The first command begins with the mention of the tetragrammaton, the divine Name. No other god was to come between Jehovah and His people. God Himself knew what was best for them and He knew of their predilection to wander. So the very first command was designed to keep His people His own.
Traditionally most Western cultures have always been monotheistic, but we see a disturbing trend today as more and more “religions” are being accepted as equally valid ways to worship. If history has taught us anything it is that man will worship something if given half the chance, and he will almost always choose to worship the wrong thing.
(b) Just one God
The Roman Empire of Paul’s day was very far removed from the pagan cultures of Moses’ day. The rule of law was practiced in Rome, there was at least a semblance of morality and crime was punished. Even though child sacrifices and the like were not practiced in Rome of Paul’s day, Rome did have its collection of gods and goddesses. These many gods found their way into every aspect of Roman life, including the marketplace. In fact, there were so many relgions and temples that practiced animal sacrifices that selling the left over meat in the markets was a common practice. This practice, though very practical, did cause problems for some Christians, especially in Corinth. To these believers, buying this meat that had been previously sacrificed to idols was just as bad as worshiping the idols themselves! Should they abstain and become vegetarians? What about the many Christians who thought nothing of buying and eating that mean? Does this make them “worldly?”
Paul, for his part, made it clear that meat is just that: meat. The fact that it may have been offered to idols does not change the meat in any way because an idol is not a god, it is something made of wood or stone. Without going into Paul’s teaching on the weak and the strong, for the purposes of this study what should be noted it is that Paul adds a new dimension to the first commandment. The essential truths of the Ten Commandments are recast and restated in light of Jesus Christ; God’s revelation of His Personhood. Paul does not disregard this first commandment because Jesus came, he links it to Jesus!
3. No idolatry, Deut. 5:8—10; 1 Cor. 10:14—22
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. (Deut. 5:8)
Do I mean then that food sacrificed to an idol is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but the sacrifices of pagans are offered to demons, not to God, and I do not want you to be participants with demons. (1 Cor. 10:19, 20)
If the first commandment set Israel apart from all the nations and cultures that surrounded them, the second commandment made them even more distinct. Not only were they to worship one God, not many, they were not to make idols or have pictures in His honor.
(a) Worship the Creator, not the creation
What is interesting about commandment number two is that exists at all; isn’t it really part of number one?
Man has a problem: he was made to worship something or somebody, and he will, whether the thing he worships is a Greek god symbolized by a statue or Jehovah, who may also be symbolized by a statue or a painting or some other idol. God understood this, and so the second commandment was born to keep man from slipping away into the real temptation of worshiping “images” of God, whether in the form of what He created or of Himself.
This is a very serious commandment, and God promises to punish the Israelites severely and for generations unborn if they break it (verse 9). However, if they obey it, the opposite will be true; God will show graciousness and mercy to an infinite number of generations.
(b) Be committed to just one, not many
Verse 21 boils Paul’s theology down to one sentence—
You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons too; you cannot have a part in both the Lord’s table and the table of demons.
Back to the meat-eating controversy in Corinth, Paul taught that it was virtually impossible to not eat meat that had been previously offered to idols; there was just so much of it available in the markets. Paul recognized that there were some who had genuine problems with this issue even though he himself did not, so he had a simple solution that involved freedom. A believer was free to eat that meat or not; the meat had absolutely no impact on their position in Christ. However, those who chose to eat the meat did not have the right to make others eat if they did not want to.
Furthermore, Paul goes a little farther to state what may seem obvious: eat the meat at home, but do not eat it at the pagan festivals. Eating the meat may have been unavoidable, but attending the pagan services most certainly was! Idolatrous meat was harmless, but idolatry was evil, cavorting with idol worshipers was wicked in God’s sight.
He compares attending idolatrous feasts to the Lord’s Supper. Communion, while just a memorial service to Christ, is a powerful act, and so is feasting at a pagan temple. The so-called god at the temple may be imaginary, but demonic forces are real, and those are the forces in back of idolatry in any of its forms.
4. Honor God’s name, Deut. 5:11; Matt. 5:33—37
You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name. (Deut. 5:11)
All you need to say is simply ‘Yes,’ or ‘No;’ anything beyond this comes from the evil one. (Matt. 5:37)
The ancient Hebrews put a lot of value on “the name.” That concept is hard for us to understand, for to them, a name was not just something to call somebody else, it meant something, a person’s name represented part of the nature and character, and so choosing a name for a son or daughter was very important to them.
(a) The holy name of God
God’s personal Name is known in theological circles as the tetragrammaton. It is, essentially, unpronounceable and unprintable. He came to be known as Yahweh, but in reality His name looks like this: YHWH; all consonants and no vowels. The Hebrews wrote it out like that to preserve its holy nature. In fact, many times the Hebrews would use other words in place of YHWH; words like “Adonai,” meaning “Lord,” for example.
God’s honor is wrapped up in His name, and to misuse God’s Name if to flagrantly insult and impugn His holy character and nature. To misuse God’s name could mean a variety of things; swearing, using God’s name to seal unholy oaths, claiming God’s name for unholy purposes, etc. All of these things were strictly forbidden in the third commandment.
(b) Simple speech
By Jesus’ time, this commandment had been stretched to the limits. The teachers of the Law had invented a variety of clever ways to use God’s name without actually using it per se. In His famous Sermon on the Mount, Jesus taught about the Ten Commandments, and in referring to this one, Jesus taught that making all kinds of elaborate oaths was, in reality, breaking this commandment. Instead of “swearing by something,” a believer should simply say what he has to say.
Of course, the people listening to Jesus were not guilty of profound abuse of God’s Name, but they were in the Jewish habit of taking oaths; instead of swearing by God’s Name, they would swear by something else to emphasize the truth of what they were trying to say. To Jesus, this was splitting hairs; it was really making a mockery of the Law, and this Jesus could not tolerate. For Jesus, honoring the Name of God was best illustrated by speaking plainly and clearly and honestly. The Devil is the one who convolutes speech, but God is not the author of confusion.
Conclusion
Are Christians “under the Law?” The teaching of the New Testament can be a bit confusing unless it is understood in its totality. The coming of Jesus set the Jews free from obeying the Law of Moses as a condition of their acceptance by God. His coming made it possible for all people, Jew and Gentile alike, to have a personal relationship with Him based, not on the written Law, but on faith, and the Law of God written on their hearts. All of us are now free to obey God’s righteous Laws out of faith and love.
