In this message, Pastor Matt informs us how the Ten Commandments are the basis for how the redeemed people of God must live. 1. They contain the gospel 2. They are spiritual (concerned with our hearts and our actions) 3. They teach us how to love.
Are the Ten Commandments Bad?
That is actually the question I want to address today.
I remember listening to a sermon on the Ten Commandments—or at least one that touched on them—while I was in Bible college. (I won’t name the preacher.) He said he didn’t even like the Ten Commandments. After all, he argued, they promote slavery. The tenth commandment forbids coveting your neighbor’s male servant or his female servant. He said a lot of words, but the gist was this: Instead of following the Ten Commandments, we should just learn to love each other as Jesus taught.
This kind of attitude seeped into me too much, especially in my early ministry. I didn’t quite ignore the Ten Commandments, but I certainly didn’t elevate them to the importance they held in the old catechisms and church teachings. After all, why focus on things written on stone when we have the full revelation of Jesus Christ?
But today, I hope to show you what I’ve spent the last 18 years learning—or perhaps unlearning: The Ten Commandments are vital for the life of faith.
The Unique Revelation of the Ten Commandments
In Deuteronomy chapter 4, Moses makes clear that the Ten Commandments (or “Ten Words”) are the essence of God’s covenant with His people. They are a unique piece of God’s revelation:
“He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone.”
God Himself wrote them with His own finger, carving them into the stone. This sets them apart, even though all Scripture is inspired. The fact that God personally inscribed them matters deeply.
I sometimes prefer to call them the “Ten Words” rather than “commandments,” because the Hebrew literally means “ten words” or “ten things.” The word “commandments” can evoke only prohibitions—like “thou shalt not.” But as we go through them, I hope to show that they are far more: a comprehensive guide to how we should live our lives.
The Ten Words are the basis for how God’s redeemed people must live. They contain the gospel, they are spiritual in nature, and they teach us how to love.
1. The Ten Commandments Contain the Gospel
Where is the gospel in them, you might ask? If you listened carefully to the reading today, you didn’t hear anything like “believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, His death on the cross, and you’ll be forgiven of your sins.”
Yet the gospel—the good news of Jesus Christ—is present. The good news is that we were ransomed “from the futile ways inherited from your forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.” We were rescued by Jesus.
This is exactly how the Ten Commandments begin—not with “thou shalt not,” but with grace:
“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
The Ten Commandments open with the good news of rescue. God took a nation of idolaters and murderers—even Moses himself had killed an Egyptian—and delivered them. He rescued them from the plague of death by the blood of the lamb on the doorposts. He brought them through the Red Sea in what the New Testament calls baptism:
“For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
“All were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.”
Yes, the Ten Commandments are commandments—but God only commands those He has first purchased and redeemed.
There is nuance here. The gospel is present in the Ten Commandments, but they are not the gospel in full. The Ten pointed to a kind of salvation that was real but not yet fully revealed. From the beginning, the Israelites could not keep them—they turned to idolatry even while Moses was still on the mountain. They needed a new heart, a new spirit, a good King to lead them. They needed Jesus—the full revelation, the One who would teach them perfectly, send His Spirit, give them new hearts, and lead them as King.
The differences are not that the Ten Commandments are bad and Jesus is good. Rather, the Ten are good, and Jesus shines fuller light on how truly good they are. The Ten contain the gospel in that they show God saves before He commands: “I am the Lord your God who brought you out of slavery”—to sin, Satan, and death—then He tells us how to live.
2. The Ten Commandments Are Spiritual
When anyone gives a command, we interpret it according to the nature of the one giving it.
The first command is straightforward: “You shall have no other gods before me.”
But the second can feel strange or even redundant: “You shall not make for yourself a carved image… You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God.”
Why a separate prohibition against images? Because the Israelites could not make and worship false gods—that was already covered in the first command. This second command goes further: It prohibits making any image to represent the Lord Himself.
The reason is clear in Deuteronomy 4:
“Since you saw no form on the day that the Lord spoke to you out of Horeb, out of the midst of the fire…”
God prohibits images because He is invisible. He is spiritual, not physical. God is not made of matter; He is spirit. Because God is spiritual, we should interpret His commands spiritually.
Consider an analogy: I’m going to Nepal soon. The first time I visited a church there, the pastor told me to take off my shoes as a sign of respect. There was a big rack outside. I did it there—but I don’t do it here in Canada, where shoes would freeze solid. The command applied in its context.
In the same way, when God gives commands, we interpret them from His perspective: He is spiritual and rules over our souls as much as our bodies.
This becomes explicit in the tenth commandment:
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. You shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.”
The command against coveting isn’t just about preventing theft. The desire itself violates God’s design. As a spiritual Lawgiver, God cares about our hearts as much as our actions.
John Calvin’s exposition of the moral law opened my eyes to this. He writes that God, being a spiritual Legislator, addresses the soul as much as the body. The murder of the soul is wrath and hatred; the theft of the soul is evil desire and greed; the adultery of the soul is lust.
Paul echoes this: “We know that the law is spiritual, but I am of the flesh, sold under sin.”
This spiritual reading should be obvious to Christians who have read Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. When Jesus says, “You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall not commit adultery.’ But I say to you that everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent has already committed adultery with her in his heart,” He isn’t making the law harder—He is explaining what it always meant. The law was always impossibly hard because it governs the heart. Israel should have known this from the second and tenth commandments, which reveal God’s spiritual nature.
3. The Ten Commandments Teach Us How to Love
The Ten Commandments contain many prohibitions: “You shall not murder,” “You shall not commit adultery,” “You shall not steal.” But they also include positives: “Observe the Sabbath day,” “Honor your father and mother.”
Because the commands are brief (written on stone tablets), they often state only the negative or positive side. Yet each implies its opposite.
- Honoring father and mother means not dishonoring them.
- “You shall not steal” implies the positive duty to uphold and value your neighbor’s property, to be generous, and even to care for it.
Look at this example from the law: “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him.” (Jesus later teaches us to love our enemies—but this principle was already there.) “You shall not steal” isn’t just avoiding theft; it means actively honoring your neighbor’s goods.
Similarly, “You shall not murder” extends spiritually to avoiding hatred, but also positively to protecting life. When you build a new house, “you shall make a parapet for your roof, that you may not bring the guilt of blood upon your house if anyone should fall from it.” You actively make things safe because your neighbor’s life matters.
The Ten Commandments don’t just tell us what not to do to our neighbors—they show us what to do for them.
When Jesus summarizes the law—“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart… and your neighbor as yourself”—He isn’t giving a new law. He is showing the law as it was always meant to be understood, in both negative and positive dimensions.
The Ten Commandments sharpen our focus on how to love our neighbor concretely: caring for his stray donkey, protecting his life, valuing his property. Love is not whatever feels loving; God defines love in the Ten Commandments.
Addressing an Objection: What About Paul’s Warnings?
Paul writes: “A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ… by works of the law no one will be justified.”
This is true—we cannot be justified by keeping the law, especially when read spiritually and positively. But “works of the law” here refers specifically to things like circumcision and food laws, which the Ten Commandments do not include.
Jesus and Paul both affirm the Ten Commandments. Jesus lists several to the rich young ruler: “You shall not murder, You shall not commit adultery, You shall not steal, You shall not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.”
Paul calls the law “holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.”
The Three Uses of the Law Today
- To Reveal Our Need for a Savior
When we see the law as spiritual and positive, we realize we cannot keep it. It exposes how far we fall short daily. We need Christ, who perfectly kept the law and died for our failures. The law becomes good news when we see Jesus.
To idolaters, adulterers, murderers, liars, thieves—Jesus offers forgiveness: “Come to Me.” - To Restrain Evil in Society
We should promote the principles of the Ten Commandments as a basis for just laws—murder is wrong, stealing is wrong—while remembering two caveats: Human governments cannot govern hearts, and true worship must be voluntary. We can call evil evil and advocate for laws that protect life and property without apology. - To Guide God’s Redeemed People
For believers, the Ten Words are God’s instruction for living—not in self-righteousness, but in humble reliance on the Holy Spirit. They shape our hearts, character, and families so we walk in a way that pleases God and witnesses to the world.
Let us hear His commands, cling to them spiritually, and by grace live not for ourselves but for Him—so that others may see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven.
Closing Prayer
Our Father in heaven, today—especially before we share in our meal—we remember how far we have fallen short. We come again to Christ, knowing we need His forgiveness, His Spirit, and Your law written on our hearts. Make our hearts soft, that we might be the redeemed people of God, living according to Your Word. In Jesus’ precious name we pray. Amen.