In Exodus chapter twenty, verses two to seventeen, God wrote on two stone tablets and given to Moses and the Israelites. Keeping the commandments provided a way for Israel to respond righteously to God in gratitude for their deliverance out of Egypt. However, at the same time, such obedience was necessary to remain in the promised land. The Ten Commandments summarize God’s moral law for Israel and describe their obligations to God and others. Christ and the apostles affirm that as valid expressions of God’s holy will, the commandments remain obligatory for New Testament believers.
According to the New Testament passages, the Ten Commandments demonstrate the follower’s love for God and one’s neighbor. The Holy Spirit empowers the believer to fulfill righteous requirements of the law by loving God and others in these ways from the heart. The law demands inner spiritual righteousness of expression in outward justice and holiness.
The Old Testament civil and ceremonial commandments that governed Israel’s worship and social life are no longer binding on the New Testament believer. They were types and shadows of better things to come: this is by God that opened the opportunity for fulfillment by Jesus Christ. These laws, however, contain wisdom and spiritual principles applicable to all generations.
Each commandment expresses the opportunity to show how much the believer is willing to abide by what God requires from them. However, reading and saying the Ten Commandments are not the hard part but living by them daily. The first four commands focus on God. After all, He made the world and shaped us in His image: why not? The fifth commandment is about parents: the importance of respecting the ones that came before you. The last five are individual commandments to embrace because it targets our inner feelings and desires.
The Ten Commandments seem easy, simple, and straightforward. However, as we live each day, we never know the situations that eventually arise in our everyday lives that will put us on the spot: we either remember or surrender.