A few years ago I was told by a church leader that we don’t need to bother about the 10 Commandments, because as Christians, we are under the New Covenant and not under “The Law.”

By Law, was meant the Jewish Levitical Law from the Book of Leviticus in the Old Testament.

After all, I was told, we are saved by grace and not by compliance with the Law. While that may well be the case, the total abandonment of the 10 Commandments seemed a little drastic, especially since Jesus says in Matthew 5:17-18,

“Do not think that I have come to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I have not come to destroy but to fulfil. For truly I say to you, Till the heaven and the earth pass away, not one jot or one tittle shall in any way pass from the Law until all is fulfilled.”

I’ve always loved the words of 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 which gives us a balanced approach to understanding of the Law insofar as Christians are concerned saying (emphasis added):

“And we have such trust through Christ toward God, not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God; who also has made us able ministers of the new covenant; not of the letter, but of the spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive.”

If you would like to read more on this doctrine, please do read “Do God’s 10 Commandments Apply to Christians Today?”

Before we look at what Jesus said about the 10 Commandment, we need to recognise that there are two versions available in the Bible and may different denominational interpretation of just exactly what constitutes them. For more on this see “The 10 Commandments – A Suzerain Treaty.”

For the purposes of this study I shall use Exodus 20:2-17 from the Modern King James Version of the Bible:

“² I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
³ You shall have no other gods before Me.
⁴ You shall not make to yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.
⁵ You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I Jehovah your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation of those that hate me, ⁶ and showing mercy to thousands of those that love Me and keep My commandments.
⁷ You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain. For Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.
⁸ Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
⁹ Six days you shall labor and do all your work.
¹⁰ But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates.
¹¹ For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.
¹² Honour your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the land which Jehovah your God gives you.
¹³ You shall not kill.
¹⁴ You shall not commit adultery.
¹⁵ You shall not steal.
¹⁶ You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.
¹⁷ You shall not covet your neighbour’s house. You shall not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbour’s.”

The 10 Commandments of the Lord may be seen as per the following:

Commands	English (Reformed)	Jewish (Talmud)	Masoretic	Greek (Origen)	Roman & Lutheran
I.	v.2,3	2	3-6	3	3-6
II.	v.4-6	3-6	7	4-6	7
III.	v.7	7	8-11	7	8-11
IV.	v.8-11	8-11	12	8-11	12
V.	v.12	12	13	12	13
VI.	v.13	13	14	13	14
VII.	v.14	14	15	14	15
VIII.	v.15	15	16	15	16
IX.	v.16	16	17-	16	17-
X.	v.17	17	-17	17	-17

 

As E.W. Bullinger says in explanation of the above table in The Companion Bible, Appendices 39, page 34:

“The difference between the Roman Catholic and Lutheran is this: that the Roman Catholic makes commandment IX protect the wife, while the Lutheran make it protect the house.”

Bullinger then goes on to say:

“It is interesting to note here, that Jesus put his seal upon each of the Ten, in the following passages:

Commandment	Exodus 20:2-17	Jesus’ Confirmation
I.	I am Jehovah your God, who has brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. You shall have no other gods before Me.	Matthew 22:37 Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.
II.	You shall not make to yourselves any graven image, or any likeness of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them. For I Jehovah your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation of those that hate me, and showing mercy to thousands of those that love Me and keep My commandments.	John 4:24 God is a spirit, and they who worship Him must worship in spirit and in truth.
III.	You shall not take the name of Jehovah your God in vain. For Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.	Matthew 5:34 But I say to you, Do not swear at all! Not by Heaven, because it is God’s throne…
IV.	Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the Sabbath of Jehovah your God. You shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor your stranger within your gates. For in six days Jehovah made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested the seventh day. Therefore Jehovah blessed the Sabbath day, and sanctified it.	Mark 2:27 And He said to them, The Sabbath came into being for man’s sake, and not man for the Sabbath’s sake. Luke 13:14-16 And answering, the synagogue ruler, being angry because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath day, said to the crowd, There are six days in which it is right to work. Therefore in them come and be healed, and not on the Sabbath day. And the Lord answered him and said, Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loosen his ox or ass from the stall and lead it away, to give it drink? And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham whom Satan has bound, lo these eighteen years, be loosened from this bond on the Sabbath day?
V.	Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long upon the land which Jehovah your God gives you.	Matthew 15:4-6 For God commanded, saying, “Honor your father and mother”; and, “He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him die by death.” But you say, Whoever says to his father or mother, Whatever you would gain from me, It is a gift to God; and in no way he honors his father or his mother. And you voided the commandment of God by your tradition. Matthew 19:19 … honor your father and mother, and, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. Mark 7:10 For Moses said, “Honor your father and your mother.” And, “Whoever curses father or mother, let him die the death.”
VI.	You shall not kill	Matthew 5:21 You have heard that it was said to the ancients, “You shall not kill” –and, “Whoever shall kill shall be liable to the judgment.”
VII.	You shall not commit adultery.	Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 19:9 And I say to you, Whoever shall put away his wife, except for fornication, and shall marry another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is put away commits adultery…… Matthew 19:18 He said to Him, Which? Jesus said, You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness…
VIII.	You shall not steal.	Matthew 15:19 For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies…
IX.	You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.	Matthew 12:34-37 Offspring of vipers! How can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. A good man out of the good treasure of the heart brings out good things; and an evil man out of the evil treasure brings out evil things. But I say to you that every idle word, whatever men may speak, they shall give account of it in the day of judgment. For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.
X.	You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.	Matthew 5:28 But I say to you that whoever looks on a woman to lust after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

Bullinger goes on to show how the Lord Jesus used the 10 Commandments in His teachings saying:

“In Matthew 19:8 “He said to them, Because of your hard-heartedness Moses allowed you to put away your wives; but from the beginning it was not so….” the Lord Jesus omitted Commandment X in order to convict His questioner, who said ‘ALL these I have kept.” Upon which, the lord’s command of v.21 “Jesus said to him, If you want to be perfect, go, sell what you have and give to the poor, and you shall have treasure in Heaven. And come, follow Me” convicted him of its breach, as shown by the man’s sorrow in v22 “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful; for he had great possessions.” ”

From this, we can see that Jesus used the 10 Commandments in His daily life as teachings, confirming the words of 2 Corinthians 3:6 “….for the letter kills, but the Spirit makes alive…”

We do well to follow the life of our Master and the examples which He has demonstrated and recorded for our guidance.

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