The Ten Commandments and the Christian

Sometime around 1400 BC, God delivered to Moses on Mount Sinai what have come to be known as the “Ten Commandments”. We hear in every Christian church about the keeping of these Commandments. They have become an integral part of the Christian religion.

Even non-Christians have some knowledge of these Commandments as a form of moral code. They are probably as well known, at least in the Western world, as any system of moral ethics could be.

I want to ask what may seem to be a strange question - IS A CHRISTIAN REQUIRED TO KEEP THE TEN COMMANDMENTS?

First, we must determine the true definition of a “Christian”. And then we have to determine God’s purpose in giving the Commandments in the first place. Without considering these two factors in depth, we cannot reach an accurate conclusion about the Christian requirement.
A Christian is a Christ-person. By that I mean that when a person calls out to God for a Savior, accepts Christ’s death as penalty for his sins, and determines to make Christ the Lord of his life, something spiritually wonderful happens. Satan who has been controlling the person is put out and there is a new birth within the human spirit which takes place. Jesus Christ comes to actually live in a union, a living spiritual union, within the human spirit of the new person, the new “creation”, the CHRISTIAN.
The Christian now contains the divine nature of God in the Person of Christ. The whole purpose of God’s calling to the new birth is achieved - the Christian becomes an actual child of God as a true member of the God Family.

Furthermore, the Holy Spirit of God comes to dwell in the soul of the Christian as a Teacher to bring the person into a full and deep knowledge of who he is in union with Christ.

Without this insight of what really happens to a newly birthed Christian, the understanding of the significance of the Ten Commandments can be clouded.

In addition, what was God’s purpose in giving the Ten Commandments to the people of Israel? The book of Hebrews says that the Ten Commandments were given as a form of law to point out sin and to carry the human race through until Christ came. What was given to Moses was not only the Ten Commandments but also hundreds of statutes and judgments, hundreds of sacrificial rituals and a system of clean and unclean foods. This whole system of commandments, statutes, rituals and clean food listings became known as the “Mosaic law”.

Now most Christian groups do not recognize the statutes, the rituals, or the clean and unclean regulations. They say that these were done away with when Christ came. After all, the statutes have some weird penalties which don’t apply in this modern day. And the temple was destroyed in 70 AD and therefore it is impossible to have priestly sacrifices. In addition, modern science has proven the safety of eating the unclean foods.

But when it comes to the Ten Commandments, most everyone applies them as a law which is still in force for the Christian of today. They would separate the Ten Commandments away from the Mosaic law and make them a universal moral law for all time. But is this proper? The Bible nowhere even hints at a separation between the Ten Commandments and the rest of the Mosaic Law. If we are to keep the Ten Commandments as a law now, then we should be stoning people for unrighteousness, sacrificing animals as sin offerings and we should not be eating pork, shellfish and certain other foods.

But what is WRONG with the Ten Commandments? Paul and the writer of Hebrews say that the commandments are holy and good. But they also say that when Christ came and died, there was no more need for the Mosaic law, the WHOLE Mosaic law.

Jesus Christ said that the whole law is summed up in the love of God and love of our neighbor. This is Jesus’ NEW COMMANDMENT.

But what are we as Christians to do with the specifics of the Ten Commandments? Are we to forget them? OR ARE WE TO REAPPLY THEM UNDER THE TRUSTING GUIDANCE OF CHRIST FROM WITHIN?

I have taken the liberty of paraphrasing the Ten Commandments in a form applicable to our Christian condition as members of God’s Family. I will state the actual Biblical form of each commandment and then give what I consider to be the Christian application.

Commandment # 1

“I am the Lord 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.”

I am God your Father. I have birthed you into My Family and out of the bondage of Satan’s nature. I want you to look on Me as your loving Dad. You need look no further to provide for your needs.

Commandment # 2

“You shall not make to yourself any graven image or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the Lord your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; and showing mercy to thousands of them that love me and keep my commandments.”

You do not have to look to any created thing as the source of your happiness. I am your Father and you are My child. By abiding in My love and guidance, you will avoid hurting yourself, your children and those around you.

Commandment # 3

“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that takes His name in vain.”

You are a member of a Family with the greatest name in existence - the God Family. Always hold YOUR name high in awareness of YOUR divine nature in living union with Jesus Christ.

Commandment # 4

“Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days shall you labor and do all your work. But the seventh day is the sabbath of the Lord your God. In it you shall not do any work, you, nor your son, nor your daughter, your manservant, nor your maidservant, nor your cattle, nor the stranger that is within your gates. For in six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. In this way, the Lord blessed the sabbath day and made it holy.”

Remember that, as a member of My Family, you can rest (sabbath) in the confidence of Family love and security. You will have your worldly work to do with its human problems and obstacles. But at any time and on ANY DAY, when you stop and listen to My guidance, you can rest (sabbath) in awareness of who you are and the power of the Family available.

Commandment # 5

“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God gives you.”

As you grow in awareness of your Family status, you will see the beautiful love relationship between Family members. This will lead you into better human love relationships with your human family. The avoidance of stress can actually lengthen your human life.

Commandment # 6

“You shall not kill.”

You have everything going for you in My Family. And I am looking to bring others in the world into the Family with you. Why would you ever want to injure another person who is your potential Family “Brother”?

Commandment # 7

“You shall not commit adultery.”

Our Family togetherness is precious. I have created all family structure for stability, strength and happiness. Adultery is a tragedy of instability and ultimate unhappiness.

Commandment # 8

“You shall not steal.”

You were humanly born under the control of Satan’s nature. He was attempting to steal you away from My ultimate Family plan. He is the father of thievery. Stealing in any form only backfires on the thief.

Commandment # 9

“You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.”

And now that you are a member of My Family, how does Satan try to influence you? By lies! He is also the father of lies. Don’t listen to his lies and YOU will not lie to those around you.

Commandment # 10

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, nor your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

As your Father and Creator, I know how you are made. I know your natural desires, the things of the world that you are attracted to. And as you follow My guidance in your life, My desires will merge with and become YOUR desires.

This is how I now see the Ten Commandments - not as laws which I must strive to obey in my own strength. That is where the Israelites failed. The Ten Commandments now merge into the overall cause and effect blessings of the Family. I understand now that I have a Family strength which I can and must draw on by an awareness of my Christian position.
Some may look on this approach as downgrading the merits of the Ten Commandments - as just a technicality. But seeing law in the light of grace, I believe, is the key to growth in awareness of and success in Family action. Seeing the love towards God and the love towards neighbor fulfilled by the strength of Christ within is the key.

The only way that I will ever slip up is by temporarily allowing the world, the flesh and the devil to influence my mind, my soul, toward independent thinking. And as long as I am IN the world, this is going to happen. But Christ does not leave me. The Holy Spirit does not leave me. I am drawn back spiritually to what is true and real:

I am forever a Family of God MEMBER!

[See more on this subject in a previous article:
"Are the Ten Commandments God's 'Way, Truth and Life'?" ]

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