[Exodus 20] Interpreting the Ten Commandments in Light of the New Testament. In this chapter, God delivers the ten commandments to Moses for the people to keep. The mountain burns with fire, and the people stand afar off as the demands of Divine Justice are imposed on them. What is to be our stance as believers under grace toward the ten commandments. If we are to keep them, how can we interpret the command to keep the Sabbath most Christian groups insist that it is false doctrine to demand seventh-day observance?
[Exo 20:1-26 KJV] 1 And God spake all these words, saying, 2 I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me. 4 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of any thing] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth: 5 Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy 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; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. 7 Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. 8 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. 9 Six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work: 10 But the seventh day [is] the Sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates: 11 For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 12 Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. 13 Thou shalt not kill. 14 Thou shalt not commit adultery. 15 Thou shalt not steal. 16 Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbour. 17 Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that [is] thy neighbour’s. 18 And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw [it], they removed, and stood afar off. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. 21 And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God [was]. 22 And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven. 23 Ye shall not make with me gods of silver, neither shall ye make unto you gods of gold. 24 An altar of earth thou shalt make unto me, and shalt sacrifice thereon thy burnt offerings, and thy peace offerings, thy sheep, and thine oxen: in all places where I record my name I will come unto thee, and I will bless thee. 25 And if thou wilt make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone: for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it. 26 Neither shalt thou go up by steps unto mine altar, that thy nakedness be not discovered thereon.
After bringing the people to the Mount of God and instructing them in his absence, Moses returns to the summit to hear the commands of God and what they consist of. He begins by identifying Himself to Moses, redundantly, it seems. You would think that He needed no introduction at this point in His dealings with Moses and the people. We must remember that the ancient Israelites lived in a very pagan world, populated in men’s view with all manner of gods, spirits, sprites, dervishes, demons, and the like. Because God is about to confer a massive standard of requirement on the people, He reminds them that in asking, they are to be acutely aware of what He has already done in delivering them from Egypt’s captivity.
In the Old Covenant, the “Decalogue” (as the Ten Commandments are theologically identified) represents the strident demand of an austere God. In the New Covenant, these ten commandments become ten promises. There is no such promise for the Old Testament believer. Under the Old Covenant, all man can do is admit his failure and address his sin in the shedding of animal blood. In the New Covenant, however, a man admits his wrongdoing and receives grace through thus shedding of the blood of Christ to OVERCOME and therefore does not repeat the continual or habitual transgression. This is because in CHRIST, the spirit of God doesn’t move upon what we do but who we are:
[1Jo 3:2 KJV] 2 Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.
Thus the commandment in the Old Testament becomes the Promise in the New – viz. viz.:
1. No other Gods – NT: You CAN and WILL get your priorities right before God.
2. No Idols – NT: You will never allow any false image (idol, concept, idea) to come between your and your Father God.
3. Not taking God’s name in vain – NT: When you take God’s name in your mouth – mountains will move, demons will tremble, and lives will be changed.
4. Sabbath – NT: You will never try to do for yourself what only God can do for you. You KNOW you can’t save yourself, but you don’t have to you have a SAVIOR!
5. Honor Mother and Father – NT: You are not going to carry the baggage of unforgiveness, rebellion, or brokenness because you were raised in the home of imperfect people. You KNOW who your Daddy God is, and you have entirely GOTTEN OVER THE FRACTURES OF THE PAST.
6. Adultery – NT: Your fidelity is assured because IN CHRIST, there is no want or need or distraction. There is perfect clarity and contentment.
7. Lying – NT: Every word out of your mouth is TRUTH because for YOU – Truth is a PERSON, and His name is JESUS.
8. Covetousness – NT: In Christ, there is no covetousness because He meets all your needs according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
9. Stealing – NT: You shall not steal because the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof – there is no lack, or poverty, or need that your faith in God doesn’t produce in your life.
10. Kill – NT: You will not kill because your Father is the giver of Life, and therefore you are a life-giver in every situation you find yourself in.
2. No Idols – NT: You will never allow any false image (idol, concept, idea) to come between your and your Father God.
3. Not taking God’s name in vain – NT: When you take God’s name in your mouth – mountains will move, demons will tremble, and lives will be changed.
4. Sabbath – NT: You will never try to do for yourself what only God can do for you. You KNOW you can’t save yourself, but you don’t have to you have a SAVIOR!
5. Honor Mother and Father – NT: You are not going to carry the baggage of unforgiveness, rebellion, or brokenness because you were raised in the home of imperfect people. You KNOW who your Daddy God is, and you have entirely GOTTEN OVER THE FRACTURES OF THE PAST.
6. Adultery – NT: Your fidelity is assured because IN CHRIST, there is no want or need or distraction. There is perfect clarity and contentment.
7. Lying – NT: Every word out of your mouth is TRUTH because for YOU – Truth is a PERSON, and His name is JESUS.
8. Covetousness – NT: In Christ, there is no covetousness because He meets all your needs according to your riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
9. Stealing – NT: You shall not steal because the earth is the Lord’s and the fullness thereof – there is no lack, or poverty, or need that your faith in God doesn’t produce in your life.
10. Kill – NT: You will not kill because your Father is the giver of Life, and therefore you are a life-giver in every situation you find yourself in.
What about the Sabbath? Are we supposed to worship on the seventh day of the week (being Saturday?). Many insist that we must and, in fact, question our salvation if we do not. To gain proper understanding, let’s examine what the first-century church believed and how they conducted themselves:
[Act 20:7 KJV] 7 And upon the first [day] of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul preached unto them, ready to depart on the morrow; and continued his speech until midnight.
[1Co 16:2 KJV] 2 Upon the first [day] of the week let every one of you lay by him in store, as [God] hath prospered him, that there be no gatherings when I come.
You can see by referring to these two verses that the early church did not worship on Saturday (the seventh day), they worshipped on the first day of the week (i.e., Sunday).
One writer makes the following observation:
Please do not misunderstand by thinking that we should observe Saturday; there is no such thing command incumbent on the New Testament believer. The Sabbath day (that is, Saturday) belongs to the law. But we, as believers, are not under the law. Before we believed in the Lord, we were “Gentiles, who have no law” (Rom. 2:14). After we believed in the Lord, the apostle said that “you are not under the law” (Rom. 6:14). However, “whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law” (Rom 3:19). If those brothers who insist that we observe the Sabbath cannot prove to us that the Sabbath is not of the law, they cannot ask us to keep it because we are not under the Law. The more they say that the Sabbath is essential because it is a fundamental commandment of the law, the more it means that we should not keep it! It is evident to any honest broker that the Bible has not commanded the New Testament believers to keep the Sabbath. According to the example and teaching of the Bible, on the Lord’s Day (i.e., Sunday), Christians should:
1. Rejoice and be glad (Psa. 118:24),
2. Meet and break bread (Acts 20:7), and
3. Make offerings (1 Cor. 16:2).
These are the things that Christians should do. In the Old Covenant, we have the Seventh Day. In the New Covenant, we have the first day of the week (Sunday). This day is the “Lord’s Day” (Rev. 1:10). Hence, we should act according to the Lord’s will.”
In making these observations, we should also keep in mind that the early church for most of its existence met in very austere settings, such as catacombs, caves, and hidden away places. They would gather as early as 3 a.m. and worship till daybreak, at which time they would go to their labors, sometimes for 18 hours of hard work because Sunday was not a civil day of rest under Roman occupation. After a long day of effort, they would return to the catacombs and sing, worship, receive teaching, and fellowship into the wee hours of the morning. The modern church knows nothing of this and shows little of the character of faithfulness and devotion that led the early Christians to make such sacrifices.
When the people saw the fire and smoke on the mountain that shook and quaked before them, they distanced themselves out of fear (v. 18). Here is the brokenness of the human condition. God’s first choice is direct, ongoing communion. However, people generally see God as a distant, terrible, and austere being that they have no intention of drawing near to.
Moses received the law on tablets written in stone that were laid up in the ark of the Covenant. If anyone would approach the ark of the Covenant or even the Tabernacle without good cause, that person would be immediately executed. On the other hand, in the New Covenant, God’s laws are not unapproachable for we are promised in Jeremiah:
[Jer 31:33,34 KJV] 33 But this [shall be] the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. 34 And they shall teach no more every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, saying, Know the LORD: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the LORD: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
The apostle John ratified this promise of abiding testament in his first epistle:
[1Jo 2:27 KJV] 27 But the anointing which ye have received of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.
In v. 25, God instructs the people regarding the altar they would build to worship Him. It is not to be of hewn stone. Our worship is not according to the fashion that we might design. Our tool or our idea is not that which God accepts; we must worship Him on His terms and none other, which is true in both the Old and the New Testament. We cannot worship Him on the creek bank, or in nature, or in some way that suits our convenience or lauds our personal achievements or good works, we must worship Him as He commands and those commands are clearing given and demonstrated in both the Old and the New Dispensation that we live in today.
