The Ten Commandments from a New Testament Perspective
Most of us have heard the Ten Commandments:
1. Thou shalt have no other gods before me.
2. Thou shalt not make for thyself an idol.
3. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.
4. Remember the Sabbath and keep it holy.
5. Honor thy Father and Mother.
6. Thou shalt not murder.
7. Thou shalt not commit adultery.
8. Thou shalt not steal.
9. Thou shalt not bear false witness.
10. Thou shalt not covet.
In our modern world, these ten short phrases have created much controversy as the culture has distanced itself from God and any association with Him. Of course there are more than Ten Commandments God has given us through His word, but these ten laws are given to the culture. God promised Israel that if the nation kept these simple instructions, He would bless their nation. God took all the laws that were given and would be given and condensed them into easy to understand phrases that each person could comprehend and therefore evaluate their actions within these laws. God has also blessed every nation that has made these laws the foundation of their government and I believe will continue to do so. Unfortunately our nation has broken ranks with these governing laws and now seeks to bar their view from any public display within their control.
In our New Testament age, the real application of these commands belongs to the church. Sometimes Christians get confused when they remove the New Testament foundation from their understanding of these commandments and try to put themselves under the Old Testament law. The cross of Jesus Christ is the lens by which everything in the scripture must be viewed. We cannot go back and try to put our lives under the Old Testament law, but we must submit ourselves to the New Testament commandments that are applied through the law of faith. Jesus said that He did not come to do away with the law but to fulfill the law and then offer Himself as a redemptive sacrifice for us. This is affirmed and explained in Romans 3:
23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, 25 whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, 26 to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? No, but by the law of faith. 28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. 29 Or is He the God of the Jews only? Is He not also the God of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also, 30 since there is one God who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through faith. 31 Do we then make void the law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary, we establish the law.
This passage provides a lot of information to digest. While we were in our sins, God had to remain just. Justice demands judgment against violations of the law; therefore, through the cross, God remained just and also became our justifier through faith in Jesus. Without violating justice, you and I were justified or declared to be just even though we violated the law of sin. We are declared just because Jesus kept the law yet paid the penalty of being a violator of the law and by faith, we receive the justification by receiving His righteousness as He has received credit for our sins (2 Corinthians 5:17-21). So you can see that the law was not done away with, but fulfilled in Christ. By the law of faith, we receive the justification of Christ as we put our trust in His sacrifice of offering Himself up for our violations of the law.
The law has not been done away with; it has just been established in faith. Even though mankind could not fulfill the law because all have fallen short, all people can be justified by the law through faith in Christ. So even though the law has not changed, how the law is fulfilled has changed as justice passed through the cross of Jesus Christ. We now remain in the justification of the law through our fellowship with Jesus Christ. The Bible states that if we abide in the light of Jesus Christ, we have forgiveness of all sin, but if we walk in rebellion to Christ, we are not walking in righteousness but instead we are lying to ourselves and are violators of the law (1 John 1:16-17, Galatians 2:18).
It is important to understand this first because if we look to the deeds of the law for justification, we remain guilty of our sins. Also, if we reject obedience and walk in the darkness of a sinful lifestyle, we are not walking by faith and do not have the Spirit of God working in our lives to fulfill our righteousness in Christ. As Christians, we still keep the law, but we now keep it out of faith. Our faith is in Jesus Christ and our obedience is also by faith as we allow God to lead us by the Spirit. The Bible explains this in Galatians 5:16-25
16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. 17 For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are: adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, 20 idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, 21 envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like; of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law. 24 And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. 25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.
This is a powerful and important passage. When you are walking by the Spirit, you are no longer under the law. The law demands judgment against you for all sin; however, if you have received Christ, you are now freed from this law and are free to walk in the Spirit. This does not become a license to sin for we are still told that if we live in the works of the flesh, we cannot and will not inherit the kingdom of God. We do not look to the law for our justification, but we do look to the Spirit to overcome sin. Sin is still sin and obedience is still required. If you are being led by the Spirit, the fruit of the Spirit will continuously be manifested in your life. If you live by the flesh, the works of the flesh will be produced by your life and this is the evidence that you are not being led by the Spirit and if you practice these works in your lifestyle, you will not inherit God’s kingdom. Obedience is not nullified by faith but instead faith produces obedience.
If we understand this, we can understand the commandments of God and we can also see the relevance of the Ten Commandments in the church today. The Ten Commandments begins by teaching us how to view God, how to know God, and how to treat others. In other words, the Ten Commandments teach you how to relate to God and each other. Jesus explained this in Matthew 22:37-40
37 Jesus said to him, " ’You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 "This is the first and great commandment. 39 "And the second is like it: ’You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets."
If you love God with all your heart, mind and soul, you will fulfill all the law that instructs your relationship with God. If you love people as yourself, you will fulfill all the law that instructs your relationship with people. So with this perspective in mind, let’s explore the Ten Commandments through the lens of the cross of Jesus Christ.
Remember the Sabbath
Since we are looking at the Ten Commandments through the light of the New Testament and the lens of the cross, I decided that the Sabbath should be the first point of study. The reason being is that this is the most misunderstood commandment by Christians and it also points God’s people directly to Jesus Christ. Since Jesus is the focal point by which we view the Old Testament and all commandments, it only makes sense to begin from this point.
The Sabbath is not Sunday. The Sabbath is the seventh day of the week which is Saturday. In the beginning, God created the heavens, the earth, and all that is in them in six days and on the seventh day He rested. God rested in order to provide an example for God’s people to follow His example and to rest on the Sabbath. This principle also points to a deeper spiritual understanding as we will soon explore. Many who oppose the concept of Sunday worship such as the Seventh Day Adventist frequently challenge all the other denominations to prove that the Sabbath was changed. One leader in this denomination offered $64,000 for anyone who can prove biblically that the Sabbath was changed to Sunday in the scriptures.
Don’t waste your time with this challenge for you will not find anything in the Bible where God change the day in which we celebrate the Sabbath. The problem is that the question is flawed. Christians began meeting on the first day of the week (Sunday) because Jesus rose on the first day of the week. This was not an accident but was well planned by God in order to instruct us in the ways of Christ. Before we move on to understand the New Testament application of God’s commandment to keep the Sabbath, let’s first look at the Bible’s affirmation that we are indeed meeting on the correct day of the week. Look at these two passages:
Acts 20:7 Now on the first day of the week, when the disciples came together to break bread, Paul, ready to depart the next day, spoke to them and continued his message until midnight.
1 Corinthians 16:2 On the first day of the week let each one of you lay something aside, storing up as he may prosper, that there be no collections when I come.
In Acts the Bible informs us that the first day of the week is when the disciples of Jesus Christ came together to meet as a church. In 1 Corinthians the apostle Paul is instructing the disciples to meet on the first day of the week to collect a donation for the Jerusalem church that was suffering in poverty. The obvious reason for this commandment was that they were already meeting on the first day (Sunday) and the actual commandment is that they use this time to bring their donations so that the apostles did not have to spend their time gathering up donations but that it would already be ready for their trip to Jerusalem.
The Sabbath did not change for it is still the last day of the week; however, after Christ’s resurrection, our focus has changed. The resurrection is the new life of every believer and God chose to unfold this event at the beginning of the week because the focus was no longer on the specific day of the Sabbath but the spiritual understanding of the Sabbath that is established through Jesus Christ. If the resurrection was on the Sabbath, we would not have understood the drastic fulfillment of the law accomplished by Jesus Christ. Our bondage to the law died with Christ and our new life in Christ was given through His resurrection. The New Testament informs us that our focus should not be on days or calendar events, but on Jesus Christ.
In Galatians, Paul criticizes the church for observing days, months, seasons and other events as they try to keep laws and he expresses fear that because of their focus on the law, his labor toward them in Christ might have been in vain. The Bible does not condemn valuing specific days but observing days in order to keep some law or putting our faith in being accepted for keeping laws. Look at Romans 14:5-6
5 One person esteems one day above another; another esteems every day alike. Let each be fully convinced in his own mind. 6 He who observes the day, observes it to the Lord; and he who does not observe the day, to the Lord he does not observe it. He who eats, eats to the Lord, for he gives God thanks; and he who does not eat, to the Lord he does not eat, and gives God thanks.
Notice this important principle – the one who esteems one day above another and the one that treats all days the same are equal in God’s eyes as long as they are walking in faith. What we observe is acceptable to God if we are walking in faith, but even if we keep every rule, it is still sin to us if our actions are not out of faith in Christ (Romans 14:23). If a church meets on the seventh day but keeps their focus on the Lord and worships Him in truth, they are not condemned – nor are those who meet on the first day of the week. In fact, if a church met on Monday it would not be a violation of the scriptures. It is not the specific day that we are called to honor, but we are honoring Jesus Christ. The commandment given is that we would not forsake meeting together as a body for worship, encouragement and stirring each other up for good works (Hebrews 10:24-25).
Entering His Rest.
Jesus made a point of shaking up the religious leader’s view of the Sabbath. If you read through the gospels, take note of the number of times Jesus blatantly violated the Sabbath in the sight of the Pharisees. As you do, keep in mind that the Pharisees were not condemned for questioning Jesus’ breaking of the Sabbath, they were condemned for rejecting Jesus. A little earlier I noted that the command to keep the Sabbath pointed to a deeper spiritual principle. Jesus broke the traditional view of the Sabbath in order to draw attention to the spiritual meaning of the Sabbath. He constantly proclaimed that He was Lord of the Sabbath and that the Sabbath was meant for man. Man wasn’t created for the Sabbath, but the Sabbath was created for man (Mark 2:27). As we examine this law, keep in mind the teaching of Galatians 3:24-25
24 Therefore the law was our tutor to bring us to Christ, that we might be justified by faith. 25 But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
The law of the Sabbath pointed to what was fulfilled in Christ. In the Old Testament, breaking the Sabbath was punishable by death. Look at Exodus 31:14-15
14 ’You shall keep the Sabbath, therefore, for it is holy to you. Everyone who profanes it shall surely be put to death; for whoever does any work on it, that person shall be cut off from among his people. 15 ’Work shall be done for six days, but the seventh is the Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.
Not all the commandments carried a death penalty; so why did God put such importance on the Sabbath that any who broke it would pay with their life? To understand the reason we must understand the meaning behind the Sabbath which could not have been known before Christ revealed the covenant of the New Testament to the church. The above scripture also helps us to understand why the Jews had such a hard time accepting Jesus’ breaking of the Sabbath. Any work was punishable by death regardless of how miniscule it was, but when Jesus came, He intentionally broke the Sabbath for the purpose of bringing attention to His Lordship and the principle of the Sabbath. First look at John 5:16-18
16 For this reason the Jews persecuted Jesus, and sought to kill Him, because He had done these things on the Sabbath. 17 But Jesus answered them, "My Father has been working until now, and I have been working." 18 Therefore the Jews sought all the more to kill Him, because He not only broke the Sabbath, but also said that God was His Father, making Himself equal with God.
In this passage, Jesus acknowledges that what He did was work, violated the Sabbath, and stated that He was working on the Sabbath to imitate His Father, God. The works and miracles of Jesus were intended to affirm that His words were true and that His claims were accurate. In John 14 Jesus also made Himself equal to God and told the Pharisees that if they don’t believe His claims because of His words, they should believe Him for the works sake. His works validated His claims for the things Jesus did could only have come from God. The works testified of the truth of His word. Jesus didn’t do hidden miracles that were unseen healings, but He restored withered limbs, restored cripples to health, opened the eyes of the blind and even raised the dead in front of all people. These proved that His claims were true. So when Jesus violated the Sabbath and then justified it by saying, “The Son of Man is also Lord of the Sabbath”, His works proved that He had the authority He claimed for Himself.
If Jesus was indeed the Lord of the Sabbath, then He had to have a reason for breaking the Sabbath and teaching His disciples to do so. In the Old Testament, God clearly instructed people not to gather food on the Sabbath and someone found picking up sticks for firewood was executed for breaking the Sabbath. Now Jesus and His disciples are walking through a field and gathering food on the Sabbath in the sight of all. When questioned, Jesus says that the Sabbath is made for man and not man for the Sabbath and then claims that He has the right to do what He is doing because He is also the Lord of the Sabbath. Jesus is making the claim that not only does He have the right to rule the Sabbath, but He is also changing the way mankind views the Sabbath.
The law of keeping the Sabbath clearly served a purpose that God reinforced with severe judgment, but as revealed by Jesus, the Sabbath was a tutor for a greater principle that was now being revealed by His ministry on earth. The Sabbath is the rest given by God and the promise to God’s people. Through the law, God taught His people to understand the promise but God did not permit God’s people to inherit the promise by the law. When God led the people to the Promised Land, He required faith before they could inherit the promise. Without faith, God delivered the people out of the bondage of Pharaoh; without faith God led them through the wilderness; without faith God defeated all enemies, gave them manna, water from the rock and showed the children of Israel many mighty works. However, when the time came to inherit the promise, God required faith.
God sent twelve spies into the land – one from each tribe. He did this to test God’s people. They spied out the land and brought a discouraging report to the people. The land was just as God promised, but the inhabitants were strong and could not be defeated. Even though God defeated everyone that challenged Israel and even humbled Pharaoh, the children of Israel still had no faith and rebelled against the Lord. It was not the law that prevented them from inheriting the promise, but unbelief. Keeping the law meant nothing if faith was absent. Look at Hebrews 3:
17 Now with whom was He angry forty years? Was it not with those who sinned, whose corpses fell in the wilderness? 18 And to whom did He swear that they would not enter His rest, but to those who did not obey? 19 So we see that they could not enter in because of unbelief.
Hebrews 4:1 Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. 2 For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it. 3 For we who have believed do enter that rest, as He has said: "So I swore in My wrath, ’They shall not enter My rest,’ " although the works were finished from the foundation of the world. 4 For He has spoken in a certain place of the seventh day in this way: "And God rested on the seventh day from all His works"; 5 and again in this place: "They shall not enter My rest." 6 Since therefore it remains that some must enter it, and those to whom it was first preached did not enter because of disobedience, 7 again He designates a certain day, saying in David, "Today," after such a long time, as it has been said: "Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts." 8 For if Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. 9 There remains therefore a rest for the people of God. 10 For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His. 11 Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.
This passage of scripture is where the rubber meets the road. This scripture clearly makes a connection between God’s example of rest on the seventh day, the Promised Land of the children of Israel and the rest provided through Christ as it ties them together as being all a part of the same principle. Notice that God speaks of the ‘rest’ of God’s people as the ‘rest’ of the Sabbath. This passage in Hebrews provides an important key to understanding the command to keep the Sabbath for it links the rest of the promise of God with the rest of the Sabbath. God used the example of Israel to teach us the principle of our promise of salvation. Jesus is the Lord of the Sabbath because He is Lord of our salvation. We enter the rest of the Lord through the cross of Jesus Christ for He alone leads us into the promise.
The law is not the promise but leads us to the promise as it reveals to us the plan of God and then we receive the promise by faith. The law of the Sabbath is the schoolmaster that reveals the promise of rest to the people. The Law of the Sabbath does not give us the promise, but reveals the promise as it leads us to it. This is taught in the entering of the Promise Land. Moses is the lawgiver but Moses was not allowed to take God’s people into the Promised Land for the law cannot inherit the promises of God. This only comes through faith.
Moses led the children of Israel to the Promise, but Joshua carried the people over Jordan and into the Promised Land. Joshua is a type of Christ for His name is the Hebrew word Yehowshuwa which means, “Jehovah is Salvation”. In the New Testament, the name Jesus comes from the Greek word ‘Iesous’ which also means “Jehovah is Salvation”. In fact, some translations use the name ‘Jesus’ instead of ‘Joshua’ in Hebrews 4:8. In this passage we know the illustration comes directly from the book of Joshua so it is accurate to say “if Joshua had given them rest” but it is equally accurate to say “if Jesus had given them rest” for this historical event was ordained by God to illustrate the principle of Jesus leading us into the promise of His rest. Moses represented the law, Joshua represented Christ and passing through Jordan into the Promised Land is our baptism into Christ. The Bible says that the law cannot justify, but instead reveals that we are guilty before God. Look at Romans 3:19-20
19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. 20 Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin.
The Law was never intended to justify mankind, but instead served man as a schoolmaster that pointed to Jesus Christ. If we don’t look at the law through the cross, the law seems foolish and our application of the law will be flawed by legalism or rejected through ignorance. These passages also help to explain to us how this Old Testament event points to and is fulfilled in the New Testament principle of faith in Christ.
Romans 6:3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death?
Galatians 3:27 For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
Romans 6: 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin.
Just as Israel was baptized through the Jordan River, we are baptized into the promise as we pass from death of the law into the life in the promise. The law brings us to our knowledge of needing a savior, by faith we receive Christ, are baptized into Him as we pass over into the new life of our eternal promise. The law does not lead us into the promise but instead leads us to Jesus Christ and then by faith in Jesus we enter into the promise of God’s rest. This is exactly why the penalty for breaking the Sabbath was so harsh. To reject the salvation of Christ by faith cuts us off from the promise of redemption just as the rejection of the Sabbath cut the children of Israel from the promise of God. Equally true is that anyone who tries to enter the Promised Land by the works of the law was rejected by God, but those who entered by faith were given the promise.
When God’s people rejected faith, God rejected them from the promise. Some took it upon themselves to enter in without Joshua and they were rejected. Some were killed and the survivors were driven out of the Promised Land. The principle taught in the Old Testament agrees with the instructions of Jesus in John 10:
1 "Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.
…
7 Then Jesus said to them again, "Most assuredly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. 8 "All who ever came before Me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not hear them. 9 "I am the door. If anyone enters by Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and find pasture.
Jesus is the Good Shepherd and the Door. Anyone who seeks to enter the promise without Christ is rejected. Anyone who seeks to merit salvation by the works of the law is rejected. The law is the schoolmaster or tutor that brings us to Christ but only Jesus Christ can lead us into His rest. Just as those who rejected the Sabbath to perform work were judged with the penalty of death, if we reject the Sabbath and work for our salvation, we will inherit the wages of sin – death (Romans 6:23).
Jesus Christ is the Lord of the Sabbath because He is the Lord of our promise of salvation and rest. The one who enters into salvation has ceased from his labors for he is no longer laboring for justification. Those who labor to earn salvation are not allowed to enter into the promise.
As Christians, we are commanded to remember the Sabbath and keep in Holy. The Sabbath is our rest from works and to be holy means to be set apart for God. Our lives still must be separate from the world for we are a holy people. This is stated clearly in James 1:27
Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their trouble, and to keep oneself unspotted from the world.
We are constantly commanded to remain separate from the world. We are also called to be more than conquerors through Jesus Christ (Romans 8:27). Israel was blessed when they entered the Promised Land by faith but they were still required to overcome the wicked people of the land and drive them out. We are also called to overcome the wickedness that dwells in our flesh and drive out of our own lives the sins that draw us away from God. The Israelites were warned that if they allowed the inhabitants to remain, they would become snares that would draw them away from God. In your own life if you allow worldly things to remain, it will become a snare that will draw you out of fellowship with God.
We keep the Sabbath holy by setting ourselves apart for God as we continuously conquer and remove the things that seek to turn our hearts away from God. Israel continuously took possession of the land as they conquered one stronghold at a time. When they made agreements with the inhabitants or went outside of the Promised Land, they were entangled by the sinful culture around them and suffered great consequences. You too must continuously drive out of your life the things that are outside of God’s perfect will as you strive for holiness. Anything that you allow to remain will become a snare and will cause consequences.
Just as each tribe worked together to inherit the promise, we as Christians work to help each other overcome through the word, discipleship, accountability, and encouragement. We no longer work for salvation, but we do work toward holiness as we also work in each others lives to help each member of Christ pursue holiness.
The commandment of the Sabbath is not a command to honor one day over another, but to remember the rest (or salvation in Christ) and keep it holy before the Lord as we strive for holiness in our lives and the lives of others. The word holiness means to set yourself apart from the culture for God. To remember the Sabbath and keep it holy means to remember your salvation in Christ, keep His ways and to remain unspotted from the world as you press on for your eternal inheritance of the Kingdom of God. This cannot be achieved by keeping a day of the week but only by keeping His word and, by faith, walking obediently in His perfect will.
