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Are Christians Under the 10 Commandments?
Desiring God ^ | August 7, 2010 | John Piper

Posted on 04/12/2015 11:16:47 AM PDT by RnMomof7

The following is an edited transcript of the audio.

Are Christians under the 10 commandments?

No. The Bible says we're not under the law.

I love Romans 7:4-6. By way of analogy, it says that you are married to the law. And you better stay married because if you leave this husband and go marry another you are going to be called an adulterer. But if your husband dies, then you can go and remarry.

And then Paul draws the analogy out—a little complex the way he does it—saying that you died to the law. You aren't married anymore, you can have another husband, namely Christ. He's raised from the dead.

So, our approach towards ethics is different. We don't ask the question, "Am I under the law?" We are under grace. The law is already fulfilled perfectly by Jesus. We are in Jesus and as far justification goes, God sees it as completed for you, one-hundred percent. He says, "You've trusted my Son. You've been grafted in him. You are in Christ Jesus and he fulfilled the law perfectly. He covered all your sins." God sees you in and through Christ, therefore, as far as final judgment goes God is 100% for you. That is settled and nothing is going to change it.

Now, shall we sin that grace may abound? Paul says, "Dead men don't sin." If you've died to sin, how can you still live in it? The new birth is the writing of the law on our heart so that we are not under it, it is under us. It is just coming out.

The way we strive towards being obedient, holy and loving people is not by getting up in the morning and pulling the list out of our pocket. No! We get on our knees and we open ourselves to the whole counsel of God in the Bible. We saturate and shape ourselves by everything he has done, he is doing and he will do. We stake our lives in the gospel and then instead of serving the law, we serve one another in love.

Love is the fruit of faith in Jesus—faith working through love. And if you ask, "What does love look like?" First John says, "It keeps the commandments." That brings us back to the question, which commandments? I would say, the ones that are loving.

Love God and do as you please is not bad advice, if you're bent on holiness. If you're bent on love the ten commandments are really important. You should hang them on your wall and you should measure your life by them, but in a very different way than when you were under them, because they have been kept for you.

You are now married to the risen Christ. You are not married to the law and the oldness of the letter, but to the newness of the Spirit. Our whole approach towards transformation, love and life is different than list keeping.


TOPICS: Apologetics; Evangelical Christian; Mainline Protestant; Theology
KEYWORDS: 10commandments; faith; johnpiper; mercy; obedience; salvation
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1 posted on 04/12/2015 11:16:47 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: Alex Murphy; bkaycee; blue-duncan; boatbums; CynicalBear; daniel1212; Gamecock; HossB86; Iscool; ...

Grace ping


2 posted on 04/12/2015 11:17:17 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: RnMomof7

No. The 10 commandments, or old law, are dead. We now live under the new law as explained in the New Testament.


3 posted on 04/12/2015 11:20:53 AM PDT by robert14 (cng)
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To: RnMomof7

As always, I appreciate what John Piper has to say. This was particularly meaningful to me:

“You should hang them on your wall and you should measure your life by them, but in a very different way than when you were under them, because they have been kept for you.”

The 10 Commandments are a thermometer, not a cook book. Thanks for sharing!


4 posted on 04/12/2015 11:20:55 AM PDT by Arkansas Toothpick
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To: RnMomof7
The Bible says we're not under the law.

Sadly many "Christians" believe this.

5 posted on 04/12/2015 11:22:18 AM PDT by zipper (In their heart of hearts, all Democrats are communists)
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To: zipper

Low behold, one came and said to Him, “Good Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may have eternal life?”

So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.”


6 posted on 04/12/2015 11:25:49 AM PDT by Fido969
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To: Arkansas Toothpick

Absolutely


7 posted on 04/12/2015 11:26:26 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: Fido969

The 10 commandments were in-force while Jesus lived on the Earth. The were done away with when he died on the cross.


8 posted on 04/12/2015 11:29:01 AM PDT by robert14 (cng)
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To: RnMomof7

Absolutely.

But, while Christ came to fulfill the prohecy, he also, through the resurrection, fulfilled the law, with the proviso that we shoukd guard our hearts and minds and never consider breaking the commandments.

As a man thinketh, so is he...


9 posted on 04/12/2015 11:31:48 AM PDT by Vendome (Don't take life so seriously-you won't live through it anyway-Enjoy Yourself ala Louis Prima)
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To: Fido969; zipper
So He said to him, “Why do you call Me good? No one is good but One, that is, God. But if you want to enter into life, keep the commandments.

Ummm misquote of scripture to start with ... ..but the youth said he had kept all the commandments and Christ still sent him away ..

One very important thing to remember when reading the gospels is they are retrospective ...they reflect the Old Testament laws that Jesus lived under and kept perfectly for the saved ...

10 posted on 04/12/2015 11:33:06 AM PDT by RnMomof7
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To: RnMomof7
The Ten Commandments
11 posted on 04/12/2015 11:34:52 AM PDT by GBA (Just a hick in paradise)
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To: RnMomof7

If you reject the divine love of God, perfectly exemplified by Jesus Christ, you’re automatically under God’s laws for humanity. But when you accept the love of God, that alone guides you, even to death.

God is not mocked, and there is no escape from divine law, except divine love. Divine love is a path of fire that will burn you up if you betray it - and purify you and bring you to God if you don’t. For the fire IS the love IS God, and the only thing it burns is sin.


12 posted on 04/12/2015 11:36:00 AM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
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To: robert14

Paul lived under the old law until Jesus died. After he saw Christ on the road to Demascus, he abandoned the old law and followed Christ. The old law, including the 10 commandments, are dead. They were nailed to the cross.


13 posted on 04/12/2015 11:37:31 AM PDT by robert14 (cng)
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To: RnMomof7
Ummm misquote of scripture to start with ...

How is it a misquote? That verbatim from the King James, Matthew 19:17.

but the youth said he had kept all the commandments and Christ still sent him away ..

No, he hadn't kept the first.

14 posted on 04/12/2015 11:38:35 AM PDT by Fido969
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To: RnMomof7

The church that Jesus founded (the Catholic Church) still accepts the 10 commandments. The Catholic Church can do this because of Matt16, Matt 18, and John 20.


15 posted on 04/12/2015 11:49:53 AM PDT by impimp
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To: Fido969

Well, no man other than Jesus has, hence the stumbling block to those under the law....

Me, I m not under law, I have died to the law when I was redeemed by Jesus and His acceptable substitution in my place-He kept the law for me, and now, legally, God the Father sees me as “paid for in full” by the One who is perfect and paid the price that I could never.....

I am supposed to live by the Spirit, however, I am not able on my own to live w/o error, commission or omission. Since Christ’s Blood was efficacious then, and now and ever more, I am seen as still paid for. My effort is not win earn or purchase salvation, but to live worthy of it ( that which was paid for in my name). The big Ten are reminders of what was expected of me to enter into Heaven, and to remind me that I cannot on my own.

Best;


16 posted on 04/12/2015 11:51:25 AM PDT by Manly Warrior (US ARMY (Ret), "No Free Lunches for the Dogs of War")
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To: RnMomof7

Israel was under the covenant of the law and ten commandments as a school master until the fullness of the time of the Messiah came.

Christians are under grace, not the law, for Christ fulfilled all the law, so our duty, fulfilment of the law towards God was fulfilled in Christ and in Christ alone, not us.

However God expects us to live a moral, righteousness, holy life because of what Christ has done.. And not for our salvation, that has already been taken care of in Christ.

We honor the 10 commandments not for our earning our salvation, but because we honor God in it and honor Christ in it.


17 posted on 04/12/2015 11:51:55 AM PDT by American Constitutionalist (BeThe Keystone Pipe like Project : build it already Congress)
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To: RnMomof7

bump


18 posted on 04/12/2015 11:52:45 AM PDT by GeronL (CLEARLY CRUZ 2016)
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To: RnMomof7
This sort of Self and Self Alone Protestant derived drivel is why the US and Europe are now exactly like the society described in Romans 1.
19 posted on 04/12/2015 12:00:03 PM PDT by Rashputin (Jesus Christ doesn't evacuate His troops, He leads them to victory.)
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To: RnMomof7
Are Christians Under the 10 Commandments?

No! Christians are saved by God's grace through faith in Jesus the Messiah. Christians are under the blood of Jesus!

20 posted on 04/12/2015 12:01:32 PM PDT by JesusIsLord
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