Posted on 04/20/2009 5:26:00 PM PDT by DouglasKC
Many people assume that the Ten Commandments and the covenant God established with ancient Israel are identical—and that both were abolished by Jesus Christ's death. They believe that the Sinai Covenant and God's commandments came into existence together and went out of existence together.
But is such reasoning biblical? The facts show it is not. A close look at the Scriptures reveals that breaking the Ten Commandments was a sin before the covenant at Mt. Sinai, so arguments that they came into existence with that covenant and were terminated with it cannot be true. Let's notice the scriptural proof.
God's Word defines sin as "the transgression of the law" (1 John 3:4, KJV) or "lawlessness" (New King James Version, NIV). Therefore, "where there is no law there is no transgression" (Romans 4:15). This is what the Bible clearly says! So do we find transgressions of the Ten Commandments described as sinful before Mt. Sinai? Clearly we do.
For example, Genesis 13:13 tells us that "the men of Sodom were exceedingly wicked and sinful against the Lord." Since sin is violating God's law, the people of Sodom could not have been punished for being wicked and sinful if no law condemned what they were doing. We must conclude, therefore, that God had already made available the knowledge of what is sinful.
Here is a clear example. Genesis 20:3-9 and 39:7-9 describe adultery as "a great sin" and a "sin against God." Adultery breaks the Seventh Commandment.
In Genesis 3:6 and 17, God punishes Adam and Eve for their coveting and stealing—breaking the Tenth and Eighth Commandments. They also dishonored Him as their parent, violating the Fifth Commandment.
In Genesis 4:9-12, God punishes Cain for murder and lying—violations of the Sixth and Ninth Commandments.
In Exodus 16:4, several days to several weeks before God established His covenant with the Israelites at Mt. Sinai, we find God giving them a test to see "whether they will walk in My law or not." His test involved whether they would rest on the seventh-day Sabbath as He commanded in the Fourth Commandment of that law—with which they were at least partly familiar. The seventh day had been hallowed—set aside as holy by God—from the time of Adam and Eve (Genesis 2:1-3).
God's reaction to their disobedience is revealing. He exclaims, "How long do you refuse to keep My commandments and My laws?" (Exodus 16: 28). God clearly speaks of both His "commandments and . . . laws" as already existing and in force well before He listed the Ten Commandments verbally at Mt. Sinai, as described four chapters later! Therefore, the Ten Commandments were only codified—written in stone as part of a formal covenant—at Mt. Sinai. Scripture clearly shows that they existed and were in force well before then.
This is stated explicitly in Genesis 26:5, where God tells Isaac that He blessed his father Abraham "because Abraham obeyed My voice and kept My charge, My commandments, My statutes, and My laws." This event took place centuries before the covenant at Mt. Sinai, centuries before Moses and two generations before Judah, head of the tribe that much later would become known as the Jews, was born! (Be sure to read "Did Abraham Keep the Same Commandments God Gave to Moses?" on page 13).
In Leviticus 18:21 and 27, God calls the idolatrous practices of the people of the land of Canaan "abominations"—actions so filthy and degrading that God compared their expulsion to being "vomited out" of the land (verse 28). What was their sin? Among other things, idolatry (the worship of false gods) and human sacrifice, which violated the First, Second and Sixth Commandments.
The Bible shows that the Ten Commandments did not originate with Moses or in his time. Nor were they in any way limited only to the Jews. They were in effect and known long before Moses or a people known as the Jews existed. They are the foundation of God's laws that show us how to love God (defined by the first four Commandments) and how to love our fellow man (defined by the last six).
This is why, after Jesus Christ returns to establish His glorious Kingdom on earth, Isaiah 2:3 tells us that "many people shall come and say, ‘Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; He will teach us His ways, and we shall walk in His paths.' For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."
At that time, all of mankind will at last be taught to live according to all of God's laws and commandments!
Of course, the covenant was a promise, not the imposition of the law. The law was imposed on all mankind, from the time of creation; the covenant was the promise God made to Israel .
Every pothead and hippy alive made a remake of the same annoying song?
I’d better keep my faith strong, because I know what song will be playing on the elevator to Hell if I don’t.
LOL!! Unfortunately, that is happening where I live way, way too much.
Here’s what I found in NIV (below) and sorry it’s not the best looking but I’ve got to get to sleep and don’t have time to HTML-pretty-it-up. I was always taught that those who have the law apart from being given the law (e.g the Gentiles vs. the Jews who were given the law) have it b/c it is written on their hearts. Of course, the gentiles would be anyone who was not the chosen people who were set apart. Now, we Christians have also been given the Law if we were brought up in a Christian home or came to faith in Christ. But, I am convinced that non-Christians in places that may never hear a whisper of the Gospel (and they do still exist in spite of our wonderful Bible missionaries and so on) have the law written on their heart by God Himself and that is why they know to seek HIM even when they might not know HIS name. I’ve heard of stories of missionaries who have gone into the jungles of places that no man has been and they preached the Gospel and the people said, “Oh, THAT’S His name!” They KNEW Him already.
I am NO expert by any means and I’m not saying my take on this is necessarily the right one but I believe it, just as I believe the Trinity, which is not specifically spoken about either.
Blessings!
12All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. 13For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 14(Indeed, when Gentiles, who do not have the law, do by nature things required by the law, they are a law for themselves, even though they do not have the law, 15since they show that the requirements of the law are written on their hearts, their consciences also bearing witness, and their thoughts now accusing, now even defending them.) 16This will take place on the day when God will judge men’s secrets through Jesus Christ, as my gospel declares.
I’ve enjoying this little exchange. As the Lord tells us, we are to come and reason together. We grow as Christians in this way, I believe, and it helps us in being better witnesses. There is no problem with us wondering and asking each other questions. If it were so simple there would not be millions of scholarly works written on every book in the Bible, eh?
Bless you both tonight.
“You would be surprised that many Christians think that the ten commandments are no longer applicable to Christians.”
Who teaches that?
Well said...
In your estimation, in what sense are the applicable to Christians?
He has written The Law on the hearts of all men...or He would be unjust to hold all men accountable!
They are the written definition of perfect love toward God and toward our fellow man. They show Christians where they are falling short spiritually and physically in letting the spirit of Christ live in them and through them. If one could let the perfect love of Christ live fully through them, the outward and inward appearance would be that they were keeping the ten commandments perfectly.
2Co 6:14 Do not be unequally yoked together with unbelievers. For what fellowship has righteousness with lawlessness? And what communion has light with darkness?
Unbelievers are lawless. They don't have God's laws written in their hearts. That comes through repentance and the giving of God's holy spirit.
All men will be held accountable, but not everyone is called to have God's spirit at this time. Only Christians get their calling during their lifetime and only Christians are judged during their lifetimes. The rest will be called in the general resurrection mentioned in Revelation 20 and will be judged then.
Blessings to you too and may God bless your walk...
And Jesus answered him, The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel; The Lord our God is one Lord: And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment.[Mosaic Commandments 1 thru 4]
And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. [5 thru 10]
Did the Ten Commandments Exist Before Moses?,
That would make sinse the 5 Books of Moses are a recap of the word of God from the beganning and so yes the Commandments did exist before they were restored again on earth.
We may have the opportunity to find out...
I must say, you have an interesting, if ill-informed, theology.
Definitely. It only makes sense that God would have instructed them on what was right and wrong. There even seems to have been a priesthood early on:
Gen 14:18 Then Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine; he was the priest of God Most High.
Gen 14:19 And he blessed him and said: "Blessed be Abram of God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth;
Gen 14:20 And blessed be God Most High, Who has delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave him a tithe of all.
Abram tithed to this priest of God. It would seem natural that a knowledge of right and wrong was taught.
What is it you find ill-informed?
Yes, I love that verse. It's like saying, hey, pull your heads out, look at creation and believe.
24The Pharisees were saying to Him, "Look, (V)why are they doing what is not lawful on the Sabbath?"
25And He said to them, "Have you never read what David did when he was in need and he and his companions became hungry;
26how he entered the house of God in the time of (W)Abiathar the high priest, and ate the consecrated bread, which (X)is not lawful for anyone to eat except the priests, and he also gave it to those who were with him?"
27Jesus said to them, "(Y)The Sabbath was made for man, and (Z)not man for the Sabbath.
28"So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."
Exodus 23
12"(A)Six days you are to do your work, but on the seventh day you shall cease from labor so that your ox and your donkey may rest, and the son of your female slave, as well as your stranger, may refresh themselves.
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