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How do God's Ten Commandments apply today?
Many people today feel that God's Ten
Commandments are no longer valid because they do not apply to our current
society. They look to the Ten Commandments as being outdated and full of
inflammatory language which doesn't sit well with our politically-correct
viewpoint. The Ten Commandments are also considered by many people to have been
abolished by Jesus when He made a new covenant between God and man with His
death and resurrection.
The problem in thinking that Jesus came to
abolish the Ten Commandments is that Jesus never claimed to have abolished the
Ten Commandments. Instead, in Matthew 5:17-18 Jesus says, "Do not think that I
have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them
but to fulfill them. I tell you the truth, until heaven and earth disappear, not
the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear
from the Law until everything is accomplished."
In this verse, Jesus
gives a clear indication that the Ten Commandments are still to be followed and
adhered to even in our generation and every generation to come until the day
that Jesus returns. So what does all this mean to us and how do God's Ten
Commandments apply today?
God's Ten Commandments are still valid because
Jesus declared them to be. We are still called by God to honor the Ten
Commandments and obey what they call us to do. Jesus also told us that obeying
the Law or the Ten Commandments is not just a superficial act, but one that
carries the essence of the law into our thoughts and hearts.
Jesus
proclaimed that if we think something that is contrary to one of the Ten
Commandments, we are to view it in the same light as if we had physically
carried out the act. For instance, if we think to ourselves it is okay to
slander or gossip about our neighbors, we are in essence breaking the ninth
Commandment, "Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor." If we are
married and one day we see a handsome man or a pretty woman walking down the
street and we lust in our hearts for them, we are breaking the seventh of God's
Ten Commandments, "Thou shalt not commit adultery."
As Christians, we
should not think that since Paul tells us "we are set free from the law" the Ten
Commandments no longer apply to us. Paul is telling us that because we are now
in a relationship with Christ, we are forgiven of our indiscretions when it
comes to following the Ten Commandments. We are still called throughout the New
Testament to obey God's Ten Commandments.
The Ten Commandments also
apply to non-believers because in the end, they will be judged by the essence of
the law and the Ten Commandments. This means that if they are guilty of breaking
even one of the Ten Commandments, be it a lack of respect or reverence for God
or some indiscretion between non-believers, it will be as if they were guilty of
breaking all the commandments.
God's Ten Commandments are still the
standard by which we should strive to live our lives. They are not some outdated
laws that were only to be used by Moses. God meant the Ten Commandments to be
permanent guidelines that we are still to follow in order to have a more
meaningful relationship with God and each other.
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