Ten Commandments (34)
if one accepts some terms of the Decalogue as normative for Christians, one must accept all. This document must be received as a package, beginning with the preamble and ending with the command against coveting. The principles are cast as absolute and unconditional commands, without qualification, and for the most part without declared motivation.
The words of the Decalogue... remain permanently with us, receiving by means of his advent in the flesh, extension and increase, but not abrogation.Against Heresies
The laws of the Bible, outside the Ten Commandments, are case laws, and I have been arguing that largely, the Reformed faith has viewed it as the duty of the Christian ruler to extend the equity of these cases to cover whatever details they find in their own society.Mission of God, 343
the very manner of their publication plainly showed that God Himself assigned to the Decalogue peculiar importance. The Ten Commandments were uttered by God in an audible voice, with the fearful adjuncts of clouds and darkness, thunders and lightnings and the sound of a trumpet, and they were the only parts of Divine Revelation so spoken—none of the ceremonial or civil precepts were thus distinguished. Those Ten Words, and they alone, were written by the finger of God upon tables of stone, and they alone were deposited in the holy ark for safekeeping. Thus, in the unique honor conferred upon the Decalogue, we may perceive its paramount importance in the divine government.https://www.monergism.com/ten-commandments-ebook-1
If the Decalogue does serve as a single unit for acceptance or rejection, then the fourth commandment -the one commandment explicitly tied to creation -is as abiding as the other Ten Commandments.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 82
the ten words are distinguished within Israelite law itself by their exclusively apodictic form: 'You shall', 'You shall not', 'Remember', and 'Honour'. Unlike the rest of the law, they are not a mixture of casuistic and apodictic.From the Finger of God, 90
the perpetuity of the Law appears in God's writing it in the hearts of His people at their new birth ( Jeremiah 31:33; Ezekiel 36:26,27).https://www.monergism.com/ten-commandments-ebook-1
the character of God Himself must change before the Law (the rule of His government) can be revoked. https://www.monergism.com/ten-commandments-ebook-1
The same law that was first written in the heart of man continued to be a perfect rule of righteousness after the fall, and was delivered by God upon Mount Sinai, in ten commandments, and written in two tables, the four first containing our duty towards God, and the other six, our duty to man.https://www.the1689confession.com/1689/chapter-19
The Decalogue envisions a community that has been freed from the tyranny of Egypt but would be under the constant threat of those with social and economic power behaving like little pharaohs.For the Glory of God (87)
As we read the Old Testament we do not find any warrant for discrimination between the fourth and the other nine. Nor indeed do we find any intimation in the Old Testament that in the Messianic age the Sabbath law would cease. If any commandment is emphasized it is the fourth.The Fourth Commandment according to the Westminster Standards
If we say that the fourth commandment is abrogated and the other nine are not, we must understand what we are saying. It would indeed be an amazing phenomenon that in the heart of the decalogue there should be one commandment -and one given such prominence and meticulous elaboration -that is totally different from the others in this regard that they are permanent and it is not. Surely no one will dispute that in the Old Testament the ten commandments constitute a well-rounded and compact unit. And surely no one will dispute that the Old Testament is itself throughout conscious of that fact.The Fourth Commandment according to the Westminster Standards
Many continue to view the weekly Sabbath as a part of Israel's cultic system terminated by the work of Christ... this reflects a fundamental misunderstanding... First, the earliest references to the seventh-day Sabbath predate tabernacle worship and are disconnected from it... Second, the Sabbath ordinance is embedded in the Decalogue, which is unconcerned with cultic matters; its agenda is theological and ethical. Third, the original Sabbath ordinance is rooted in creation... Fourth, the revelation of the Sabbath ordinance is separated from the revelation of the worship systemFor the Glory of God, 282
[Antinomian errors] That the Scriptures of the Old Testament do not concern nor bind Christians now under the new Testament.The First and Second Part of Gangraena
True, the Christian is not under the Law as a Covenant of Works nor as a ministration of condemnation, but he is under it as a rule of life and a means of sanctification.https://www.monergism.com/ten-commandments-ebook-1
the people were commanded to spend two days in preparing themselves, by a ceremonial cleansing from all external pollution, before they were ready to stand in the presence of God ( Exodus 19:10,11). This teaches us that serious preparation of heart and mind must be made before we come to wait before God in His ordinances and receive a word at His mouth
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Most prominent in the Ten Commandments is love to God. Four commandments outlining expected love our Maker are the first and the most lengthy portion of this code of conduct. Such prominence signifies that love to God is critical issue in human ethics. The first commandment shows that love to our God requires our exclusive worship of him and service to him. The second prescibes the manner in which love will worship and serve the Lord. The third specifies the attitude of reverence which love will bring to God's worship and service. The fourth stipulates what time is required to express our love to him. So long as we are creatures of time, love must devote time unto him who is the object of our supreme love.Call the Sabbath a Delight
The moral law carries permanent validity because it is an objective standard uniquely sanctioned by God and goes straight to the root of our modern problems. It lays its finger on the church's deepest need in evangelism as well as in the Christian life: sanctification. The Ten Commandments are desperately needed not only in the church but also in societyLaw and Gospel
The third reason for retaining the Decalogue is that obedience is required.Scholia in Epistolam Puali ad Colossense, 93v
But the Ten Commandments still bind us, because they were given to a people who were, at that time, under the covenant of grace made with Abraham, to show them what duties are holy, just, and good, well-pleasing to God, and to be a rule for their conduct. The result of it all, is that we must still practice moral duties as commanded by Moses; but we must not seek to be justified by our practice. If we use them as a rule of life, and not as conditions of justification, they cannot be a ministration of death, nor a killing letter to us.
the moral law. That is summed up in the Ten Commandments, and more briefly in those two great commandments of love to God and our neighbor (Mat. 22:37, 39); it is more largely explained throughout the Holy Scriptures.The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification: Growing in Holiness by Living in Union with Christ
Jesus gave the highest place to the commandments of the Decalogue and his response to the scribe reflected that, thus it is 'with good reason' that the two greatest commandments were considered a precis of the Decalogue.From the Finger of God, 160
[the Ten Commandments] are reduced to two, namely, that we should love God with our whole heart, and with our whole soul, and with our whole mind; and that we should love our neighbours as ourselves.Catechizndis Rvdibvs, 99
the righteous fathers had the meaning of the Decalogue written in their hearts and souls, that is, they loved the God who made them, and did no injury to their neighbour.
We are not to imagine that correct or credible exegetical insights will be preserved in the commentaries. But with regard to Mark 12:38-41 and its parallels, we have seemingly forgotten what many before us, with good reason, took for granted: that the double commandment to love is a summarizing exposition of the decalogue.The Gospels and the Scriptures of Israel, Sheffield Academic Press, 1994, 278
If the ten commandments were a loose and disjointed collection of precepts, there would be nothing very extraordinary about the supposition we are now discussing. But that is precisely what the decalogue is notThe Fourth Commandment according to the Westminster Standards
Although directed to Israel, it declared certain unchangeable truths from and about God, which affected all humanity, whether they knew it or not. From the perspective of the Pentateuch, as well as the confessions, it 'doth for ever bind all.'From the Finger of God, 104
The best preaching is: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and keep the Ten Commandments.
might be able to fulfil the law not only without its being a burden but even with delight. Now this law was given to the Jews in ten commandments which they call the Decalogue.Cateschizandis Rvdibvs, trans. Joseph Patrick Christopher
The command to remember is telling for two reasons: (1) It means this is not a new command (i.e., it assumes prior knowledge), and (2) some were already guilty of not keeping it, as is the sinful tendency of all mankind.There Remains a Sabbath Rest, 67
The covenant of the Ten Commandments founded the modern principle of constitutionalism, or rule of law, by a perpetual written and binding law. Britain's submission to the rule of law was institutionalized with the Magna Carta (1215), founded on common law, tracing to the code of Alfred the Great. The Mosaic code was the foundation for such legal codes in the West. One-third of Alfred's "Dooms" (AD 893) quoted biblical law while collating the laws of three Christian kingdoms. Ultimately the Word of God was the basis for law and government
Some argue for the normativeness of the "Ten Commands" as a guide for Christian behavior, but then remove the Sabbath ordinance as an exception, claiming this to be part of the ceremonial law that ended in Christ. However, this approach is indefensible. (1) The seventh-day Sabbath ordinance is embedded in the Decalogue as a fundamental principle of covenant relationship, along with the prohibition of any other gods, of murder, and so on. One may not treat it differently from the rest. (2) According to the Exodus version of the Decalogue, the six-plus-one weekly rhythm is fundamental to the cosmic order. Exodus 20:11 grounds the human practice in the pattern of divine creative work. (3) In its origin the Sabbath is separated from Israel's ceremonial laws. In fact, Israelites were observing it as a matter of course before they got to Sinai (Ex. 16). (4) The Sabbath command is not primarily a cultic ordinance. In intent and character it was both humanitarian (a gift offering people rest and refreshment from life-sustaining labor) and theological—offering Israelites an opportunity to declare their fundamentally theological perspective on life (God is Creator of all), their confidence in him to provide for the seventh day, their acceptance of covenant relationship, their gratitude for salvation from slavery, and their compassion for the poor. (5) Nowhere does the New Testament declare the seventh-day Sabbath passé in Christ.
We should interpret this document not as a law code but as a foundational covenant document, intended to create a picture of life within the community of faith governed by covenant principles.For the Glory of God (85)
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