Ten Commandments (19)
If men will not be governed by the Ten Commandments, they shall be governed by ten thousand commandments.
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
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 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
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
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)
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.
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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
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
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
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 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 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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