Where are the 10 Commandments found in the Bible?
Exodus 20:1–17 & Deuteronomy 5:6–21 Both are similar, and are the passages usually referred to with regard to the ten commandments.
Leviticus 19:1–18 & Exodus 34:1–28 Both passages repeat a lot of the commandments also.
What is the relationship between Israel in the Old Testament, to the Church of the New Testament?
Genesis 17:1-8 is where God promises to bless many nations through Abraham. It is an everlasting promise to him and his offspring.
Galatians 3:21-29 tells us that those in Christ are now the offspring of Abraham, and heirs according to the promise.
The Church has not replaced Israel, but rather through the promise God made to Abraham, believers from all nations have been adopted in Christ, and grafted into Israel. It is not a nation of the world that can be located on a map, but it is a holy nation of those chosen and called out of the world by God. There is only ONE Church, and it spans across the globe and throughout time. The children of faith we read of in the Old Testament are our brothers and sisters with us, because of Jesus Christ Himself. We are all co-heirs with Christ, and will inherit the eternal Kingdom of God with Him.
Around the 3rd century BC, the Hebrew Scriptures were translated into Greek, and is known as the Septuagint. In the Old Testament Scriptures, the children of Israel are often referred to as the “assembly”, such as here:
30 Then Moses spoke the words of this song until they were finished, in the ears of all the assembly of Israel: (Deut 31:30)
The Greek word used for the assembly of God’s people in the Old Testament, is exactly the same word that the Apostles used in the New Testament when referring to the Church. Such as here:
23 For the husband is the head of the wife even as Christ is the head of the church, his body, and is himself its Savior. (Eph 5:23)
This in itself doesn’t prove anything, but it does show the Apostles, writing the New Testament Scriptures under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, made no distinction between Israel of the Old Testament and the Church of the New Testament. They were all ONE people of God, and heirs according to the promises of God.
How does Jesus talk about the Ten Commandments?
We read in Matthew 22:35–40 where Jesus talks about the greatest commandment, and the second greatest. And that ALL the Law and Prophets hang upon them.
As we read through the ten commandments, we can see that the first three are in relation to God, and the rest are in relation to our neighbour. These are what are referred to as the first and second table of God’s Law, and point to what Jesus spoke in the above verses.
The commandments are not a list of do’s and don’ts that can be ticked off as completed (as the Pharisees were rebuked for). They are His revelation to us of how we are to relate to Him and one another. In other words we are being called through them to reflect His character.
God created man in His own likeness, however because of sin, that image has been twisted and marred. In God’s commandments, it is like a word picture being painted, and forms an image of who we were created to be. God’s Law is a whole, not a list of individual items on a checklist. As James 2:10 teaches, if we break the smallest part of God’s Law, we are guilty of it all.
What are the threefold uses of God’s Law?
We know as Christians that we cannot earn our salvation by keeping the Law, but it is only by faith in Christ. But there are three legitimate uses of God’s Law:
- Curb – It reflects the way in which God has written His law upon the hearts of all men. The laws created in societies across the globe, to protect its citizens from the abuse of one another in various ways, tend to reflect the ten commandments in some way.
- Mirror – It acts as a mirror that points out our sin. (Read Romans 7:7-8)
- Guide – To the child of God it becomes a guide. Through the Gospel we know the grace and kindness of God towards us, and through the Law we are instructed how to respond in a life that is pleasing to Him.
