The Ten Commandments Practically Lived

In Luke 18:18 Jesus was asked a question by a certain ruler, What shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus replies, “Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honour thy father and thy mother, “Luke 18:20. Jesus quoted from the Law to tell the Ruler what he must do to be saved; he must keep the Commandments of God.

The Ruler replied, “All these have I kept from my youth up,” Luke 18:21.  But was the Ruler actually keeping the commandments? Jesus is our Great Example. Jesus declares that he kept the commandments. “If ye keep my commandments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father's commandments, and abide in his love.  What was the evidence that Jesus kept the Commandments of God?

The evidence was in the character of Christ. In Christ, the Law was lived out in a practical sense.  The Law says thou shall not lie or steal; Jesus actually did not lie or steal. The only way to keep the Law is to live out the precepts in our everyday life. The Ruler did not live by the Word of God. In reality, he was a selfish man. Christ asks him to sell his goods and give to the poor to show him his lack of love for others. 

Jesus kept the Law but he cannot keep the Law for us. Each individual must make a conscious decision to obey God for himself. What Christ has promised us is the power to obey His Word. “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, [even] to them that believe on his name,” John 1:12. The words believe and faith can be used interchangeably. Both are action Words. “Faith without works is dead, James 2:20. We must actually do the work of obeying God.

God has given us free will and He will always allow us to choose how we want to live. If we decide to live a righteous life, we will receive the grace of God to do so.   It is through grace we receive the power to live a righteous life. Christ does not live the righteous life in our stead, leaving us to do nothing; He gives us the power to choose right and to carry out our choice. 

It has often been said that we cannot keep the Law like that, meaning in a practical manner. But I have not found this concept in the Bible. Would Jesus ask us to keep His Commandments if it were something impossible to do? Yet Christ says, “If ye love me, keep my commandments,” John 14:15. Then Christ gives us assurance of victory, “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me,” Philippians 4:13.

Still, others believe that the commandments are too hard for us to keep so Jesus kept them in our stead. While it is true Christ kept the commandments, giving us an example, it is a false conception to believe that Christ kept the Commandments so we would not have to. This concept teaches, just depend upon Christ’s merits, and make no effort to overcome sin; you will still be saved. This is a dangerous concept to accept.

We are admonished to, “Strive to enter in at the strait gate,” Luke 13:24 Strive is an action word, implying that we have something to do to enter the gate of God’s city.  Striving has a reward, “Blessed [are] they that do his commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city,” Revelation 22:14.  Jesus did not come to save us in our sin; He came to save us from our sin. “…Thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins,” Matthew 1:21. This text indicates a separation from sin by the power of Jesus.  

A religion that is not practically lived is not the religion of Christ. “One of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be [ye] warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what [doth it] profit?  Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone,” James 2:16, 17.  As a Christian, I cannot just say, “Thou shall not steal, I must not steal; that in effect is keeping the law in a practical manner; making you “a living epistle known and read of all men.“  “For not the hearers of the law [are] just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified,” Romans 2:13. Our life must be a reflection of the Law.

Many say the Ten Commandment Law as found in Exodus 20:1-17,  cannot be kept practically but we must keep the spirit of the Law. What is the Spirit of the Law? Exodus 20:1-2, “And God spake all these words, saying, I [am] the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.  God is identifying himself as the one who is speaking the Law. We know the words are for us and not against us, they come from the heart of God. God says, “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you,…thoughts of peace,  not of evil, to give you an expected end,” Jeremiah 29:11. That expected end is eternal life.

God is love so everything he does is in love for his Creation. It is the same loving God that gave his only Begotten Son to save us from our sin that spoke the Law. The Spirit of the Law is Love to God and man. The Law is divided into two sections. The first four commandments tell us how to love God. , the last six tell us how to love our fellow man. We must love God first in order to learn how to love others, thus we began with commandment number 1.

I. Thou shalt have no other gods before me. II. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image, or any likeness [of anything] that [is] in heaven above, or that [is] in the earth beneath, or that [is] in the water under the earth:  Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;  And showing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments.  III. Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.     

Most Christians believe if we love God we should obey these Commandments. They carry them out in a practical sense by guarding against putting other things before God. They don’t make graven images or bow down to them or use foul language when speaking of God. Christians strive to do what is right in the sight of God. Is this not keeping the Law? It is not considered legalistic to obey these commandments, observing them presents no problem in the Christian world; it is considered Christian duty.

Commandment number IV. Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.  Six days shalt thou labor, and do all thy work:  But the seventh day [is] the sabbath of the LORD thy God: [in it] thou shalt not do any work, thou, nor thy son, nor thy daughter, thy manservant, nor thy maidservant, nor thy cattle, nor thy stranger that [is] within thy gates:  For [in] six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that in them [is], and rested the seventh day: wherefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day, and hallowed it. 

Because the benefits of obeying this commandment cannot be readily seen, as with the others, God knew we would have a tendency to forget about it. So he purposely said,” Remember the Sabbath.” We have only to look at the calendar to know what day is the seventh day, it is Saturday. This day is different from all the rest. It is a memorial of Creation. God rested on this day; so, he hallowed it, made it a holy day. God is a holy being, only His presence can make something Holy, for God is Holy. At Creation God rested, we are to rest in Him on this day. This is the day God commanded that we set aside to rest and worship Him.

In the process of our re-creation, Jesus rested in the grave, in the protective care of His Father on the Sabbath day. Luke 23:55 -56 tells us, “And the women…beheld the sepulchre, and how his body was laid.…and rested the sabbath day according to the commandment. Luke 24:1-3 tells us, “Upon the first [day] of the week …they came unto the sepulcher …and found not the body of the Lord Jesus.,” We commonly know this day as Easter Sunday Morning. Christ had risen. Sunday cannot be the first day and the seventh day.

Many believe the day we worship makes God no difference, every day is a good day to worship. It is good to worship God every day. But every day is not Holy, not the Sabbath. God commanded a particular day for worship; it is not our duty to question why but to obey. We know from the case of Cain, that God only accepts worship that is done according to his commands.

The last six commandments tell us how we are to treat others.  V. Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. This is a commandment of promise.  IV. Thou shalt not kill.  VII. Thou shalt not commit adultery. VIII. Thou shalt not steal.  XI. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. X. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that [is] thy neighbor’s. 

Most parents teach these commandments to their children. As with the first three commandments, obedience to these commandments are not considered legalistic or working for your salivation. Obedience to them is insisted upon as a Christian duty. There seems to be only one commandment that presents a problem; those who obey it are considered to be legalistic. Many label them as trying to keep the Law to be saved. But the reasoning is just the opposite. They keep the Law because they are saved and want to please God and give thanksgiving through obedience.

There is nowhere in the Bible that indicates this commandment has been changed. God says, “For I [am] the LORD, I change not, Malachi 3:6.  Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and for ever,” Hebrews 13:8. 

James tells us, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning, James 1:17.” God does not change. God did not change the Law to prevent Jesus from having to die on the cross, so why would he change the Law to prevent us from having to obey it. Worshiping God as he commanded can be a cross in our lives. But we are told to pick up our cross daily and follow Jesus.

The first murder in the world occurred through Cain who refused to honor God in the manner that He commanded. God warns us of the man of sin, “He shall speak [great] words against the most High, and shall wear out the saints…and think to change times and law,” Daniel 7:25. No one can remove the Holiness from Saturday or change God’s Law.