Should we Keep the Ten Commandments?

Should we still follow the Ten Commandments? If so, all of them? I have heard several arguments about how we are now free from YHWHs law and we no longer need to worry about doing any of these things that were from the “old testament.” These arguments state something along the lines of this, Christians only need to love God with all of their heart and love their neighbor as themselves. I agree that these things are what we are supposed to do. But I think there is more to it than that.

Jesus says the most important commandment is that we love YHWH with all of our hearts. So, what does that mean? How do we DO this? It is my opinion that we do this is by being obedient to Him by following His word.

Let’s take into account a few scriptures concerning these things.

1 John 5: 1-3

Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ is born of God, and everyone who loves the father loves his child as well. ² This is how we know that we love the children of God: by loving God and carrying out his commands. ³ In fact, this is love for God: to keep his commands. And his commands are not burdensome, 

This passage is referring to BOTH the Father and the Son. These verses clearly point out that God wants us to keep his commandments. Verse three, goes so far as to say exactly what is expected to show love for God, “to keep his commands”.

John 14: 12 & 15

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 

15 If you love me, keep my commands.

These two verses are the words of Yeshua (Jesus). In both of them He is telling us to follow His example by keeping His commandments.

2 John 1: 6

And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.

Again we can see that to show love is to be obedient. Christ tells us what “His” commandments are in the book of Matthew

Matthew 22: 37-40

‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ ³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ ⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

I believe that Christ came to teach love. I also believe that we are saved through grace by faith alone. That being said, Christ wants us to love YHWH with all of our heart, mind, and soul. The bible tells us how to do so. My question here is this, are the two commands given by Christ different than the ten given by YHWH in the Old Testament?

The first four commandments from the Old Testaments are these…

You shall have no other Gods before me.

You shall not make any carved images of anything in heaven, on the earth, or under the water of the earth, or bow down to or serve any of these images.

Do NOT take YHWHs name in vain.

Remember the Sabbath day.

In just these first four, I think we can sum up what Jesus was saying when He said the first commandment was to love YHWH with all your heart. YHWH does not want us worshiping other gods; that seems pretty straight forward. We cannot allow ourselves to become so glamorized by anything that we start putting it first in our lives. Many people do this with money, in our society today. I am sure there are other things as well, but money is definitely the biggest problem in this area.

The second is not to make any carved images. I would suggest when YHWH put forth this commandment He was referring to the fallen angels that had previously been on the earth. They had come from the sky, many cultures knew them as “sky people” or “star people” and they allowed themselves to be worshipped as gods. Greece, to this day, still has many statues of these ancient “gods” standing all over the country. I also have witnessed certain religious groups bowing and praying to a statue of “mother Mary.” I would suggest this is not something that is pleasing to YHWH. Christianity also has sects that bow to an image of the cross. This one is hard for me personally. I don’t necessarily bow or pray to the image of the cross, but I have been raised to think that the cross symbolizes everything Christ did for all of mankind to ensure that the believers in Him would have eternal salvation.  

As for using YHWH’s name in vain, this is a tough one to try to understand. I do NOT believe that He even cares about the phrase “God damn it”. I say this for several reasons. The first being God’s name is NOT God, but rather YHWH which is pronounced something like Yahweh. Second, damning something simply means to condemn it. Therefore, asking God to condemn something doesn’t seem to be all that unbiblical. The book of Psalms we read of the people asking for YHWH to condemn their enemies. I found this excerpt written by C Michael Patton in 2007 that takes into consideration the time frame and events of what was happening during the time of the exodus. I feel he does a good job at explaining what taking YHWH’s name in vain really means.

“The nations to which the Israelites were going had many gods. They were highly superstitious. Their prophets would often use the name of their god in pronouncements. The usage could be in a curse, hex, or even a blessing. They would use the name of their god, to give their statements whatever they may be, authority. To pronounce something in their own name would not have given their words much weight, but to pronounce something in the name of a god meant that people would listen and fear. They may have said, “In the name of Baal, there will be no rain for 40 days.” Or “In the name of Marduk, I say that you will win this battle.” This gave the prophet much power and authority. But, as we know, there is no Baal or Marduk. Since this is the case, they did not really make such pronouncement and therefore the words of the prophet had no authority and should neither have been praised nor feared.

God was attempting to prevent the Israelites from doing the same thing. God was saying for them not to use His name like the nations used the names of their gods. He did not want them to use His name to invoke false authority behind pronouncements. In essence, God did not want the Israelites to say that He said something that He had not said. This makes sense. God has a reputation to protect. He does not want anyone saying “Thus sayeth the Lord” if the Lord had not spoken. All of you have experienced this. You have had people say you said something you did not say. This can be very damaging to your character. It is very destructive to your name. Why? Because it makes you out to be something that you are not. How much more important is it for God to protect His character? It is fitting that God would have put this as one of the ten most important commandments as the nation of Israel moved towards Canaan.”

Remembering the Sabbath day seems to be the biggest problem western Christians have with following the Ten Commandments as we know them. The reason I put commandment number four in with loving YHWH with all your heart is because remembering the Sabbath seems to be VERY important to Him. The Sabbath day IS the day He said all should rest. This includes, man, woman, children, slaves and animals. NO work should be done on this day. The reason this has become a problem for western Christians is because they are influenced so heavily by the Catholic version of Christianity. Saturday is the seventh day; therefore, it IS the actual Sabbath day. I find it amazing that this is the ONLY commandment that starts with the word “REMEMBER”. YHWH knew what He was doing when He gave these commandments to Moses. He knew that one way or another; man would “forget” which day to celebrate the Sabbath. He knew that even those that chose to believe in Him would have trouble keeping this day holy.

The last five commandments from the Old Testament are these….

Honor your Father and Mother

Do not murder

Do not commit adultery

Do not steal

Do not bear false witness

Do not covet

It is my belief that these six commandments sum up the second commandment given by Yeshua, to love your neighbor as yourself.

Honoring your father and mother seems pretty open and closed. They are the first people we know once we come into this world. They are our bedroom neighbors for the first 18 years of our lives. Honoring them sets the foundation for our lives as far as learning how to love our neighbors. YHWY also has this to say about commandment number five.

Exodus 20: 12

Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.

By honoring them, YHWH grants us a long life. So obeying this one not only pleases YHWH and Christ, but also allows us a longer life.

Do not commit murder is pretty basic. If you love someone you will not murder them; even those that you are not particularly fond of. I also want to point out that the commandment states not to murder, which is different than to kill. I have heard people claim that if we kill someone in a car accident, or in some other unpreventable way, or even in self defense, then we have broken this commandment. Murder is quite different than killing. Murdering someone entails premeditation or a plan to kill.

Committing adultery not only is sinful for you but also for the person you are having sex with. A man that discovers that another man is sleeping with his wife will become enraged.

Proverbs 6: 32-34

³² But the man who commits adultery is an utter fool,
    for he destroys himself.

³³ He will be wounded and disgraced.
    His shame will never be erased.
³⁴ For the woman’s jealous husband will be furious,
    and he will show no mercy when he takes revenge.

            Yeshua also has something to say about adultery, that makes this sin less avoidable.

Matthew 5: 28

²⁸ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart.

James 1: 14-15

¹⁴ Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. ¹⁵ These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death.

            As we can see, if we allow ourselves to be tempted by the flesh, we invite the possibility of sinful actions. This is why Yeshua says we have already sinned if we look upon a woman with lustful eyes.

Stealing from anyone causes them pain and emptiness. It violates a person’s comfort levels and their feelings of security. Causing this level of discomfort to any person definitely is a breach of the second command of Yeshua.

            Do not bear false witness. What does this mean? Plainly put, it is lying. Lying in a manner that directly causes someone else pain or suffering. This could mean claiming someone broke the law, when in fact you know it was not this person. Again we can see how breaking this commandment goes directly against the second commandment of Yeshua.

            Covet: an intense longing to posses something that is not yours. To covet anything carries with it the potential to steal it, or even place it above everything else in your life, including God. This final commandment has the likely-hood to cause you to break both Yeshua’s first and second commands. The previously quoted verse from James 1: 14-15 applies here as well. To covet and allow ourselves to desire something in this way gives birth to sinful actions.

             I have come to conclude, from the several ideas that are floating around the Christian community; these ideas seem to be completely wrong. I have already mentioned them but I would like to repeat it here after you have read my theory on this. Since Christians are saved by grace, we no longer need to observe God’s law. Some of these groups go so far as to say they do not even need to follow the Ten Commandments. I find this troubling, especially since even the “New Testament” seems to point out that we should be following at least the Ten Commandments.

Romans 2: 12-13 (NIV)

¹² All who sin apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who sin under the law will be judged by the law. ¹³ For it is not those who hear the law who are righteous in God’s sight, but it is those who obey the law who will be declared righteous. 

            The definition of perish according to Google dictionary is this, “suffer death, typically in a violent, sudden, or untimely way.” This is what happens to those that sin apart from the law. It sounds, to me at least, similar to the wrath of God from Revelation. All those who sin UNDER the law, will be judged by the law. These verses go on to say that only hearing the law does not make you righteous in God’s eyes, but rather everyone who OBEYS the law WILL be looked upon as righteous.

Romans 3: 20

²⁰ Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.

            Here we see that following the law will NOT make us righteous, but rather it only serves to convict us, or make us realize that we ARE sinners and we NEED faith to be saved. It does NOT, however, say that we should avoid following the law.

Romans 3: 31

³¹ Do we, then, nullify the law by this faith? Not at all! Rather, we uphold the law.

            This verse just reiterates the idea that we need faith, but also SHOULD follow YHWH’s law.

Romans 6: 1-2

What shall we say, then? Shall we go on sinning so that grace may increase? ² By no means! We are those who have died to sin; how can we live in it any longer?

            One more time, the book of Romans tells us that we should not continue in sin. Even though, Grace becomes greater due to sin. Because we are saved through FAITH by the blood of Christ, we should NOT continue to sin, especially purposefully. 

             I want to end with this excerpt from the book of James

James 2: 21-24

²¹ Don’t you remember that our ancestor Abraham was shown to be right with God by his actions when he offered his son Isaac on the altar? ²² You see his faith and his actions worked together. His actions made his faith complete.²³ And so it happened just as the Scriptures say: “Abraham believed God, and God counted him as righteous because of his faith.” He was even called the friend of God. ²⁴ So you see, we are shown to be right with God by what we do, not by faith alone.